After Nanny Zhu came out of Ren Yaoqi's room, she saw two maids, Qingmei and Xueli, standing in the corridor not far away, and they seemed to be arguing loudly.
Nanny Zhu frowned, walked over, and lowered her voice to scold, "What are you doing! You are useless and just making trouble! Tomorrow I will tell Auntie to sell you off!"
Qingmei glanced at Xueli and sneered, "I'm afraid someone will lose sight of their old master after hearing a few nice words from their new master! They've already found someone better."
Upon hearing this, Nanny Zhu looked at Xue Li suspiciously.
Xueli was so anxious that she almost cried: "Madam, please don't listen to her nonsense. I didn't..."
"No? Why do I let you follow me wherever I go these days, but only send me away? Everyone says that you, Xueli, have become my confidant, just like Xier in the madam's room! Just now, when Xier left, she pulled you aside to whisper to me. I came to ask you, but you refused! You two have been in cahoots for a long time!" Qingmei gritted her teeth and raised her voice slightly.
Xueli hastily explained, "Xier was just praising the embroidery of the purse I gave her before, and she wanted to..."
"Oh, your true colors are finally revealed. Why did you give her a purse for no reason? I'm with you all day, how could I not know? Weren't you secretly trying to please her behind my back? It's a pity that I'm an honest person, but you played me like this," Qingmei yelled with a pout.
"Why are you screaming so late at night!" Nanny Zhu reached out and twisted Qingmei's arm. Qingmei wanted to scream in pain, but when she met Nanny Zhu's glaring gaze, she swallowed her moan with pain.
Seeing Qingmei was obedient, Nanny Zhu frowned and looked at Xueli. Xueli bit her lower lip, wanting something but unable to express it.
Nanny Zhu was about to ask more questions, but she held back for the moment, thinking of other things she had to attend to. She just glared at the two maids and said, "I'll settle the score with you tomorrow! Hurry up and go in and serve me!"
Both maids bowed their heads and replied "yes".
Nanny Zhu had just turned around and turned back to ask, "When you went to the backyard to ask for water, did you see Nanny Liu?"
Xueli whispered, "Madame Wei invited all the maids to drink earlier. Madame Liu drank a few more cups and was helped back to her room by the maid to rest."
Nanny Zhu then remembered that Nanny Wei believed that she had more seniority than Sister Niu and had a successful eldest son who was the second manager in the coal warehouse. Therefore, she thought that it was a sure thing for her to be the foreign affairs nanny. So in the afternoon, she informed everyone in the yard that she would treat everyone to a drink in the evening.
She declined to go today because she had to go out to do something, and only accepted a three-cent silver coin from Wei Ma for tea.
Nanny Zhu couldn't help but sigh in her heart: Nanny Wei's joy is probably in vain.
Although she thought so, this matter had little to do with Madam Zhu after all. She had already received the money for the tea, and it was Madam Wei who gave it to her on her own initiative, so there was no reason for her to return it.
So without any hesitation, Madam Zhu went to Madam Liu's residence in the backyard.
When passing by an ear room in the backyard where the old women and maids rested while on duty, some light and laughter leaked out from the gap under the cotton curtain. It must be Nanny Wei and the others talking after drinking.
The maids and servants at Ziwei Courtyard weren't strictly prohibited from hosting private banquets; after all, everyone had happy events. They were simply not allowed to miss work. Drinking was limited to mild fruit wine, and that was a limit. Madam Liu was probably a light drinker, which was why she got tipsy after just a few glasses of fruit wine.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com