Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 528: Not Even a Well

After a pause, he continued, "Unlike me, I usually don't even step out of the gate of the Minister's Mansion, and only walk around in my own courtyard. The distance I have walked in the past half month has exceeded the distance I have walked in the previous twenty years combined."

While holding a handful of flower buds, he also pointed out his noble and wealthy family background.

Hua Lei smiled calmly and said, "Indeed, compared with the vast territory of the Great Sheng Dynasty, the small courtyard is like a well.

Besides, there is an infinitely vast world outside the territory of the Great Sheng Dynasty. The small courtyard may not even be considered a well." Hualei said with a smile.

You can play yin and yang, and so can I. Although I know your flattery is not sincere, I don’t want to say it to you even if it is false flattery.

Qian's face looked a little ugly. Looking at this sister-in-law who was one year younger than her, she didn't know how to respond. After all, what the other party said was not wrong.

"What my sister-in-law said is true. By the way, I was so engrossed in chatting with my sister-in-law that I forgot about the important things. My brother and I have been traveling for five or six days straight.

It's getting late and it's raining, so we need two rooms. We're too tired to rest at the post station for a night." Although Qian was willing to lower her status, she couldn't save face for a moment and stopped talking.

"Yes, it is really tiring to travel. Zhenzhu and I were both shaken to pieces and we haven't recovered yet." Hualei nodded in agreement.

Since you can hold it back, so can I. Hualei is not in a hurry at all. There are quite a lot of people in the post station, but everyone is very tired and not very familiar with each other, so there is no one to chat with. Since you want to chat, I will accompany you.

Seeing that Hua Lei was unmoved and didn't understand what was going on, Qian felt helpless. After a pause, she finally opened her mouth and asked.

"Qiu He also asked the innmaster just now, and he said that there are no rooms left in the inn. I heard that my sister-in-law has booked five rooms. I wonder if my sister-in-law can..."

Qian looked at Hualei and stopped talking. Hualei's surprised expression made her not know what to say next.

Hua Lei certainly knew what Qian was going to say next. If Qian came in and said this directly, she would readily follow Zhenzhu's suggestion and agree to let the maids vacate a room for her.

However, Qian's series of words and deeds really made Hualei feel a little disgusted. Since he was asking for help, he had to adopt a humble attitude. Since he was self-righteous and looked down on others, he had to adopt a high attitude that looked down on everything.

What was going on here? If I agreed directly, wouldn't Qian think I was a fool and easy to manipulate? Was she just waiting for her to ask and then rushing to make room for her?

So, Hua Lei looked at Qian in surprise and didn't respond, as if she didn't understand what Qian wanted to say.

There was silence in the room for a moment, Hua Lei and Qian stared at each other.

The little girl behind Qian looked at Qian, then at Hualei, and tightly shut her mouth. Sister Qiuhe had already been turned away, so she might as well forget it.

It's obvious that this lady is not someone who can be manipulated by others. What she says is probably no more important than someone else's fart.

"I wonder...can sister-in-law make two rooms available for us?" Qian swallowed and still stated the purpose of her visit.

My natal sister-in-law has always disliked me, a married sister-in-law, for eating and living with them. Today, I finally have a chance to show off, and I must fight for it.

"This..., second sister-in-law, you can see that we only have five rooms in total, and twenty or thirty maids and servants are crowded there sleeping on the floor. If you want two rooms, the maids and servants will..." Hua Lei wanted to say that the maids and servants would be stacking up on top of each other.

"Sister-in-law, let the maids and servants work harder tonight, and have more people to keep watch together!" Qian said.

During the Great Sheng Dynasty, there was indeed a custom that when the master was sleeping at night, one or two maids would sleep on the floor next to the master's bed and keep watch. They would serve the master tea and go to the toilet.

However, Hualei was not used to this custom. Before she got married, she never asked Qingying and Qinglian to keep watch at night. After she got married, she even less asked her maids to keep watch at night.

Otherwise, it would be so embarrassing if there was a girl sleeping next to the bed when I was having sex with Rong Jin at night.

Looking at Qian, Hua Lei said, "Even if we let more of them take night shifts, the remaining room won't be enough for them."

"Then if we let the maids and old women sit down, they should be able to sit down, right?" Qian suggested again.

Hualei looked at Qian with some disdain, and confirmed once again that Qian was not the same kind of person as herself.

In fact, Qian's idea was considered normal in the Great Sheng Dynasty. Moreover, it was already considered kind. On the contrary, Hua Lei's behavior was a bit eccentric.

Hua Lei went to bed early these two nights, so she didn't see anything. Many maids and women from other families usually huddled under the carriage, back to back, and closed their eyes.

Even if the carriage was empty, the owner would not let them sleep in. The grooms and servants would all doze off in the drafty stables.

Therefore, Hua Lei didn't know how incredible it was that she had booked rooms for the maids and grooms. In the eyes of the maids, she was no different from a compassionate living Bodhisattva.

"I don't know how many days it will take. We can't let the maids and old women stay up all day. They have a lot of things to do during the day." Hua Lei said in embarrassment.

"This..." Qian looked at Hualei and her face became even uglier.

After a few moments of silence, Hua Lei said, "How about this, I'll ask the maids to vacate a room for your brother and his wife to stay in.

My brother-in-law is on duty tonight and is not in the room. You can just sleep in the same room with Zhenzhu for a while, is that ok? By the way, is my second brother also on duty today?"

"My husband is on duty today, but... he also needs to go back to his room in the second half of the night." Qian said hesitantly.

"Don't they say that the shift is for twelve consecutive hours? How can my second brother go back to his room to sleep?" Hua Lei looked at Qian and asked with some doubt.

During this journey, whenever it was Jiang Yunqi's turn to be on duty, he would patrol outside all night. Even if a few people took turns to take a nap, he would not return to the room.

"Sister-in-law, isn't it the same for everyone? Who would really stay up all night?" Of course, Qian was embarrassed to say that she and Pei Rongyu had been married for less than a month.

When Pei Rongyu was not on duty, she would pester him all night. Even when he was on duty, he would often return to her room in the late night to spend some time with her.

Moreover, the second brother also said that patrolling like this was just a pretense, and there was no need to really stay out all the time. So Pei Rongyu really had never completed a full night's patrol mission.