"This is simply outrageous!" Qin Rong returned to her courtyard, her face grim. Several maids who had intended to serve her upon seeing her enter exchanged glances and tacitly stepped aside.
"Wang Xiangwan, Wang Xiangxia, I, Qin Rong, will never let you get away with this!"
Qin Rong swept everything off the table and onto the floor in a huff, then sat down angrily on the edge of the bed.
Xiao Lan held Qin Rong's outer robe and stood silently behind her, not making a sound, for fear of being used as a punching bag by Qin Rong.
Qin Rong slapped the bed twice, venting her anger, and her rationality gradually returned. She began to wonder why, even though only Xiao Lan knew she had quietly left the house, Xiang Wan and Xiang Xia had followed her and ruined her plans.
It was purely by chance that Qin Rong and Yuan Feng met. For a month, she had been confined to the courtyard, suffering greatly. Her maid had been replaced, and Xiao Lan was no longer by her side; she had no one to confide in. One night, unable to sleep, she got up to get some water and overheard her maid discussing major events in the city. She quietly hid in a corner and began eavesdropping.
The two maids chatted idly before getting to the point. It turned out that a human trafficking gang in Anyang City had been apprehended and paraded through the streets in cages for three days. The county magistrate interrogated the group and posted their crimes on the bulletin board—a full seven pages—detailing the number of girls they had abducted over the years. It was said that on the day of their arrest, all the soldiers in the city were mobilized, and a mysterious figure intervened, rescuing several abducted girls on the spot.
As the maid spoke, she felt a pang of sympathy and patted her chest in a gesture of lingering fear. This startled Qin Rong, making her feel somewhat uneasy.
She had overheard someone mentioning something amiss at the Fulaixuan Restaurant, with occasional disappearances of beautiful, single women who went there. She had intended to take Xiang Xia and Xiang Wan there, knowing they were unfamiliar with the place. If they were taken away by the restaurant staff, she would be rid of a major threat. Since her biological mother's passing, her father, though caring, hadn't been as attentive as her mother, and was often away, spending even less time with her. She had thought that living together as father and daughter wouldn't be so bad. But not long after, her father brought her stepmother and two older girls with him. She had asked Master Qin about it, but he always persuaded her by saying she needed her mother's care, and that with two older sisters, she would have company.
She didn't need that! All she wanted was to live a peaceful life with Master Qin, without anyone else interfering in their lives. Her mother would always be the mistress of the Qin family; why should an outsider take her place? She was the eldest daughter of the Qin family; why should two strangers steal her father, her identity, and her favor? The Qin family belonged to her and her mother; how could outsiders defile it? How could they!
She painstakingly gained the favor of the Queen Mother and the praise of her own father, finally seizing this opportunity to push Xiang Wan and Xiang Xia into the hands of human traffickers, only to have them escape, her efforts thwarted at the last minute. Fortunately, she hadn't left any evidence against them; even the traffickers didn't know it was intentional. Only Xiao Lan vaguely knew her thoughts, but so what? She hadn't explicitly said she wanted to harm anyone, nor had she ordered her to do anything outrageous. At most, she'd told a few lies; if something happened, that girl deserved it. This time she was punished; she should learn her lesson and be smarter in the future, instead of always trying to use her master's status as an excuse to shirk responsibility. A master is a master, and a servant is a servant; failing to distinguish between superiors and inferiors shows a lack of respect, and she can't be blamed for being ruthless.
To get rid of the Queen Mother and her two companions, we must start with the small ones. Their escape this time was purely by luck. This mysterious figure seems to wield considerable power; if we can get his help, Xiang Wan and the others will have no chance of turning the tables!
Qin Rong overheard this gossip and took it to heart. During the day, she obediently accepted the tasks assigned to her by the Queen Mother. At night, she feigned fear and begged her two maids to keep her company while she chatted, promising them some benefits in return. Although the two maids worked for the Queen Mother, they figured that gossiping wasn't disobeying orders. Thus, Qin Rong managed to extract basic information about the mysterious figure from them. When she learned that he was a young gentleman, she was extremely excited, but pretended to be calm as she continued to extract information.
After a month, Xiao Lan returned to her side. She picked out her most elegant clothes, put them on, and quietly left the manor. She wandered around the streets, but instead of encountering the legendary young master, she saw the Crystal Love shop run by Xiang Wan and the others, which seemed to be doing quite well. This made her heart ache with anger, and she became even more eager to befriend the mysterious young master.
After wandering aimlessly for several days without success, she became increasingly frustrated and went to the riverbank. There, she saw a distinguished young man fishing, accompanied by attendants. She carefully recalled the somewhat outstanding young men in Anyang City, but none of them could compare to him, and she had never heard of him before. So she connected him with the mysterious young man, and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became. She became so excited that her face turned red.
She tried everything to strike up a conversation with him, but received no response, which only fueled her competitive spirit. She asked Xiao Lan to inquire about the young man, but to no avail; she only heard that he seemed to be fishing there frequently lately. So Qin Rong also came over often, and she ran into him eight out of ten times, but still made no progress. She wasn't in a hurry, believing that she would succeed one day. If she could easily make contact with him, it wouldn't be what Qin Rong wanted.
She came quietly and stood with him all morning. She had persisted for so long, and just when things were about to turn around, Xiang Wan snatched it away. No one would be happy about that.
Qin Rong thought for a moment. The fact that her whereabouts were known meant there must be spies around. She had initially worried that her secret departure from the manor would lead to further trouble from the Queen Mother. But now it didn't matter. Xiang Wan and Xiang Xia had also left the manor. If the Queen Mother used this against her, she would drag Xiang Wan and Xiang Xia down with her. She wanted to see how the Queen Mother would react when her stepdaughter and two biological daughters ran off without permission.
If the Queen Mother pretends not to know and lets the matter drop, that would be ideal. If she treats everyone equally, she can't easily let these two good sisters who were following her off; she needs to let them know who the true eldest daughter of the Qin family is. If the Queen Mother shows favoritism, then she must completely expose her hypocrisy and severely damage her prestige in the Qin family, making things much easier for herself in the future. If the Queen Mother doesn't punish her but severely punishes her own daughter, then she needs to think carefully.
Qin Rong believed that it was highly unlikely that the Queen Mother would punish her daughter and leave her to her own devices, but she couldn't rule out that possibility. Lost in thought, Qin Rong closed her eyes, leaving Xiao Lan standing alone to the side.
The weather outside the courtyard was excellent, but Xiaolan felt a chill all over her body. She understood the young lady she had grown up with more and more. It was as if there was an insurmountable chasm between them, and they could never return to their former intimacy.
"Oh well, I was just a maid anyway," Xiao Lan thought to herself with a self-deprecating smile, then turned and closed the door as she left.
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