Tianxiang saw Hongxiu coming to see him, and happily went over to her, took her arm, and asked happily: "How come you have time to come and play with me? Have you finished your work? Don't let the manager find out, otherwise your monthly salary will be deducted."
Tianxiang actually meant well when he said this, but to Hongxiu it sounded like bragging and sarcasm.
Hongxiu concealed the disgust in her eyes, raised her hand and gently touched Tianxiang's forehead, and said angrily: "Why do you only think about the monthly allowance every day? That little bit of money is not even as much as we used to get."
Tianxiang also felt wronged. He lowered his head and rubbed the corner of his clothes, mumbling, "Isn't it different now than before?"
Seeing his pitiful and harmless appearance, Hongxiu almost felt sick. He pulled the corners of his mouth but couldn't force out a smile. So he simply stopped smiling and leaned close to Tianxiang's ear and whispered, "Have you heard about the master and the adults sleeping in separate beds?"
Tianxiang nodded. Hong Xiu repeated what she said in the morning to him again, "Now is our chance. We should take advantage of the problem between the master and the adults and sneak in."
Tianxiang opened his eyes wide in shock when he heard that, "Why, why haven't you given up yet? Wouldn't it be good to be a little servant?" It's better than being a servant without freedom by using your beauty to serve others, right?
Hongxiu looked arrogant, with her arms folded across her chest and her mouth pursed with disdain.
Tianxiang was afraid that he would do something stupid, so she quickly pulled his hand and said, "The manager said that as long as we behave ourselves, we will be allowed to leave the house and get married when we reach the age. Wouldn't it be nice to be a clean man and live a free life with a monthly salary after leaving the house? Why, why do you have to climb into the master's bed?"
The last sentence was a little difficult for him to say.
Tianxiang was sold by a human trafficker. She originally thought that she could only be a lowly servant in her life. However, she never expected that after arriving at the Wei Mansion, she would have the opportunity to leave the house and get married.
Tianxiang cherished this opportunity very much. He didn't want to have any unrealistic dreams at all, and he never thought that he could become the master overnight.
Hong Xiu couldn't stand Tian Xiang's temper. She raised her hand and twisted his ear, gritting her teeth and saying, "You learned so much in the past, and now you use it to work as a servant? Are you worthy of the sweat and tears you shed in the past? Didn't we agree to be masters together?"
Tianxiang grimaced in pain and raised his hand to push away Hongxiu's hand that was twisting his ear. "You said it yourself. I didn't agree at that time. I, I just want to be a servant."
Hongxiu originally thought that since Tianxiang and he were from the same place, she could use his status as a servant in the front yard to sneak into the front yard. Then, when she could succeed, she wouldn't be at a disadvantage to him.
Now, seeing Tianxiang's attitude, Hongxiu knew that she was wrong and that this pile of mud could not be helped.
He didn't want to climb, but there were plenty of people who wanted to climb in the backyard!
Hongxiu let go of Tianxiang's ear, her slender eyes full of calculation. Now that he knows about this, if he tells anyone, won’t he ruin his own business?
Hongxiu caught a glimpse of a stool beside her and said calmly, "If you don't want to, forget it..."
He walked around Tianxiang as if nothing had happened, bent down and picked up the bench.
Tianxiang hadn't noticed anything was wrong yet, so he foolishly advised, "You should also give up that idea, and stop being lazy at work, and you'll be able to get the same transfer as me—ugh!"
Tianxiang felt a pain at the back of his head and everything went dark in front of his eyes. He uttered a sound before losing consciousness and falling to the ground. Red liquid slowly spread from the back of his head to the ground.
While Tianxiang was chattering, Hongxiu gritted her teeth, raised a bench and smashed it on his head. She watched him fall limply to the ground, snorted coldly, and threw the bench away, "You did this to yourself."
Hongxiu took out his clothes from Tianxiang's room, put them on, and then closed the door and walked out as if nothing had happened.
Hongxiu found a girl named Ayu in the backyard who was quite pretty and also unwilling to be a servant. She told him the plan, and the two of them immediately hit it off.
Before Hongxiu came to see Tianxiang, she had asked someone and found out that her colleague, Lord Wei, was getting married today and was going to attend the wedding, while the master had gone out with Erjiu and Shiba.
This opportunity is rare. Hongxiu and Tianxiang are about the same height and build. Now that she has changed into his clothes, if you don't look carefully when she lowers her head, you won't be able to notice anything.
Hongxiu sneaked into the main room under the pretext of serving tea, while Ayu waited for Wei Min to come back at the door.
This wait lasted more than two hours.
A Yu was nervous and wanted to give up escaping several times, but when he thought about his master's daily food and clothing, and then thought about himself... he gritted his teeth and persevered.
When Wei Min came back, it was already dusk and the sky was getting dark.
Jiang Wuque and I went to a wedding banquet today. Without the two husbands around, the women gathered together without anyone to supervise them, so it was inevitable that they drank a few more glasses.
Jiang Wuque was still drunk and didn't dare to go back. He insisted that it was still early and dragged Wei Min to have tea to get rid of the smell of alcohol.
Wei Min smiled, "Ah Ruan has a good temper. When I get drunk, he will at most let me drink two more cups of sobering tea."
Jiang Wuque's smile became much more forced when she heard that. If she went back drunk, Feng Yu would definitely not be as gentle as A'ruan.
Wei Min unkindly left Jiang Wuque behind and went back home first.
Today, Erjiu's father and sister came to the capital. A'ruan said that he had not seen Erjiu's father for a long time and wanted to go and see him. Wei Min thought that he would not be at home and no one would have dinner with him, so he nodded and agreed.
It's already this late, and she doesn't know if A'ruan has come back yet, but she needs to go pick him up.
Wei Min had indeed drunk quite a lot today, and he felt a little dizzy and unsteady when walking, and the strong smell of alcohol on his body was pungent. She walked towards the main room, planning to ask someone to bring in a cup of sobering tea later.
As Wei Min walked to the door of the main room, he saw a young servant with an unfamiliar face standing there.
Xiaoyu was still a little scared, she lowered her head and twisted her hands together, but now the arrow was on the string... She looked up and suddenly saw Wei Min standing in front of her, and she was immediately startled.
"Sir!" Xiaoyu stuttered in fear and quickly knelt down to salute.
Wei Min frowned, put one hand behind his back, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Xiaoyu lowered her head and looked to the right, and said softly, "My master asked me to tell you that he felt tired today, so he went to sleep first, and asked me to wake him up after you come back."
Wei Min lowered his eyes and looked at the young servant whom he had never seen before. He hummed thoughtfully, and said in the same tone as usual, "I'll go wake him up. You can leave now."
Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief as if she had survived a disaster. Seeing Wei Min walking into the house, she suddenly felt indescribable excitement and joy in her heart.
Wei Min suddenly stopped when he stepped over the threshold, turned to look at Xiao Yu, and asked casually, "Where's Erjiu?"
Xiaoyu folded her hands on her lower abdomen, and immediately lowered her head and concealed her expression when she heard it, and said, "Erjiu and Shiba went out again after returning home."
He lowered his head and failed to see the flash of coldness in Wei Min's eyes.
Wei Min walked into the house, opened the door to the inner room, and called out, "Ah Ruan?"
The bed curtains were let down, and through the gauze curtains, one could vaguely see a person lying on it.
Not hearing any echo, Wei Min stopped three steps away from the bed and did not move forward.
Hongxiu, who was half-dressed on the bed, heard Wei Min's footsteps stop. She became anxious and deliberately turned over, stretching her slender ankles out of the bed, her white feet with five toes hooked.
He has learned and knows what kind of postures are most alluring.
Wei Min's face was as gloomy as water, and the slight intoxication from drinking instantly faded away. He turned around and walked out of the inner room without hesitation, standing on the steps at the door of the main room, with one hand behind his back, and asked in a deep voice: "Is the guard of the Wei Mansion here?"
Before she finished her words, the guards hurried over, stood in front of her in two rows, put their hands on the swords on their waists, straightened their backs and chests, and said in unison: "Your subordinates are here!"
These twenty or so people were brought by Wei Min from Zhucheng. They used to be disguised as servants in the Wei Mansion. Now that Wei Min was promoted, they could finally serve as palace soldiers openly.
Xiaoyu was still standing at the door expecting something to happen inside, but when she turned around, she saw Wei Min coming out with a sullen face. She immediately had a bad feeling, and when she saw the guards in the courtyard, she was so scared that her face turned pale, her legs went weak, and she knelt on the ground.
Wei Min said in a deep voice: "Go in and drag the person on the bed in the room to the yard!"
After the two guards went in, Wei Min turned sideways and looked down at Xiao Yu who was kneeling at his feet, and said, "Erjiu never lets people I haven't met get involved in A'ruan's affairs."
Wei Min once told Erjiu that the capital was different from Zhucheng, and she would not allow A'ruan to have any accidents in the mansion.
Erjiu was quiet for a moment, and then he told her seriously that he understood.
From then on, in the past three years, no matter how busy Erjiu was in the mansion, he handled A'ruan's affairs personally. Even if he had to use someone else, it would be a servant that both she and A'ruan had met before, and it would definitely not be a stranger.
Do these two slaves really think that Wei Min’s one-year tenure as Chief Justice of the Dali Temple was in vain?
Hongxiu, who was in the room, saw that Wei Min was slow to lift the curtain, but turned around and went out. She put on her half-undressed clothes suspiciously, got up, secretly opened the curtain a little, and looked out.
He didn't wait for Wei Min to come back, but waited for two guards with cold faces.
The two men had swords on their waists. Without saying a word, they took Hongxiu off the bed, dragged her all the way to the yard, and threw her hard onto the stone slab.
Before Hongxiu could react to this series of sudden changes, she was knocked to the ground in a daze.
Wei Min asked someone to bring a throne and placed it on the steps at the entrance of the main room.
She sat there, raised her hand and pinched her brows, and said, "Light up the lights, call everyone in the mansion over, I want to tell you something. Normally your master doesn't like to take care of these trivial matters, so today I will tell you some of the rules of my Wei Mansion on his behalf."
For about half an incense stick of time, all the people in the mansion were kneeling in the courtyard, looking at each other in confusion and anxiety, discussing in low voices, completely unaware of what was going on.
Some sharp-eyed people were stunned when they saw Hongxiu and Ayu kneeling in front, but when they saw the thin clothes on Hongxiu, they had vague guesses in their hearts, and they couldn't help but tilt their heads and whisper in low voices when they gathered in groups of three or two.
Wei Min had been sitting for a while and was almost sober. She sat on the armchair with her hands on the handles on both sides and asked with her eyelids slightly closed: "Are you all here?"
The steward in charge of the servants in the mansion came over immediately and said, "Sir, everyone is here and kneeling down below."
Now that night has fallen, the main courtyard of the Wei Mansion is filled with lanterns, making it seem as bright as day.
Wei Min asked the guards to bring the bench over and place it in front of everyone.
"This matter should have been done by your master, but he is kind and merciful, and he is not the kind of person who would do anything cruel. In this case, then this matter will be done by me, the head of the family."
Wei Min slowly opened his eyes, his eyes were filled with a clear and cold look, and his voice was slowly filled with bone-chilling coldness, "I didn't know that there was a servant in the mansion who wanted to climb into the master's bed."
Wei Min signaled the guards to carry Hongxiu to the bench, face down, and said, "Today, I will show you what happens if you try to climb into bed."
Hongxiu lay on the bench and struggled desperately, but the guards held her shoulders and she couldn't move. She was so scared that she cried and shouted, "My lord, I was wrong. I was bewitched for a moment and I won't dare to do it again. Please forgive me——"
Wei Min ignored him and said in a deep voice, "Fight!"
They used flattened bamboo joints to beat people, specifically on the buttocks. Thirty hits would draw blood, and fifty hits would leave the flesh and blood all over the place. As for Hongxiu, they would beat her until she died.
The beating with bamboo sticks was carried out by guards who were trained in martial arts, and the force used was heavier than that of others. As soon as the first blow was delivered, Hongxiu screamed in pain and struggled violently.
Wei Min watched coldly and did not ask anyone to cover Hongxiu's mouth because of her loud screams. She wanted all the servants in the mansion to see and hear it with their own eyes and ears. This is the result of dreaming of climbing into bed!
Only in this way can we prevent such things from happening again.
Hongxiu fainted after only fifteen strokes of the board. The guard stopped and looked at Wei Min inquiringly.
Wei Min placed his hands on his knees, and with a dignified look he swept over the servants kneeling in the courtyard with their heads bowed and not daring to speak, and said, "Wake him up with cold water, and then continue beating him."
Hongxiu was already losing consciousness due to the pain, and her cries were getting quieter and quieter. The yard was eerily quiet for a moment, with only the sound of the bamboo stick hitting the flesh, which was amplified countless times and reached everyone's ears.
Compared to the many servants who were trembling with fear, Xiaoyu was so frightened that she became incontinent and fainted several times.
After beating Hongxiu to death, Wei Min glanced at Xiaoyu standing beside him and said, "Give her forty bamboo sticks. If she's not dead, find a human trafficker to sell her off."
Xiaoyu's lips trembled violently, and he sat limply on the ground. When he saw the guards coming towards him, he shrank back with his arms, shouting, "No, no, kill me, sir, please kill me! Kill me!"
The guard sneered, raised his hand, grabbed Xiaoyu's shoulder and lifted her up, "Now you are afraid, why didn't you think about the consequences when you hurt others and plotted against the adults?"
Xiaoyu shook her head frantically, "It wasn't me who did it, it was Hongxiu, it was Hongxiu! He killed Tianxiang, it has nothing to do with me!"
The guard snorted coldly and pressed the man down on the bench.
Xiaoyu turned her head and struggled. She caught a glimpse of three people approaching the garden gate and immediately screamed, "Master, help me! Master, save me!"
When Erjiu returned home, he was puzzled as he didn't see any servants on the way. When he returned to the courtyard, he found that it was crowded with people kneeling and shivering.
Erjiu blinked, raised his hand to cover his mouth, turned his head and asked Shiba, "What happened?"
Eighteen frowned slightly, shook his head and said, "Go and take a look."
Erjiu was walking in front with a lantern. As soon as he came in, he heard a sharp cry. He was so scared that he immediately stopped and stood in front of Aruan, "Master."
A Ruan was sharp-eyed and immediately spotted the woman sitting on the armchair. He smiled and raised his hand to pat Erjiu's shoulder, indicating that it was okay, his wife was there.
Xiaoyu saw Aruan coming and struggled hard. She opened her mouth to shout again, but the guard covered her mouth with her hand. She could only make mumbling sounds with her face red.
A Ruan glanced into the courtyard and saw that the servants were all trembling with fear. He couldn't help but feel puzzled. He walked forward a few steps and saw that the guards were blocking his view. It seemed that there was something hidden behind them.
Just as Ah Ruan was about to take a closer look, he heard the person on the armchair calling him, "Ah Ruan, come here."
Wei Min extended his hand to A Ruan, diverting his gaze, and asked, "Are you tired from going out? Have you had dinner?"
Ah Ruan really forgot about everything else and just passed her hand to Wei Min, smiled and nodded, then raised her hand again and said:
——The meal was cooked by Uncle Erjiu himself and I was very full.
As he spoke, he raised his hand and rubbed his bloated belly in circles, smiling playfully.
Ah Ruan thought about what happened just now and asked her curiously:
——Did anything happen in the mansion today? Why are they all kneeling in the main courtyard?
——Why does it seem like there is something hidden behind the guard?
A Ruan turned his head and looked back, but the guards didn't react to his sudden action. A Ruan was caught off guard and met Xiao Yu's panicked eyes, and was immediately frightened.
Wei Min did not hide it from him and said, "The two servants in the mansion who have bad intentions should be dealt with properly."
Ah Ruan frowned upon hearing this and glanced towards the courtyard unhappily. To be executed in such a cruel way by their mistress, and to have all the servants in the mansion come to watch the execution, these two servants must have touched her sore spot.
Ah Ruan turned around, intending to appease his wife's anger, but when he leaned forward, he smelled the strong smell of alcohol on her body, and immediately pursed his lips and frowned:
——You just recovered from your illness, why are you drinking again?
Wei Min saw that A Ruan looked a little unhappy, so he immediately sat up straight, pulled him to stand between his legs, looked up and confessed honestly, "I just accompanied the Eighth Prince to drink a few more cups, and I didn't go out to drink."
A Ruan glared at her. This was clearly not what he was asking.
Seeing that everyone in the yard was still kneeling, Ah Ruan didn't want to discuss this matter with his wife in front of others, so he raised his hand and said:
——I’m going to take a shower.
Wei Min hummed, and just as he nodded, he remembered something and immediately raised his hand to grab A'ruan's wrist, "A'ruan."
A Ruan looked back at her in confusion.
Wei Min raised his hand and pinched his brows, disgust clearly reflected in his eyes, and said: "Let's sleep in another room tonight, and let someone change all the things in the room tomorrow before we come back to sleep."
Naturally, her disgust was not directed at A'ruan, but at the person who entered their inner room without permission.
A Ruan was not so naive. After listening to his wife's words, he turned around to look at the servants kneeling in the courtyard and Xiao Yu sitting on the bench. What else did he not understand? His face suddenly turned slightly angry and he pursed his lips in displeasure.
A Ruan was born in poverty. Even though his wife's official position became higher and higher and there were more and more servants in the mansion, he thought that the servants had a hard time and did not put on airs with them.
A'ruan thought he was kind to his servants, but now they thought he was weak and even wanted to climb into his bed and sleep with his wife!
Wei Min was afraid that A Ruan would get angry, so he raised his hand to stroke his back and said softly, "My wife will decide for you."
The anger that was welling up in A'ruan's heart was slowly calmed down by Wei Min's hands.
He still felt a little unsatisfied, bit his lip slightly, raised his hand and "said" to Wei Min:
——My wife, please give him one...two more blows on the stick for me!
Wei Min was amused by him and nodded.
After A'ruan left, Wei Min had Xiaoyu's mouth blocked and he was beaten with forty-two boards. She leaned back in her chair in a good mood and said happily, "If the master says to add a few more strokes, then add a few more strokes. He has the final say in the mansion."
…
When Tianxiang woke up, he was fuzzy and his eyelids were closed. He felt a swelling and pain at the back of his head. He wanted to raise his hand to touch it, but as soon as he raised his hand, he was stopped by someone.
"It's just been bandaged, don't touch it."
Tianxiang opened his eyes only after hearing Erjiu's voice.
Erjiu heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that he had finally woken up. "You finally got enough sleep."
Tianxiang looked confused, not knowing what was wrong with him, and asked stupidly, "Why does my head hurt a little?"
Erjiu glanced at him and wondered how this silly boy got involved with someone like Hongxiu. "Hongxiu wanted to kill you. She smashed a hole in the back of your head with a bench. There was blood all over the floor... Fortunately, she found you in time, otherwise you would have fallen asleep like this."
Tianxiang's face turned pale when he heard this. He clutched the quilt in front of him in fear. Tears welled up in his eyes. He choked and muttered to himself, "How could he be so cruel..."
Even though they had known each other for many years, and if he did not cooperate with Hongxiu's plan, she would definitely not harm him like this. Why did he want to kill him?
Erjiu sighed, patted his head, and said, "People's hearts are hidden in their stomachs."
Tianxiang raised her hand to wipe her tears and asked cautiously, "Then, what about Hongxiu?"
Erjiu got angry when he mentioned this bitch who wanted to climb into bed, but when he saw Tianxiang looking at him with tears in her eyes, he told him what had happened.
Tianxiang was silent for a long time, his fingers tightly grasping the quilt in front of him to suppress the complicated emotions in his heart. After a while, he said softly: "It's all his own fault. Isn't it good to live a good life..."
Erjiu shrugged and said nothing about Tianxiang's words. "My master asked me to ask you, are you willing to leave the Wei Mansion? After all... if you are willing, the mansion will give you fifty taels of silver, enough for you to live a good life."
Tianxiang understood. After all, he and Hongxiu knew each other and came from the same place. Now that something like this had happened, people in the mansion would feel more or less uncomfortable looking at him, and he would also feel uncomfortable.
Tianxiang lifted the quilt and climbed out of bed, kowtowed to Erjiu, and said: "Tianxiang will not go to thank the master in person, please convey my gratitude for me. Tianxiang is willing to leave and will no longer appear in the Wei Mansion's sight from now on, and live a simple life."
With fifty taels of silver, Tianxiang would have enough to live for half his life as long as he didn't spend it lavishly.
When Wei Min knew about this, he couldn't help but lower his eyes and smile, with tenderness revealed in his eyes. Ah Ruan, you are kind-hearted after all.
The author has something to say: There will be no mistresses in the future~~Spread flowers~~
Wei Min: A Ruan is still kind-hearted
A Ruan: I actually sent away all the good-looking girls in the house, and will only hire ugly girls from now on! ╯^╰
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