Su Peisheng endured his master's angry glare, feeling utterly helpless. He had clearly dodged it! How could Consort Yin have moved so quickly?
Ignoring the subtle exchange between master and servant, Yin Qingyi took the chopsticks and began doing what she was supposed to do but had never done before. She stood beside Yinzhen, observing his gaze, ready to serve him whichever dish he looked at. However, Yinzhen did not even glance at the dish.
Yinzhen reached out and took the chopsticks from Yin Qingyi's hand. How could he let this woman serve him meals while she herself went hungry? Although he hadn't come for more than half a month, he knew exactly how much this little woman ate and what she did every day.
"Sit down and eat. You don't need to serve me." Yinzhen pulled Yin Qingyi's hand and made her sit down.
“This is against the rules.” Yin Qingyi broke free from Yinzhen’s hand, her expression unchanged, respectful yet distant.
"I am the rule. If I tell you to sit down, then sit down." Yinzhen felt distressed looking at Yin Qingyi, but he also knew that it was all due to his momentary lapse in judgment. Therefore, Yinzhen couldn't bring himself to be angry at Yin Qingyi's current attitude.
However, Yinzhen wasn't angry, but the servants in the room were all trembling with fear, afraid that these two immortals would fight and they, the lowly servants, would suffer. Of course, there were a couple of exceptions. Not to mention Granny Qi and Su Peisheng, Su Peisheng at least pretended, but Granny Qi didn't even pretend. She just watched Yinzhen and Yin Qingyi struggling, and a hint of pleasure even flashed in her eyes. Although she had raised Yinzhen since he was a child, the scales in her heart had now tipped towards Yin Qingyi. Naturally, she was also very dissatisfied with Yinzhen's neglect of Yin Qingyi. Seeing Yinzhen's current predicament, Granny Qi didn't feel sorry for Yinzhen at all. In her heart, she even gave Yinzhen a single word: "Serves him right!"
Although Su Peisheng appeared as timid and fearful as the other servants, he was inwardly seething with complaints. Long before, when his master neglected his concubine, he'd thought to himself, "Why bother?" Now, it certainly seemed like a pointless exercise. "You, clearly the apple of my eye, had to be neglected. Whether she's upset or not is another matter, but you're miserable. Now you've thought it through and come here, and what's the result? You think you can neglect me like that? You want to come here? Fine, come on, I'm not serving you anymore, do whatever you want." See? Still miserable, right? All this trouble has only made him miserable.
"Yes." Yin Qingyi looked at Yinzhen for a while, handed the chopsticks to Su Peisheng, curtsied, and sat down respectfully in the chair, only occupying a third of the chair, and then waited for Yinzhen to start eating.
Yinzhen stared at Yin Qingyi's posture. He hadn't paid attention to these women's postures before, but today he noticed Yin Qingyi's change immediately. After all, he remembered Yin Qingyi's every move. Yin Qingyi used to sit however she was comfortable, but now she was suddenly so proper, which Yinzhen naturally noticed at a glance. Yinzhen frowned slightly as he looked at Yin Qingyi, who was sitting on the edge of the chair. Such a posture meant she could easily fall over if she wasn't careful.
"Sit properly." Yinzhen looked at Yin Qingyi's posture with concern.
"I'm seated properly." Yin Qingyi looked into Yinzhen's eyes and knew what he meant, but she was indeed sitting very steadily and there was no risk of her falling over as Yinzhen had imagined.
Yinzhen didn't speak, but just stared at the chair where Yin Qingyi was sitting, his eyes seeming to threaten the chair.
Looking at Yinzhen's eyes, Yin Qingyi felt that if she didn't sit properly in the chair, she might be in danger. However, Yin Qingyi still didn't move. In any case, even if Yinzhen dismantled the chair and replaced it with another one, she would still sit like this. If the chair was completely dismantled, she would just stand.
Yinzhen hadn't actually done anything. Seeing Yin Qingyi's reaction, Yinzhen felt helpless. It seemed this little woman was quite angry this time. It was already good enough that she was sitting down to eat with him. Yinzhen picked up his chopsticks, not letting Su Peisheng serve him. He always served Yin Qingyi himself; Su Peisheng was just a figurehead.
Yin Qingyi was actually starving, but she didn't show it. She waited for Yinzhen to eat before starting, and she ate very properly, taking small bites and chewing slowly. Not only was Yin Qingyi uncomfortable eating, but Yinzhen was also uncomfortable watching Yin Qingyi like this. The food in his mouth tasted like wax.
The meal left the two of them exhausted, but Yinzhen refused to leave, showing no sign of discomfort and even wearing a smile throughout. In Yin Qingyi's eyes, Yinzhen seemed rather shameless today.
"Does Your Highness have no official business today?" After finishing breakfast, Yin Qingyi looked at Yinzhen, who had been sitting with her for a few more quarters of an hour, and asked indifferently. She didn't understand why Yinzhen was suddenly so close, just as she didn't understand why he was suddenly so distant. So Yin Qingyi no longer wanted to guess what this man was thinking. Whatever he was thinking was none of her business. The slightly cracked door in her heart had been sealed shut by Yinzhen's unexplained coldness.
"Hmm, nothing much today." Yinzhen seemed completely oblivious to Yin Qingyi's dismissive tone, remaining seated steadily.
"Then I have something to say to you, Master." Upon seeing this, Yin Qingyi thought of Lady Fucha from yesterday and spoke softly.
"Go on," Yinzhen said, sitting up straight with a hint of expectation in his eyes that he himself didn't even realize.
"Please, Your Highness, take back the power to manage the household. It is not appropriate for me to manage it," Yin Qingyi said bluntly.
"...But is it because of that Fucha clan? I've already punished her, so you don't need to care about what she said." Yinzhen didn't expect Yin Qingyi to bring this up, and was clearly taken aback. He pursed his lips and looked at Yin Qingyi before speaking after a while.
"It's not because of Consort Fucha. I just feel that as a concubine, the power to manage the household shouldn't be in my hands, neither morally nor logically. Your Highness has only confined the Fujin (the primary wife), but she can still manage the household affairs. Therefore, I request that Your Highness take back the power to manage the household." Yin Qingyi shook her head. Although holding the power to manage the household had its advantages, it wasn't really useful to her. The two biggest advantages of having this power were planting spies and having some influence in the eyes of the servants. Take planting spies, for example. First, you need people to do it, and she had none. From the time she entered the manor until now, apart from the servants of Luoxue Pavilion, she had no other spies. Her family wasn't high-ranking officials; they were lucky to be able to support their own people, let alone cultivate spies for her son to infiltrate. As for power? This power was only temporary. Once the Fujin (the primary wife) was released, the power would still belong to her. To put it bluntly, she was just temporarily managing it. It was tiring and didn't bring her any benefits, so why bother?
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