Chapter 20 Shameless
It turned out that Li Yapo had a cooperation with the owner of the clothing store Cao. Li Yapo brought customers to the store, and the store returned money to Li Yapo.
If Li Yapo was just bringing customers to this store to make some money, it would not be considered unethical. However, this store is a shady one, and Li Yapo is even more shady.
The clothes sold in the store all look like good materials but are actually inferior products. This kind of fabric looks like satin and has the same luster as satin, especially under the light and sunlight, it is even more oily and smooth than satin. This is why so many candles are lit in this store. In fact, this material is just good-looking but useless.
It only shines brightly in the light, but in the dark, it is not as good as ordinary clothes. Moreover, this material is not as breathable as silk, it is very stuffy to wear, and once washed, it will fade seriously. In short, it is the kind of clothes that can only be worn once.
Poor quality of the clothes would be fine, but the most important thing is the IOU that the store asked Wang’s mother and daughter to put their fingerprints on. There are many twists and turns in it, including the huge interest rate that ordinary people cannot see. If the case is investigated and reported to the government, the people who put their fingerprints on it will not be able to deny it.
Li Yapo took Wang’s mother and daughter back to Renma City in a horse-drawn carriage. This time, the mother and daughter found a suitable maid from another shopkeeper. The maid’s surname was Qian. She was tall and thin, and looked capable and smart. She was also very enthusiastic towards Mrs Wang, calling her “Madam” all the time.
Sure enough, when one wears luxurious clothes, others will look at them with more respect. Both Mrs Wang and Wang Luoxue realized that how to dress is very important.
Mrs. Qian also enthusiastically introduced her skills to Mrs Wang, saying that she cooked very well, which was exactly what Wang wanted. These days, the food at home sounded like pig food, and they had to improve the diet quickly.
Mrs Wang happily arranged with the shopkeeper to hire this woman named Qian. Qian followed Mrs Wang out of the horse market and asked, “Madam, where is our carriage?”
Mrs Wang’s face darkened: “It’s only a short distance from here to my home, why take a carriage?”
Mrs. Qian shut up and followed Mrs Wang quietly.
As they walked and walked, Mrs. Qian felt puzzled, thinking that the distance was not short.
Mrs. Qian didn’t expect that Mrs. Wang would lead her to a village and finally into a very ordinary courtyard. Mrs. Wang said to Mrs. Qian, “We are here. The kitchen is in the west room. Hurry up and cook some food.”
“There are four people in the family, so you only need to cook for four people. Don’t waste money by cooking more.”
Mrs. Qian secretly groaned in her heart, wondering why she had chosen such a poor family. However, she couldn’t just leave. She still had money deposited with the shopkeeper. If she couldn’t work for even a month, she would not get the deposit back.
When Mrs. Qian walked into the kitchen, she saw a mess. She went forward and cleaned the kitchen neatly and cleanly. Then she found where the firewood, rice, oil and salt were, but did not find any vegetables, so she asked Mrs. Wang where the vegetables were.
Mrs Wang said there was a vegetable garden and a chicken coop behind the house, so she asked Mrs. Qian to pick the vegetables and kill the chickens herself.
When Mrs. Qian heard this, she almost fainted. When cooking for a wealthy family, the ingredients were already prepared and she was only responsible for cooking and at most helping to light the fire. It was absolutely impossible for her to prepare the dishes and cook at the same time.
Besides, this family has to pick the vegetables from the fields and kill the chickens themselves, which is really too troublesome.
But since she was there, she might as well make the best of it. Mrs. Qian had no choice but to go behind the house to pick vegetables and look for chickens. However, she found that the vegetable patch was very dry, as if it had not been watered for a long time. The vegetables were wilted and not fresh at all.
Mrs. Qian picked some vegetables and went to the chicken coop to get the chickens. However, she saw that the chickens were only half grown, so it would be a pity to kill them now.
When Su Wan was around, she didn’t let Mrs Wang kill the half-grown chickens. Mrs Wang always bought them at the market. But now Mrs Wang had just spent money to buy clothes and a maid, so she thought she should save some money, hence she ordered to kill the half-grown chickens at home.
Normally, it would not take long for Mrs. Qian to cook a meal, but this required cleaning the kitchen, picking vegetables, killing chickens, fetching water, and carrying firewood. After cooking a meal, Mrs. Qian was exhausted.
The meal was ready when the Wang family came back.
Mrs Wang, Father Wang, Wang Luosheng and Wang Luoxue, exactly four people in total.
Mrs. Qian was stunned. Wang asked her to cook for four people and not to cook any more. What would she eat then?
While Mrs. Qian was in a daze, Mrs Wang brought out a plate of pickled vegetables and two dried steamed buns and placed them next to the stove in the kitchen, saying, “Mrs. Qian, this is your meal. Come over here and eat.”
When Mrs. Qian walked into the kitchen, she felt a nameless anger rising in her heart. This customer was really inhuman. She had no objection to letting her eat by the stove, after all, she was a woman, and it was indeed inappropriate to eat with the master. But what did it mean to let her eat pickles and steamed buns? Mrs. Qian had worked for several customers and had never eaten pickles and steamed buns. Those wealthy families would also have two dishes for their servants, and meat was often seen.
The Wang family really doesn’t treat people as human beings.
No wonder the sisters all said that we can’t go to small families, they are too stingy.
But one has to bow his head under the eaves, so Mrs. Qian endured it, she would work for a month, kept her deposit, and then stopped working for the Wang family.
After Mrs. Qian ate the pickled vegetable buns and washed the pot, Mrs Wang came over and arranged her daily chores.
Every day, she has to prepare three meals a day for the family, wash the dishes after meals, tidy up the house, clean the yard, water the vegetable garden behind the house, feed the chickens, clean the chicken coop, and wash all the dirty clothes taken off by the family. In addition, she has to work at Wang’s mill for two hours every day.
After hearing this, Mrs. Qian had only one thought in her mind: this was a way of treating her like a donkey. All this work could not be done by one person at all. This was clearly a job for three people.
In a wealthy family, there is a division of labor, and at least three maids are needed. What’s more, the most hateful thing about the Wang family is that the work of the mill should be done by other hired workers, but they let a maid like them do it. What kind of logic is that?
Mrs. Qian decided to forget about her deposit.
Fortunately, Mrs Wang said, “You just came today, you can start doing these tasks tomorrow.”
There was still one night left to rest, so Mrs. Qian decided to grit her teeth and persevere. After all, the deposit was equivalent to a month’s salary.
Mrs. Qian went to the firewood room arranged by Wang for her and lay down. After she had rested for a short while, she heard Wang Luoxue calling her.
When Mrs. Qian arrived at Wang Luoxue’s room, Wang Luoxue asked Mrs. Qian to prepare water for her to wash her face, prepare water for her to drink before going to bed, and prepare clothes and jewelry for her to wear tomorrow.
In a wealthy family, these are the tasks that a first-class personal maid should do. Mrs. Qian thought to herself that this family had assigned the personal serving work done by a first-class maid, the room cleaning work done by a second-class maid, the laundry work done by a third-class maid, the yard sweeping work done by a fourth-class maid, as well as the household chores and the work of a kitchen cook to herself. Oh, and there was also the work at the mill. If you counted carefully, it was the work of six people.
Mrs. Qian felt that maybe she forget about the deposit of one month’s salary.
Mrs. Qian was hesitating, but what happened next made her certain that she could not continue working in this family even if she would not get her deposit.
In addition to preparing water for Wang Luoxue to wash and the next day’s clothes, she was also asked to prepare water for Wang Luosheng and Wang’s father to wash, tea in the middle of the night, and the next day’s clothes.
Not only does she have to be Wang Luoxue’s personal maid, she also has to be the personal maid of this family of four.
If you count carefully, she is doing the work of nine people.
Mrs. Qian finished all these things silently. She was exhausted. She had decided that she could not continue to work in the Wang family. She would leave early tomorrow morning.
The reason why she did not refuse to do these jobs was that Mrs. Qian had been serving people for many years after all, and she did not want to have a conflict with her customers. She just planned to say early the next morning that she was not feeling well and could not serve the Wang family.
The next morning, when Wang was shouting at Mrs. Qian to prepare hot water for the family to wash their faces and prepare breakfast, Mrs. Qian told Mrs Wang that she had felt chest tightness and shortness of breath as soon as she went to bed last night, and she still had a headache when she woke up this morning. She had to go home to see a doctor and could not continue working in the Wang family. She hoped that Mrs Wang could pay her half a day’s wages yesterday so that she could go back to see a doctor.
When Wang heard that Mrs Qian was sick and was afraid that she would not be able to do a good job in the future, she naturally agreed to let Mrs Qian leave. However, Wang refused Mrs Qian’s request for half a day’s wages.
Mrs Wang also asked Mrs. Qian to help the family with their washing and brushing teeth this morning and to make breakfast and wash the dishes before she could leave.
Mrs. Qian had already expected that Wang would not pay her for half a day’s work, so she was prepared to accept it. However, Mrs Wang did not pay her and asked her to do the work in the morning before leaving, which annoyed Mrs. Qian. Naturally, Mrs. Qian would not do these jobs for Mrs Wang.
Mrs. Qian didn’t want to come into conflict with her master’s family so as to avoid having to find another employer, so she left the Wang family quickly, saying that she had a headache and was about to faint.
However, although Mrs. Qian does not want to have a direct conflict with the Wang family, it does not mean that she will not go to Renma City to tell people the whole story.
Mrs Wang had no choice but to do these chores herself. She was so tired of doing them these days.
Wang Luosheng had already gotten up and was waiting for Mrs. Qian to fetch water for washing his face. After waiting for a while and seeing no one coming, Wang Luosheng thought to himself that this old woman was not well behaved, so he shouted for Mrs. Qian to fetch some water for him.
“That damn old woman has a headache and has left. Go fetch some water yourself.” Mrs Wang told Wang Luosheng the news that Mrs Qian has left.
Wang Luosheng was helpless. As a filial son, he couldn’t order his own mother around, so he went to get water from the water tank and washed his face with cold water.
Fortunately, Mrs. Qian filled the water tank yesterday, otherwise Wang Luosheng would have to go to the well to fetch water himself, which would have been another setback.
The Wang family had just gone through another chaotic morning, and Wang Luosheng couldn’t wait to hire a capable maid for his family.
Because of the influence of his family, he had a terrible time in school these days.
When he went to school, Wang Luosheng either forgot to bring this or that, and he encountered all kinds of inconveniences when studying.
In the past, Su Wan prepared these for him.
