Chapter 1001: Anyway, I'm going to be a concubine, so it doesn't matter who I am.

On the morning of the Beginning of Winter, the fog was thick and the dew was heavy.

Li Yue'er quietly pushed open the wooden door and entered the house.

It was only early morning, far from the time to get up, and the room was quiet. Her two concubines, who shared the room with her and were of the same status, were not awake.

Li Yue'er breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door behind her, and walked towards the dormitory in the dark.

If she lived alone, at least now she wouldn't have to be as careful as a thief when she entered the house, so as not to make any noise and disturb people's sleep, and she wouldn't have to worry about being discovered that she had secretly gone out at night.

If it weren't for her younger sister's persistent high fever, Li Yue'er wouldn't have dared to sneak home late at night under her current identity.

Loosening her hair, which was damp with dew, and taking off her cold outer clothes, Li Yue'er tiptoed to the outermost side of the communal bed near the door, lifting a corner of the quilt.

Three people slept on the large earthen bed, including her. The one sleeping next to her in the middle was called Meng Xiaoxiao, and the one sleeping furthest from the door in the innermost part was called Xu Xinmei.

The three of them were concubines of the Qu family, who were brought into the house along with the mistress on the day of her grandson's wedding.

Logically speaking, a wealthy merchant family like the Qu family shouldn't have their concubines living in such poverty, with three of them crammed into one room. However, the Qu family suffered a misfortune the very next day after they entered the household, and everyone was in a state of chaos, so no one remembered them.

Besides, the old lady only brought them into the family to bring joy to her grandson. In the blink of an eye, the Qu family's grandson had an accident. It was already a blessing that the old lady didn't think they were bad luck and sold them off. How could they dare to show their faces and cause trouble?

When the Qu family's grandson was mentioned, Li Yue'er couldn't help but think of the words that had "leaked" from Aunt Qiu's mouth.

Outsiders only knew that Qu Ming, the current patriarch of the Qu family, seemed to have encountered some trouble on his wedding day, but no one knew what had happened. Only a few members of the Qu family knew that Qu Ming had eloped with his maid on the night of his wedding, leaving the newlywed mistress and the only elder of the Qu family, Old Madam Qu, to clean up the mess.

The three of them were the concubines of Master Qu. Now that Master Qu has run away, who will these concubines serve in the mansion?

Li Yue'er had finally managed to get into the Qu family. If she were kicked out or sold off again, she could accept her fate and make do with whatever came her way. But what would happen to her seriously ill younger sister and her mother who was almost blind from crying?

When Li Yue'er closed her eyes, all she could see in her mind was her younger sister's flushed face. When she opened her eyes, all she could see was her current situation in the Qu family mansion, with no idea where she would end up in the future. For a moment, she was wide awake.

She had to find a way to stay in the Qu family, since Aunt Qiu said that being a concubine in the Qu family would earn her one tael of silver a month.

That's an ounce! In the past, she wouldn't earn that much even after doing laundry for half a year.

Besides, she was sold to the Qu family her whole life, and she only received five taels of silver in return...

It's considered unlucky to even mention this.

Just as Li Yue'er closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep, she felt someone gently tug at her blanket and whisper, "Sister Yue'er."

Li Yue'er turned her head and saw Meng Xiaoxiao staring at her with bright, large eyes in the dim light, like a cat crouching silently by the bedside at night, which looked a little scary.

In particular, Li Yue'er didn't know when she woke up.

Li Yue'er suppressed her panic, pretending to have just woken up, and asked softly, "Why did you wake up so early?"

Meng Xiaoxiao: "I didn't sleep all night. I woke up as soon as you left."

"..." Li Yue'er's forced calm expression began to crumble. She sat up slightly and glanced at Xu Xinmei, who was sleeping at the innermost part of the room, afraid that she might also be awake.

Meng Xiaoxiao turned her head to look.

Xu Xinmei was breathing slowly and rhythmically, fast asleep wrapped in a blanket.

Li Yue'er then quietly let out a breath and lay back down, turning to her side, pulling up the blanket, and raising her hand to cover her and Meng Xiaoxiao's heads. "Okay, Xiaoxiao, you can't tell anyone about this."

Otherwise, she would have been beaten to death, not to mention that she would have also implicated Aunt Qiu, who helped her leave the mansion and covered for her, and her son.

Meng Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly, covering her mouth with her hand, her breathy voice leaking through her fingers, "I didn't tell anyone. I stayed awake because I was afraid people would know you went out. I didn't sleep, so if anyone asked, I would just say you went to the toilet."

Li Yue'er was grateful and reached out to pat Meng Xiaoxiao's head. She was only a year younger than her, but her mind was not much more mature than her six-year-old sister.

Li Yue'er didn't hide anything and confessed frankly, "My sister is sick and has had a fever for three days. My mother had no other choice but to come to the gatehouse to look for me."

She was much luckier than Meng Xiaoxiao, who was bought from outside. Her home was here, which was why she wanted to stay in the Qu family mansion. She wanted to be closer to her mother and sister. If she had been sold elsewhere, she probably would never have seen her family again in her life.

Meng Xiaoxiao asked, "Sister Yue'er, how is your sister?"

Li Yue'er withdrew her hands and hugged them to her chest, her voice lowering, "The fever hasn't gone down yet."

Meng Xiaoxiao: "Did you call a doctor?"

Li Yue'er didn't say anything.

With no money at home, how could we afford to hire a doctor?

Meng Xiaoxiao was also from a poor family. When Li Yue'er fell silent, she slowly understood. She lay on her side facing Li Yue'er, twirling her fingers, her mood sinking. She whispered, "If only we had money."

Yes, it would be great if we had money.

However, the money they received from being sold into servitude was taken by their families, and they had only been at the Qu residence for five days, so where would they get the money?

Li Yue'er took a deep breath, and even though Meng Xiaoxiao couldn't see her, she still managed a smile, reaching out to pat Meng Xiaoxiao's arm, signaling to her:

"I'm back now, you should go to sleep. Maybe things will turn around by dawn."

Li Yue'er's voice sounded like she had a plan, which reassured Meng Xiaoxiao, who said excitedly, "Okay, we'll definitely find a way by dawn."

Meng Xiaoxiao never dwells on troubles. Her head popped out from under the covers, and she had only been lying down for a couple of breaths before falling asleep.

Li Yue'er slowly lay back down, folding her hands on the blanket. She had felt a little sleepy just now, but now she felt none at all, so she simply closed her eyes until dawn.

The next sound from inside the house was Xu Xinmei waking up.

From the moment she woke up until she got out of bed to wash and dress, she made so much noise that she wanted to announce it to the whole world, as if telling everyone that she, Xu Xinmei, had gotten up.

Li Yue'er opened her eyes, staring blankly at the roof beam as if it were a common occurrence.

Meng Xiaoxiao had only been asleep for a short while when she was disturbed and covered her ears with her hands. Finally, she had no choice but to pout, hug her blanket, and sit cross-legged on the bed, staring at Xu Xinmei sitting in front of the dressing table with resentful and accusatory eyes.

There was only one dressing table in the room, which was full of Xu Xinmei's things, from rouge and powder to jewelry.

It can be said that, apart from the bed which was shared by the three people, almost all the other furniture in the house was used exclusively by Xu Xinmei.

"What time is it? Haven't you had enough sleep yet?" Xu Xinmei turned the mirror frame in her hand, first glancing at Li Yue'er, who was lying flat on the bed and it was unclear whether she was awake or not, before looking at Meng Xiaoxiao.

Seeing that Meng Xiaoxiao looked unwell, Xu Xinmei curled her red lips and asked, "Did you go cheating on someone last night?"

Feeling guilty, Meng Xiaoxiao widened her eyes and immediately sat up straight, as if trying to hide something obvious. "Who said I didn't get enough sleep? I went to bed very early yesterday, and I just woke up now."

Li Yue'er, "..."

If Xu Xinmei asked a few more questions, Meng Xiaoxiao would give a completely clear answer.

Li Yue'er sat up, silently interrupting their conversation.

As soon as she got up, Xu Xinmei saw Li Yue'er's face in the mirror, and instantly fell silent, pursed her lips, and turned the mirror towards herself.

She considered herself to be pretty, a beauty even in a crowd, but compared to Li Yue'er, her beauty seemed too vulgar and not pleasing to the eye.

Li Yue'er's individual features are not as beautiful as hers, but when put together, they are exceptionally beautiful. They give people the feeling of a piece of warm and soft jade. Perhaps it is not as stunning as agate, but it is so soft and smooth that people can't take their eyes off it.

Xu Xinmei wasn't afraid of Meng Xiaoxiao competing with her for favor, but from the moment she saw Li Yue'er, she disliked her as if she were a thief.

Although she hadn't met the master yet, Xu Xinmei already felt that Li Yue'er was the strongest rival on her path to being the master's favorite.

Li Yue'er and Meng Xiaoxiao had no jewelry or face powder. Like gray sparrows on a branch, they sat side by side after washing their faces and getting dressed, their eyes fixed on Xu Xinmei, who was putting jewelry into her hair.

Xu Xinmei felt exceptionally good, basking in their envious gazes. Compared to those two country bumpkins, she was practically a peacock in full bloom, just short of shaking her colorful tail and circling the house a couple of times.

Xu Xinmei wasn't bought by the Qu family; she was sent from the Zheng family, Qu Ming's maternal clan. Naturally, her status was a level higher than Li Yue'er and Meng Xiaoxiao.

"Meng Sanliang, go and get my food back," Xu Xinmei instructed Meng Xiaoxiao.

Meng Xiaoxiao slid off the bed, said "Oh," and walked out.

Li Yue'er knew without even looking up that it was her turn next.

Xu Xinmei glanced at her out of the corner of her eye and said, "Li Wuliang, go and air out my quilt."

She openly complained, but secretly meant to criticize, "What cheap, dirty stuff! If this were in the Zheng family, it wouldn't even be worthy of being used to cover me up."

One was bought for three taels, and the other for five taels; both were cheap.

Li Yue'er looked down at her fingers, deliberately raising her beautiful five fingers, neither responding nor refuting, and muttering to herself as if she hadn't heard, "Huh, when did my hands grow hangnails?"

She walked out with her hands trembling, muttering to herself, "I have to ask Aunt Qiu if she has any hand-plastered clothes in the courtyard. If my hands get rough, how will I serve the master in the future?"

Every time she mentioned the master, Xu Xinmei was furious. With a sullen face, she cursed Li Yue'er behind her back, saying that she was lowly and that her hands were only used for washing clothes. No matter how delicate they were, they were still pretending to be noble in front of her.

Li Yue'er turned to look at her without changing her expression, and smiled slightly, "Well said. We have the same status and sleep on the same earthen bed. Who is more noble than the other?"

Regardless of Xu Xinmei's status in the Zheng household, once she enters the Qu household, everyone is a concubine. Why should she be ordered around by Meng Xiaoxiao?

Provoked by Li Yue'er, Xu Xinmei stood up and pointed at her, but dared not say anything else, for fear that Li Yue'er would use her words to deflect the insults back at her.

Li Yue'er left the courtyard intending to find Meng Xiaoxiao, but instead ran into Aunt Qiu on the way.

Li Yue'er's hands were naturally rough, and it was normal for them to peel in dry weather. She would never really ask Aunt Qiu for hand cream; she was just looking for an excuse to annoy Xu Xinmei. It was unexpected that she would run into Aunt Qiu now.

Afraid of causing trouble for Aunt Qiu, she nodded and bowed from afar, pretending not to know her. But Aunt Qiu grabbed her wrist, pulled her to a secluded spot, and asked in a low voice, "Is Xing'er feeling any better?"

Li Yue'er wanted to force a smile, but she couldn't fake it in front of Aunt Qiu, who had watched her grow up, so she could only lower her head.

Aunt Qiu sighed, took out an old indigo blue purse from her sleeve, and stuffed it into her hand.

Li Yue'er was taken aback, and looked up in surprise, "You..."

Aunt Qiu frowned, her lips creased with shallow lines, but her eyes showed deep concern. "Twenty coins, take them for now. Your sister is burning up like that, she needs to see a doctor. It's not good to tough it out."

Yesterday at dusk, Ming came to see her, saying that he wanted Li Yue'er to go back and see her sister. He guessed that he thought Li Xing'er probably wouldn't live for more than two days, and wanted to let Li Yue'er go back to see her little sister one last time while the child was still breathing, so that she would not have any regrets later.

Aunt Qiu loves daughters but only has one son. Although she feels sorry for Li Yue'er and her sister, she can't offer them anything more. "Your brother Mu is of marriageable age, and this is all I can give him."

Li Yue'er felt a pang of sadness, and her eyes reddened.

Feeling both guilty and grateful, she tried to push the money away, but her arm felt as heavy as a thousand pounds and she couldn't move it.

What she held in her hand was not the twenty coins given by Aunt Qiu, but her sister's life.

Li Yue'er bit her lower lip until it tasted blood, and immediately knelt down to kowtow to Aunt Qiu.

The two families are not related by blood. The reason Aunt Qiu is helping her so much is because Aunt Qiu is loyal and righteous. Before she became the head housekeeper in the Qu family, she lived next door to her.

“There’s no need for this. I’m only helping you because I have extra money. If I didn’t have any money, I wouldn’t be able to help you,” Aunt Qiu said, supporting Li Yue’er’s arms. “If I had known this would happen… you would have been better off being my daughter-in-law in the first place.”

It just goes to show that life is unpredictable and there are so many things you can't know beforehand.

Li Yue'er took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Don't worry, Aunt Qiu, I will never forget your kindness when I have money in the future."

In the future?

Aunt Qiu was also worried, concerned about Li Yue'er's future.

With the master gone, what future awaits Li Yue'er, this concubine?

Moreover, Li Yue'er's sister was so ill that twenty coins wouldn't be enough. If she was sick, she could only call a doctor, and after that, she'd need medicine; how could that little money possibly cover it?

Aunt Qiu hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, stamped her foot, and shamelessly pointed out a detour to Li Yue'er:

"Given the current situation, we can't count on the master. If you're willing to humble yourself, why don't you go and beg the mistress for a way to survive?"

In the eyes of the master, there is no such thing as male or female gender, only whether one's appearance and physique are qualified to sleep with him.

The servants had no distinction between master and mistress; all they saw when they looked up was money and a way to make a living.

Since I'm going to be a concubine anyway, it doesn't matter who I'm with.

————————!!————————

I, Hu33, am back!!!

1. Woohoo! The first post is here! Your familiar bedtime yellow biscuit!

2. Maintaining my usual lighthearted writing style, with the theme of "doing it first, then loving it," I hope you all enjoy it! [clasped hands][bowing]

3. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'll update around 6 PM (probably, maybe, possibly, should).

ps

4. Due to character design and identity issues, this story should be a mutual top/bottom relationship, um... 69