Chapter 2, 002: Come in.

Li Yue'er felt that Aunt Qiu had done her best to protect her meager dignity and face when she said those words.

Right now, I have no other choice but to take this path.

Without much hesitation, Li Yue'er gripped her purse and nodded gently, "Aunt Qiu, I have two more requests to make of you."

She handed the purse outwards, saying, "I can't go out anymore. Could you please trouble Brother Mu to make a trip for me and take this money to a doctor to see my little sister?"

Although Meng Xiaoxiao promised to keep it a secret, if Meng Xiaoxiao was able to find out that she went out last night, there's no guarantee that Xu Xinmei won't find out that she left the mansion tonight.

Li Yue'er dared not gamble with her luck, nor did she want to implicate Aunt Qiu and her son.

In fact, Aunt Qiu had the same plan, but she didn't say it. Li Yue'er was now the nominal concubine of the Qu family. If she ran away from home multiple times without telling her master, she would be severely punished if she was discovered.

Aunt Qiu accepted the purse. "Good child, I know you're afraid of implicating me and your brother Mu. Don't worry, I'll make sure he takes care of this for you."

Li Yue'er finally smiled, "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Mu."

Giving the money to Brother Mu to fetch a doctor is more reliable than giving the money to Mother so she can fetch a doctor herself.

There's one more thing.

Li Yue'er's smile froze on her lips. She lowered her eyes and clenched her hands in front of her, her neck seemingly broken, unable to lift her head. "Please help me find a... book."

She was a girl from a respectable family, but at seventeen she had never even held someone's hand, so how would she know how to serve someone?

She's still a woman.

Originally, it was said that after entering the mansion, when the master requested them to stay overnight, a special maid would come in advance to teach them bedroom arts and ways to serve him. Now that the master has run away, these things have naturally been abandoned.

If this were mentioned to someone else, Li Yue'er could hide her shame with a face thicker than a mud wall, but when it came to her elder Aunt Qiu, Li Yue'er felt a burning pain all over her skin.

Despite her easy agreement, she still harbors a bit of arrogance deep down.

Aunt Qiu reached out and hugged Li Yue'er, saying only, "Poor child."

With such a beautiful face, how could she have ended up with such a father?

Aunt Qiu promised her that she would help her find books and keep an eye on the mistress's whereabouts. Li Yue'er cheered up and went to the kitchen to find Meng Xiaoxiao.

"Should we take the food to Xu Xinmei?" Meng Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up when she saw Li Yue'er coming over.

Li Yue'er countered, "Do you want to send it to her?"

Meng Xiaoxiao immediately wrinkled her face and shook her head repeatedly, "No."

Li Yue'er then said, "Then we won't mention it to her. She has hands and feet, and she'll come and eat when she's hungry. You and I aren't her maids, so we won't indulge her."

Meng Xiaoxiao nodded emphatically, "That's right!"

She looked at Li Yue'er with bright, round eyes and said, "There's definitely a reason why it's two taels more expensive. Sister Yue'er is smarter than me and can make decisions better than me!"

Li Yue'er, "Hmm?"

Meng Xiaoxiao snorted and spoke with her head held high, "I'm not going to serve Xu Xinmei any food. Who told her to always say I'm only worth three taels of silver? Today I'm going to show her that you get what you pay for!"

Li Yue'er, "..."

Is this something to be proud of?

The two found an empty table in the back kitchen to eat, and many maids and servants secretly glanced in their direction.

It's no wonder they took a second look; the identities of Li Yue'er and the other two were far too awkward in the mansion.

They were called concubines, but it seemed they had no real status. They were called maids, but their status as concubines placed them on a pedestal. As a result, they not only had no one to serve them, but they also had to be mindful of others' feelings when they came to the kitchen for a meal.

Li Yue'er ignored all of this and quietly ate her meal.

Meng Xiaoxiao was curious; whenever someone looked at her, she would look back at them one by one.

Yet her large, clear eyes held a hint of confusion and bewilderment, like a mirror reflecting the human heart. So much so that when others met her gaze, they would feel a little ashamed and turn their faces away.

As the two were finishing their meal, they vaguely heard a conversation in the distance.

"The mistress ate with the old lady today, so let's send her portion to Shouhe Hall as well."

Li Yue'er subconsciously looked over.

The messenger was Dansha, the head maidservant of the mistress. Dressed in crimson, she spoke in a cold and indifferent tone, much like her mistress.

Li Yue'er had seen the mistress from afar. The bright red wedding dress embroidered with gold phoenixes could not dispel the frost and coldness on her face. The jewels and gold and silver in her hair could not hide the sarcasm under her narrow eyes. Her long phoenix eyes swept over them as if sweeping over sawdust and dust, without lingering for a moment, and without penetrating even half an inch into her eyes.

Just thinking about it made Li Yue'er feel a chill run down her spine.

The thought of asking to get under her skirt made his eyelids twitch uncontrollably.

She wasn't afraid of the mistress making things difficult for her; she was only afraid that the mistress didn't even notice her and would sweep her out like dust, which would mean she would have no way out.

Li Yue'er unconsciously bit her lower lip, hissing in pain, only then realizing that blood had seeped out.

As she regained consciousness, she took a deep breath and made up her mind that she had to stay in the mistress's room no matter what!

After delivering the message, Dansha went to Shouhe Hall.

When she arrived, another maidservant, Teng Huang, who was by the mistress's side, was guarding outside the main hall. When she saw her return, she winked at her, indicating that the mistress inside was talking and that they did not need to go in to serve her for the time being.

Dan Sha walked to the other side of the door and stood there with his eyes downcast, like a door god, as if he were in deep meditation.

Teng Huang wrinkled his nose with a hint of regret. Although he stood obediently and properly, his ears were sticking out into the hall.

Logically, a granddaughter-in-law should serve an old lady with utmost respect when dining with her, but the matriarch in the main hall sat calmly and composedly.

A woman's husband is her everything, and now that her husband has run away, she's still sitting still!

The old lady glanced at her, her face darkening slightly, her lips almost pressing down to her chin. Seeing that she still didn't speak, the old lady gripped her phoenix-headed cane and spoke first, "Qu Rong, it's been five days, and there's still no news of Qu Ming?"

Qu Rong lowered her eyes and replied, "No."

"Is it really not there, or did you not look carefully enough?" The old lady's temper flared up, and she slammed her cane on the ground. "How can a perfectly healthy person just disappear without a trace?"

“That’s how it is when you search for someone in private,” Qu Rong said, taking a sip of tea with her eyes lowered, speaking at a slow and unhurried pace. “If Grandmother feels that I haven’t done enough, she can simply report it to the authorities and post notices to find the person.”

The old lady's tone was cold and heavy: "If this matter could be resolved by reporting it to the authorities, would I need you to go find someone?"

She glanced at Qu Rong's features, which bore a striking resemblance to her deceased son, and coldly scoffed:

"You'd better not have any other ideas. The Qu family only has one master, Qu Ming. If he's alive, you and your daughter will be fine. But if anything happens to him, I'll sell you and your daughter to the army."

Women sold to the military suffered a fate a hundred times worse than those sold to brothels.

The old lady was a woman, yet she could utter such words with just the touch of her thin lips.

Qu Rong then raised her head and looked at her directly, her cold eyes showing indifference to Qu Ming's life or death and her own future.

Just when the old lady thought she was about to retort, Qu Rong smiled faintly and said, "Okay, Grandmother."

Qu Rong, being a woman, has a rather cold appearance. Her phoenix eyes and thin lips give her a bland and indifferent look. However, she has a small red beauty mark near the lower corner of her left eye.

It was as if a master of ink painting had dipped a clean, round brush in peach-pink watercolor paint, and then, with light and steady touch, quickly dotted the corner of her eye, leaving a unique and alluring color on her pale face.

If she keeps a blank expression and doesn't speak, it's hard for others to notice the small mole at the corner of her eye.

Only when she smiles does the mole appear like a lively red carp swimming in clear water, so vivid that it's hard to ignore.

Unfortunately, the old lady disliked Qu Rong and therefore loathed her face and everything about it.

No matter how beautiful a face is or how pale and cold it is, it is still dirty in the eyes of an old lady.

The meal was about to be served when the old lady got up and left with her cane, without even glancing at Qu Rong. "If there's still no news of Qu Ming within seven days, you know what will happen."

The Qu family's business could not have grown so large solely on the help of their deceased patriarch.

The old lady was decisive and ruthless in her youth. Now that she is old and has suffered the pain of losing her husband and son, her heart has not softened at all, but has become colder and harder.

Before Qu Rong could reply, the old lady went straight out of the main hall, clearly not wanting to eat with Qu Rong, and even said that seeing her made her feel nauseous.

Qu Rong stood up to see her off.

Once the old lady had walked away, Dansha and Tenghuang hurriedly entered, standing on either side of Qu Rong, and cautiously asked in a low voice, "Mistress, shall we go back?"

Qu Rong walked to the table and sat down again. "You haven't even eaten. Why are you leaving?"

But the old lady's attitude and the harsh words she spoke...

Qu Rong ate without changing her expression, taking one bite after another slowly and elegantly, displaying the poise of a well-bred lady from a scholarly family.

If she couldn't even tolerate these light, verbal threats, how could she have survived to this day?

In the sixteen years she has grown up, the old lady's words just now were not harsh enough.

Teng Huang carefully observed Qu Rong's expression and eyes, then stood obediently behind her, not daring to breathe too loudly.

The mistress was young and hot-tempered; being able to endure it didn't mean she could swallow it.

Garcinia silently prayed that everything would go smoothly today, and that no unexpected complications would bother his mistress, lest he, like an innocent bystander, be implicated in the chaos of a fire at the city gates.

When a new bride enters the household, she serves her husband and elders at home and manages the household finances in public.

She controlled the Qu family's courtyard and managed the Qu family's accounts, but she wouldn't allow Qu Rong to touch any of the outside businesses.

Qu Rong read through one muddled ledger after another until it was getting dark. She finally closed the ledgers, threw them on the table with a cold expression, and said, "Go back and rest."

She appeared to have entered the Qu family and was legitimately a member of the Qu family, but in reality, the old lady wanted to lock her in the courtyard from the outside, to cripple her wings and weaken her backbone, and to raise her into a dog that only wags its tail.

From the moment the hair was loosened and the three servants began to wash and bathe, the room remained as quiet as if no one was alive. Only when Qu Rong bathed behind the screen in the inner room did she make a slight sound as she splashed the warm water.

Dansha carried the clothes that the mistress had changed out of and went out first, while Teng Huang extinguished the extra candles and oil lamps in the room and then quietly retreated.

She had been living in fear all day, but now she was finally able to relax. Thinking that her mistress had already gone to bed and wouldn't easily let anyone in, she went to get her own dinner before coming back to keep watch.

She left first, and Li Yue'er arrived right after.

Standing at the dimly lit doorway, Li Yue'er mustered her courage and gently knocked.

The dull thuds felt like they were hitting my eardrums, making my heart leap into my throat, ready to jump out at any moment.

Maybe we should just forget about it...

Li Yue'er struggled internally, and just as a hint of fear arose, she heard two cold and brief words coming from inside.

"Come in."

————————!!————————

Moon (Li Yue'er's nickname): You said it yourself [yellow heart]