An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

"How much have you learned?" Nie Ce also knew that Sang Ling had been learning how to keep accounts during this period.

Smoke rose from the incense burner in front of the hall. The girl from the Sang family looked up from the bamboo slips. She had bright eyes, a charming smile, and red lips. She looked very energetic.

She said, "I finally understood the details of the income and expenditure, but I still can't remember every single account clearly."

"Let your subordinates remember those, and you just need to correct them, okay?" Nie Ce sat cross-legged next to her, and a smile broke out on the young general's face.

He had just rushed back from the Central School Office in the suburbs of Beijing, and he headed straight for Wuyuan Xiangwo after getting off his horse.

Sang Ling didn't even notice his state, he put down his wolf hair brush and came forward, "You don't know if you are the head of the household, there are many tricks here, the people who look at the accounts have to know everything, even if I don't need to calculate, I have to know every account. Just like this stone of rice - do you know how much a stone costs in a good year, and how much a stone costs in a bad year? Prices are not always the same, expenditures change, and the accounts are also different. When the harvest is good, an acre of land can produce two stones of rice, when the harvest is bad, how much can an acre of land get, do you know? If the people who look at the accounts don't have an idea, then the people below will write whatever they want." His wife shook her head, tapped her index finger on her palm, and continued to argue, "This is a matter of food for the upper level, and the expenditures of each family in the two mansions are not the same every month, just like our house -"

"Okay, okay." Nie Ce hurriedly stopped her, put his arm around his wife's shoulders and turned back to the table, "Keep reading, keep reading."

Sang Ling glared at him, then sniffed for a while and said, "You stink. Go take a shower."

He must be sweating all over after riding back in a hurry. Lord Nie pretended to pinch her, but she was quick and dodged, "Go quickly."

He then got up and went to the bathroom in the east wing reluctantly. The autumn heat was too fierce these days, so he took a bath there. The window of the bathroom faced the corridor in the backyard and was ventilated.

Ying Bushi just laughed and followed him, but Nie Ce gave him a sidelong look, "What are you laughing at?"

"You hurried back to see Madam, but Madam disliked you instead." He didn't have the nerve to say that he was laughing at the Marquis.

But this statement almost says it all.

The corners of the marquis' mouth suddenly relaxed after being laughed at, but the smile in his eyes was still there. He cleared his throat and finally said sternly, "Who said I came back to see her?"

Ying Buzhi secretly raised his eyebrows, and of course he didn't dare to refute. ——Others might not know about this action of rushing back to the mansion, but how could he not know? In the past, he had gone to the Central Colonel's Office so many times, and basically there were a lot of things to do. Whenever he went there, he could never come back on the same day.

Since returning from Jiaozhou in the middle of the year, he has been very busy every day. According to the Marquis's previous personality, he would not go back home every day if he thought it was troublesome. After all, the main camp is in Tianliang, and the Central Colonel's Office is in the suburbs of Beijing. Running back and forth is tiring and troublesome, and it wastes time.

But now it’s different. Ever since he became close to the Marquis’s wife, not to mention going to the Central Colonel’s Office, even if he went to Huiyang, he had to rush back on the same day.

*

After a few days of interaction, Cheng Ao did find a few people from the outer courtyard, but this first batch were all house-born children who were left alone in the mansion.

It takes some time to socialize with adults, and the adults have been enslaved in the mansion for a long time, and their relationships are complicated. Only after a complete background check can we win them over.

The children are different. The younger ones have not been assigned to any house yet. Most of those who are left alone do odd jobs in the backyard. Due to their low status, they cannot come to the front yard, so they are still new faces in the mansion.

On the morning of the first day of the month, Cheng Mu led the servants into Wuyuan quietly.

At that time, Wei Chu spread a rush mat on the door panel, Zong Xiang was serving beside him, and the second young master's wife was sitting on a table, fanning herself lightly in her hand, looking at everything through the drapery.

There are four boys and two girls in total.

Aunt Cheng said: The oldest here is seventeen years old and the youngest is fourteen. Either their fathers have died or their mothers are crazy, or they have confused fathers, but they don't take care of things. The children find odd jobs to do by themselves, and there is no distribution. As long as those who stutter can support themselves, it's fine.

Sang Ling first fixed his eyes on the oldest boy. He had a gray face, yellow-black skin, broad cheekbones, and a somewhat hunched body, probably due to long-term malnutrition.

Aunt Cheng followed the young lady's gaze and knelt beside her to introduce in a low voice, "This child has no father and has been brought up by his mother. His mother passed away two years ago, and he is left alone. He helps pour swill in the back of the kitchen. I asked around and heard that he has been eating only occasionally and relies on the chef to feed him. When he is hungry -" she swallowed and continued, "he drinks swill."

That's why he looks like this.

Sang Ling felt a flash of pity in his heart, but he quickly regained his composure, "Then this guy is easy to keep. What's his personality like?"

"You asked the right question." Old Madam Cheng laughed. "Among these children, I still don't know his personality. He doesn't interact with anyone and doesn't talk much. I want to find out what kind of person he is, but I don't know where to start. I only know that people call him Ah Zeng and he is diligent in pouring swill and working efficiently. I also think that his background is really good. If we take him back, he will be ours and there will be no need to drag things out later."

This is indeed the case. Although such people are pitiful, they are also clean. Whoever takes him in will be his first master. If you treat him well, you can basically gain his loyalty.

Sang Ling nodded and looked to the right at the second girl.

"This is the daughter of the old embroiderer in the back room, her given name is Yuan." Aunt Cheng went on to introduce, "Her mother is blind and can't work now, and her father is a drunkard. Although he works in the side courtyard, he often causes trouble. Aunt Fang wanted to kick him out a long time ago. Fortunately, this girl is good at sewing, so she kept a family for her. Now she and her mother live in the back room, and her father lives in the back of the third side courtyard."

"What's her temperament like?"

"She's very steady." Cheng gave him a look with deep meaning in her words, "I like her the most."

After hearing this, Sang Ling understood. The back room was where the maids of Hou Fu lived - a place where women gathered and the best outlet for news.

In the back room, they must leave someone there.

She nodded again, and then finished looking at the remaining ones. She had not decided who to keep that day. Almost ten days later, she finally decided on A Zeng and Yuan.

There was no need to worry about Yuan. She was still doing her embroidery and just paid attention to the back room. Wei Chu would go there every once in a while to get news, so Sang Ling didn't have to worry too much.

But this A Zeng - even Cheng Ao hasn't figured out his personality yet.

But I still have to explain it clearly.