"What are you dazing for? Put all your clothes in the wardrobe!"
Ah Ling urged her. "I'll get you a uniform so that you can change your clothes." She added.
Du Xiaoxian turned to look at her with an embarrassing smile. She whispered: "Thank you, Sister Ah Ling."
When Ah Ling brought her the uniform, Du Xiaoxian had paced all her clothes in the wardrobe. She didn't have much clothes, and they only occupied a small corner of the wardrobe.
Ah Ling pulled the curtains around the bed and asked Du Xiaoxian to change her clothes. She sat on the chair at the table, telling her the rules and terms of employment: maids got up at six in the morning; they could only use the public restrooms. Breakfast was at 6:30, lunch at 11:00, and dinner at 5:00. If you were late, there would be no dishes.
You could take one day off each week: you could stay in the room or hang out. On your birthday, the master and the lady would give you red envelopes. During the Spring Festival, you would receive red envelopes not only from the master and the lady, but also from the young master and young lady....
Ah Ling added, all the Gu's family were good people and easy to get along with, especially the kindhearted lady, who chanted prayers and meditated every day in the family Buddha Hall, not daring to trample even an ant.
The master was ill and always taking medicine.
The young lady was lively and cheerful. She worked at the television station, and was seldom at home.
The young master was a good man as well, but he was too busy. He did not talk or laugh a lot, and was a little bit weird. So, it would be better not to hang around before him.
Uncle Xiao was the fairest person. Tell him when you felt you were unfairly treated.
Anyway, as long as you did a good job here, you could live comfortably.
Du Xiaoxian listened to Ah Ling carefully as she was changing clothes, and kept all her words in mind.
Her second aunt had told her to be especially careful when working in such a family: have keen eyes and a good memory, be quick to do errands and talk less. These were the tips.
The second aunt had begged to get the job for her, so she must cherish the chance and not let down the second aunt.
When she lifted the curtain and got out, Ah Ling couldn't help laughing: "I got the smallest size, but it was still big on you. All right, just wear it for now. You can have additional clothes under the uniform when it's cold. And the next time we have new uniforms, I will ask the tailor to take your body measurements."
Du Xiaoxian lowered her head and uneasily pulled her clothes. They were a little big, but they were brand-new. It was the first time she had put on new clothes, and she felt so nervous that she grabbed the apron with her hand. When she let go, she saw wrinkles, so she tried to get rid of the wrinkles by pulling and scraping.
Ah Ling could not help laughing when she saw how nervous Du Xiaoxian was. She took her hand and said, "It's all right. Clothes will wrinkle. They will be OK later on after being washed and ironed."
With her head down, Du Xiaoxian was still uneasy. She kept pulling the clothes, hoping that with more efforts, the wrinkles would disappear.
Ah Ling led Du Xiaoxian out and showed her around the house. The living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the grocery room, the wing-room, the masters' bedrooms, the study, the Buddha Hall, the wine cellar, and the indoor temperature-controlled swimming pool.
After a tour inside the house, they went out through a side door of the dining-room. There was a back garden which had a set of carved stone tables and stools.
It was just the beginning of autumn, when summer flowers had not faded and autumn flowers had begun to blossom, so the garden looked beautiful and luxuriant.
Du Xiaoxian was instantly fascinated.
But Ah Ling didn't let her stay long. She pulled her to the left, pointing to the swimming pool and tennis court.
Then they went round back to where they had just entered. There was a large lawn, which was surrounded by a brick-paved path, on which both people and vehicles could go.
Where she stood was the open space down the front entry steps of the house. People were used to calling it the front yard, which was paved with larger square tiles, including some colored patterned ones. In the middle there was a fountain, where stood a statue of a Greek bather, who held a water bottle at an angle with the water pouring down from the bottle mouth. Du Xiaoxian was startled at the sight of the statue and then she blushed immediately. She hadn’t expected that a statue of a semi-naked woman was erected here for people to see. She was too embarrassed to look at it, so she simply lowered her head.Tall and green trees were planted all around with some flowers and plants dotted among them. The branches and leaves brought out the best in each other.Ah Ling said, "Uncle Xiao must have told you. Your job is to clean the yard.""Yes, he did." Du Xiaoxian stood upright with her hands hanging down. Her eyes swept over the fallen leaves on
Staring at the photo frame in the hand, Gu Nianbin thought to himself with a bitter smile, “Xiaowan, it has been three years, eight months and eight days. When will you come back? ”The girl in the photo was smiling at him with bright eyes and teeth. Gu Nianbin stroked her face and sighed in a way that couldn’t be heard. Then he put the photo frame back, turned his chair, and looked out the window.It was eight o'clock in the morning. The autumn sunlight shone through the French windows and on his body gently. Gu Nianbin stretched his arms comfortably and looked down. He found someone was sweeping fallen leaves.It was a little girl. It seemed that her thin body could be blown away by a gust of wind. Yet, with her head down, she was sweeping carefully with a broom higher than herself.Gu Nianbin did not know her, so he was somewhat surprised. The girl looked very small, and her lilac uniform did not fit her well. Unable to see her
Gu Nianbin did not expect to frighten her like that. He was first shocked and then found it funny. He was a silent and reserved man, so it was natural for servants to feel awe to him. However, she was the first one who ran away in fear. Gu Nianbin rubbed his chin and thought to himself, “Am I really that scary?”When he went downstairs, Fang Yaru was eating breakfast alone. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, she looked up at her son and said, “Old Xiao said you got up early. Why are you so late?”Gu Nianbin smiled, but asked, "Where are Dad and Shanshan?"“Shanshan went out early in the morning. The girl has hardly stayed home since she came back. Your dad is in the garden now,” Fang Yaru said to her son with a catering smile. "Nianbin, do you still remember what I told you yesterday?"Probably because of the sunny day, Gu Nianbin was in a good mood to tease his mother. He frowned and pretended to be puzzled. "What was it?"
At the sight of her, Gu Nianbin was stunned. Besides the name, the girl also looked like Xia Xiaowan.However, she was more gentle and quiet, and spoke to him softly. In a long light orange T shirt and a tight-fitting wine red coat, she looked decent and low-key and smiled a lot. When lifting her coffee cup, her little finger rose slightly. In the soft light of wall lamps, her well-trimmed fingernails were glistening without any nail polish on them.The girl was an accountant. Although she was very young, she already made herself a chief financial officer. Gu Nianbin talked with her about some financial affairs. If it had been someone else, she would have tried her best to show off her professional knowledge. But the girl in front of him spoke very skillfully. Her words were sincere, appropriate, and well-paced, making Gu Nianbin comfortable and at ease.Gu Nianbin couldn’t find any fault with her, even if he wanted to. The girl was perfectly i
The Gu family was among the richest ones in City G and had engaged in trade for generations. They had an ancestral three-yard house outside the city. Born into such a rich and large family, younger Gus, in large numbers, had led an extravagant and idle life. When it came to Gu Nianbin’s grandfather, the Gu family was just an empty shell. And his granduncle, who was then obsessed with an opera performer, stayed in the theater all day and disregarded business deals. Afterwards, he even voluntarily gave up his right of inheritance.His grandfather struggled to support the family business and passed on it to his father. At that time, it happened to be the peak period of domestic investment. Thanks to the good foundation, the Gu’s company grasped the opportunity and rose gradually. At one time, it even matched the Jiang’s company—the leader in City G.However, the Gu family was different from the Jiang family which had definite successor with only one heir for t
But how could a girl run faster than a car? When the car drove past her, Gu Nianbin looked back at her through the window. The little girl stood blankly at the roadside, and she was chewing her fingers! She was too old to do such a thing! What a freak!Xiaoding was quite puzzled. "It was a strange thing. Why did she run away?"Gu Nianbin didn't speak, but he caressed his forehead and smiled. Seeing the smile from the rear-view mirror, Xiaoding was startled. The young master rarely smiled. What happened today? Maybe the blind date was a success?Gu Shanshan bounced out of the house and said, "Thank God, you're finally back. Mom has been nagging all afternoon.""You deserve that. You were away from home too often these days." Gu Nianbin mounted the steps leisurely."Come on! She was nagging at you." Gu Shanshan took Gu Nianbin's arm and walked alongside him into the house. "What concerns her most is whether your blind da
After dinner, Gu Nianbin felt it was too stuffy in the house, so he went for a walk in the front yard. After walking down the steps, he saw the little girl, who happened to straighten up. The girl looked up and was shocked at the sight of Gu Nianbin. Dragging the broom, she ran away again. Gu Nianbin raised his hand and called out, "Hey!" However, the little girl ran as fast as a bunny, probably not hearing him. Gu Nianbin dropped his hand, not knowing why he wanted to stop her.It was in early autumn. Although it was past 7 pm, but instead of getting dark, the sky was reddish, like the color of the sunset's afterglow. He lit a cigarette and looked quietly at the tall plane tree. It seemed as if a young girl was standing under the tree with her head tilted. Then she smiled at him and said, "Brother Bin…"At that time, she was just a 16-year-old girl who started to yearn for love. One day, she came to tell him her little secret. "Brother Bin, I have a crush
As the night grew darker, everything became blurry shadows before his eyes. The plane tree swayed in the wind and shed its leaves. The next morning, leaves would pile up on the ground. Somehow, Gu Nianbin thought of the lean and small figure of the girl who dashed away from him. Then he couldn't help smiling. It seemed that she would be very busy tomorrow morning.Gu Shanshan came out of the house and asked, "Brother, why are you standing here blankly ? What are you thinking about?"Gu Nianbin took his last puff of the cigarette and flicked it far away. The butt flew across the sky in an arc and then landed on the patterned tiles.Getting no response from him, Gu Shanshan went on to ask, "Are you thinking about Xiaowan?"Gu Nianbin shook his head and asked, "What's the name of the new girl?""Du Xiaoxian." Gu Shanshan became a little curious. "Why do you care about her?""Nothing. She seems to fear me and