Chapter 375 - Rejoice (2/2)

“Acting so recklessly! Where are your manners! With your behavior, if we’re at the General’s Estate, you would have already been punished numerous times!! Erya, if you continue to act like this, how am I supposed to trust you to serve Young Miss?” Yingtao brought forth the imposing force of a head maidservant and chided the young girl.

The little girl named Erya was a maidservant who was bought by Yu Xiaocao beside the ox and horse market at the beginning of spring. There was a market formed spontaneously beside the ox and horse market. It was a place where there was no lack of people selling children and women. Erya’s mother was seriously ill, and they needed the money from selling her to save her life. Yu Xiaocao paid five taels to buy this thirteen or fourteen year old girl, having her help the family do chores at home.

Erya wasn’t afraid of her kind and amiable young miss. All the masters in the family… treated her very well. It was just this Yingtao who scolded her every time they met, as if Older Sister Yingtao was never satisfied with anything that she did. Erya was slightly stunned by Yingtao’s stern expression. She looked timidly at her young miss in hope that she could help her.

“Alright, Yingtao, we’re not at the General’s Estate, so there’s no need to be so strict. Relax a little, lest everyone feels uncomfortable!” As expected, Yu Xiaocao spoke up.

Yingtao looked at her young miss with slight aggrievement and said, “Young Miss, the mistress said that, when you’re a few years older, they will take you back to the General’s Estate and help you find a good husband. Since Erya is a maidservant that you bought, she will naturally follow you to the estate. If we don’t change her bad habits now, she will definitely cry in the future!”

Yu Xiaocao glared at her and said, “Who said that I must get married in the capital? There are so many rules in those noble and wealthy families. ‘The courtyard of a noble household is as deep as the sea’, so I don’t want to make trouble for myself! I have already thought about it. In the future, I’ll build a manor in the outskirts of Tanggu Town. I’ll buy and rent out all the surrounding land and rent them out so that I can be a carefree landlady! After my death, the manor and farmlands will be rewarded to my loyal servants to thank them for taking care of me in old age and burying me when I die…”

“Young Miss, what are you saying!! Which young maiden doesn’t get married when she reaches an appropriate age? This won’t do. I need to tell Madam Liu to have a word with you!!” Yingtao stomped her feet and went back to the front courtyard with a pout.

Seeing her figure disappear in the backyard, Erya became lively again. With a flattering expression, she moved closer to Yu Xiaocao and giggled foolishly, “Young Miss, Erya will serve you well! I’m not very greedy, so at that time, you can just give me five mu of farmland and two tiled-roof houses!”

Yu Xiaocao glared at her and sullenly said, “I, your young miss, will live a long life, so you better stay alive!”

Although Erya was a little naïve, she wasn’t a fool. She pondered over her young miss’s words. ‘That’s right! I’m two years older than Young Miss. By the time Young Miss died in bed due to old age, I might have died a long time ago. Even if I’m fortunate enough to be alive, I would already be in my seventies or eighties. I wouldn’t be able to farm even if I got the land ah!’ Erya’s face scrunched up, and she looked as if she was ‘grieving the loss of her parents’.

“Alright! Even if you passed away earlier, aren’t your children and grandchildren still around? At that time, the rewards that belong to you will be given to your descendants. Do you really have to look like someone in your family died?” Yu Xiaocao scolded her for being hopeless in her heart.

When Erya heard this, she immediately became happy and said, “That’s right! When I can’t serve Young Miss anymore, I can have my daughter continue to serve you ah!!”

“How are you so certain that you’ll give birth to a daughter in the future?” Yu Xiaocao teased her.

Erya replied matter-of-factly, “I will just continue to have children until I get a daughter!! Our village’s Old Zhang’s family had nine sons in a row before they finally got a daughter. I won’t be as unlucky as them, right?”

Yu Xiaocao rolled her eyes, ‘Most people longed for sons, yet you won’t give up until you get a daughter!’ This shameless girl hadn’t even reached marriageable age yet, but she was already clamoring about giving birth to a daughter. Was this really okay?

“Oh right, you just mentioned something about a caravan of horses and horse carriage?” Erya was slightly stunned by Yu Xiaocao’s sudden change of topic.

“It’s the first time that I have seen such a large convoy and such a luxurious horse carriage. There must be a high-ranking official passing by our Dongshan Village!!” Erya had only arrived in Dongshan Village at the beginning of spring, so she didn’t know that Imperial Prince Jing’s Household had a mountain manor on the West Mountain. Thus, she was very surprised by what she saw.