Hai Yue had been in the residence for a year, so she naturally had a few companions who were on good terms with her, including the maidservants of the second and third branch.
Among them, the maidservant of the third branch, Hong Tao, had the best relationship with her.
They had entered the residence at the same time and had gone through thick and thin together, so their friendship was naturally different from others.
Hong Tao was tactfully assigned to the third household, while Hai Yue was assigned to the old lady's courtyard.
"I heard that you have added a second-rank servant girl in your house, and she is the one with the most limelight in the old lady's courtyard?"
"Yes, why are you asking this?"
"Of course I'm worried about you. You used to be the best of the second-rank maids. Now that she's here, I'm afraid it will affect your status."
"What status do I have?"
"Why are you treating me as an outsider? Others may not know, but how can I not know your feelings? You wanted to be the Prince's maidservant, but now that she's here, it's hard to say who will be the Prince's maidservant in the future."
"I'll only tell you one thing, but don't spread it. I'm afraid the Third Young Master's marriage will be brought forward. When the Third Young Master gets married, the Prince will definitely come back."
"Is the information accurate? Isn't Third Young Master's marriage only going to be held at the end of the year?"
"It's said that the bride's grandmother is sick and she's afraid she won't be able to make it. She's worried about the three-year mourning period, so she has plans to get married in advance. The specific date is still being discussed, and it will only be within these two months. Once this matter is settled, the Prince's return will also be set."
Now that the border was stable, the old lady hoped that the Prince would return early. Within a month, she had sent a few letters. This time, the Prince would probably be staying at home for a long time after returning to the capital, so he would have a maid by his side.
The Prince had a habit of leaving only one personal maidservant in his courtyard to lay paper and grind. Later, the Prince left the capital, and the maidservant also got married when she was of age.
"The old lady loves the Prince so much. At that time, she will definitely choose a servant girl from her own courtyard to serve the Prince. The head maidservant cannot leave the old lady, and the ones that can be brought out are the second-rank servant girls."
"The Prince is a heavenly person. Who in the residence doesn't want to work for the Prince? After serving for a long time, there is no fear of not being able to become the person who sleeps by the bed, and that would be a lifetime of heaven shaking wealth."
Hai Yue was beautiful, and if she became the Prince's pillow partner, she would also be able to benefit from it.
"Don't say anymore, be careful not to let others hear you." Hai Yue's face turned red when she heard this.
"There's no one around here, only the murmuring of water. Who else would hear this except you? I know you do things carefully, but I treat you as a true sister and hope that you can succeed. It's not wrong to advise you to guard against her. After all, she has received a gift from the Prince."
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing,"
Aside from being good at talking and handling matters, Hai Yue was also very hardworking. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to get to where she was today just by talking.
She had already worked very hard when there was no competition. Now that there was a competitive person, she worked even harder.
Serving the old lady tea, serving her meals, drinking soup, and so on were naturally not up to her to serve the master, but she did the work of setting up the food meticulously.
She had never made a mistake in choosing the dishes that the old lady liked to eat and which dishes should be served to her.
She had also taken good care of the flowers and grass in the house, and there had never been a situation where the flowers had withered and not been cleaned.
If it wasn't for the fact that she didn't know medicine, she would've fought to be in charge of Hai Tang's medicine prescription.
After the third branch had set the date for the Third Young Master's marriage, the residence had begun to prepare for various matters. The maidservants of each branch had been mobilized to help, and Hai Yue could no longer sit still.
The work assigned to each room was different. The maidservants in the old lady's courtyard were assigned to cutting stickers, wedding cakes, and sewing purses. When the time came, the whole manor would be covered with the word 'Yi', including the word 'Yi' on the red lanterns. The workload would be quite heavy.
The third-rank servant girls of Fushou Hall had to do rough work and didn't have the spare time to do such delicate work. The first-rank maidservants also had to take care of the old lady, so only the eight second-rank servant girls were most suitable for this job.
Hai Yue had always been the most capable of the second-rank maids. In the past, she was the one who arranged everything. Now, it was the same. She distributed the tasks of cutting the swastika and embroidering purses. There was a limit to how many tasks each maid had to do.
Every maidservant had been assigned a task, except for Qu Fulan.
Hai Yue explained to Hai Tang, "You need to prepare the medicine for the old lady. The seven of us are enough to do this work. You can focus on preparing the medicine for the old lady."
However, every time Qu Fulan finished preparing the medicine and went over to help, she would be pushed out by Hai Yue.
"This isn't a place you should be. It's more important to brew medicine for the old lady."
Qu Fulan was shut outside the door.
After a few times, people who didn't know what was going on would say that Qu Fulan was slacking off because she was making medicine for the old lady.
She did not know how the matter had reached the Third Madam's ears. Naturally, the Third Madam was not happy. Her son was about to get married, and it was her fortune that the servant girls in the residence could work for this marriage. There was actually such an insensible servant girl who took the opportunity to be lazy. This was really a slap to her face.
After asking around, she found out that it was Hai Tang from the old lady's courtyard.
She had an impression of this maidservant. Her daughter had wanted to bring her back to train her, but she gave up after an accident. She was an unlucky maidservant.
"Go and pass a message to Yue Yuan. Tell her that she has a servant girl who doesn't know the rules and ask her to discipline her."
At that time, Yue Yuan was serving by the old lady's side, and a maidservant came in to say that Granny Fang had come to look for her.
When the old lady heard it, she naturally let them in to talk. How could they whisper under her nose?
Granny Fang had this plan from the start, so she immediately came in to report without hesitation.
"We also know that she is busy preparing the old lady's medicinal cuisine. We don't expect her to help much, but she should at least participate. Even if it's just a purse, it's still a kind gesture. Or if they didn't mention her name from the beginning, no one would say anything. Now that she is on the list of workers and is not willing to help, isn't this bad luck?"
When Yue Yuan heard this, she subconsciously felt that Hai Tang was not such a person. There must be some reason, but now she did not know the reason and did not know how to explain it to her.
The old lady wasn't someone who would believe anything that someone else said. She immediately sent someone to get Hai Yue.
Since she was in charge of the work arrangements, it was natural to ask her first if there was anything.
"This is a misunderstanding," Hai Yue quickly explained. "I saw that she was busy preparing the medicine for the old lady, so I didn't let her participate."
Granny Fang sneered at the side, "It's important to prepare the medicine, but who would do it all day long? Besides, so many people have seen her doing nothing. Don't tell me that everyone has wronged her?"
After a pause, Granny Fang looked at Hai Yue's hand and continued, "You must have taken on all the needlework for her, right? Look at your hands that are all messed up."
Hai Yue was startled for a moment before she quickly hid her hand behind her back. It was as if she did not want the old lady to see it.
The old lady had already seen it, and it was hard to tell whether she was happy or angry.
"Call Hai Tang over."