Chapter 556 Men Should Be a Little Bad

Autumn day, at dawn.

During the harvest season, food is plentiful, so the birds don't go hungry and don't get up early to chirp and search for insects. The world is quiet and peaceful, making it the perfect time to sleep in.

Xiao Lian'er arched her body, shifting to a more comfortable position to continue enjoying this rare moment. She had just had a wonderful dream and was feeling quite comfortable right now!

Back in the capital, personal maids like Xiao Lian'er weren't this lazy. They had to be awake when their mistress was awake, and half-awake when she was asleep. Only when they went out to travel would the kind-hearted Zhang Wenlu allow her to sleep in comfortably.

"Sleeping in is so nice! I wonder if that handsome second mate from my dream will show up today. He chatted with me for a while yesterday!"

"One, two, one, two, one, one... two... three... four, thump thump thump thump!"

The sound of orderly footsteps drifted in from outside the window, and the loud shouts completely dispelled Xiao Lian'er's sweet dream.

"Lian'er, did you forget to close the window last night? So lazy... are you asking for a beating?"

"I...Miss, didn't you say you wanted...Tingyu...?"

Xiao Lian'er had just been woken up and was still groggy when Zhang Wenlu scolded her. She had no choice but to explain the reason with aggrieved feelings: last night, after an autumn rain, Zhang Wenlu suddenly felt like sleeping with the window open. Xiao Lian'er was supposed to close the window after she fell asleep, but she fell asleep too.

"Listen to the rain? Listen to your sister!" A pillow was thrown out from the inner room, startling Xiao Lian'er so much that she stuck out her tongue and quickly picked it up and put it back inside.

Zhang Wenlu had already sat up, wearing only an undershirt, her hair disheveled, one of her snow-white thighs exposed, still angry. She had been preoccupied with something these past few days, her mind filled with the theories of freedom of marriage and gender equality that Shi Shengnan had instilled in her, and she hadn't been sleeping well. Last night, she had finally managed to get a good night's sleep thanks to the sound of rain, but she was woken up again, which made her very unhappy.

Starting from the second day after their arrival, the girls from Dayuan resumed their habit of going for a group morning run, which greatly puzzled the ladies from the capital city living in the building across the street. It was only because the women's apartment built by Shi Jing and others had good soundproofing that it was so annoying every morning.

"These female students from high-ranking families are really something. They get up before dawn and run around like crazy, carrying huge bags that weigh dozens of kilograms. I wonder what's inside them. Sigh... Miss, why don't you ask them about it another day?" Xiao Lian'er muttered as she closed the window, trying to distract her young mistress.

"They're carrying rifles too. Why don't you go ask them who they're used to kill?" Zhang Wenlu retorted to Xiao Lian'er in annoyance, reaching out to grope for her underwear.

Xiao Lian'er immediately clutched her heart and cried out in alarm, "Miss, please don't frighten me! I'm easily frightened. How can a young lady from a prominent family like you casually talk about murder!"

"Stop pretending to be crazy and hurry up and serve me to take a bath. We have important things to do today. If you embarrass me, see how I deal with you!"

What Zhang Wenlu liked most about this women's apartment was the tiled bathroom. All the bathrooms in the building were connected by two expensive copper pipes, and hot and cold water were provided 24 hours a day by a special boiler room and water tower. It was an absolutely luxurious setup in the world.

Amidst the misty steam and the dripping water, Zhang Wenlu had grown to love the feeling of cleansing herself. She wiped the large mirror on the wall, looked at her beautiful, white body in the mirror, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Is Miss finished washing? May I wash too...?"

"You're playing the victim again. Get in here!"

Little Lotus, whose branches hadn't fully grown yet, squeezed in with a grin. The small space made it a bit cramped for the two of them, so physical contact was inevitable, and soon there were sounds of them playfully bickering.

After tidying themselves up, the mistress and maid went to the public dining room to meet their companions for a meal. During the meal, they were caught by Shi Shengnan and others who were also dining in the restaurant and were given a lecture on the heretical idea that "women should be self-reliant".

Since the first social gathering, the members of the Shuiyun Poetry Society and the Wild Tribulus Women's Club have been in contact. The self-reliant women of Wild Tribulus have launched a comprehensive brainwashing campaign against the traditional young ladies of the Shuiyun Poetry Society.

At first, many daughters of officials looked down on this kind of thinking because they believed it was a stubborn expression of extreme inferiority complex from poor people. They thought that which well-known lady wasn't destined to enjoy wealth and be a good wife and mother? Why would she need to go to work and earn a pittance?

After some cautious contact, Zhang Wenlu and the others learned the identities of these seemingly unfortunate female students.

The third daughter of the Xiao family, one of the four major families in Dayuan, the youngest daughter of the shipping tycoon Qiao family, the granddaughter of Wu Shengze, a bigwig in Dayuan's military, and the niece of Xu Liyan, the godfather of the concubine of Prince Heng, are all seemingly unfortunate girls who are actually the second and third generation of Dayuan officials.

When Qiao Qianqian casually pulled out several bank drafts with face values ​​of tens of thousands of dollars, Zhang Wenlu and the others were truly stunned. Their Shuiyun Poetry Society was a well-known poetry society in the capital, but it didn't have a fixed amount of funds for activities! Yet, the funds that Ye Jili had prepared for this internship in Daxia amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.

A stunned Zhang Wenlu asked Shi Shengnan, "Since you're already so rich, why do you still have to humiliate yourselves like this? Even... why do you have to work in a textile factory?"

"Does having money mean you can only live a life of idleness and waiting to die? The saying 'wealth doesn't last three generations' stems from your lack of ambition. We work in factories today so that we can better manage our own workshops and factories tomorrow, and then make them even bigger than our parents' factories!"

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