After Madam Dai returned to her inner room, Pang Cheng stared intently at Hongmian, his eyes fixed on her: "Isn't Sister Hongmian highly valued by my godmother in Wutong Garden? How could my godmother bear to part with her?"
A hint of unease flashed across Hongmian's face. She lowered her eyes and sighed dejectedly, "It's better not to say anything."
"Why can't I say?" Pang Yu pressed.
Hongmian said with difficulty, "Everyone has their own fate. I offended Hongye, who came from the madam's family, and I have been sent to the needlework room to work for a long time. These days, my eyes are almost blind from embroidery, and my hands are full of needle marks. Cuiming wants to stand up for her and has assigned me so much work that I can't even finish it. The madam values the two of them, so I can only endure it."
As she spoke, she held out her hand to show the twins.
Pang Yu looked at the painful sight and raised her little face, saying, "I don't want to learn embroidery either. The needle is hard to hold, and it hurts a lot when it pricks my skin. I would throw a tantrum if I was unhappy, and now my mother doesn't force me to learn it anymore."
Hongmian said with a wry smile, "You are the masters, so I could only ask the madam when Hongye and Cuiming were sick and not on duty. That day, I followed the madam here. The madam saw that I could talk to the young masters, so she let me come here to serve."
As soon as she finished speaking, Hongmian knelt down and kowtowed three times. With red eyes, she looked back at Pang Cheng and said, "If it weren't for the two young masters, I would still be sewing curtains in the needlework room. If I do anything that pleases you in the future, please reprimand me and just don't send me back."
Pang Cheng frowned and slowly leaned back in his chair: "So, we've done you a favor?"
“That’s natural,” Hongmian nodded emphatically.
Pang Cheng spoke in a pretentious tone, like a little adult: "Then you'd better behave, and I won't treat you badly."
Hongmian hurriedly pledged her loyalty.
"Of course I will obey my master. Unlike Xiao Hong and Zi He, who are eager to return to Wutong Garden, I don't want to go back at all."
Pang Cheng nodded, and Pang Yu helped Hongmian up. He said leisurely, "From now on, you will be my first-class maid. Besides taking care of my affairs, you will also help me look after my sister."
Hongmian was overjoyed and immediately said, "Master, rest assured, this servant is willing to give her life for you, even unto death."
Pang Cheng was also very happy and generously promised: "With you, I feel like I have gained an extra arm and an extra pair of eyes. When I grow up, I will definitely reward you handsomely."
...
Xiao Hong and Zi He rushed back to Wutong Courtyard excitedly, and as soon as they entered the courtyard, they asked, "Is Madam here?"
Hongye waved them over from afar and said with a smile, "Hurry up, Madam is waiting. Once you're all settled, Madam will take her afternoon nap. She has a lot of things to do this afternoon."
Xiao Hong cheered, then slowed her pace as she approached, trying to appear more composed: "Sister Hongye, do I look alright?"
“Okay, there’s no problem,” Hongye said with a smile, reassuringly, “Madam said you did a good job over there.”
"That's good," Xiao Hong whispered, "I was worried that Madam would blame me for not completing the task."
Hongye said, "You'll know when you see Madam."
Then Zihe came over, and Hongye said, "You and Xiaohong should go in together. You'll be working together from now on."
The two entered the inner room, and Qin Yuan noticed that they hadn't put down their bundles yet, so she couldn't help but laugh and say, "Why haven't you put down your bundles yet? There's no rush."
Xiao Hong said crisply, "I was in a hurry, so I brought Sister Zihe with me. I was afraid that Madam would change her mind. What should we do then?"
Qin Yuan laughed and said, "How could that be? A gentleman's word is as good as his bond."
Then, looking at Zihe, he said, "I intend to keep you working at Wutong Garden, where you will receive the same first-class allowance as Hongye and the others. I wonder if you would be willing?"
Xiao Hong quickly tugged at Zi He's hand, signaling her to agree.
Zihe hesitated for a long time: "I was a second-class servant in the main house. I was assigned by the old lady to serve Zhao Shi. Bai Que went with me, but now Bai Que has been released to get married..."
She paused, then added, "In two years, I will be of marriageable age. To be frank, I would like to ask you to let me see the woman myself when you arrange a marriage for me, so that I will not agree to marry her just because someone else is asking."
Qin Yuan immediately said, "You don't need to worry about this while you're working at Wutong Garden. I won't arrange marriages for either Hongye or Cuiming. If you take a fancy to anyone, just have someone speak to them."
Zihe breathed a sigh of relief.
While at the Gu residence, she vaguely heard that Hongye and Gu Shiliu had been betrothed by the Marquis and his wife, thus squeezing out the engagement that Hongmian and Gu Shiliu had arranged.
Seeing that she had reached the age where she could get married, she was afraid that her master would use her marriage to do favors.
She was in love with her distant cousin, with whom she had grown up since childhood. He worked in the shop of the Marquis's mansion, and the two were childhood sweethearts.
Seeing her appearance, Qin Yuan knew that she probably had someone in her heart.
He added, "Since you're willing to stay, take your things and go settle in. Let Hongye and Cuiming take care of you."
Zihe kowtowed in gratitude.
Xiao Hong hurriedly asked, "How will Madam arrange for me?"
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "Just listen to what your sister Hongye and the others tell you. Be a third-class maid for now, and you can be promoted slowly if you do well in the future."
"Thank you, Madam," Xiao Hong kowtowed respectfully, then asked, "Then this servant will go down and put down the bundle, and then go to the main room to inform Rong Mama, is that alright?"
Qin Yuan nodded: "There's nothing to arrange for you, just go ahead, but make sure to let the other women in the courtyard know."
Zihe and Xiaohong withdrew and went to make their own arrangements.
Qin Yuan had just finished her afternoon rest when, half an hour later, Cui Ming came to call her: "Miss, Xiao Dong is here outside."
"Xiao Dong is here?" Qin Yuan asked groggily, "Why does he come every day?"
As soon as she spoke, she remembered that Xiao Dong must have come for Yelü Xianyong, so she quickly got up to wash herself. She couldn't help but complain in her heart that Li Langzhong was making Xiao Dong run around like a madman just to avoid her.
After washing up and changing his clothes, he went to the outer room and ordered someone to invite Xiao Dong in to talk.
Xiao Dong carried two sandalwood boxes in his hands, walked over and placed them beside her, saying, "Senior Sister, take a look. One is the incense that Master selected, and the other is the jade cream that Master prepared."
Qin Yuan opened the incense box first and looked inside, then asked, "What did Master say?"
Just as Xiao Dong was about to bring up the matter, ever since Gu Shiba brought the incense, Doctor Li hadn't had a moment's peace.
"My master was laughing and sighing, gesturing wildly, slapping his thighs and head. I couldn't understand him at all. After he finally stopped making a fuss, he grabbed me and talked to me for a long time."
Qin Yuan asked, "What did he say?"
Xiao Dong said embarrassedly, "...cough, those were just some comparisons, saying that you're amazing now, that you can innovate on your own, and that if I don't live up to your expectations, I'll be letting down my ancestors."
Innovation?
Doctor Li did indeed know about the antidote incense and could smell the changes in its ingredients.
Qin Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and she asked, "Don't you and Master share the same ancestor?"
Xiao Dong said, "I don't even have the surname Li, so of course it's not. We didn't even share an ancestor five hundred years ago."
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