Xueli was originally assigned by Concubine Fang to serve her, but she was clever and sensible, and Ren Yaoqi had considered training her and keeping her by her side. Later, when Nanny Xu arrived, she found an excuse to send another maid named Qingmei away. Although Nanny Xu didn't touch Xueli at Ren Yaoqi's suggestion, Xueli still felt uneasy.
Xueli knew that Qingmei was sent away. On the surface, it seemed that she got a good job, but after staying there for a while, she made a few small mistakes due to her lack of ability. After Qingmei saw that there was no hope of returning to Ziwei Courtyard, she secretly went back to find Jinju, who was beside Aunt Fang. For some reason, the two had a small dispute. Not long after that, Qingmei was sold by Nanny Gui because of a wrong thing. It was said that she was sold to the south.
Xue Li also understood that Ziweiyuan was gradually gaining power, and because she had not passed any news to Concubine Fang for a long time, Concubine Fang had given up on her as a spy. If she wanted to live a good life in the future, she had to gain Ren Yaoqi's trust.
Therefore, Xue Li behaved more timidly and worked harder on her daily work. She was always thinking about making a contribution so that the third lady would completely change her mind about her.
The last time Aunt Fang drugged Ren Yaoying, turning her against Aunt Kang, Aunt Xu went outside and found the drug residue. What Aunt Xu didn't know was that Xueli had secretly followed her that time. Although she didn't know what Aunt Xu meant by bringing back the drug residue to show Ren Yaoqi, Xueli still kept a wary eye on it.
At the time, there were only a few people in the mansion who needed medicine. Aside from the old lady's tonic, which she used in her own small kitchen, and the third young master's medicine, which the eldest mistress had her maids brew in her courtyard, everyone else's medicine was boiled in the main kitchen. After carefully considering what had happened, Xueli realized that the medicine residue belonged to the fifth young lady.
Since Xue Li was concerned about this matter, she began to pay attention to the movements in the kitchen until she found Mrs. Niu in the kitchen.
Niu's sister-in-law was related to Gui Mama, who worked in the old lady's courtyard. Her sister-in-law was Gui Mama's eldest daughter-in-law. When Li and Ren Yaohua moved to the manor last time, Niu's sister-in-law was assigned to Ziwei Courtyard. Later, Ren Yaoqi schemed to drive her out along with the other people planted there by Concubine Fang.
Initially, Aunt Gui disliked her daughter-in-law's family, believing them to be unreliable and unsupportable, and was unwilling to intervene in their affairs. However, not long afterward, her sister-in-law, Niu Saozi, became pregnant. Niu Saozi diligently served her sister-in-law, and the couple even pleaded with her sister-in-law daily to ask Aunt Gui for another job.
The sister-in-law couldn't refuse, so she went to Aunt Gui for help. This time, Aunt Gui reluctantly arranged a job for Sister Niu in the kitchen to add firewood and watch the fire because her daughter-in-law was pregnant. Although she was covered in dust every day, she still had some benefits because she was in charge of the firewood and charcoal in the kitchen.
Xueli didn't think much of it when she saw Sister Niu. But after thinking about it, she felt something was wrong. So she asked to see Ren Yaoqi.
Xueli expressed her suspicions and said that when she was working as Concubine Fang's spy, she once saw Nanny Gui and Concubine Fang's maid Jinju meeting secretly without anyone else's knowledge.
In fact, after seeing the medicine residue that Aunt Xu found for her, Ren Yaoqi also checked the kitchen and had some suspicions about Aunt Fang tampering with Ren Yaoying's medicine, but she was not sure, and the timing was not right. Therefore, she did not want to expose Aunt Fang at that time.
Now that Xue Li came to her and told her story, she came up with an idea.
"Snow Li, how old are you this year?"
Xueli was stunned. She didn't know why the Fifth Miss asked her age at this moment, but she quickly replied, "I am fourteen years old."
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