Chapter 107 Roommate

Chapter 107 Roommate

The original owner was a daughter of a merchant family. Because her family fell into poverty, she was sold to the Gao Mansion by her parents and became Gao Yulan's second-class maid.

When Gao Yulan got married, she sent away all the pretty maids around her and chose a few maids who were average-looking but gentle and had no ambitions as her dowry.

The original owner was so lucky to be chosen and married into the Pei Mansion with Gao Yulan.

The original owner and another maid named Zhenzhu, one managed Gao Yulan's dowry, and the other assisted Gao Yulan in housekeeping.

Gao Yulan has been married to the Pei family for three years but still has no children, so Mrs. Pei wants to take a concubine for Pei Wenjun.

Although Gao Yulan was unwilling to share her husband with others, she had to consider herself. The Pei family was wealthy and powerful, and they only had one young master, Pei Wenjun. If Pei Wenjun died before her a hundred years later and the family property was seized by others, she would also be driven out of the Pei family.

So, Gao Yulan gave her two maids who came with her as a dowry to Pei Wenjun as concubines. These two were her own people and she knew them well. Their looks were not as good as hers, but she still held their indentures in her hands, so they dared not disobey her.

The original owner and Zhenzhu became Pei Wenjun's concubines, but they were not yet the masters of the mansion and still did the work of servants. They were demoted from first-class maids to third-class. Pei Wenjun looked down on them and Gao Yulan suppressed them.

The original owner and Zhenzhu became pregnant at the same time. When the child was four months old, Gao Yulan also became pregnant. In order to give birth to Pei Wenjun's first child, she sowed discord between the two and caused them to fight each other.

The original owner was framed by Zhenzhu and was plotted against by Gao Yulan when she had a miscarriage, which damaged her uterus and made it difficult for her to get pregnant afterwards.

But Pearl did not keep the baby, and when she was six months old, she accidentally swallowed purslane, which led to a miscarriage.

But she was still lucky. She could recuperate and continue to have children for Pei Wenjun.

A few months later, Gao Yulan gave birth to the eldest grandson of the Pei family and successfully secured her position as the mistress of the Pei family.

In the following years, Zhenzhu was recuperating, and the original owner was disliked by Pei Wenjun, who no longer invited her to spend the night with him.

Gao Yulan gave birth to three sons and two daughters in succession before Zhenzhu became pregnant.

The original owner had doubts, but her indenture contract was still in Gao Yulan's hands, so she didn't dare to fight against a rock with an egg.

Later, Gao Yulan "felt sorry" for the original owner and called her back to help her manage the Pei Mansion.

The original owner then realized that the Pei Mansion was no longer what it used to be. It looked strong on the outside but was actually weak on the inside, with income not enough to cover expenses. It was only by using Gao Yulan's own dowry to supplement the expenses that they were able to barely keep going.

Later, Pei Wenjun died on the way to do business. Gao Yulan was heartbroken and followed Pei Wenjun soon after.

At this time, the Pei family only had three sons and two daughters born to Gao Yulan and two sons and three daughters born to Zhenzhu, a total of ten children.

Before her death, Gao Yulan returned the original owner's indenture to her and entrusted the children to her.

When the original owner was not paying attention, Zhenzhu sold Gao Yulan's dowry, stole the title deed of the Pei Mansion and sold the house. The original owner and her ten children were driven out of the Pei Mansion and almost became homeless.

Pei Wenjun's eldest son is fifteen years old and is preparing to study abroad. He has no money, so she has a lot of complaints about the original owner. If the original owner's father had not come back and given her a lot of money, Pei would not have been able to go abroad smoothly.

In order to take care of the nine "children", the original owner worked as a nanny during the day, did laundry at night, and sent the other nine children to school.

But they were not satisfied with this, thinking that if the original owner had not been so optimistic about the family property, they could all have gone abroad for further studies.

In the same year, the Japanese invaders occupied City A. The original owner was humiliated by them in order to protect his "daughters", but he saw that his "daughters" avoided him from afar, as if they had seen something dirty.

A few years later, the Japanese surrendered, drove the Nationalist army away, and the Chinese nation was founded.

Boss Pei, who had been abroad, came back and became a translator. He was very successful and his younger brothers and sisters were very envious of him.

In addition to envy, I hated the original owner even more.

The original owner was labeled as pro-Japanese by his "children" and was sent to a farm for reform. He died on the farm within a few years.

Not long after her death, her "children" also came to the farm to receive reform.

Ten years later, they got the "inheritance" left by Pearl, immigrated to the United States, and lived a carefree life.

……

(1921)

"Have you heard? The eldest lady is going to marry into the Pei Mansion. Master Pei is one of the most talented men in our A City. I wonder who will be so lucky to become the eldest lady's dowry and follow her to the Pei Mansion."

While pulling weeds, Zhang Shan listened to the maids' gossip. Mrs. Pei was coming today and she had chosen a date and asked a matchmaker to propose marriage.

"Shanhu, do you want to go to Pei Mansion with the young lady?"

A round-faced little girl asked. She was the same age as Zhang Shan, both thirteen years old, and had been in Gao's house for six years.

"No, I want to redeem myself and go home."

Zhang's father has been doing business outside in recent years. Six years ago, the creditor wanted to use the original owner to pay off the debt, but Zhang's father did not agree. However, he was worried that the original owner would be taken away when he was away.

So, the original owner was sold to Gao's mansion and became a servant. She was young and only needed to sweep the floor and make fire, so her life was not in danger.

But if someone picked it up and held it as a loan shark, there’s no telling where it would be sold to.

It was a living indenture, and today was the last year. Zhang's father had already prepared the redemption money, but he did not expect that the original owner was unwilling to go home.

"Will your father really come to redeem you?"

Zhang's father had not come to see the original owner over the years, which made the original owner remember it in her heart. She thought that Zhang's father didn't want her anymore and that staying with Gao Yulan was the best thing for her.

"Will do."

Zhang Shan nodded affirmatively.

Agate on the side laughed out loud, "The world outside is so chaotic. Your father sold you to the Gao Mansion back then. Now that you have grown up, do you know where he will sell you to?"

"Manju, don't talk nonsense. Coral's father was also forced into a helpless situation. If possible, who would be willing to be a maid and obey orders from others?"

At this time, Pearl's skin was white and her face was pretty, and she looked as if she had been carefully cared for.

Pearl and Agate are from the same hometown. One loves to stand out, while the other pretends to be gentle. Neither of them is easy to get along with.

"There's nothing wrong with being a maid. It's our blessing to meet a master like the young lady. I heard that the young lady has found husbands for the two sisters Mingyue and Xingchen. There are already many masters who care about their servants like the young lady."

"What?" Pearl shouted subconsciously.

Mingyue and Xingchen grew up with Gao Yulan. They are the daughters of Gao Yulan's two wet nurses and have a very close relationship with her.

She thought Gao Yulan would take the two of them with her when she got married, but Gao Yulan never thought of letting the two of them serve as her dowry.

Two days later, the matchmaker from the Pei residence came to propose marriage. Zhang Shan looked at Gao Yulan from afar. She was dignified and pretty, with willow-shaped eyebrows, cherry lips, and a slightly bent body. She had a pair of three-inch golden lotus feet and stood coquettishly beside Mrs. Gao.

Zhang Shan's eyes were fixed on Gao Yulan's three-inch golden lotus feet. In this life, Zhang's father had also thought about binding the original owner's feet, but one misfortune after another happened in the family and the matter was delayed. Later, the Zhang family went bankrupt and owed huge debts, and the original owner was sold to the Gao Mansion.

Shortly after the engagement, Gao Yulan's two maids, Mingyue and Xingchen, were assigned as servants, leaving the position of the maid beside Gao Yulan vacant.

Gao Yulan: "Mother, I want to promote my dowry maid from the second-class maids below."

Originally, the second-class maids were the reserve for the head maids, and they were trained in both appearance and work methods.

Mrs. Gao: "You make the decision. I trust my son's judgment."

The more Mrs. Gao looked at her daughter, the more satisfied she became.

"Madam has ordered that all second-class maids in Qinghui Courtyard wait in the corridor."

Zhenzhu Agate and the others didn't dare to say much, and they all waited in the corridor. Half an hour passed, and Gao Yulan still hadn't come out. Zhang Shan knew that this was a test to see who would be the first to lose patience.

Zhang Shan felt that she didn't want to be a maid, and her body became unstable and leaned to one side.

Sure enough, Nanny Liu at the door looked over, and Zhang Shan saw a sentence in her eyes, which was that this girl was no good and could not be stable.

Gradually, more and more maids could not stand still, looked around, and could not help making small movements, thinking that others could not see them, but in fact they had been removed from the list of first-class maids.

Afterwards, Pearl and Agate, out of the instinct of small animals, both stood obediently and motionless for an hour.

"Pearl Agate stay here, and the others can go down and continue working."

Nanny Liu shook her head and said that she couldn't seize the opportunity even if she was given one.

Matron Liu is most optimistic about Zhang Shan and Zhenzhu. In her previous life, it was she who strongly recommended Zhang Shan, which allowed Zhang Shan to surpass Manju and become one of Gao Yulan's dowry maids.

In this life, without the interference of the original owner, Agate was successfully selected. She is beautiful and takes good care of her body in private. She has great ambitions.

Zhang Shan returned to the servants' room, which was a large dormitory with more than a dozen second-class maids living in it. Although there was no smell, there was no ventilation and no light, so it was really depressing to live in it.

"Coral, what is the reason why you said the young lady kept the pearls and agates?"

"I don't know, we'll know when they come back."

This batch of second-class maids are between twelve and fifteen years old. The little girl named Liuli is the youngest and is usually taken care of by the "sisters".

Zhang Shan made her bed, wondering how long it would take for Zhang's father to come back and redeem her.

As night fell, a kerosene lamp was lit in the room. The light was dim. Pearl and Agate came back in the moonlight. The moment they entered the room, their aura became two meters and eighty centimeters tall.

Agate held his head high, looking like a smug villain.

Liuli: "Sister Agate, the eldest lady asked you to stay. Is there something good?"

Agate: "Of course, I will be different from you in the future. I am now a maid, and I will accompany the young lady to her wedding."

Everyone was chattering, some were simply congratulating, while others were jealous.

Pearl also sat on the bed and accepted everyone's congratulations with dignity, "We are so lucky. We didn't expect that the young lady would trust us and give us the dowry to take care of."

The reason why Zhenzhu and Manju stayed for so long was because of the intensive training given by Madam Liu. Zhenzhu has become better at math and will most likely help Gao Yulan manage her dowry in the future.

"Sister Pearl, I really envy you. If I could hold on a little longer today..."

Everyone came to their senses and felt regretful. If they had known earlier, they would have persisted a little. They would have missed such a good opportunity.

At night, I don’t know how many people can’t sleep.

Zhang's father hurried back to City A. Although he had not yet paid off his debt, he still had to redeem his daughter.

He only has this one child, he can't just ignore her.

"Hello, is the manager here?"

"What do you want from our Ma Manager?"

"I'm here to redeem someone."

When the doorman heard that he was here to redeem someone, a trace of envy flashed in his eyes, "Wait here, I'll go and inform them."

"Thank you for your help." Father Zhang put a few silver dollars into the doorman's arms, and the doorman's steps became lighter.

Zhang Shan has packed her luggage. No one has paid attention to her these days because all the focus has been on pearls and agates.

Zhang Shan also wanted to know, if there was no silly girl like the original owner in this life, who had worked so hard to raise those ungrateful people, pearls and agates were all the same, what would happen to those ungrateful people after they ran away with the money?

"Coral, look for the steward."

"Got it, come right now."

Zhang Shan followed the servant with brisk steps and soon arrived at the front yard, where she saw Manager Ma and the middle-aged man in front of him.