Training

Because Zhao Ruxi wanted to learn to ride a horse, she asked Matron Yuan to make two sets of riding clothes. She got up early the next morning, changed into them, ate breakfast quickly, and went to the Chess Watching Courtyard.

Apart from Xiao Tianming, the entire Ma Sheng family of four arrived and immediately bowed to Zhao Ruxi.

Zhao Ruxi nodded, walked to the middle of the courtyard, and raised her hand. "Line up in order of height."

Ma Sheng's family was completely bewildered. Not only them, but Qingfeng and Dianjiang, who had come with them, were also looking blank.

Zhao Ruxi wasn't angry. She explained the rules and had Ma Sheng's family of four stand properly.

Originally, Qingfeng and Dianjiang could have joined the training with her. However, men and women are different, and training together often involves physical contact, which is against the rules. Not to mention ancient times, even in modern military training, men and women are separated. That's why Zhao Ruxi only had Ma Sheng's family train.

Upon arriving at the estate, the male and female servants would train separately in two courtyards. Ma Sheng and Wushi were in charge of the male team, while Lady Luo and Ling'er were in charge of the female team.

After Zhao Ruxi explained these things, Lady Luo and Ling'er became even more attentive.

So next, Zhao Ruxi trained them to line up, count off, march in step, stand still, turn left, turn right, and turn around.

The Ma Sheng family already had a foundation in martial arts, good coordination, and were intelligent. Most importantly, there were only four of them, so they didn't need to be perfectly synchronized; they just needed to remember the steps.

Therefore, after only half an hour of training, it was already quite good.

"Alright, go home and get ready. We'll be leaving for the estate in a quarter of an hour," Zhao Ruxi said. "Take everything you need; you'll be staying there for a while and won't be coming back. You can bring Tianming along too."

"Yes."

Fifteen minutes later, the group set off for Beining.

Upon arriving in Beining, Zhao Ruxi first went to the academy, handed the leave slip to the old woman guarding the gate, and also gave them a bag of pastries.

When Madam Cui received the leave slip from the old woman, she was furious. She yelled at the old woman, "She asked for leave yesterday, and she's asking for leave again today! Starting tomorrow, you're not allowed to submit leave slips for her. Let her come and ask me for leave herself. Let's see if she dares to be so inconsistent in her work schedule!"

The old woman guarding the gate had long been won over by the snacks that Zhao Ruxi sent her every few days.

She immediately said, "Madam, it's not that I'm being nosy, but now that Miss Zhao has become Mister Kumu's student and has also obtained a position at the Court of Judicial Review, she really doesn't need to study at our academy anymore. The fact that she wrote you a leave note is already a great show of respect. If you don't allow her to take leave, she might drop out of school."

Madam Cui was speechless.

The old woman continued, "Many girls in our academy are still just getting engaged and staying at home instead of coming to school. You should be grateful that Miss Zhao is still like this even though she has a serious matter to attend to. Besides, she has promised to study hard and get top marks in the exams. Why ask for so much? You can bring it up again when she doesn't do well on the exams, and then she will listen."

Madam Cui had just been on the verge of complaining about Zhao Ruxi to Kang Shilin, but after the old woman's words, she calmed down.

That old gentleman is extremely protective of his own. If she complains, he might just tell Zhao Ruxi not to come anymore.

She sighed and said, "Alright, that's settled then. From now on, if she needs to take leave, just take over and don't report it to me. Just give it to Madam Chen. It annoys me."

The old woman, suppressing a laugh, agreed, "Okay."

At the Egret Manor, everyone got up early, ate breakfast, and waited there.

Upon seeing Zhao Ruxi, Zhou Chun quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Miss."

"How was last night?" Zhao Ruxi asked.

"It's fine, nothing happened." Zhou Chun's smile carried a hint of relief.

He was worried all night and barely slept a wink.

Although Zhao Ruxi said it was a test for those people and that he wouldn't be blamed, he was the one in charge of managing them. If anything went wrong, he felt he would also bear some responsibility.

Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, Zhao Ruxi's satisfaction with him increased even more.

As a manager, you must have a sense of responsibility.

Upon entering the house, Zhao Ruxi saw that everyone had changed into new clothes. Several people who had been disheveled yesterday had all been washed clean and dressed neatly. She couldn't help but feel very satisfied with Zhou Chun.

She called Ma Sheng and Lady Luo to the front of everyone, "This is Steward Ma, and this is Steward Luo. They will be in charge of training you for the time being. First, we'll train you, then teach you manners, and later, we'll teach you to read and do arithmetic."

When Ma Sheng and Lady Luo heard that they had been promoted to managers, they were so excited that their faces turned red.

Following a girl definitely leads to a promising future.

After Zhao Ruxi finished her introduction, she nodded to Ma Sheng and Lady Luo: "I'll leave this to you."

Having just been given a shot of adrenaline, Ma Sheng and the Lady Luo couple immediately assured him, "Don't worry, young lady, we will definitely be able to train them well."

Lady Luo then took her maid and went to the back courtyard.

The male servants stayed in the front yard for training.

Gao Weiqiang came with them today. He watched as Ma Sheng and his wife were appointed as stewards by Zhao Ruxi, directing a dozen servants in a line, and his eyes showed a hint of envy.

Previously, Zhao Yuanxun would occasionally go to the government office, and they could go out with him. Now that Zhao Yuanxun is staying at home, these guards are idle at the mansion, which is somewhat unusual for men who are used to being active.

Dianjiang, who was going out with Zhao Ruxi for the first time, was also very excited and worked even harder. Seeing that Zhao Ruxi was standing, she took the initiative to ask, "Miss, would you like me to bring you a chair to sit on?"

Zhao Ruxi turned to see her flushed face and smiled, "No need."

She watched for a while and saw that after a period of chaos, the male servants finally formed a crooked line under Ma Sheng's command, and their counting was also chaotic. Whether it was due to nervousness or simply not knowing how to count, the next person would jump directly to eight after the previous one had counted five, or simply follow the person in front and count five, which was both funny and exasperating.

She said, "Let's go, let's go check on the maids in the back." Seeing Gao Weiqiang was about to follow, she said to him, "There are women all over there, it's not convenient for you to go in, just stay here and watch over them."

"Uh, yes." Gao Weiqiang stopped in his tracks, embarrassed.

Upon entering the backyard, Zhao Ruxi found it even more chaotic. No one had even lined up properly yet. After Lady Luo and Ling'er manually adjusted everyone to stand in their positions, they couldn't even continue counting off.

Not to mention that many of the women were illiterate and couldn't count, some of them could barely make out numbers, their voices barely audible.

After watching for a while, Zhao Ruxi called out, "Stop!"

She walked over to Lady Luo and said, "Arrange them in three rows. The best performers will stand in the first row, and the worst performers in the last row. The first row will have meat tonight, and the last row will only have a cornbread. The middle row will not have meat, but they can eat their fill."

Lady Luo was immediately delighted and nodded, saying, "Okay."