Chapter 79 A bag of gold

　　Shu Huan was drafting those aromatic herbs. Just when she stretched and was about to take a rest, she saw Meijing came back smilingly. She (SH) leaned back in the chair, found a more comfortable position and asked lazily, "Did you carry the task through? How many people stayed?"

　　The moment Meijing hear her ask that, she laughed, "Everyone."

　　"Ah?" Shu Huan knew that Zhang Hanfang wouldn't like those old maids. It would be reasonable if she (ZHF) didn't let anyone stay. It was a surprise that she let everyone stay. She looked smilingly over, "Is it that you played some tricks?"

　　Meijing stuck out her tongue, "Second young mistress thinks too highly of me. I don't have such ability. Only today did I get to know how formidable those old maids are. I wouldn't dare to offend them in the future. Otherwise, even if they were scolding me, I would take it that they were praising me."

　　While talking, she remembered what had happened just now and laughed again, "They seemed to have discussed about it before. One praised how pretty miss Zhang was when she was young and how sweet-tempered she was. The other then said that a girl could change eighteen times between childhood and womanhood. Now, she grow up into someone no one could recognize…"

• A girl could change eighteen times between childhood and womanhood: a young woman is very different from the little girl she once was.

　　"Pfff…," Shu Huan also couldn't hold it in and also laughed. "Isn't this scolding her in disguise?"

　　"Right," Meijing covered her mouth to laugh. "They scolded very insidiously, but it happened that miss Zhang didn't get the meaning behind the words. However, her nanny is a clever one. Her face had darkened, but presumably she was annoyed at being hit yesterday. Moreover, how could her one mouth compete with the four mouths that were able to invert black and white of those old maids? Perhaps those old maids would even instigate to let miss Zhang reproach her. She didn't dare to open her mouth to point out and just watched miss Zhang let those four old maids stay. She was also forced to go get money to reward us."

• To invert black and white: to distort the truth deliberately

　　Talking till here, Meijing took one silver liang from her sleeves, put it in her palm in front of Shu Huan and said smilingly, "It seemed that Zhang family is rich. Even when they reward people, they used silver. This is what miss Zhang rewarded me. I have no place to put it. Asking second young mistress to keep it for me!"

　　Shu Huan knew the rule of Gu household. Servants weren't allowed to have a secret stash. Hence, the chest of clothes and jewelries of the maids weren't allowed to have locks on them. So, she also didn't refuse, took the silver and said, "Since you trust me, then I will keep it for you. Later when you marry, I will see how much dowry you have acc.u.mulated."

　　Meijing's face reddened after the last sentence. She complained, "Second young mistress loves to tease people!"

　　Shu Huan took out another empty box with a lock on it and put this silver in it. She smiled, "It's the big truth, how did it become a tease? Don't say that you aren't saving money to prepare for a dowry!"