Because it took a long time to do the cleaning, Yuxi and the others could only make do with a simple lunch. They just had a large pot of noodles, plus four small dishes.

Although their meals were very simple, Han Jianye alone finished three big bowls of noodles. After eating, he rubbed his belly and said to Yuxi, “Si Mei, since you’re here, from now on, there will be nothing else for me to worry about.” Although grown men would not be so particular about food, as long as they could eat, he was still not used to the food here.

Yuxi laughed as she said, “You shouldn’t be this unrestrained even if they are delicious, remember? How can you already be this big and still act like a child?”

Although her words were reproachful, Han Jianye was still particularly happy to hear them. Yuxi came to Yu City to get married. Even though the environment was not very good, he was still delighted to have a family around him.

After lunch, Yuxi did not take a nap but began to tidy up the house. Han Jianye had someone clean it up before, but Yuxi still couldn’t stand the standard of cleanliness after seeing the inside and got it done one more time.

Han Jianye also helped, but after sweeping two rooms, he couldn’t help but ask, “Yuxi, why don’t we buy two tough old women servants to do the menial work?”

Yuxi was unfamiliar with the situation in Yu City and suggested. “Then, why don’t Er Ge go get a yapo and have her bring over a few tough old women servants.” She didn’t need to buy another personal attendant as she could just wait for Mama Bai and the other girls to arrive, but she had a huge shortage of old women servants.

Han Jianye put down his broom and said, “I’ll go now.” After living for more than 20 years, it was the first time he had to do any cleaning work. These chores were truly tedious, and he would prefer to go outside doing errands instead.

Han Yi didn’t dare to be lazy. He was very obedient as he did whatever Yuxi told him to do. But Yu Zhi stated impatiently, “Miss Han, why don’t you let me help Han Yi to carry the boxes in!” There were still more than twenty boxes in the outer courtyard!

Zijin said fiercely, “That won’t do.” She couldn’t do anything to Han Jianye, but she could still deal with Yu Zhi.

Yuxi lowered her head and smiled a little. It seemed like she wouldn’t have to worry about Zijin’s once in a lifetime event. As for Zisu, there is no hurry.

When Han Jianye brought the yapo, Yuxi had already cleaned up several rooms in the inner courtyard. As Han Jianye looked at the newly cleaned inner courtyard, his heart was a bit moved. He wished he could bring Lu Xiu over. This place needed a woman for it to look more like a home! But thinking of his still young sons, he put this idea down.

The yapo surname was Ai. As soon as she walked in, she seamlessly sized up Yuxi. There was nothing good to say about how Yuxi dressed herself up, but her appearance was first class. The yapo reckoned that Yuxi was probably a girl who had met with misfortune. The yapo pressed this thought down. Ai Yapo asked Yuxi with a smile on her face, “I wonder what kind of old women servants does Miss want?” The yapo knew that Han Jianye was a gongzi from the capital, so when she saw Yuxi, she thought she was Han Jianye’s concubine.

Yuxi was still quite experienced in picking people. “Clean family background, good health, and most importantly, able to work without being choosy, and nothing else.”

Ai Yapo smiled and nodded in response. She then asked another question, “I wonder if Miss want any more maids? I have just a few well-trained maids on hand.” The yapo’s eyes were also good. Once she saw Yuxi, she knew that Yuxi was used to being served.

Yuxi thought for a moment and nodded, “They should not be too old, probably around six to ten years old, but also have a clean family background.” It was best to train a maid around this age.

Ai Yapo inquired with a smile, “I wonder when Miss wants them to be here?” Once she was done with this business, she would make a fortune.

Yuxi replied, “Please send them tomorrow!” Han Jianye really couldn’t do his job well. Since he knew she needed people, he should have asked the yapo to bring over the servants for her selection, but now, she still had to wait for another day. She had never expected that this Second Master would be so obtuse!

Strings of Cash Coins

Ancient strings of copper coins

This image was taken by Gary Todd at Handan City Museum in Hebei, China.

When sending off the yapo, Yuxi had Zijin give the yapo a string of cash coins for carriage fee. This place was not like the capital, where ordinary people used copper coins, nor gave out golds and silvers.

This was also when Yuxi asked Yu Zhi to help bring the boxes in with Han Yi and Zijin. As for Master Yang, he went outside and wandered around.

Han Jianye rubbed his hands and asked with a smile, “Si Mei, what are you going to do with these medicinal herbs?”

How could Yuxi not know what Han Jianye had in mind when she looked at his expression. She replied, “Er Ge can take these herbs, but I have to pick some first to leave behind as a backup.” Since she said she would send these herbs to the military camp, she naturally had to keep her word.

Hearing this, Han Jianye was relieved and said, “Then you pick them first, and I’ll send the rest to the barracks once you’ve done picking.”

When Yuxi heard this, she frowned and asked, “Are there no medicinal herbs in the barracks?” She knew that there was a shortage of medicine, but looking at Han Jianye’s appearance, he seemed very anxious.

Tian Qi

Tian qi or notoginseng

/Panax notoginseng

Image Credit | frontiers in Pharmacology

Han Jianye explained, “It’s not that there are no medicinal herbs, just that they are incomplete. There are herbs in short supply but highly demanded, such as tian qi that are no longer available.”

Tian qi could stop bleeding, heal wounds, reduce inflammation and swelling. And it was also very effective for knife wounds. So it was not too much to say that it was a scarce medicinal herb. Only, Yuxi looked at Han Jianye suspiciously and asked, “How do you know I have tian qi here?” For Han Jianye to know about the herbs in the box, there could only be one explanation for it. He had opened all the boxes containing these herbs.

Han Jianye explained, “Your caravan have used your herbs while they were on the road, so I know what herbs you have here. I originally wanted to send them directly to the barracks, but Yun Qing disagreed. He said it’s your stuff, and you have to give your consent first.”

Yuxi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she said, “Are you so sure that I will hand over the herbs? Er Ge, these two carts of medicinal herbs are worth more than six thousand taels of silver!” Of course, the six thousand taels that Yuxi said included valuable herbs such as ginseng slices.

Han Jianye said, “You can consider this as a loan to your Er Ge, and Er Ge will return them to you later.”

Yuxi rolled her eyes at Han Jianye and said, “You owe me a lot for even coming out with that suggestion!” After saying that, Yuxi added, “By the way, tomorrow I’m going to buy a few old women servants and maids. Can you give me some money?”

Han Jianye was dumbfounded.

Yuxi asked, “Er Ge, where did all your salary go?” She knew that Han Jianye wouldn’t have any money on hand. In the past, when he was in the capital, he constantly invited his friends for a drink or something. Thus, his salary had never been enough. He often had to ask his mother to make up for it. Since he had come here, no one would control him, and his habit became even more severe.

Han Jianye said, “That little salary is not enough for me to have a few drinks.”

When Han Yi heard this, he interjected, “Miss, the Second Master uses his salary to help others.” Han Jianye was already old enough to feel uncomfortable asking his family for money when he was out on duty. Hence, he was now living on quite a tight budget.

Yuxi was not angry with Han Jianye for using his salary to help others. After all, the family didn’t live by relying on his money. “If those people are indeed in difficult situations and worth any help, it is also good for Er Ge to lend a hand.” His life in the capital these years had not been in vain. At least Han Jianye didn’t turn out as someone who would use his money to try to be on good terms with everyone. He genuinely used it to help people who were not well off.

When Han Jianye saw that Yuxi did not pursue this matter, his heart let out a sigh of relief. He was worried that Yuxi would scold him for it. “Don’t worry. I have a plan in mind.” If the person he helped did not deserve it, he would not have lent his hand.

At midnight, Han Jianye returned.

When Yuxi knew he had come back, she instructed someone to serve him a meal. The evening meal was relatively rich. There were four dishes and one soup—red braised pork belly, Yuxiang shredded pork, mapo tofu, stir-fried cabbage, and mushroom chicken stew. The main dish was still noodles. These noodles were all handmade and tasted very good. Of course, they were not made by Yuxi but by Zijin.

Since it was in the evening, Yuxi did not allow Han Jianye to overeat. She only allowed him to eat a bowl and a half of noodles. Eating without restraint was not good for the stomach.

After a full meal, Han Jianye told Yuxi, “Just now, I ran into Yun Qing at the barracks. He said he had free time the day after tomorrow. I wonder what your opinion is?”

Yuxi nodded her head and said, “I’m okay with that.” Two days were enough for her to tidy up the house.

On the following day, Ai Yapo brought some people to the house. This time, her attitude toward Yuxi became more respectful. At first, she thought that Yuxi was Han Jianye’s concubine, and she had somewhat looked down on her. But now she knew that Yuxi was the young lady of Duke Han’s Residence and General Yun’s fiancée. Where would she dare to treat her half-heartedly?

Yuxi finally picked four tough old women servants and two aged six young maids. When she heard Ai Yapo say it cost a total of 30 taels of silver, she raised an eyebrow. She did not expect it to be that cheap.

Seeing this situation, Yu Zhi felt it was a bit wasteful and said, “Miss Han, Mama Qu and the others will be coming in a few days. So, you don’t need to buy so many people, right?” Having Mama Qu and Mama Bai was already enough. There was no need to buy six more people; a few old women servants would do at most.

Zijin glared at Yu Zhi and said, “Miss will marry the general. How can it be enough only to have Mama Qu to serve Miss?” Even these few people were still not sufficient! The only thing was, Miss only picked this few.

Yu Zhi was a little awkward. He was used to doing everything himself, and he would be uncomfortable if he had to be served.

The woman looked at the silver ticket handed over by Zijin, shook her head and said, “Miss, we only accept cash, not silver tickets.” It’s not that the woman suspected that the silver ticket was fake, but if she cashed the silver ticket at a money changer, the thirty taels of silver would cost nearly two taels of silver in handling charges. Moreover, there was no money bank in Yu City. Therefore, she had to go to Xinping City, which was hundreds of miles away, to exchange it.

When Yuxi heard these words, she thought that she couldn’t do business with this yapo at all. But she didn’t say anything more as she just glanced at Zijin.

Only then did Zijin enter the house and take thirty taels of silver. Fortunately, when they came over, Miss had asked her to go to the money changer to change three hundred taels of silver cash, or they would have lost face this time.

After sending the yapo away, Yuxi ordered the four old women servants to clean all the rooms in the outer courtyard. She wrote a list and asked Han Yi to buy things according to it.

After three days of work, they finally tidied up the house.

When the appointed time came, Yun Qing cleaned himself up and came over. This time, he no longer had a full face beard. But when he shaved off the beard that he had saved for more than three years, he felt sad to do so. But then he thought, just in case, Yuxi would look at him with a face of disgust just like Zijin. He forced himself to be ruthless enough to shave his beard off.