Great Tang Idyll

When the old man heard the guard's words, he stopped moving for a brief moment and then he continued walking again. He didn't say anything. Once the group entered a room on the second floor, the old man said to the waiter, "During the Chinese New Year, are all of you returning home?"

The waiter thought that someone was coming to order food, but after he heard what the person wanted to ask about, he replied, "My lord, we will be returning home. I am a servant from the inner courtyard of the Zhang manor. By then, there will be a lot of firecrackers in the courtyard and I will be rewarded with money."

The waiter knew this old man. Last time, Housekeeper Zhang also referred to him as "my lord" so the waiter did the same. This waiter was the most clever waiter on the entire second floor. This time he answered honestly and did not insert words like ‘man' into his speech when he opened his mouth.

"How much is the reward? How about we give you double the pay to keep all of you working at the Between The Water and Clouds?" Aunt Wang asked arrogantly. She only thought about how herself and the others were here to celebrate the New Year, but she didn't expect that other people's New Year celebration was not just about money. Perhaps she was wondering why she couldn't return home for the New Year and thought that others would be the same as herself.

The waiter showed an embarrassed expression. Seeing everyone staring at him, he forced out a reply, "My lord and other guests, this is not a matter of money. I also have a family, and I also want to have a New Year's Eve dinner with my family. I also have to..."

"We're asking you, how much money." Xiao'zao asked. She didn't actually want to prevent people from going home for the New Year; she just wanted to ask how much money this person, who's from the inner courtyard, would earn working here.

The servant lowered his head and made some calculations. He raised his head back up and said in a low voice, "I'm actually not supposed to tell you, but since my lord has asked, then I will tell you. It's not much. I get fifty coins monthly, and after working for the past few days, the total will be a few hundred coins."

Xiao'zao and Da'zao glanced at each other after hearing the number. Both showed a relieved expression. The money was not much. The two of them earn more than 80 coins a month, and they are rewarded with money too, so by the end of the year, they were able to save up two to three strings of coins.

Just when the two of them felt relieved, the waiter continued, "This is the monthly salary. The reward can be a little more than the salary. The work I do is somewhat favored by my master, so it is around 120 strings of coins and there are also other gifts like fabric, meat and others."

"How much? How much money does the Between The Water and Clouds earn in a year? You're given 120 strings of coins? What are you thinking?" Aunt Wang was no longer as calm as before, and she suddenly stood up.

The waiter smiled bitterly and replied honestly, "I don't know how much money the Between The Water and Clouds earns, but this is indeed the amount of reward I get. Sometimes it is even more than that. Yesterday, Housekeeper Zhang just told me that next summer, I can be the shopkeeper of another location."

The waiter understood in his heart that he was given this much money because he did a good job handling the people who wanted to cheat the manor. He said that it was 120 strings of coins, but in fact it was much more. When his master rewarded them, it was plentiful and was never lacking. He reported an amount of money to them, but the amount was definitely not that little.

Da'zao and Xiao'zao stared at the waiter with a pair of eyes that contained many meanings. They were trying to see if this waiter looked different from ordinary people. One hundred and twenty, and other gifts. What did the waiter do? Was his job not just serving food and saying a few words? Why was he given so much? Why?

At this time, Housekeeper Zhang, who had received the letter, hurried over. He heard that it was some lord who had been here previously, so he didn't dare to neglect. When he entered the room, he saw the waiter's honest appearance and everyone else had their eyes on the waiter.

"My lord, you're here? I didn't expect to see you before the New Year. I'll give you an early New Year's greeting then." Housekeeper Zhang didn't know what was going on, so he spoke up first. At the same time, he looked at the waiter. He felt that it was unlikely that the waiter had offended them since he was the best waiter in the restaurant.

"Don't be in a hurry to give me New Year's greetings. We will be able to meet again when that day comes. This waiter here, his words seem to be untrue." The old man smiled and looked at Housekeeper Zhang as he spoke.

Housekeeper Zhang was stunned for a moment. In his mind, he thought, of course his words are untrue, that waiter speaks human language when he talks to humans, and speaks ghost language when he speaks to ghosts. If the waiters are honest, then the Between The Water And Clouds would be doomed. However, he could not say this. He glared at the waiter and shouted at him, "Zhang Liang, how dare you deceive our lord? Your 120 strings of coin reward for this year is gone."

"Yes, Housekeeper Zhang, I admit punishment." The waiter was also smart and knew why Housekeeper Zhang said that. He held back his laugh, replied respectfully, and looked sad.

"So it turns out to be like that. My lord, although Zhang Liang appears to be quite clever, he is the most honest kind of person. He will answer whatever you ask him. He even offended a lot of people because of this. The second floor is quiet and there are fewer people. We arranged for him to work on the second floor so that he won't offend many people.."

Housekeeper Zhang immediately replied back and then said to the waiter, "Why haven't you thank the lord for speaking up for you? When noon comes, go home and visit your mom first. Yesterday, the master household sent someone to make a medicinal recipe for her.

Your mother has arthritis in her legs. Go to Warehouse No. 5 to retrieve the items, and let your mom soak in it. Also get a ginseng and a chicken, cut two pieces, bring it back and let Chef Ni cook it for your family to eat. You keep offending people; you should think about your family. "

"Thank you Housekeeper Zhang, thank Young ...I will do a good job in the future.." The waiter naturally knew who these items were supposed to be given to. Warehouse No. 5 belonged to their Young Master and the Young Miss. With the medicine, his mother will feel better.

Just now, the old man and the others were surprised when they heard that the waiter's yearly reward money was 120 strings of coins, and this time, they were surprised again. What does the waiter do? Just now, Housekeeper Zhang was condemning him, but in a blink of an eye, he was giving him medicine, ginseng, and even chicken.

The lowest quality ginseng costs more than ten strings of coins. It seemed like he intended to give the waiter an entire ginseng. He wanted the waiter to cut the ginseng into slices and eat it slowly. Aunt Wang pinched her leg with her hand and grinned in pain. Now she was certain that this was not a dream. She looked at Housekeeper Zhang and asked,

"You are the housekeeper of the Zhang manor? You can casually give your subordinates things? You don't need to ask your master first? You don't need to ask your madam? Are you doing this behind their backs?"

Housekeeper Zhang didn't know who this was. He wondered how the Zhang family's affairs had anything to do with others. Why are you trying to manage me? After thinking about this, he asked, "My lord, this is ...?"

"Oh, this, this person is someone who came here with me. We plan to spend the New Year here. We're not going back. Just now we were discussing with the waiter to get everyone to stay here to do work. Do you think that is okay?" The old man glared at Aunt Wang and then replied to Housekeeper Zhang.

"Why were you able to make decisions just earlier when you gave the waiter ginseng?" Aunt Wang asked with a quiet voice. However, her voice could still be heard by the people around her. She didn't dare to raise her head because she was afraid of the old man.

Housekeeper Jia was also curious about these people. This old man probably gave them a little help in the Capital. A few days ago, two officials from the Capital came over to ask for his master's calligraphy . The Emperor's Nephew hasn't used his power yet and Magistrate Cheng didn't have a firm footing yet, so it was impossible for them to get two sixth-rank officials to come over.

Thus, Housekeeper Zhang decided he could tell him.

"My lord, previously, I was not allowed to manage these kinds of things. Later, when the family became more rich, there were more matters to be busy with. Our Madam manages the household, and the Young…. Our master and old master feared that our Madam would be overworked, so they gave me some power to manage Warehouse No. 5.

For items that do not exceed 20 strings of coins, I can make the decision. Each time, it would be recorded down into the account and the account will be checked once a month. As long as there are no mistakes, then it is fine. The ginseng was bought for 13 strings of coins– it was traded for using pork. The chicken was raised ourselves, so it only costs a few dozen coins. The medicine was instructed by the master.

The total adds up to less than 14 strings of coins, so I am able to make the decision myself. Zhang Liang's mother had arthritis in her legs because of working for our master when she was younger. Zhang Liang is the youngest child in his family, and he has two older brothers. His oldest brother broke his leg when working for our Master and he's now doing some carpentry work in the master's house.

My lord, how could our master not take care of a person like this? Our master would usually say that without us, then no Zhang family today. My decision to do this did not break the rules."

After Housekeeper Zhang said all of this, everyone was silent. Zhang Liang lowered his head, his eyes were red. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and said to Housekeeper Zhang, "Housekeeper Zhang, I will definitely work hard in the future. I will not embarrass our master. Even if I die, I will also protect our master's safety."

When the servant was being grateful towards his master for being kind to servants, Aunt Wang muttered, "What if something went wrong?"

"Shut your mouth. Even if something went wrong with the Zhang family, what does it have to do with you? Back then you...sigh~! Look at us now. The Zhang family has money and people. Last time, when this old man came here, this waiter was there to serve him, and he didn't leak any words and did things responsibly. The people from the Seedling Protection Team are not bad too.

The abilities of a master who teaches their servant to act like this must be average. If even a servant is like this, then how will the housekeeper be any different? If something goes wrong, the Zhang family will take care of it. Could it be that you see this place as your home? As a housekeeper, you're taking advantage of your family's status so that you can manage other family's affairs? "

The old man was angry at this time, and he taught Aunt Wang a lesson. Aunt Wang did not dare to say anything, and almost knelt down in fright. Da'zao and Xiao'zao stuck out their tongues on the side, with a mocking scared expression. Their lord was angry now. Usually he didn't put up a stern demeanor when he went out, but now things are bad. The future days will be difficult.

Housekeeper Zhang was a little puzzled. It seemed that something was going on between the Zhang family and the old woman who was talking. Could it be...?

Housekeeper Zhang suddenly remembered something, but he was not sure. It seemed that he had to go back and tell his master and madam. He also had to tell his Young Master and Young Miss. These people are not going after my Young Master and Young Miss, right?