Chapter 5, Part 005: I pestered her twice.

Meng Xiaoxiao climbed off the bed, slipped on her shoes, and ran to Li Yue'er, calling out with concern and worry, "Sister Yue'er."

Li Yue'er reached out and touched her head, asking softly, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Meng Xiaoxiao wanted to glare at Xu Xinmei but didn't dare. She just timidly glanced in that direction and complained, "I told you you went to the toilet, but someone didn't believe me and insisted on catching you red-handed."

Xu Xinmei glared at her, and Meng Xiaoxiao jumped behind Li Yue'er like a cat on fire, "Sister Yue'er isn't a demon, what kind of true form could she possibly reveal?"

Xu Xinmei: "I meant in the present, not in the act! It's pointless for me to argue with an idiot like you. Li Yue'er, what did you do last night?"

Li Yue'er told Meng Xiaoxiao, who was only wearing her undergarments, to go back to bed. She then turned around, bolted the door, and took off her outer garment to prepare for sleep. "Didn't Xiaoxiao say I was going to the toilet?"

Xu Xinmei: "Do you think I'm stupid? You've been hiding in the house since evening and haven't come out. You didn't eat dinner, and you disappeared for almost two hours during the night. Did you faint in the outhouse?"

Li Yue'er nodded, "Yes, you're right."

She took off her outer clothes, unfolded the quilt, and lay down to cover herself. She hadn't slept for two days and one night, and now that her mind was relaxed, her head started to throb. She was too lazy to argue with Xu Xinmei.

Her attitude infuriated Xu Xinmei, who stood up abruptly, put one hand on her hip, and pointed at her, asking, "Did you secretly go to see the master?"

Xu Xinmei paced around the room, growing angrier with each passing thought. "You vixen, you must have gone off to seduce someone!"

Li Yue'er looked up at her in surprise.

She was right.

However, she wasn't seducing the master, but rather the mistress.

Li Yue'er met Xu Xinmei's gaze, smiled slightly, and deliberately teased her, "Yes, yes, I bothered her twice~"

Xu Xinmei was even angrier than she expected Li Yue'er to actually admit it.

But she couldn't just drag the other person off the bed by the hair and beat them up, so all she could do was stomp her feet and yell, "You, you shameless person!"

Li Yue'er wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, preparing to sleep, and lazily agreed, "Well, as a shameless and beautiful woman, how could I be so shy as to seduce someone?"

Xu Xinmei, "..."

She's so angry!!!

The more frankly Li Yue'er admitted it, the less Xu Xinmei believed her. Calming down, she crossed her arms and muttered an analysis, "I heard the master went out to collect debts, so even if you wanted to seduce him, you wouldn't have the chance."

She glared at Li Yue'er, who was wrapped in the blanket, and said, "You're definitely up to something. You'd better not let me catch you."

If she discovers that Li Yue'er is being unruly, she will definitely report it to the old lady and the mistress.

Li Yue'er found her noisy and pulled the blanket over her head.

There were three people in the room. Two of them ignored her. Xu Xinmei shouted a few times and then climbed onto the communal bed to go to sleep.

She was angry and deliberately slept at the very back, distancing herself from Meng Xiaoxiao and Li Yue'er.

Meng Xiaoxiao looked at her blankly, then quickly moved her bottom and rolled into the gap, not giving Xu Xinmei a chance to roll back. At the same time, she reached out and pulled Li Yue'er, "Sister Yue'er, come this way, it's spacious here."

Li Yue'er's head peeked out from under the covers.

Meng Xiaoxiao lay on her side with her bottom facing Xu Xinmei, and whispered to Li Yue'er, "Sister Yue'er, today is the Beginning of Winter. The kitchen made dumplings that were delicious. It's a pity you didn't get to eat them."

Li Yue'er's mind was blank, and in her drowsy state, she mumbled, "At least I got to eat the dumpling...skin, right..."

She paused for a moment after speaking, then her face flushed with embarrassment, and she instinctively raised her hand to cover her mouth.

How could she say such vulgar and obscene things from the book to Xiaoxiao!

Meng Xiaoxiao stared at her curiously, "?"

Li Yue'er urged Meng Xiaoxiao to go to sleep quickly, "..."

Her big, innocent eyes made people lower their guard, and they just blurted out those words.

Li Yue'er was also quite glad that she hadn't sneaked home today, otherwise Xu Xinmei would have caught her missing all night and would have definitely made a scene for her masters.

The old lady must be in a bad mood lately, and Li Yue'er dares not gamble her life on how kind the old lady is to her.

To be honest, Li Yue'er was still worried about her younger sister. However, she would only know the situation at home after seeing Aunt Qiu tomorrow, and whether the mistress's words were reliable, and whether she would be given some money to save her life.

Although it's humiliating to give money after sleeping with someone, she's already gone this far, so what's there to be afraid of in terms of humiliation?

If the mistress had just given her a tael of silver, Li Yue'er would have been begging her to "humiliate" her in this way.

My mind is a mess, like a tangled ball of yarn that I can't untangle.

Li Yue'er's eyelids were so heavy she could barely keep them open. Before she fell into a deep sleep, the last thing she thought of was the mistress's cold face and indifferent eyes.

If there is a next time, she will definitely light a lamp and secretly check if the mistress's eyes are glistening with tears as the time approaches.

The next morning, Li Yue'er didn't get up until Chenshi (7-9 AM).

If Xu Xinmei hadn't made a noise, she could have slept a little longer.

The three of them had nothing to do at home. Xu Xinmei spent her days dressing up and going out to inquire about the master's whereabouts.

Meng Xiaoxiao goes wherever there's excitement.

A few days ago, Li Yue'er took some needlework from Aunt Qiu. After dawn, she would sit by the bed and embroider sachets. After she finished, she would ask Aunt Qiu's brother Mu to take them out to sell, and then give her 20% of the money.

Although it's a small amount, it's better than nothing.

Li Yue'er sat inside the room, but kept her ears open to the outside world.

Whenever she heard footsteps, she would immediately peek out through the crack in the window to see if it was Aunt Qiu or a maidservant from the mistress's side.

It's understandable that there was no news from Aunt Qiu after waiting all morning; it would take Mu Ge at least half a day to go out and come back.

She lived in the same mansion as the mistress, but the mistress made no gesture whatsoever.

Thinking about her shameless and hardworking performance last night, Li Yue'er felt increasingly annoyed and wronged as she waited, and more than anything, she felt powerless.

She had no say in what the mistress planned to do; she didn't even have the right to ask Matsuri-in.

Even if the mistress turns her back on her word, she can only accept her bad luck.

"Sister Yue'er," Meng Xiaoxiao called as she returned from outside, "Let's go eat."

Li Yue'er suppressed her emotions and forced a gentle smile, "Okay."

The lady of the house had brought in the clothes that she had hung out to dry in the afternoon, folded them neatly, and placed them under her sewing basket. Just now, while putting things away, she happened to see the hem of that skirt.

Li Yue'er glanced at it and then looked away.

The mistress wasn't just a weaver girl with only this one garment, yet she was incredibly foolish, thinking last night that guarding this garment would bring the mistress down to earth to see her.

After packing her things, Li Yue'er went with Meng Xiaoxiao to get dinner.

Before the two even reached the back kitchen, they encountered Aunt Qiu coming towards them.

Aunt Qiu smiled and waved to the two of them. When Meng Xiaoxiao approached, she handed her a piece of malt candy coated with sugar. "Why don't you go get your sister Yue'er's meal first?"

Meng Xiaoxiao's eyes immediately lit up, and without hesitation, she said, "Okay!"

In this mansion, her favorite people were Sister Yue'er and Aunt Qiu.

Meng Xiaoxiao didn't ask why, and left with the candy in her mouth without looking back at the two of them.

Li Yue'er smiled helplessly, and only after Meng Xiaoxiao had walked far away did she take a few steps forward to approach Aunt Qiu, looking at her expectantly.

Aunt Qiu, "You'll get a share too."

He then handed the candy to Li Yue'er.

Li Yue'er was both amused and exasperated, her face slightly flushed. "I'm not a child anymore."

Despite saying that, her hand honestly accepted the candy. The cheap maltose was as precious as gold in her hands; before she even tasted it, her mouth and heart were already sweet.

Aunt Qiu, "I know what you want to ask."

Aunt Qiu first looked Li Yue'er up and down without making a sound. Seeing that she didn't look any different than usual, she was relieved. "Brother Mu asked a doctor to come to your house this morning, but when he arrived, there was already a doctor taking your little sister's pulse."

Li Yue'er was stunned. "It's me..."

I could never bring myself to call him "father".

Aunt Qiu could tell what she was going to say just by looking at her face, and her face instantly turned gloomy. "It wasn't him. If he cared about you three, Xing'er wouldn't have almost died from a high fever."

Li Yue'er pursed her lips tightly.

She also learned to have wild fantasies, actually hoping that the man could have some conscience and fatherly love.

Li Yue'er, "What is that?"

Aunt Qiu looked at her and said, "It must have been someone sent by the mistress. She is a doctor from Bian Que Hall, the best medical clinic in our area. The consultation fee for a single outpatient visit is no less than two taels of silver."

Li Yue'er was stunned.

Aunt Qiu analyzed in a low voice, "Why do you say it's the mistress? It's because your brother Mu secretly followed that doctor back to Bianque Hall and vaguely saw the mistress's head maid, Teng Huang, sitting inside."

"The doctor also gave Xing'er some medicine. When Brother Mu came back, Xing'er had already taken the medicine and fallen asleep. Knowing that you were worried, Brother Mu went to the clinic to ask. The doctor said that as long as Xing'er's fever subsided after taking the medicine, her life could be saved."

Li Yue'er stood there, stunned.

Aunt Qiu paused, sighed, took out a handkerchief, and wiped Li Yue'er's face twice. "Good child, don't cry. With the doctors from Bian Que Hall treating you, Xing'er's life will definitely be saved."

She said, "It's just that you've been wronged."

Li Yue'er's legs went weak, and she couldn't help but slowly squat down, hugging her knees with both hands, burying her face in her arms and shaking her head, "I'm not wronged."

Although her voice was trembling with tears, it also revealed joy: "As long as my little sister can live, I will do anything to make her happy."

That was her own sister, the sister who called her "elder sister" as soon as she could speak, the sister who thought of her first when she got something delicious, and the sister who happily hugged her feet to warm her up when she had her period at night.

She's only six years old.

Compared to my sister's life, what happened to me last night was nothing at all.

Li Yue'er not only didn't feel wronged, but was even very grateful to her mistress.

Li Yue'er took out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears and snot, and quickly stood up to thank Aunt Qiu, "When my little sister gets better, I will definitely have her kowtow to you and Brother Mu."

Li Yue'er had just finished crying, and her eyes, as if washed with water, appeared even more moist and gentle. Seeing that she felt only joy and no resentment in her heart, Aunt Qiu was completely relieved.

God knows how much her conscience ached when she persuaded a young girl to do such a thing. She tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep soundly, worried that the child would resent her for pointing her down this wrong path.

Fortunately, Li Yue'er is not that kind of child.

Aunt Qiu said, "We should thank the mistress."

She had met the mistress a few times, and she never expected that although the mistress was cold and taciturn, she would not take human life lightly.

Li Yue'er wiped away her tears and was about to nod when she saw Dansha, the head maidservant beside the mistress, walking towards her.

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Cinnabar: Why do I feel like a eunuch in the palace summoning concubines to the emperor's bedchamber? [Clown]