Zhulan nodded, "Two fourteen-year-old servants, Dongzhi and Xiaohan, follow Changyi and Changlian respectively. Ding's youngest son Xiazhi will follow Rongchuan in the future, Ma Eryue's youngest son Chunfen will still follow Mingyun, and there are two little girls, the eight-year-old girl Qiufen follows Yushuang, the ten-year-old Liqiu and the six-year-old Xiaobudian will still follow Xinghua in the sewing room, what do you think of my arrangement?"
There were two little girls in the sewing room. The six-year-old was left to Yu Lu, and the ten-year-old Li Qiu was the best at learning sewing, so she stayed in the sewing room from now on.
Zhou Shuren thought about it carefully and said, "Your arrangement is quite good. Dongzhi is active and fits in well with the second child, while Xiaohan is more honest and kind, which suits Changlian."
Zhulan smiled and said, "As for Lady Wan Jiu's wife Juanhua who is by Li's side, she will continue to stay with Li now that Li is pregnant, and will help take care of the child after it is born. Zhao and Dong can't say anything."
Zhou Shuren laughed. Zhulan was obviously biased. But that was fine. It was a good opportunity to test Zhao and Dong and give them a warning. "In our family, you have the final say."
Zhulan curled her eyes and said, this is the advantage of being a mistress, no one in this family dares to refute her!
After breakfast the next day, Zhulan told the arrangements to the other rooms. Without giving the second and third rooms a chance to react, Zhulan continued, "You can change the names of the servants and maids. Don't worry about me. Changzhi's servant was changed to Qimo, Mingteng's was Yinmo, Xuehan's eldest maid was Liuli, and the second maid was Liujin. I think they're all good."
Zhou Laoer thought for a moment and said, "Mom, Dongzhi will be renamed Dongmo."
Chang Lian also hurriedly followed, "Mom, Xiaohan changed his name to Fenmo."
Zhulan looked up at the sky in silence. They all sounded nice. She was really not suitable for naming. She looked at Rongchuan. Rongchuan curved his eyes and said, "Aunt, Ding Xiazhi will be renamed Ding Xiamo."
Yu Shuang saw her grandmother looking at her. She didn't want to be like her aunt, fearing that it would be difficult to distinguish them in the future. She had also been learning to recognize Chinese characters. After thinking for a while, she said, "Grandma, my name starts with the character Autumn. I will change it to Qiufen, Qiu Nian."
Zhulan was instantly crushed to ashes. "The names are all good. Just report to Steward Ding after changing the names. By the way, your grandpa has caught a cold these days. I will take you to Yang Mansion when he is better. Changlian will go to Meng Mansion today, and the second brother will take Zhao to stroll around the city. There are many merchants and shops of the clan outside Lizhou City, and there are many rare things."
When Zhao heard this, she wanted to stay even more. She was really anxious. She had only said a few words to her mother-in-law, and everything she said made her mother-in-law unhappy. "Mom, I won't go."
Zhulan looked at Zhao, she really meant well, "If you don't want to go, then don't go. It just so happens that your sister-in-law is pregnant, so the kitchen work is handed over to you. You will be responsible for what to eat and what to buy for the three meals in the future."
For Zhao, it would be better to find more work. With more work, she would not have to think too much.
Zhao was really worried enough. She didn't want to care about it at all. Then she thought that this was a right given by her mother-in-law. Her mother said that if you have some power in the mansion, the servants will respect you more. "Mother, let me go to the kitchen and take a look."
Zhulan: "Go ahead."
Dong looked at her second sister-in-law out of the corner of her eye and lowered her eyelids. Was she not even as good as her second sister-in-law? She thought she would have a maid to serve her when she got home, but unexpectedly, except for her husband getting a servant, she got nothing. Her mother-in-law said that Juanhua Po took care of her eldest sister-in-law, but to put it bluntly, it was her mother-in-law who was partial to her. It seemed that she had to hold on to her mother-in-law.
The eldest Zhou wanted to go to the orchard to check on the fruit trees as they also needed to be taken care of in the winter. The second Zhou had no intention of visiting Lizhou City, so he followed him.
Chang Lian also went out, and Chang Zhi took his two nephews back home with a look of despair. Mingyun and Rongchuan were used to the rules of the academy, and even when they returned home, they still studied on time.
After a while, Zhao also came back, and Zhulan was surrounded by three daughters-in-law, a daughter, and two granddaughters.
Zhulan was indeed very happy yesterday, but now she only has a headache. She is used to quietness, and she feels annoyed when there are too many people around.
Li said while eating an apple, "Mom, my dad sent me a letter saying that all my nephews who have grown up in my mother's family have married this year, and my dad asked me to thank you."
Zhulan has seen the gift list. The Li family sent a lot of wild animals. Although the Li family spent a lot this year, they were still able to save some wild animals to send. The Li family members are very grateful.
Zhulan said: "Your parents are just too polite. We still need your in-laws to take care of the house and land in our hometown."
Li waved her hands and said, "Mom, without you and Dad, my family would have a harder time. This is all as it should be."
Zhulan was counting the days in her mind. It was only two months until the Chinese New Year. They had accepted the gifts from the Li family, and it was time for the in-laws to give back New Year gifts. Not only the Li family, but also the Jiang family. Zhulan had to give this New Year gift for the sake of her eldest daughter, but she couldn't compare with the gifts from the Li family. Yes, there were also the Dong family and the Qian family.
Zhulan narrowed her eyes. As for the Qian family, she didn't even need to ask Zhou Laoer, she could tell from the gift list that the Qian family was just trying to please them. However, there was also a science to giving gifts in return this year. Manager Qian had a history of hiding his master's property, so she didn't trust him.
Zhao held the handkerchief tightly, and her mother almost leaned on her sister-in-law. She looked at her position again and couldn't help but say sourly, "Sister-in-law, my aunt has aged a lot, and Uncle Li's back is bent a lot. This year, most of the grain was sold in order to marry a wife."
Li stopped smiling. She was not stupid. She knew that her parents only reported good news and not bad news. She just didn't want to think too much about it. She knew that it was useless even if she thought about it because she was far away. She had already prepared to buy New Year gifts and send them back. She told her mother-in-law today mainly to tell her that their Li family was honest and simple. She hoped that her mother-in-law would think of the Li family when she hired people in the future. The Li family had many young men and they were very strong.
She knew that her two younger siblings were jealous of her. Even though they smiled at her, who knows what they were thinking about her in their hearts. But the second younger sibling hurt her, which was a bit too much. Even though there were conflicts, she had always protected the second younger sibling!
As soon as Zhao finished speaking, she wanted to slap herself, but the words were out and she couldn't take them back. She knew that her sister-in-law was no longer the same sister-in-law she used to be. Even if she didn't bear grudges, the rift had already existed. "Sister-in-law, I."
Zhulan felt even more headache, even though today's situation had been planned, she was still upset when it really happened. She never expected her daughters-in-law to be as good as sisters. Even sisters have conflicts, not to mention daughters-in-law who have no blood relationship but instead have conflicts of interest.
Zhulan has a clear mind, and it is precisely because of this that she can see the reality more clearly. The reality is that even if she and Zhou Shuren work themselves to death they cannot stereotype everyone, because they are all real people with their own thoughts and little ideas!
However, Zhulan's face turned cold, and she looked at Zhao and Dong with sharp eyes, "I know what you are thinking without thinking, but in front of me, you must remember that if anyone helps outsiders to harm their own family for their own interests in the future, I will never tolerate it."
Zhao and Dong were shocked. In the past, their mother-in-law had always been soft-hearted, but this was the first time she had shown her knife. They hurriedly said, "Mother, we dare not."
Zhu Lan asked the two to stand up. "Every family has its own rules. You will all represent the Zhou family in the future. Remember my words. If you dare to step on your family members outside, I don't think you want to know what the consequences will be."
Zhulan was not biased this time. She had to say these rules. No matter whether the Zhou family was divided or not, the Zhou family was a whole in the officialdom. If anyone made a mistake, it would be the problem of the entire Zhou family.
It was not easy for her and Zhou Shuren to get to this point. Only they themselves knew how much effort they had put in. So she was not in a hurry to go to Jiangnan. She had to do everything she needed to do.