Cuiyun lowered her head and remained silent. Last night, she had gone to the South Courtyard and made a scene for half a day for the sake of Wuya, but she still couldn't wake the Fourth Master.
“Do you think I’m nothing in his eyes?” Uya asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
Cuiyun said somewhat dejectedly, "Master, is there really no movement from the Fujin's side? All that we did back then had absolutely no effect on that person in the South Courtyard."
Uya lay prostrate on the dressing table, looking at herself in the bronze mirror, a sense of dejection creeping over her.
"Cuiyun, why is my face so pale?" Wuya asked, looking at her pale lips.
“Master, didn’t Doctor Liang say yesterday that you have low blood sugar and need to eat well and drink brown sugar water?” Cuiyun said.
"Then hurry up and give me some to drink. I don't want to look like this!" Uya-shi, as if she had gone mad, suddenly reached out and overturned the bronze mirror.
Seeing that she had suddenly gone mad, Cuiyun quickly said "oh oh" a few times and went out to instruct the maid to make brown sugar water for Wuya.
Seeing Wuya like this, Cuiyun felt somewhat better. She had followed her for so long and didn't want to see her suffer, because that would ruin her own life. Seeing that Wuya cared about her appearance meant that she was still unwilling to accept her fate and would try to recover.
Sure enough, after drinking the brown sugar water, Wuya's complexion improved, and she said to Cuiyun, "Take out some silver and go to the kitchen to make arrangements. I want to drink pigeon soup. Also, go and buy some red dates and ginseng from the head nanny. Take the silver."
"Yes, I'll take care of it right away, don't worry. As long as Madam is willing to take some tonics, her complexion will recover immediately." Cuiyun was happy to see that Madam Wuya had changed her mind so quickly.
After Cuiyun left, Wuya sat in the room and suddenly felt cold. Looking around, she realized that the only brazier was almost out. As a concubine, she wasn't entitled to use a brazier, but someone had still brought her one.
"Shuang'er, come in and change the brazier," Wuya called out without thinking.
But all that awaited her was silence; not even a footstep could be heard.
"Shuang'er" and "Shanzhu," Wuya called out to the two maids who were serving her. But still, no one answered her.
Uya stood up, tightened her cotton cheongsam, walked to the door and called out, "Cuiyun!"
Cuiyun had already gone out and gone to the kitchen as instructed.
Looking at the cold north wind outside and the withered leaves scattered all over the courtyard, Wuya suddenly felt a sense of decay, just like herself. Did she think that she was just like these withered leaves, about to fall into the mud and turn into dust?
A gust of wind slipped into Wuya's collar and cuffs. She was only wearing a light orange cotton brocade robe, and with the fire in the room extinguished, it became even colder.
Uya glanced at the side room where Shuang'er and Shanzhu lived. The door was tightly shut, and even though the courtyard was in such a state, they didn't come out to sweep it. Uya clenched her fist and walked towards their room.
As soon as she reached the door, she heard two people talking inside. They were clearly inside; she had called them several times, so even if she couldn't hear them clearly, they should have heard something.
"What are you all doing here!" Uya couldn't listen anymore. She pushed open the two doors and walked to the doorway, shouting angrily.
Shuang'er and Shanzhu were sitting around a brazier, holding peanuts and melon seeds in their hands, eating snacks by the fire!
Both of them were startled by the sudden entrance of Uya, and immediately stood up from the bed, staring at Uya without saying a word.
Uya had always treated them fairly well. Since Cuiyun was there to serve them closely, these two maids did some rough work outside and rarely served Uya.
"The braziers in my room have all gone out, but you two have the audacity to start them here. How dare you!" Uya was already in a bad mood. The sight of the fallen leaves on the ground was already irritating to her, and now she saw that the two maids completely disregarded her and even stole her charcoal. They really didn't take her seriously at all.
The two maids, seeing that Madam Wuya was of low status, and also because of this incident, and that the Fourth Master hadn't been visiting for some time, and because Madam Wuya only trusted Cuiyun and had never given them any important positions or trust, often slacked off and acted lazy, but Madam Wuya basically didn't care.
"Madam, it's cold outside, so we didn't go out. Is there anything you need?" Shuang'er, being timid, quickly spoke up when she saw Wuya's anger.
"Didn't you hear me calling you several times?" said Lady Wuya.
"Madam, the wind is howling outside, and we didn't hear it for a moment. Is there anything you need, Madam?" Shuang'er asked.
"Hmph, you only remember my orders now? You've all burned out my charcoal fire, what am I supposed to burn now?" Uya said angrily. "Go, all of you, kneel down in the courtyard. Don't get up until I tell you to."
Uya had never punished anyone before, but this time she was so provoked by these two maids that she decided to punish them.
“Madam, it’s so cold outside. If you treat me like this, who will dare to serve you in the future!” Shanzhu was a bit bolder. When she was assigned here, she felt that there was no future in following such a person, so she never showed herself in front of Wuya.
"You! You've done something wrong, and I'm punishing you. How dare you talk back!" Wuya walked up to the two maids in a few steps and, with lightning speed, slapped Shanzhu across the face.
When Shuang'er saw that Wuya had hit the mangosteen, she immediately said to her, "Madam, please calm down. This servant will go and light a brazier for you right away."
"Fine, take this to my room first, then all of you kneel in the courtyard and don't get up!" Uya said fiercely, completely different from the gentle, dignified, generous and kind Uya she usually was, as if she had become a different person.
Shanzhu was about to argue back, but Shuang'er stopped her, quickly picked up the brazier from the ground, and pushed Shanzhu out. Wuya walked out of the two maids' room, watched them kneel down one after the other, and then walked with satisfaction across the veranda back to her own room.
Just then, Cuiyun returned carrying a large bag of red dates, osmanthus, and ginseng. She saw the two maids kneeling on the cold ground, glanced at them briefly, and walked past them.
"Shuang'er, why don't we go and beg the head nanny? We don't want to serve here anymore," Shanzhu said, watching Cuiyun's retreating figure.
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