Yun Jiao looked at him, "Why aren’t you going in?"
Ah Tie tugged at the tattered clothes he was wearing, "I, I’ll just be a servant from now on. I won’t go inside, I’ll just stay outside."
Mrs. Chen overheard the words from inside the room. She shook her head, "This child, sigh, he’s quite simple-minded."
She pulled Ah Tie into the room and looked him up and down, "These clothes of yours—" even using them as rags would be disgraceful.
She didn’t have the heart to say the rest.
Mrs. Chen shook her head, "Wait here, I’ll find you a set of Da Lang’s old clothes."
She went into Jiang Youzhi’s room and rummaged around, eventually finding an old set of clothes Jiang Youzhi had worn a few years ago, a blue jacket and pants that had two patches and were worn to fraying edges from washing.
She handed the clothes to Ah Tie and pointed to the kitchen, "Go fetch water yourself for a bath, and after washing, change into these clothes. Just throw out the ones you are wearing."
Ah Tie nodded and headed to the kitchen.
Mrs. Chen came in to discuss with Yun Jiao, "Where could Ah Tie sleep?"
Currently, both Qi Lang and Xiao Chuan are sleeping in the main hall, adding one more person would really leave no space.
Yun Jiao thought for a moment, "Let’s make do for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go into town and figure it out."
She had an idea in mind, to send Ah Tie to the Wang Family Pharmacy to learn under them for a while, to get familiar with medicinal herbs and their preparation.
However, she also knew that nowadays, to apprentice at a pharmacy, you have to pay the master silver.
Paying silver is not the issue; it’s also about whether they are willing to take you as an apprentice.
Sending someone to apprentice and the master ends up not needing them seems a bit unprincipled, not in line with the current master-apprentice norms, and she wasn’t sure if Manager Wang would agree.
If Manager Wang agrees, then Ah Tie could temporarily stay in town, which wouldn’t be an issue.
If he doesn’t agree, then they’ll have to think of something else.
Just as she was thinking, she suddenly heard Mrs. Zhou’s scolding outside, "You little trollop, have you gone crazy buying someone back?!"
"You should look at yourself in the reflection of some water, do you deserve to have servants serve you!"
"You little wastrel, spending my, your old mother’s silver—"
"Shut your mouth!" A stern voice interrupted Mrs. Zhou’s words.
Yun Jiao raised her eyebrows high inside the room and exchanged a glance with San Ya.
She knew Mrs. Zhou was cursing her, surprisingly, the old man was stopping Mrs. Zhou from cursing today.
Then Mrs. Zhou’s voice rang out again, "Why, am I not allowed to speak now?"
"If I don’t say anything, this little trollop will ruin the big house!"
"After all, Qi Lang is my grandson; when she squanders all the silver, won’t Qi Lang end up having nothing to eat or drink, and I’ll be the one who has to take care of it?"
"Stop it!" The old man shouted again.
Then it fell completely silent outside.
Yun Jiao peeked out and saw Qi Lang tiptoe to the edge of the window of the main room.
Just then, Qi Lang’s head also peeked out from the west wing, and he shouted, "Grandma, grandpa, Qi Lang is listening at the door of your room!"
Qi Lang turned his head to glare at him, then ran away like a rabbit.
Mrs. Zhou’s face quickly appeared at the window, cursing "you little brat" before slamming the window shut.
Yun Jiao covered her mouth and laughed secretly.
In the main house, Mr. Jiang began to lecture Mrs. Zhou.
"Stop cursing Da Lang’s wife from now on. Didn’t you just hear that the second daughter-in-law said she even healed that sore on Ah Tie’s head?"
Mrs. Zhou was indignant, "So what? She can heal, but why can’t I criticize her!"