Shen Xiangwan took a look in the room. There was a small, old table placed on the couch where Granny Chen usually slept. There was a lot of food, snacks and the like on it.
As a minion, if you wanted to eat some snacks and the like, you must be rewarded by your master.
However, there was something special about the servants working in the kitchen. Sometimes, as long as the work was done well and the relationship with the steward was good, you could also make a little profit. Of course, it needed to be mild.
If you wanted to eat, you would have to dig out from your own pockets to supplement the kitchen steward before you could make some delicious snacks.
"Don't hide the food in the kitchen without permission for fear of being found out." Shen Xiangwan frowned, thinking that Ru Yue and Fu Tao were secretly hiding the food from the kitchen.
"Hehe, you little worrier. Mama paid for some snacks out of her own pocket, and a few people made up for the others to prepare to eat it together tonight. Did you really think that we hid it without permission? Fu Tao has become sensible now, so she must not have made such a mistake."
Shen Xiangwan looked at the round-faced little girl sitting on the floor with a bashful smile.
This little girl was about her age, only eight or nine years old.
She had a round face, and a silly but honest smile could be seen anytime on her face.
Earlier, because the one who introduced her was from the kitchen, so Fu Tao was also arranged to work in the kitchen. At that time, she was bullied by many old people in the kitchen, and the little girl cried in distress.
Under the care and guidance of Ru Yue and the others, the little girl also slowly walked out of the shadow of being ostracized. Now she was honest and diligent in her work and had won the favor of several old people in the kitchen.
"Xiao Jie, I need to practice more on the snacks and the food in the kitchen, but the deputy steward......keeps quite a strict control on the ingredients. When Mama knew about this, she tried to raise money so that I could practice making snacks and side dishes in my spare time."
Shen Xiangwan looked towards Mama Yi, who spread out her hands, "Don't look at the age of little Fu Tao. With her talent in food, in a few years, she'll be able to support and control a world of her own. Don’t look down on her now. This girl has an extraordinary talent for food ah."
Shen Xiangwan listened with joy and took Xiao Fu Tao's hand.
"Good, we all will be in your good graces these days. From now on, we’ll be more frugal and will make you the best little cook."
Everyone in the room laughed and looked at her.
As everyone was looking at her, little Fu Tao shyly scratched her head. Finally, she bowed down and curtsied, "I, I promise to use the shortest time to learn the best food so that my brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts won't spend money in vain."
Looking at the little girl's red face, Shen Xiangwan reached out and gently rubbed her little face, "It's really white and tender, so pleasing to look at."
Being molested by a young lady who is the same size as her own, Xiao Fu Tao pouted and pulled on Mama Yi, "Mama, you have a look at Xiao JieJie. She is being messy again and not conducting herself uprightly."
Mama Yi saw that everyone’s mood was quite good, then clapped her hands, "Okay, don't mess around anymore. Today is the first private meeting of this kind. Let's all sit down and talk about the recent events and the matters we need to pay attention to in the future."
Shen Xiangwan's face also turned serious, "Yes, the situation has been slightly tight recently, so we just need to do things nicely and not cause any trouble."
Ru Yue dragged her to her side to sit together, "Don't talk about stirring up trouble. In our gang, who isn't nowadays a man with a tail between his legs? They know that if someone were to stir up trouble, it would be a desperate situation. All right, let's sit down and try some of Fu Tao’s delicious snacks."
Shen Xiangwan didn't try the snacks but looked at the crowd seriously. "I think our little group that has coalesced together for the sake of freedom and to not die in vain should be given a name."
"Yes, it's time to give it a name." Mama Yi followed in response.
Ru Yue, on the other hand, directly began to ponder about the name. "We want freedom and our lives, so let's name it a...... freedom group?"
"Puff......"A few people were happy to hear it.
Fu Tao, on the other hand, laughed, "Good JieJie, why don't you just take the name ‘Meat Group’ ah. It sounds good, and it denotes that there is no shortage of meat to eat. Anyway, our idea is to be free and to have meat to eat every day."
Originally, it was a poking fun remark.
However, people in the room all looked at Little Fu Tao at once.
"Not bad, the name proposed by the little girl has a deep and profound metaphorical meaning, yet it is simple and easy to understand. This seemed good to me."
Little Fu Tao was a little shy about being praised, "I, I just said it casually, I didn't think about it......"
Shen Xiangwan chuckled and added, "We will have to learn to eat more often so that we can implement it to our lives ah. Like right now, I think Little Fu Tao's ‘Meat Group’ is good ah. Of course, if we add a ‘blessing’ and set it to ‘Meat Blessing Group’, then it seems even better."
Mama Yi read in passing. "Hmm, 'Meat Blessing Group' sounds good. Then it's settled, we'll call it the Meat Blessing Group?"
A few other older people also responded with a smile.
"Good, it’s perfect."
While others were happy, Fu Tao anxiously kept waving her hand.
"Don't take this name. It's better to take a nickname. If we keep calling our group by that name and our brothers and sisters are to be laughed at by others, then won’t I be a bad person who is degrading the group."
Ru Yue also reached out to pinch her little cheeks. "Then you are not degrading it by proposing a nickname for the group?"
Little Fu Tao opened her mouth, but she was tongue-tied and couldn’t retort.
"How irritating, you guys...... are bullying me."
The crowd softly laughed by looking at her flushed little face.
"Okay then, the Meat Blessing Group is decided. I think this name is quite good and easy to pronounce. But of course, usually, we should just do things on our own and shouldn’t talk about the group easily."
"Yeah."
So the name was decided, and then everyone discussed the current situation in the mansion and the general future development of the group.
Because it was for the sake of freedom.
To live better.
Therefore, having an organization as the central rallying point felt much better.
"With the recent slip of Mama Chen, we have to be a little cautious. Don't get involved in the strife of those houses. Especially the first and the second household's fight."
Mama Yi listened quietly and thought to herself. It had become nearly a year in this mansion, and previously she also used to be a female master in the Shen mansion, so she knew a lot of dirty things and incidents happening in the back house. Therefore, she was quite sensitive to these matters.
Hou mansion was fascinating for the outsiders. But because there had been no main wife and legitimate son, people were openly and covertly fighting, so the Hou mansion was now on the verge of the storm.
This was just the surface of the strife.
Behind the scenes, other outer households were also standing in line to become squatters and to seize extra profits, causing the mansion in great turmoil.
In Mama Yi’s opinion, this mansion was mainly divided into four factions.
One faction was of the old masters.
Elder master’s house was one faction, and the second master’s household was another faction.
And the other faction was of the weeds, grinding in between the two ends......