And so, the two of them huffed and puffed as they washed clothes for half a day. By then, the water was ice-cold, and their hands were red with cold. They kept rubbing their hands while eating lunch.
Lianhua muttered, "If this continues, your hands will be ruined."
"No way! Now is the perfect time to eat. Let's make an excuse to go to the outhouse and head to the front yard!"
As soon as Lianqin finished speaking, a voice asked, "What are you two going to do in the front yard?"
The two looked up and saw it was Qiao'er.
"It's Qiao'er! What brings you here? We said we were going to the front yard to look for you!"
Lianhua was the first to go forward.
"Looking for me? You've already arranged everything, why are you looking for me?"
"Qiao'er, look, we both came from the palace, and we were all strictly trained by the palace maids. How can we do such rough work? Why don't you go and beg the Princess Consort to give us a different job?"
"You all have so many faults. You can't even enjoy your leisure time without looking for work. We've arranged something for you, and you're still picking and choosing. Do you really think this Prince's Mansion is a place where you can do whatever you want?"
Lianqin, who was standing to the side, was dissatisfied. She had long disliked Qiao'er's attitude and stepped forward angrily: "We want to do work because we don't want to be idle people who eat for free, but we are not going to do this kind of dirty and tiring work. Maybe it was you and the Princess Consort who came up with this evil idea to deliberately make things difficult for us!"
Upon hearing this, Qiao'er's anger flared up, and she started blurting out, "Do you think I have the ability to mess with you? Don't think I don't know what you're up to, trying to seduce the prince. I advise you to stop daydreaming!"
"you!"
Lianqin stomped her feet in anger, and Lianhua was also furious: "Qiao'er, we have no grudge against you, why are you treating us like this? In the end, you are just an ordinary maid."
"I'm just an ordinary girl, but don't even think about becoming a phoenix on a branch."
"Hmph! We'll see."
The three parted on bad terms, and by evening, Lianhua and Lianqin were so exhausted they could barely stand up straight. So the next day, they simply decided not to go.
Zhong Muyu didn't take it seriously, and just asked Qiao'er to ask. When Qiao'er opened the door, she saw the two of them sitting there reading and embroidering, looking quite comfortable.
This time, they completely ignored Qiao'er. Qiao'er asked, "The Princess Consort sent me to ask you why you're not working?"
Lianhua replied without looking up, "We were sent by the Empress Dowager to serve the Prince and Princess, not to do menial work."
"But we're in the Prince's residence now. You're not supposed to do whatever the Princess tells you to do, are you?"
"We absolutely refuse to do the rough work. If you've got the guts, then go ahead and make a big scene!"
Lianqin adopted a nonchalant attitude. They had already decided that making a scene with Lu Ziyuan would actually benefit them, and they couldn't be happier if Zhong Muyu caused a scene.
Qiao'er sneered: "You're not even a concubine yet, but you've already learned to act arrogantly. With your meager skills, you couldn't even seduce the Emperor back in the palace. Now you want to seduce the Prince? Be careful, or the Princess Consort will slap you like Consort Bai did!"
When their embarrassing past was brought up, the two women instantly became furious. Lianqin, who had a bad temper, threw the book in her hand, hitting Qiao'er on the head.
"You brat, I'll tear your mouth apart!"
Lianqin was about to rush over, but Lianhua quickly stopped her: "Don't be impulsive! Qiao'er, why bring up the past? It's just that she doesn't want to do rough work. You can talk to the Princess about it, it won't hurt, will it?"
Qiao'er clutched her aching head, wishing she could beat them up.
But at that moment, a familiar voice rang out from outside the door: "You two look great. Looks like you weren't tired enough from doing laundry yesterday."
When Zhong Muyu entered the room, the two men's arrogance immediately vanished, and they stood aside sullenly, bowing.
Seeing Qiao'er's slightly disheveled hair, Zhong Muyu asked, "Qiao'er, what happened to your hair? It wasn't like this when you left."
Qiao'er complained righteously: "They didn't follow your orders and even hit the servants with books."
"You've got quite a temper, haven't you? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were princesses."
Lianqin immediately lowered her head: "No, no! It was Qiao'er who deliberately spoke rudely, and I acted rashly in a moment of panic..."
"Yes, we are servants sent by the Empress Dowager to serve you. We are absolutely respectful to you and dare not have the slightest disloyalty!"
Lianhua couldn't wait to reveal her feelings. In fact, they only wanted to be concubines, and if any concubines caused trouble in the future, they would stand on the same side as Zhong Muyu.
Unfortunately, Zhong Muyu would not allow this to happen.
“Bullying those around me means you have a problem with me. Qiao’er’s opinion is my opinion. She may not have been as good as you in the palace, but this is the Prince’s residence. Anyone who dares to disrespect others will regret it and lose their life!”
The two women knelt on the ground with a thud: "We know we were wrong, please forgive us, Your Highness!"
"Then I'll fine you all this month's wages, but you can still wash your clothes. If anyone dares to disobey again, don't blame me for not showing you any mercy."
The two people on the ground nodded vigorously. After Zhong Muyu took Qiao'er outside, he touched her forehead: "Are you alright? Does it still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore, but is the Princess going to let them off so easily?"
Zhong Muyu said, "I will not keep the two of them in the Prince's Mansion, but because we still have a friendship in the palace, and because they were bestowed by the Empress Dowager, I don't want to wrong them. I will choose two good families and marry them off."
"Your Highness, you are just too kind-hearted. Logically speaking, it wouldn't matter if they were sold off."
"Hehe! Maybe."
Zhong Muyu said no more.
...
After Zhong Muyu's admonition, Lianhua and Lianqin behaved themselves for a while. Meanwhile, at Xiuyu House, Zhong Muyu specially obtained a roster of military personnel, intending to select two "ambitious young people" from it.
Lu Ziyuan didn't care about this, but it was Zhiyu who suffered the most, having to act as her advisor the whole time.
Zhong Muyu pointed to one of the names and said, "I think this one is not bad either. His family background is okay, but I don't know what he looks like or what his character is like."
Zhiyu looked helpless: "Your Highness, this matter doesn't need to be so complicated. Why don't you just hand them over to the servants in the manor?"
"I don't want to keep them in the Prince's mansion; I must choose them from the military camp."
After searching for a while, Zhong Muyu finally selected a few that looked good and planned to take the two men to the military camp to take a look at them on another day.
Just then, Chengfeng arrived excitedly: "Your Highness, this is something the Prince asked me to bring. Please take a look at what it is."
Upon opening the box, Zhong Muyu saw what was inside and pondered for a moment: "A musket?"
"Your Highness was right after all, you guessed it right away!"
"It was built so quickly?"
"Yes, this is the first batch. After the prince tried it, he asked me to bring it to you so that you could check it and see if there was anything that was not good enough."
Zhong Muyu nodded. The craftsmen under Lu Ziyuan's command were indeed talented.
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