“Don’t let them go back to pack their things. Any gold, silver, or jade ornaments they’re wearing, confiscate them all,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir!” The guards answered loudly, dragging these people out and examining each one thoroughly.

In the end, they confiscated quite a collection of gold, silver, and jade items.

Now only a handful of people remained in the courtyard. They were all kneeling with their faces to the ground, not daring to raise their heads.

“You few have always been well-behaved, so you may stay in the residence for now. If I discover anyone disrespecting the Young Master’s wife or spreading rumors, being deceitful or lazy, you’ll be immediately sent to the estate to become field servants.”

“Thank you, Young Master! Thank you, Young Master’s wife!” These people wept with joy, desperately kowtowing again and again.

Lu Guanyi turned to look at Ye Yaming, his severe expression immediately softening: “I’m taking all those people out of the residence, so you’ll be in charge of arranging everything here. If there aren’t enough servants, just tell me how many you need, and I’ll supply them.”

Ye Yaming nodded and smiled at him: “All right.”

They had discussed today’s events beforehand. Ye Yaming was, after all, a new bride who had married into the Xuanwu Marquis Residence just four days ago, and she came from humble origins. If she were to handle the original servants of the Marquis Residence herself, it would be extremely detrimental to her reputation. So Lu Guanyi had suggested that he would play the villain.

Before their marriage, Lu Guanyi hadn’t dealt with the servants; now that they were married, he was handling them. Besides the reason that Lu Guanyu had left the capital, it was also so that his wife could live more comfortably in the Marquis Residence.

With this protective attitude toward his wife, who in the capital would dare look down on Ye Yaming? To slight or insult her would be to slight and insult the Xuanwu Marquis Residence and Lu Guanyi himself—this was the stance Lu Guanyi was establishing.

From her previous life to this one, Ye Yaming had always been the one facing troubles head-on. She never expected there would come a time when someone would protect her and handle all troublesome matters for her.

With warmth in her heart, her voice became extremely gentle when addressing the servants who were still kowtowing: “That’s enough, everyone may rise.”

Once everyone stood up, she swept her gaze over them.

Just because these people hadn’t done evil things or insulted Lu Guanyi didn’t mean they didn’t have their little schemes. Among them, some were genuinely honest, kowtowing so forcefully that their foreheads were swollen; others were merely going through the motions, with just a slight purple bruise on their foreheads.

Although Ye Yaming knew their names, she couldn’t match the people to their names.

She said, “Each of you report your names.”

She planned to find time to sell off those who were just putting on a show. For now, to avoid rumors saying “All the original servants of the Marquis Residence were sent away, and now the residence is staffed entirely with her dowry servants, unable to keep a single old servant,” she would keep these people for the time being.

The servants reported their names one by one.

Ye Yaming took a brush and made notes on her list, then assigned tasks to everyone.

Those in non-critical positions would remain in their original posts; those in important positions, such as the kitchen, purchasing, and internal courtyard cleaning, were all reassigned. Ye Yaming couldn’t possibly entrust her safety and that of her trusted servants to these people.

After announcing this, she swept her gaze over everyone and said, “Are there any objections to these adjustments? If so, step forward.”

The vast majority didn’t move.

One person with thoughts on the matter secretly raised her head and glanced to the left and right, wanting to see if others would step forward. Seeing that no one else had raised their heads, she quickly lowered hers again, not daring to move anymore.

No joke. Although being transferred from the kitchen to the outer courtyard to do hard labor meant a decrease in monthly wages, it was still better than being sent to the estate as a field servant, right? If the kitchen needed more people later, and she performed well during this period, perhaps she could be transferred back.

She didn’t realize that Ye Yaming had already noticed her small movement and made another note in her mental book.

Seeing that no one dared to stand up and speak, Ye Yaming continued, “Since there are no objections, it’s settled. Everyone, go to work. Those who have been reassigned will also have their living quarters adjusted accordingly. Someone will make the arrangements for you after dinner tonight.”

Everyone felt as if they’d received a great pardon and hurriedly withdrew.

Ye Yaming then had Xu Zan call over all the servants she had brought with her. She announced the positions of Xu Zan, Tang Song, Ma Yun, Bai Rui, and Lu’E. She then assigned everyone to various places as managers.

These servants she brought were all outstanding graduates trained by Sun An, not brought to the Marquis Residence to do menial work. She owned many private properties, including numerous shops and estates, as well as various tea mountains, all of which needed people to manage.

She assigned two stewards to large properties and one manager to smaller ones. After this distribution, there were hardly any people left.

Jia Lin and Jia Yun, seeing that everyone had been assigned except for them, turned pale.

Nearby, a woman named Jia Xiu glanced at the two of them, her lips curling in a sneer. The others looked at them with concern.

Ye Yaming sat in the corridor, like a teacher at a podium in a classroom, observing all the small movements and expressions of everyone below.

She remained composed and continued, “You are the most outstanding batch of people from Manager Sun’s training, which is why I brought you to the Marquis Residence to become my first group of managers. Now that you know the places you’ll be managing, you can follow the guards back to Lin’an tomorrow to select four people from Manager Sun as your assistants. Take them to the shops, estates, or tea mountains. Escort guards will accompany you to your destinations.”

Those who had been worried for Jia Lin and Jia Yun immediately had their attention drawn back by these words.

Though happy to be appointed as managers, they were anxious inside.

Being sent to unfamiliar places where they knew no one, they would be lucky not to be bullied by the old staff, let alone establish themselves quickly. If they couldn’t establish themselves promptly, the young lady might recall them. Now that the young lady was assigning them assistants that they could choose themselves, they were naturally pleased and much more at ease.

“Additionally, Hong Ye is promoted to kitchen manager, Jia Chun and Jia Qiu will be cooks. My second-class maids Zi Yuan and Qing Zhi are promoted to first-class maids. Jia Lin and Jia Yun will be renamed Lan Ling and Cheng Man, and will serve by my side as second-class maids.”

Jia Lin and Jia Yun, who had looked desperate earlier, raised their heads in pleasant surprise, looking toward Ye Yaming. Others cast envious glances their way. The girl who had earlier sneered at them now had eyes full of jealousy.

On the day of the young lady’s wedding, she had mocked the two of them, saying they were overly eager to please and liked to curry favor. She never expected that they would have such good fortune and be favored by the young lady.

Although being appointed as managers seemed good, how could managing shops or estates outside compare to staying by the young lady’s side in terms of prospects?

The young lady’s capabilities had been lectured about by Manager Sun in their very first class when they were first purchased; later, Bai Rui and Lu’E from the young lady’s side had also given them lessons, and their skills had greatly impressed them. According to them, they had learned all their skills from the young lady.