Chapter 14
Mu Yulu looked troubled, but finally gave in under Mu Yugang's gaze, stammering, "It was just a few words I overheard from the maids and servants in the manor. Which servants don't gossip about their masters? It's not a big deal, Father, please don't pursue it any further."
Mu Yugang continued to sneer: "You're quite reasonable, acting like a father figure."
Mu Yulu immediately shrank back like a quail: "How dare I? It's just... it's just that you've just dealt with the servants of Qingwu Courtyard, so it's not appropriate to pursue this matter any further now."
She glanced quickly at Mu Yugang: "Otherwise, with everyone in the manor in a state of panic, who would be willing to work seriously?"
What she said made sense. Mu Yugang thought about it for a moment, then snorted coldly: "Managing the people in the mansion and training the maids and servants should be your mother's responsibility. Now it's your father's turn to interfere."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and said, "Alright, this is none of your business. Just stay in the manor and rest these days. Don't cause me any more trouble."
After saying that, he flicked his sleeve and turned to leave.
Mu Yulu finally breathed a sigh of relief and weakly lay back down on the bed.
Turning her head to look in the direction Mu Yugang had left, her eyes gleamed, but her gaze was deep and unfathomable.
Mu Yugang, as her father, didn't really understand her, but she understood Mu Yugang's personality very well.
She knew he was suspicious by nature, and once he heard the words "favoring a concubine over his wife" from her, he would sooner or later suspect Mu Zhao Shi. Now, this result was not a waste of her efforts.
If she hadn't been so fond of favoring concubines over wives and having multiple wives and concubines, how could Mu Yugang have shifted his attention to Mu Zhaoshi and let her off so easily?
Let her mother and Aunt Wang fight it out; only when they're busy fighting among themselves will they have no time to pay attention to her.
Having just woken from her coma, Mu Yulu was immediately confronted with this mess. After exhausting herself dealing with Mu Yugang and battling with Aunt Wang, Mu Yulu was truly exhausted.
She said she wanted to stay in the mansion to recuperate, which was indeed her true thought.
If she doesn't get some rest soon, she might die even younger in this life than in her last.
Xin Yun pushed the door open and came in. She was startled to see Mu Yulu lying on the bed with the blankets off. She quickly walked over to her and bent down to check her breathing.
Mu Yulu pushed her hand away speechlessly: "She's not dead, she's still breathing."
Xinyun withdrew her hand and helped her cover herself with the blanket: "Miss, you can't keep doing this. Even a body of iron can't withstand falling into the water twice a day. Besides, your health has never been very good. What would happen if you collapsed like this?"
Mu Yulu's lips twitched, and she unconsciously raised her voice: "So you also think that I deliberately jumped into the lake last night to gain sympathy, lift my confinement, and go out of the manor to find Mu Qinhan again?"
Xin Yun was startled by her reaction: "Could it be... no?"
Mu Yulu felt a sense of despair and increasingly realized how hopeless she had been in her past life.
Even Xin Yun didn't believe that she had really fallen into the water by accident last night, so Mu Yugang and the others were even less likely to believe it.
Lying in bed, she composed herself and said calmly, "Since you think I jumped into the lake on purpose, then what you just said was a lie to the master."
Xinyun knelt down with a thud: "Miss, I wouldn't dare lie to Master, I just..."
Before she could finish speaking, Mu Yulu gave her a thumbs up and praised her: "You did a great job."
Xin Yun looked up in confusion, meeting Mu Yulu's gaze.
Ever since Mu Yulu's failed suicide attempt, she had a vague feeling that something was different about her young mistress, but it was just a vague feeling, and Xinyun had never thought about it in depth.
But when she met Mu Yulu's gaze, she suddenly felt that the young lady in front of her was different from before, and this feeling became incredibly real, as if the person in front of her was just wearing Mu Yulu's skin, and the core inside had been changed at some point.
She had never seen such a chilling gaze in anyone's eyes before, and in her mind, such a gaze was especially unlikely to appear in her mistress's eyes.
But at this moment, Mu Yulu was just staring at her, her gaze so calm that it seemed devoid of any emotion, like a lake in winter with a thick layer of ice on it, beneath which emotions she couldn't fathom were churning.
Mu Yulu praised her again: "You did very well. Remember, you must never tell the truth to anyone in this mansion, especially when facing the master."
Xin Yun could hear the determination in Mu Yulu's tone. She didn't ask any more questions, but nodded heavily after responding.
Mu Yulu curled her lips into a smile, her serious expression vanishing as she reverted to her usual carefree demeanor.
She reached out and patted Xinyun's head: "The second and third young ladies are going to move to the villa for a while, but I'm not going. I'll trouble you to stay here and take care of me."
She sighed and called Xinyun's name: "Other people's maids can eat and drink well with their masters, but you can only suffer here with me. I feel sorry for you."
Xinyun was startled and immediately burst into tears: "I've never felt like I'm suffering when I'm with you, Miss. Please don't let me leave the manor, Miss. I don't want to get married, sob sob sob..."
Mu Yulu was stunned for a moment and didn't react immediately.
He had only uttered a few words of lamentation and had not mentioned releasing her from the manor, so why was Xinyun crying so heartbreakingly?
After a while, she remembered that in her past life, she had indeed always threatened to release Xinyun from the manor and marry her off to a servant in a farm.
And this is almost always her opening line before she tries to scare her.
Mu Yulu felt for the umpteenth time that she was truly a scoundrel in her past life.
She stared at Xinyun, who was kneeling on the ground trembling, and was lost in thought for a while before finally asking, "Xinyun, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."
After organizing her thoughts, she continued, "You haven't enjoyed a single day of happiness with me, and I haven't treated you very well either. I always threaten you with things like kicking you out of the manor. Why are you still so loyal to me?"
Xinyun buried her head and sobbed, "Because Miss is the mistress and I am a servant, it is only natural for a servant to be loyal to Miss."
As she spoke, she cried even harder, almost unable to breathe: "When I was little, my family was so poor that we couldn't afford to eat. My parents had no choice but to sell me into the Mu family so that we could have a bite to eat. Before I entered the family, my mother repeatedly told me that the master of the Mu family was our family's savior. If I was disloyal, I deserved to be beaten to death."
Mu Yulu listened with a deep gaze, knowing that what she said was the truth and that it was indeed the right thing to do, but she still felt that something was not right.
In short, when she heard Xinyun say that, she didn't feel moved. Instead, she felt very uncomfortable, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what made her uncomfortable.
After pondering this for a while, she asked Xinyun again, "What if I gave you silver to send you out of the mansion?"
"You just said that the master of the Mu family is your family's savior, so your loyalty to me can be seen as repaying a debt of gratitude. If I feel that you have served me well over the years and have repaid all the debts of gratitude, then I would like to give you some money and send you out of the manor in a proper manner. Would you be willing?"
Xinyun shook her head vigorously and stepped forward to hug Mu Yulu's arm tightly: "Is there something I did wrong? Please, Miss, don't kick me out of the manor."
Mu Yulu found it unbelievable. She helped Xinyun up, lifted her face so that she could look her in the eye, and then said to her word by word, "You did nothing wrong, and I am not angry with you. Giving you money and sending you out of the mansion is not to kick you out, but to set you free."
After saying that, she added, "Your indenture can be returned to you. Don't you want your freedom?"
Xin Yun stared blankly at Mu Yulu. After confirming that there was not a trace of anger on her young lady's face, she tilted her head and thought carefully for a moment before shaking her head again: "Miss, I don't want to leave the manor."
“I was too young when I came to Beijing, and I don’t remember where my home is or my parents and relatives.”
“Miss, if I may be so bold, I have long regarded you as family over the years. If I were to leave the Mu family and leave you, I do not know where I could go.”
"I know the outside world is vast, but I am just a woman. There is no place for me in this world. I don't want to leave you. I'm afraid..."
Upon hearing this, Mu Yulu finally understood why she had felt uncomfortable earlier.
Xinyun didn't refuse to leave the manor; rather, she dared not leave.
Wasn't I like this in my past life?
She had always wanted to leave the Mu family mansion, but she was afraid that she would have nowhere to go after leaving. After all, Mu Yugang was her father, and the Mu family mansion was her home in name only.
She was just a woman; without the protection of her father and the Mu family, where could she go?
She was afraid of the outside world, dreading the storms outside. It wasn't that she didn't want to leave, but that she dared not leave.
In her past life, she hadn't been without options; she had painstakingly sought a new protector. Mu Qinhan was practically the dream man of every noblewoman in the capital. She once thought that marrying him would bring a new beginning to her life, and that she would live a smooth life with someone to care for and cherish her.
However, she never expected that marrying Mu Qinhan would be the beginning of a real nightmare.
She closed her eyes and shook her head, unwilling to recall the people and events of the past.
Let bygones be bygones. In this second life, she absolutely cannot live in a daze and die in a muddle again, just like in her previous life.
She will not look back; she will move forward.
Opening her eyes, Mu Yulu met Xinyun's timid and worried gaze. She lowered her head and stroked Xinyun's face: "Do you believe that a woman can also stand upright between heaven and earth?"
She wiped away her tears: "Don't be afraid, I will take you away from here, we will get out of here together."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
