86話 居残り雨妹
佳の黄家の屋敷内を、雨妹は一人で歩いていた。
その様子を、周囲の使用人の女たちがひそひそと話す姿が見受けられる。
「あの娘、一人だと大した娘じゃないわね」
「捨てられたって話でしょ? いい気味」
「あの方も都女よりも佳の女の方がいいのよ、きっと」
「あの男、このまま佳にいつきそうね」
女たちが色々言っているのを、雨妹はまるっと無視して通り過ぎる。
――彼女たちの中で立勇様は、佳の女に惚れている設定になっているのか。
なんと妄想が激しいことだが、そんな噂が盛り上がるのには訳がある。
実は、利民がいよいよ港を荒らす海賊退治に乗り出し、根城にしている場所を襲うそうなのだが。
なんと立勇がそれに同行したいと申し出たのだ。
利民の船の船員からは、「皇族の一味が一緒だと落ち着かない」、「自分たちを信用しないのか」という意見が出たそうだ。
しかし利民の「わかった」の一声で、立勇の乗船が決まった。
「きっと佳の女に惚れて、彼女のために海賊退治に同行した」という物語が生まれたらしいのだ。
そんな噂を生みながら海賊退治に行った立勇だが、
――立勇様、どっちからもウザがられているなぁ。
立勇は身分が高いので態度が横柄だし、体格もあって威圧感が強い。
仲間として一緒に働く分には頼もしいが、そうでなければすごく邪魔、ということなのだろう。
一方の雨妹は、小柄な若い女だということで、少々舐められている節がある。
屋敷では基本として立勇と二人で行動していて、なにか意見を通す際には背後の立勇の威圧感を気にして話を聞く、という相手が多かった。
けれど一人で行動する雨妹が同じことを頼みに行くと、聞こえない振りをする人が出てきている。
それが如実なのが、台所だった。
「なんだよそれ」
台所の入り口付近で、まるで道を塞ぐようにして喋りながら座って、野菜の下ごしらえをしている男たちがいて。
台所へ入りたい雨妹にまるで気付いていないようにふるまっている。
ちなみにこの男たちは、以前も雨妹を追い返そうとした者たちである。
――ずっと同じことをやってるとか、まぁいいんだけどね。
雨妹は台所へ入ることをあっさり諦めて引き返し、その様子を見た男たちが、「勝った!」とか嬉しそうに騒いでいる声が聞こえる。
しかし雨妹はどうせ後で料理長と会う約束をしていて、ここで通れずとも問題ないのだ。
ただ雨妹の時間が空いたので、こちらから訪ねて料理長の手間を省こうとしただけで。
それに、こうして文句を言われたり悪態をつかれるのも、仕事の一環なのだから。
「あの人たちは×、っと」
雨妹は懐から出した紙に×印をつける。
この紙は屋敷の使用人リストで、利民から渡されたものだ。
雨妹の目で見て、残して使えそうな使用人を選んでおいて欲しいと頼まれたのだ。
利民も使い辛い者たちを解雇して人員を入れ替えるつもりではあるのだが、いかんせん忙しくて人集めができていない。
使用人任せにしてもいいのだろうが、屋敷の現状に鑑みて、当てにしない方針のようだ。
となると、新しい人員が補充されるまで、邪魔をする者であってもいてもらわなければ、屋敷が回らないのだ。
そこで、雨妹の存在がいい判断材料になるということで、雨妹に普通に応対する使用人は、今後も使える人員となる。
手っ取り早いのは、利民が新しく入れた以外の使用人を総入れ替えすることだろう。
しかし使用人の立場からすると、勤め先を解雇されるのは人生の傷となる。
特に黄家というこの地域の支配者の屋敷を解雇になったとなれば、以後の人生が辛いものになることは間違いないだろう。
解雇になった話はあっという間に広まり、新しい仕事など早々見つかるものではない。
そうなると黄家――その中でも利民や潘公主に恨みを抱く者が出てくることとなる。
利民はそれを避けたいということか。
雨妹としても、そんな後味の悪いことを防ぐために、こうして協力しているというわけだ。
Chapter 86
Yui Mei was walking all alone inside the Kai's Huang family mansion.
Several maids were whispering as they watched her from afar.
"That girl isn't a big deal if she's alone, huh."
"I heard she was dumped, you know? Serves her right."
"That person must prefer Kai women over those from the city, I'm sure of it."
"That man will settle down here in Kai, it seems."
Yui Mei ignored them all as she passed by them.
'Those girls think Li Yong fell in love with a Kai girl, huh.'
They seemed really deluded, but then, there was a reason why such rumors spread like wildfire.
Actually, Li Min had decided to attack the headquarters of the pirates who were trying to invade the harbor.
Li Yong told him that he wanted to join him on this pirate extermination trip.
His crew told him that "we can't calm down if there's royalty onboard", or "Lord Li Min doesn't trust us" and such.
However, Li Min just said "got it" so it was settled that Li Yong would go with them.
Thus, speculations that "he probably fell in love with a Kai woman, so he joined the pirate extermination" circulated among those people.
Li Yong went to the sea amidst those rumors, but the majority of the servants in the mansion also thought that there was one less person who would boss them around.
'Li Yong was being treated as a nuisance either way, I guess.'
Li Yong might seem arrogant because he was a person of high caliber, and he also had a great physique so he was extremely intimidating.
They probably thought he was reliable as a partner when it comes to work, but he was considered a nuisance otherwise.
As for Yui Mei, she was a young, petite girl, so they looked down on her most of the time.
Li Yong and Yui Mei were basically always together, so many of them still listened to her whenever she expressed her opinion, out of fear from Li Yong's overbearing aura as he stood behind her.
However, now that Yui Mei was all alone, many of them started to ignore her, even though she was just requesting the same thing as before.
She could feel that reality in the kitchen.
"What's up with that."
The men were sitting near the entrance of the kitchen, and it seemed like they were blocking the path as they chattered while preparing the vegetables.
They acted as if they didn't notice that Yui Mei wanted to enter the kitchen.
By the way, these guys were also the people who wanted to drive Yui Mei away before.
'Doing the same thing over and over again, huh. Not that I care.'
Yui Mei gave up and turned around, and when the men saw that, they became even more boisterous, laughing their head off while saying 'we won!'
Well, Yui Mei would meet the head chef later anyway, so it didn't really matter if she didn't manage to pass through now.
She just wanted to kill some time, so she decided to visit the head chef to save him trouble.
Besides, receiving complaints and getting tired from being slandered were all part of a job.
"Those people are X."
Yui Mei took out a piece of paper from her bosom and she marked it with x's.
It was the list of the mansion's personnel that Li Min handed to her.
He had requested that she chose the people who seemed reliable on his behalf.
Li Min planned to dismiss the people who were difficult to use, and replace them with a fresh batch of employees, but he was too busy to recruit people.
He could have left it to a servant in the mansion, but it seemed counterproductive to do that, given the current situation.
In that case, they still needed those foul servants to run the mansion, at least until the preparations for the new personnel were done.
Yui Mei's presence was a great catalyst in filtering the servants. Those who could interact normally, without any prejudice, were the ones who would be retained.
Well, it would be easier to just replace all the servants except those that had been picked by Li Min earlier.
However, from the standpoint of the servants, it would be detrimental to their life if they were dismissed from their jobs.
Because the Huang family ruled this land, their lives would become miserable for sure if they were discharged from their mansion.
They wouldn't be able to find new jobs once their dismissal became widespread among the commoners.
If that happened, people who bore grudges against the Huang family -- particularly Li Min and Princess Pan -- would appear.
Li Min wanted to avoid that.
And so, he enlisted Yui Mei's help in order to avert such an event that would leave a bitter aftertaste.
Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
百花宮のお掃除係～転生した新米宮女、後宮のお悩み解決します。
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/housekeeper-of-the-hundred-blossom-palace/
Fantasy Romance Shoujo Slice of Life
Adapted to Manga Ancient China Complex Family Relationships Different Social Status Female Protagonist Imperial Harem Love Interest Falls in Love First Reincarnated in Another World Royalty
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4104ev/
黒辺あゆみ