The discovery of a corpse at the embroidery shop naturally requires reporting to the authorities, but this is none of Yuan Qi's business; Bai Youhui, Feng Zhaolin, and others will handle the matter.
Yuan Qi waited for Bai Youhui to return with the silver notes at the entrance of the money exchange. After buying some pastries from the pastry shop, he sneaked back home.
No one noticed her when she returned to the ancestral hall. She put away the paper figure and sat on a round cushion to eat pastries.
With a creak, the door opened. Yuan Qi quickly hid the pastries in his cloth bag and turned to look at the doorway.
Aunt Li and Jiang Jiulu came in. Jiang Jiulu helped Yuan Qi up and reached out to wipe the crumbs of pastry from the corner of her mouth: "Aunt Li pleaded for you with Father, so you can go back now."
Yuan Qi was a little embarrassed. She had been caught stealing pastries, and her attempt to be clever only made her a laughingstock.
Seeing Yuan Qi's embarrassed little face, Aunt Li found it adorable and couldn't help but giggle: "Look how hungry you are. Dinner is ready, let's go eat together."
Yuan Qi smiled, looking exceptionally sensible: "Thank you, Aunt Li, thank you, Fifth Sister."
Aunt Li felt very sorry for her and reached out to pat her head: "What a good child! She was only punished to kneel in the ancestral hall for speaking a few truths. When I see you, I am reminded of my daughter Jiu Lu when she was little. Such a well-behaved child, yet she was not loved by her aunt. I don't know how they could bear to bully you!"
Regardless of whether Aunt Li was telling the truth or not, Yuan Qi did see the kindness and heartache in her eyes.
The masters of the Jiang family ate three meals a day together. Yuan Qi saw the Jiang family members again in the dining hall, but this time one was missing: Old Madam Bai was not there.
Jiang Zhengqing, who was in the main seat, was not in a good mood. Yuan Qi had noticed yesterday that he was having bad luck. The sunken area of his father's and parents' palaces indicated that his mother was seriously ill. There were horizontal lines on the bridge of his nose, and the couple often quarreled.
However, she won't say it this time, lest she be punished again.
She obediently lowered her head and ate her rice. Just as she was finishing, a servant came to report that the old lady had fainted.
The masters of the Jiang family all flocked to Songhe Hall.
Yuan Qi was left in the courtyard by Xiangli Mingzhu: "You just offended your grandmother, so don't go in, lest she wake up and get angry again if she sees you."
Yuan Qi scoffed and said, "I don't want to see her anyway."
After the physician's treatment, it was an hour later that Old Madam Bai's condition stabilized.
Jiang Jiulu came out of the house and pulled Yuan Qi, saying, "I'll take you to your place."
Yuan Qi thanked her sweetly, "Fifth Sister, you're so kind."
Jiang Zhengqing's daughters all lived in a large courtyard—Xichun Courtyard. There were several houses in this courtyard. Jiang Jiulu led Yuan Qi to a very unique house with the words "Peony Residence" written on the plaque above it.
The next morning, Yuan Qi was sound asleep when she was rudely woken up by her maid, Lvzhu, who was much older than her: "Seventh Miss, you need to go and pay your respects to the Old Madam."
Yuan Qi didn't open his eyes, and groggily turned over so his back was to Green Bamboo: "Didn't Grandmother say she didn't want to see me? What should I do there?"
"The Marquis consulted a fortune teller who said that the old lady's illness was caused by you, and only by bringing you back can she recover. That's why the madam wants you to come early this morning. Hurry up, everyone is waiting for you."
Green Bamboo became quite impolite towards the end, and her attitude was rather rude.
Yuan Qi, annoyed, sat up and scolded her with a flushed face: "I am the master and you are the servant. You'd better be more polite to me in the future, or I have plenty of ways to deal with you."
Green Bamboo didn't take her words to heart. The entire Jiang family looked down on this seventh young lady. She was just unlucky to be assigned here. If she had the chance, she would like to serve the fourth young lady.
"That depends on whether Miss has the ability." Green Bamboo roughly took the clothes and put them on her.
Yuan Qi was furious that a mere maid dared to bully her. She stood up from the bed, her buttocks sticking out, and slapped her across the face: "Kneel down!"
Green Bamboo's cheeks burned with pain, and she felt something flowing down. When she touched it, she found it was blood.
Miss Seven has great strength.
She glared at Yuan Qi, unable to utter a single word.
Yuan Qi stood with her hands on her hips, her pink face filled with anger, and repeated, word by word, "Kneel down."
Green Bamboo hesitated for a moment before kneeling down.
"Do I have that ability?" Yuan Qi asked fiercely, raising his chin.
It's not that she doesn't want Green Bamboo; to her, it doesn't matter who she uses. Others aren't necessarily more loyal or more useful than Green Bamboo.
She had no interest in slowly training the maids; as long as the maids did their jobs well, she didn't care about loyalty or anything like that.
Human hearts are unpredictable; between people, there is only self-interest, not loyalty or disloyalty.
Green Bamboo knew that a typical nine-year-old girl could not possibly have such strength to slap her face so hard it was bruised and battered.
"Miss has such ability. This servant was blind and did not recognize your greatness. Please forgive me, Miss. This servant will never dare to do it again."
Yuan Qi hummed in agreement and lay back down.
Green Bamboo was afraid of Yuan Qi, and also afraid that she would be beaten to death if she missed the time to see the old lady.
She urged him nervously, "Seventh Miss, please get up. We can't delay the old lady. The Marquis, the Madam, the young masters, and the young ladies have all arrived and are waiting for you."
After being urged once, Green Bamboo dared not urge again and knelt quietly to wait.
After sleeping for a while, Yuan Qi felt it was about time, so he got up, changed his clothes, and washed up.
When she arrived at the old lady's Songhe Hall, she saw Jiang Zhengqing sitting on the armchair with an angry expression.
Although Jiang Zhengqing was not a very good person, he was very filial to his elderly mother.
"What time is it? Why are you so late? Don't you know we've all been waiting for you?" Jiang Bailu scolded Yuan Qi with the air of an older sister.
Then Green Bamboo also came in, covering her face, not daring to look at her masters, and found a corner to stand in.
She was injured, and Yuan Qi didn't tell her to rest, so she had no choice but to come along. It was also a good opportunity for the masters to see just how cruel this Seventh Miss was.
Jiang Bailu was shocked when she saw this: "You did this?"
"Disrespectful to the master, she deserves a beating!" Yuan Qi said angrily, pointing her delicate little finger at Green Bamboo to complain, "She spoke disrespectfully and was mean to me, so I punished her. Is there a problem with that?"
Green Bamboo knelt down with a thud: "This servant didn't, it's just that Seventh Miss was in a bad mood and took it out on me. This servant was very respectful..."
Aunt Li gave a signal to the maid beside her, and the maid went up and slapped Green Bamboo again.
Aunt Li said, "She's just a servant. If the master hits her, so be it. What's wrong with taking it out on you? It's because he thinks highly of you. In my opinion, you must look down on Seventh Miss because she came from the Taoist temple. You've been disrespectful to Seventh Miss. If you ask me, Seventh Miss hitting you is too lenient."
Green Bamboo looked at Xiangli Mingzhu. It was Madam who told her to bully the Seventh Miss. Why is Madam not saying anything now?
Xiangli Mingzhu didn't think it was Yuan Qi who was capable, but rather that Lü Zhu was useless and couldn't even handle a small child: "Alright, it's no big deal. If Seventh Girl doesn't like Lü Zhu, just replace her."
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