Chapter 53
"You shameless hussy! Look what you've done, you've lost the vegetables again." The woman who spoke threw the vegetables in her hand in front of Yinglian, put her hands on her hips, pointed at her forehead and cursed, "Ever since you came here, you've been causing trouble. Either vegetables or firewood are missing from the kitchen every day."
Yinglian didn't answer her, but silently picked up the vegetables from the ground. Her face was numb, but when the old woman saw her like this, she roughly grabbed the woman's collar and said, "Tell me! Did you steal them and sell them?"
"I don't."
Before she could finish speaking, a sharp slap landed on Yinglian's face. Instantly, her face turned bright red, a dull pain accompanied by burning sensation. "Dare to lie again!"
Seeing that things were getting out of hand, another steward quickly came over and advised, "This is someone His Highness sent in. If she complains, you'll be in trouble."
Upon hearing this, the woman simply scoffed, "Go ahead and sue. I've only kept quiet out of respect for His Highness. Now the dishes are even less." She spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness, asking everyone for their opinion, "We really can't tolerate her anymore."
"But you can't contradict yourself like that, or people will see and know."
"If we let her serve in front of the palace, she would have left long ago. Do you think she would have any face in front of His Highness?"
The two were talking animatedly, but Yinglian stood silently to the side, covering her face. After a while, a soft voice came from the noisy environment, "I said I didn't take it." Seeing that everyone suddenly fell silent, she repeated herself.
This angered the aunt, who rolled up her sleeves as if to teach her another lesson, cursing under her breath and raising her hand to hit her. But she was pulled back by the people around her, and a mother patted Yinglian, telling her to go out first.
Actually, everyone knew perfectly well that it wasn't Yinglian who stole the vegetables. She was so quiet and reserved, never refusing to do any chores. She seemed like an honest and simple girl.
"She has a close relationship with that official in charge of desertification control. Why are you so upset? Just turn a blind eye to everything." Someone comforted the woman. Besides, everyone knows who took the vegetables. Aunt Shu is in charge of all the kitchen purchases and has skimmed off a lot of money from them. Now she's stealing vegetables and trying to frame someone else.
When Na Shu's mother heard others say this, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. But when she thought that Na Shu was just a lowly slave, so what if she had made a contribution to desert control? This was the command post, not the battlefield outside. "Why are you all so afraid of her? Do you think she has the upper hand?"
"Hey, the thief's back."
As Yinglian entered the room, she heard the other people in the room talking. Although she had been beaten in the kitchen that day, she still had to go back and finish the rest of the work. But as soon as she returned, she heard the other people in the room mocking her. Yinglian ignored them and took out her bedding to prepare for bed.
As soon as she held him in her arms, she realized something was wrong. She touched the bedding and found it was soaked. Upon closer inspection, she noticed a faint smell of urine. In this kind of weather, sleeping without a blanket at night would definitely make one freeze. As if sensing that Yinglian had discovered the bedding, laughter rose and fell around them.
"Ugh, what's that smell?" Yinglian saw a pair of legs enter her field of vision. Looking up, she saw a woman covering her nose, looking at her with disgust. "Ah, Yinglian, you didn't relieve yourself on the bed, did you? What's that smell?"
"I don't know." She looked somewhat helpless, clutching her soaked bedding, but she could see schadenfreude in the other person's eyes.
The other person continued, "Then you can't sleep here tonight. Look," she said, pointing to the bedding with a look of disgust, "it all smells, and you've been covered in it too. We can't even let you squeeze in."
Tears welled up in Yinglian's eyes, but she didn't respond to the other person. Instead, she went outside. As soon as she stepped out, she heard boisterous laughter and voices inside. She braved the cold well water and the biting wind to wash her clothes and bedding clean.
She sat alone on a bench in the room, getting up and running around when she got cold. During this time, she didn't say a word, her silence was frightening. The chill slowly crept in, and she endured the night like this. Before dawn, Yinglian went out.
"She won't freeze to death." Someone suddenly said in the quiet room, their tone full of smugness. Then, the person next to her opened their eyes and saw the woman wrapped herself up tightly, burying half her face in the blanket, and continued, "Dare to go against me? You're asking for death."
The person speaking was the same one who had pointed at Yinglian earlier that night.
"What if she gets sick?" the woman next to her said, her face showing some worry.
"If you're sick, just wait to die."
She has such a seductive air about her.
It's all because these maids are considered senior members of the household, and some are even born servants. Yinglian has only been there a few days, yet she was already being asked to treat these seniors to a meal. She did it the first time, but perhaps because they saw how honest Yinglian was, they became even more unreasonable, buying her this and that, demanding favors at every turn. If she didn't comply, she was expected to be bullied and treated unfairly.
Yinglian wouldn't give away all the money she had, which naturally made her a target of public criticism.
Although she changed her clothes, she still smelled a bit. She had been praised openly but criticized indirectly throughout the day, and the previous nanny, Madam Shu, even tried to find fault with her. In short, she was not having a good time. Last time Qingyun came, she didn't want to implicate the other party, so she didn't say anything.
"You're too late, there's no food left." Before Yinglian could speak, the man had already tossed Wan aside and thrown her directly in front of her.
“But aren’t there still a few dumplings on that table?” she pointed ahead.
The maid glanced back, a smirk playing on her lips. "That's not for someone like you. In short, it's not for you." She then looked at her and asked, "Do you understand?" with a smug, self-satisfied expression.
Yinglian stared at her without saying a word, just staring intently. Although Yinglian had a simple and honest appearance, her round eyes, devoid of emotion, gave off a strange, ghostly aura when she looked at people. The maid couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, so she straightened her back and said with a bit of bravado, "Would I lie to you? It's really gone. It was left for the other two mothers."
Once everyone had left, the maids breathed a sigh of relief, muttering, "That brat, she gave me goosebumps."
Qingyun had been busy with things these past few days, and it wasn't until he lay exhausted in bed at night that he realized he hadn't seen Lin Wanjun for half a year. He had asked Mu Helian to keep an eye on her, but the other party hadn't made any progress either, and he couldn't find her on his own.
[This shows that you didn't consider them a friend at all. You seemed to get along so well, but they haven't been around for over half a year, and you're only remembering them now.]
The system, having captured Qingyun's thoughts, spoke up at the opportune moment.
Although she was unhappy that the other party could read her mind, Qingyun still felt somewhat guilty. Actually, she couldn't be blamed for being dishonest. She was already tired enough from planting trees every day, and she also had to spare time to grow vegetables. She had to help every farmer who didn't know how to grow vegetables before she had time to do so.
At first, she naturally wanted to find the other party to get some answers, but now she can't even find a trace of them.
Qingyun said sullenly, "If they really went to get married, why didn't they even say goodbye?"
System: [No one came to see you off for the New Year, and you didn't even notice something was wrong?]
Upon hearing this, Qingyun simply chuckled. "I thought she was still angry with me and didn't want to see me."
System: [Why is she angry with you?]
Qingyun: [You don't understand, she's probably one of those highly sensitive people, right?] She rested her chin on her hand, thought for a moment, and then continued, [I have been neglecting her. Although we seem to be getting along well, things aren't really like that anymore.]
System: [Then why are you ignoring her?]
Qingyun: ...
Are you a walking encyclopedia of questions?
[Because I felt she was hiding something from me. Of course, I wasn't just guessing; I could tell her relationship with the second princess was quite close. They probably hadn't completely broken off their relationship, and might even still be seeing each other very often.]
System: [You're thinking too badly of people!]
...
Inside the command center at this moment.
A few lamps were faintly lit outside the maids' quarters. A strong wind was blowing, and the lanterns swayed. A person sat in the moonlight, curled up against the wall with her arms wrapped around her thighs, silent and still. Her attention was drawn by the sound of footsteps. The shoes were made of gold thread and brocade, with jade rabbits playing with pearls embroidered in Suzhou embroidery, and a large agate was attached to the front. This was no ordinary person's attire. Upon seeing this, Yinglian quickly stood up.
She looked up and saw a woman staring intently at her.
"..." I don't know him.
Seeing her silly look, Song Chaoli found it quite amusing. She straightened her expression and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Yinglian: "I'm enjoying the breeze."
Song Chaoli: "It's so cold outside, why are you standing in the wind?"
"Then why are you outside too?"
"Is it any of your business?"
Yinglian: "..." I shouldn't have asked.
Although Yinglian didn't know who the person in front of her was, Song Chaoli knew her. She had heard that Qingyun had sent her over, and in her memory, she was a very impulsive girl.
As the two were talking, a scream suddenly rang out, followed by a great commotion in the room. The door was then flung open, and the maids scattered in all directions, shouting that there was a snake! There was a snake! The two stood to the side, while Song Chaoli had half her body exposed against the wall.
Seeing this, Yinglian quickly pulled her into the shadows and peered out. Many people were still making a fuss. The maid who had made things difficult for Yinglian yesterday came running out, frantically hitting herself all over. Many people suspected that the snake in her bed had crawled into the maid's clothes and hurriedly avoided her.
"Come quickly and help me get it out!" The maid was so anxious that tears streamed down her face as she shouted to the people around her, but no one came forward.
During this time, a woman who knew about this snake species bravely replied, "Don't move! Just stand still and take off your clothes, and the snake will naturally leave! If you leave it in such a mess, it might get startled and bite you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
