The servant took Xie Nanjia to complete all the formalities, and then personally took her to meet the kitchen manager, Aunt Cai.
In fact, Xie Nanjia knew Aunt Cai and knew where to find her without her leading the way. Seeing that he was so kind-hearted, she could save herself some time and effort, so she followed him all the way.
When Aunt Cai saw Xie Nanjia, she looked her up and down, and without asking what she could do or not, she said directly: "The kitchen is in need of a girl to cook, so let her take over!"
The servant was embarrassed and said, "Madam, this girl was specially arranged by the Second Steward under the care of the Fourth Aunt. Can you change her to a lighter job?"
Aunt Cai's face was long to begin with, and it became even longer after hearing his words: "There is no such thing as easy work in the kitchen. If you want easy work, go and serve the master. I don't have that here."
Xie Nanjia knew that Aunt Cai was always ruthless, so she stepped forward and said, "It's okay. There's nothing wrong with making a fire. You can stand guard at the door of the stove and learn how to cook from the chef!"
Aunt Cai's expression softened, and she hummed, "Then let Xiaofu take you there!"
Xiaofu was the servant. Seeing that Xie Nanjia had agreed herself, he did not say anything more and took her to bid farewell to Aunt Cai and went to the kitchen.
On the way, Xiaofu said, "You shouldn't have agreed so quickly. It's hot today, and the most uncomfortable job in the kitchen is to light the fire."
Xie Nanjia smiled and said, "It's uncomfortable in hot weather, it will be better when it's cooler. I'm new here, how can I be picky?"
Xiaofu sighed, "This is the only way for now. You should work hard and I will ask Aunt Cai to give you a new job in a few days."
Xie Nanjia was very confused. She and Xiaofu didn't know each other before, so why did Xiaofu care so much about his affairs
Could it really be the order from the Second Steward
But she doesn’t know the second manager either!
She didn't want to owe anyone a favor, so she asked directly about her doubts.
Xiaofu smiled and said, "It wasn't the Second Steward who asked me to do that. It was Big Brother Feng Lun who asked Xiao Xizi to help him, and Xiao Xizi asked me to help you settle down properly."
I see.
Xie Nanjia unexpectedly felt warm in her heart, and asked Xiaofu to convey her gratitude to Feng Lun and Xiao Xizi, and also to thank him at the same time.
Xiaofu said, "You don't have to be so polite. To make a living in this big house, everyone should stick together and help each other. It's just that birds of a feather flock together. Everyone has different personalities and makes different friends. Xiaoxizi and I are from the same hometown. We played together when we were young. Later, our hometown suffered a disaster and we were sold to the mansion together. When we first came here, we knew nothing and were ostracized. Thanks to the protection of Brother Feng Lun, we were able to gain a foothold. Since you are the person Brother Feng Lun asked us to take care of, we will of course do our best to take good care of you."
He explained so much in one breath, which showed that he really treated Xie Nanjia as his own. Xie Nanjia was no longer polite to him, so as not to appear too distant and make people feel uncomfortable.
She asked about Xiaofu's age and learned that he and Xiaoxizi were one year younger than her. She then treated them as siblings and asked them to take care of each other. Together with Feng Lun, these three people were her greatest support in the Marquis' Mansion.
The job of cooking is simple and complicated at the same time. The chef's temperament is different, so the effort required is also different.
People with good tempers can tolerate a little anger, but people with bad tempers will get furious if their anger is not as expected. In mild cases, they will curse at others, and in severe cases, they will hit people on the head with a big spoon.
There are four chefs in total. Aunt Cai is one of them and also serves as the kitchen supervisor. In addition to her and Madam Wu, there is another chef named Hua and another named Chen. These four people are mainly responsible for the food of the masters in the mansion, and also serve as accounting, purchasing, sanitation and other duties respectively. The meals for the servants are prepared by other cooks who are one level lower than them.
Fortunately, these chefs had all been there when Xie Nanjia was the Crown Prince's wife. Xie Nanjia went to the kitchen to select ingredients from time to time, so she was familiar with them and often heard about their styles of doing things from the servants. Now, after spending two days observing them carefully, she had figured out their tempers and it was easy for her to deal with them. Even Madam Wu, who had the worst temper, had never lost her temper with her.
Aunt Cai was also secretly observing Xie Nanjia, because she had heard that Xie Nanjia had flirted with the prince in the old lady's yard, and she thought that she must be a frivolous person. After two days of observation, she found that she was not as the rumors said. Except for her appearance that was a little too eye-catching, her words and deeds were very proper and decent, and she didn't look like a little girl who had just come from the country at all.
Aunt Cai felt like she had picked up a treasure. Such a useful maid was not used by the Fourth Aunt, and it was a good deal for her.
She has been in charge of the kitchen for many years and has always wanted to cultivate a useful confidant. Unfortunately, most of the maids assigned to the kitchen are the ones left over by the masters of each courtyard. They are either ugly or have high aspirations. They look down on kitchen work and try every means to be transferred elsewhere.
As for the girl Xiu'er, I heard that she took the initiative to ask the Fourth Aunt to come to work in the kitchen. It can be seen that she is not a person who is ambitious, and she does not want to use her own conditions to climb up the ladder and get into the bed of her master.
Isn't this kind of talent exactly the confidant she is looking for
Aunt Cai secretly thought in her heart that as long as Xiu'er was willing to work diligently in the kitchen, she would definitely train her as her successor.
Xie Nanjia had no idea what Aunt Cai was thinking. She just burned the fire diligently every day, as if burning fire was a sacred task to her, and she did it with great piety.
After a few days, everyone in the kitchen looked at her with admiration, and even the little maids who did odd jobs liked her very much.
The names of the kitchen maids were all picked by Aunt Cai at random. In addition to Jiu'er, there are also Suan'er, Onion'er, and Celery'er, which fully demonstrate the characteristics of the kitchen.
Aunt Cai originally wanted to change Xie Nanjia's name, but later she felt that the name Xiu'er was more pronounceable, so she was too lazy to change it and let her continue to use it.
The original kitchen maid was called Zhen'er. Two days ago, she bribed the second steward with silver and was transferred to the fourth young lady's room to serve.
The fourth young lady was born to a concubine and has the lowest status in the mansion, but no matter how low a young lady's status is, she is still a young lady, and being a maid in a young lady's room is better than being a fire-making maid.
Xie Nanjia heard about Zhen'er from Jiu'er. Jiu'er lived in the same room with her and liked talking to her very much.
Xie Nanjia didn't care about these things and just treated them as a way to pass the time.
However, the Fourth Miss did have an impression of it, because when she was pregnant, the Fourth Miss had personally embroidered a pair of tiger-head shoes for the child, which were very exquisite.
At that time, Hualou also told her that since the Fourth Young Lady was making shoes, she must be too short of money and could not afford any other gifts. The only gift she could give to other young ladies was her thoughtfulness.
Thinking of Hualou, she couldn't help but sigh. She had thought that she could find out the whereabouts of Hualou by going to the kitchen, but after a few days, she found out nothing. It was as if Hualou had disappeared out of thin air.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the Crown Prince's wife's Qiqi is here.
Due to the hot weather, the ingredients are easy to spoil and cannot be processed in advance, so they need to borrow help from the East and West Palaces on the same day.
In order to ensure that there would be no mistakes among those who helped on the day, they had to come a few days in advance to familiarize themselves with the environment, so there were suddenly several times more people in the kitchen than usual.
When there are a lot of people, they tend to talk a lot. Whenever they have free time, they will chat about all sorts of gossip.
Xie Nanjia was once again occupying the position of burning the fire, and nothing anyone said escaped her ears.
That day, several cooks accidentally talked about Qin Wanru. One of them said in a sarcastic tone that she would not be able to stay in the mansion for a few more days, and after the seventh day after the death of the prince's wife, the lady would send her back to her parents' home.
Another person who didn't know the truth asked, "Why is this happening? Isn't she the Madam's favorite niece? She has lived in the mansion for several years and never said she wanted to leave. Why is she leaving now all of a sudden?"
Xie Nanjia was also surprised and pricked up her ears to listen.
I only heard the man who said earlier: "It's because of the young master's matter. The old lady didn't know that she was taking care of the young master before, and then the second young master exposed it. The old lady was furious and asked the lady if there was no one in the mansion, why she let a young lady who was staying here take care of the child..."
Xie Nanjia's head buzzed and she could not hear anything else. Her mind was filled with only one thought: she had to go to Qin Wanru and get her son back.
She left the fire on the stove and ran out, scaring the people in the kitchen.
Fortunately, Jiu'er was on good terms with her and quickly went to help her watch out for the fire, otherwise Madam Wu would have started to scold again.
"Is this girl crazy?" everyone asked curiously.
Jiu'er excused her in a low voice: "Xiu'er had a stomachache today, and she probably couldn't hold it in."
Everyone believed it and ignored it, continuing to talk about their family affairs.
Xie Nanjia ran all the way to the corridor leading to Qin Wanru's courtyard. The sky suddenly darkened and a strong wind blew in an instant, with sand and stones flying everywhere. The wind chimes on the eaves jingled in the wind.
The voice seemed to have a magical power that made Xie Nanjia wake up instantly.
She stopped and leaned weakly against the pillar.
There was a loud thunderclap, and heavy rain and her tears fell at the same time.
The whole garden was shrouded in rain and fog, like an unbreakable net.
The wind blew the rain toward the corridor, soaking her clothes in a moment and bringing her back to her senses completely.
She looked at the devastating rain and pondered Qin Wanru's motives.
Why did Qin Wanru disregard her own reputation to help her take care of the child? In the final analysis, it was all for Zhao Jingping. She wanted to use the child to establish herself as a good wife and mother so that she could marry Zhao Jingping smoothly in the future and become the second wife of the prince.
Xie Nanjia has never been interested in the position of the Crown Prince's wife. She doesn't care who wants to compete for it or snatch it away from her. But if someone wants to use her son as a ladder to the top, she can't just sit back and watch.
Moreover, Qin Wanru hates her so much, how could she be truly good to her son? If she really becomes the prince's wife as she wishes, she might be able to pretend to be a loving mother before giving birth to a child. But if she has a child, will she ruin her stepson's future for the sake of her own son's future
Just like how Qin treated Zhao Jingyu, perhaps even more cruel and ruthless than Qin
No, I absolutely cannot let Qin Wanru succeed. The person Zhao Jingping wants to marry must be chosen by me. No one except the one I choose can ever dream of becoming the Crown Prince's wife in Marquis Dingyuan's Mansion!
She made up her mind and looked up at the gray sky. This storm came at the right time and stopped her impulse in time. She felt that it must be God helping her secretly.
If people don't help me, God will help me. With God's protection, what do I have to fear
This mansion does not belong to the Qin aunt and nephew, nor does it belong to Zhao Jingping. Its future owner can only be my son. I will do my best to protect everything that belongs to my son.
(End of this chapter)