Chapter 119 Taking it out on the violin

Granny Wang didn't try to persuade her further. She watched coldly until the girl had cried enough before finally speaking:

"Second Madam, you can't lie. Our old lady is the most kind-hearted person. How could she have driven you to your deaths? Look around the capital, which family keeps their doors wide open during the mourning period and lets people come and go as they please? We don't have any exit signs here either. Second Madam, you'd better save your energy."

Besides, as I've already said, our old lady is no longer involved in affairs. If Second Madam wants to go out, she should go to Young Madam. However, our Young Madam has only recently taken over the management of the household, and she probably wouldn't dare to risk the reputation of the General's Mansion by giving you special treatment.

Having no other choice, Wei rushed to Guanlan Courtyard and started crying and making a scene again.

Granny Pei spoke even more directly: "Our young mistress said that everything should be done according to the rules. If the second mistress wants to move out of the mansion, we will naturally make it easy for her."

"If it's anything else, you should save your breath. Our young mistress has only just taken over the household affairs. If you make exceptions for the second mistress for such a small matter, how will she manage the household in the future?"

With tears streaming down her face, Madam Wei glared fiercely at Granny Pei, who was spouting lies with an air of righteous indignation:

"Pah! My son was almost beaten to death, and you people think it's a small matter? I get it now, did you order my son to be beaten?"

Granny Pei said sternly, "Second Madam, you need evidence to speak. You can't just make baseless accusations without proof. We have no past grudges or recent feuds with the Second Master, so why would we order someone to beat him? What benefit would we gain if we killed him?"

Having exhausted all other options, Wei could only grit her teeth and leave.

Back in her own courtyard, she saw Siqin struggling to sweep the yard with a large broom, her head bowed. As if finding an outlet for her anger, Wei rushed over, grabbed Siqin's ear, and began to berate her:

"You clueless brat, always wearing that long face, who are you trying to impress? Don't you see the master is back? Don't you know to hurry up and serve tea?"

After saying that, he shoved Siqin hard again, and Siqin almost fell to the ground. She didn't dare to argue and hurriedly went inside to make tea.

Since the eldest son stopped managing their daily expenses and also withdrew some of the servants, Wei Shi naturally wouldn't buy people back in order to reduce the monthly allowance expenditure, and the manpower available for them to use suddenly became tight.

So Siqin, who had been demoted to clean the toilets in the backyard, was transferred back and was assigned to serve her master inside the house and clean the front yard.

Wei spat again as she watched Siqin's timid back before entering her own room.

Siqin quickly brought over a teacup. Wei Shi had been crying and cursing for a long time and was very thirsty. She picked up the teacup and poured it into her mouth, but then spat it out immediately. The movement was so big that she almost dropped the teacup.

He then glared fiercely at Siqin and cursed, "You brat, are you trying to scald me to death?"

As he spoke, he put down his teacup and raised his hand to slap Siqin across the face.

Siqin dared not back down and could only kneel on the ground and beg for mercy.

But Wei showed no mercy and continued hitting him for a while until she felt her anger subside before stopping and sitting down in a chair, panting heavily.

Her gaze remained fixed on Siqin, who was kneeling on the ground, too afraid to move, as she scolded, "Get up now and serve more tea. Do you want to die of thirst?"

Siqin hurriedly got up from the ground and left.

Soon another pot of tea was brought in and carefully presented to Madam Wei.

Wei raised her eyelids and glanced over, only to see that the girl's hair was a mess, her once delicate and tender face was now red and swollen, and she lowered her head and didn't even dare to lift it.

Madam Wei was furious again: "Stop crying and whining. There are no men here, so who are you trying to impress with your delicate and aggrieved act? You can't even prepare tea properly, yet you have the nerve to cry. No wonder that brat Yu Qingci was so generous in sending you over. Turns out you're a worthless idiot."

As if thinking of something, Madam Wei said with a mocking expression, "Hmph! Do you think I don't know what you're up to? You don't want to serve me, and you're always wiggling your butt in front of the eldest and second masters. I'm afraid you're still thinking about climbing into my bed, aren't you?"

Bah! You shameless slut, have you forgotten how disgusting you used to be? You still have the nerve to tell me that you used to serve the mistress of the house in the Earl's mansion.

Could it be that you had impure thoughts back in the Earl's mansion, trying to sleep with your Earl, only to be kicked out by the Madam, and thus came as part of your dowry with that wretched girl, Yu Qingci?

Wei cursed and swore for a long time before gradually calming down.

By the time Siqin finished serving and came out of the room, it was already completely dark, and dinner time had passed.

Siqin rubbed her rumbling stomach and went to the servants' dining room, where only two old women were cleaning up the leftover food and dishes on the table.

Siqin stepped forward and asked, "Aunties, is there any food left? I was serving Madam in her room and haven't eaten yet."

One of the old women looked up and, seeing Siqin's pitiful face, said rudely, "Oh, is Miss Siqin upset that we didn't leave you any food? We're sorry, we thought you were serving in Madam's room and that Madam had already eaten there, so we didn't leave you any."

The lady had a bad day outside and had been scolding Siqin for a long time inside the house. The servants outside heard it all clearly, and now that they saw her disheveled appearance, they looked down on her even more.

Serves you right, you little slut who couldn't get into bed!

After saying that, they ignored her and the two of them carried the bowls and chopsticks out to wash them.

Siqin wanted to cry but couldn't, and the sadness in her heart surged even more.

She rubbed her rumbling stomach and quietly went outside alone under the cover of night.

Madam Wei was not a generous mistress. Now that the eldest son's family no longer managed the daily expenses here, Madam Wei was calculating every day, wishing that the servants would just work and not eat, so that she could save money.

There's probably nothing left to eat in their second wife's small kitchen right now, so they might as well go to the main kitchen outside and see if they can get a steamed bun. They can't just starve until tomorrow morning.

Taking advantage of the fact that no one was in the courtyard, Siqin quietly slipped out.

She walked towards the kitchen, but stopped and hesitated at a fork in the road before turning and heading towards Guanlan Pavilion.

As for the main branch, Yu Qingci has now officially taken charge of the household affairs. Old Madam Ning has even changed the place where she handles the daily household matters, placing it in the courtyard next to Guanlan Pavilion. This way, Yu Qingci doesn't have to run around every morning. She can simply turn a corner outside her own courtyard and manage the household affairs with peace of mind, which is much easier than before.

When Siqin arrived at the entrance of Guanlan Temple, she said to the old woman guarding the gate:

"I'm here to see Sister Tong'er. Could you please pass on my message to her?"

The old woman glared at Siqin, looking her up and down, and said impatiently:

"Isn't this Miss Siqin? Why aren't you cleaning the toilets in your second household so late? What brings you here to see Miss Tong'er? I dare not pass on your message if you can't explain clearly."