Chapter 6 Sisters-in-law
Xu Shuhe's sudden harsh words startled everyone present.

Those who were timid immediately knelt down.

Once someone took the lead, those who originally did not want to kneel dared not to kneel anymore, and immediately the whole yard was filled with people kneeling on the ground.

"Young Madam, what do you mean? We servants really don't know what we did wrong."

Tinglan still took the lead in asking questions, but was obviously a little scared.

After all, they saw with their own eyes yesterday how Xu Shuhe easily took care of Chun Liu with the help of the Third Young Master.

After being beaten with thirty boards, I heard that Chunliu was lying on the bed unable to move.

However, when Tinglan asked the question, Xu Shuhe did not answer, but just gave a wink to Xinyue beside him.

The latter immediately stepped forward and snorted, "You don't even know what you did wrong, and yet you still have to ask the young lady. It seems like you should relearn the rules. The two who were guarding the gate yesterday, stand up!"

After he finished speaking, a third-class maid and a servant who were kneeling behind the crowd looked at each other, then stood up tremblingly and walked out of the line.

"Don't you know what day it was yesterday? Even on ordinary days, the Young Madam's courtyard would not allow a maid to barge in at will. You two really did a good job. How much benefit did Chunliu give you, or did someone else inform you that you dared to let anyone in front of the Young Madam and act so presumptuous?!"

Xinyue was not ambiguous at all, and she scolded him with a frown.

As Xu Shuhe's only maidservant who came with her as a dowry, she was naturally protective of her master and was also capable.

"I dare not. It was Miss Chunliu who said that she would bring her son to kowtow to the young lady. I was confused for a moment and then..."

"You're still trying to deceive me!" Xinyue scolded, "If you don't tell the truth, you'll be beaten with thirty sticks each and sold out! On the day of the young master and the young mistress' wedding, you made such a mistake, even if you're beaten to death, it wouldn't be too much!"

Upon hearing this, the two men became obviously anxious.

The young third-class maid looked flustered. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but was grabbed by the servant. Then the servant fell to her knees and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Young Madam, please spare me, Young Madam, please spare me. It was Miss Chunliu who gave us the reward money, and she brought her son with her when she came. We, low-ranking servants, dare not stop her. Please spare me, Young Madam!"

The maid was crying so hard that tears and snot were all over her body. Only then did Xu Shuhe finally speak.

"Okay, you did something wrong, but Xinyue is too impatient. You have been serving in the mansion for a while, so I will give you a chance to mend your ways. Besides, the Third Young Master and I just got married, which is a happy occasion. I don't want to kill anyone and bring bad luck."

As she said this, her eyes swept over the crowd imperceptibly, and she saw that Tinglan's face seemed to be relieved.

After retracting his gaze, Xu Shuhe continued.

"But if you do something wrong, you still have to be punished. I will punish each of you with fifteen strokes of the cane and deduct one month's salary from each of you."

Hearing this, the old woman and the maid both breathed a sigh of relief.

It does hurt to be fined, but it is better than being beaten with a stick and then sold.

Besides, they managed to keep their mouths shut and didn't let the Third Young Master's wife dig out the person behind the scenes, so they didn't offend any more people.

So now we are all expressing our gratitude.

Xu Shuhe waved his hand, asked them to leave, and then spoke again.

"I am not a cruel person. I have always been clear about rewards and punishments. From now on, we will be master and servant for life. I have also prepared some gifts for you."

As she spoke, Xinyue came into the room and brought out a tray with purses neatly placed on it.

Of course, the reward money was inside.

Seeing that there was a reward, the eyes of the people who had been nervous just now brightened up again.

After noticing their changes, Xu Shuhe ordered Xinyue to distribute the purses to them one by one.

"As long as you work hard under the young lady's name, you will naturally receive rewards in the future." Xinyue knocked on the purses as she distributed them.

After the rewards were distributed, Xu Shuhe set up a few more rules before letting everyone go. Today's punishment and reward had a good effect, and the people below were much more obedient.

But that's not enough.

After entering the house, Xu Shuhe called Xinyue to his side and whispered.

"Look for an opportunity to tell the others in the courtyard that the original reward was going to be more, but because of what happened yesterday, I was not happy, so I deducted one or two taels of silver from each person."

"Good plan girl!"

Xinyue understood immediately.

Xu Shuhe smiled, then corrected him, "Remember to call them Madam and Master from now on. This is the Chen family, not the Xu family. Don't break the rules yourself."

"Yes, I remember." Xinyue nodded.

Chen Zhi didn't come back at lunch time.

Xu Shuhe asked some people and was told that they usually ate in the shop.

After much thought, Xu Shuhe ordered the kitchen to prepare two side dishes and asked Xinyue to send them to Chen Zhi.

When she was in school, she envied her classmates most whose parents would bring them lunch at noon. Naturally, the taste of the big pot meals at school was not as good as the small stove at home.

Of course, the most important thing is that she lives under someone else's roof, so who would bring her food?

Now it seems that a kid like Chen Zhi still lacks love.

In the afternoon, Xu Shuhe and Xinyue were preparing gifts for tomorrow's return visit when they heard a maid coming to the door to announce that the Second Young Master's wife had arrived.

Feng's legitimate daughter-in-law, what is she doing here?
Although he was confused, he still had to save face and immediately asked someone to invite Li Mingzhu in.

"Sister-in-law, I was so busy yesterday that I didn't have time to talk to you properly. Today I specially brought something to see you. I hope I didn't disturb your rest?"

As soon as she entered the door, Li Mingzhu spoke with a smile.

She has an oval face and her eyes are like crescent moons when she smiles, which makes her look very friendly.

Xu Shuhe immediately greeted him with a smile.

"How can it be a disturbance? Originally, I should have gone to ask for gifts from my second sister-in-law first, but I have to go back to my parents' home tomorrow, and I haven't packed my things yet. I'm delayed. Sister-in-law, please sit down. Xinyue, go and make a pot of tea."

"We are a family. You go to my place and I come to your place. It's all the same. There's no need to be fussy about it."

As Li Mingzhu spoke, she asked her maid to divide the things she brought into two portions and place them on the table.

"These are for you and my third brother as wedding gifts. The other two are prepared by my husband and I for my aunt. When you go back tomorrow, take them with you. We will be relatives in the future. This is a little gift from us young people."

Seeing what she did, she really is someone who knows how to get things done.

Very smooth.

If it weren't for his stepmother-in-law Feng's intervention, Xu Shuhe would have been completely unprepared for his sister-in-law Li Mingzhu.

"Sister-in-law really loves my husband and me, and she even sent us gifts." Xu Shuhe replied with a smile, "My mother will be even happier when she sees these gifts from sister-in-law. We are a small Xu family, so we love to be lively."

"You're being too polite again. We're sisters-in-law and a family, yet you're still talking about these things." Li Mingzhu curled her lips.

Finally, he looked around and lowered his voice.

"Don't blame me for being nosy. You and I both married into the family and know the hardships of being a daughter-in-law. I came to see you today, not only to give you a gift, but also to comfort you. I was afraid that you were unhappy because of Chunliu in the third room. But now that I see that you look good, I feel relieved."

(End of this chapter)