The next day, Aunt Yang called Xiang'er over to serve her.
Liu Xiang'er left with a furrowed brow, but returned with a relaxed expression.
Upon returning, he immediately had Manjing hand over the storeroom key. Manjing usually managed the small storeroom for spices, clothing, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Although she didn't handle the money in the storeroom—that was Fangli's business—all the furnishings inside and outside the house, as well as the distribution of rewards and gifts, were all handled by her.
Suddenly, Liu Xiang'er took the key, and a feeling of inexplicable loss welled up in my heart.
Liu Xiang'er didn't care about any of that. She took the key with a straight face and went to open the small storeroom to take stock of the fabrics, cloths, spices, and candle oil inside.
After that, the incense in the young master's room was changed that afternoon, and the young mistress was specially chosen to be the Qu Shui incense, which she couldn't stand.
Guilan was about to rush over and punish her, but Xu Shaoqing stopped her, saying, "Forget it, it's just a small matter. Just change it yourself."
Gui Xiang felt a surge of anger, but she suppressed it and asked in a low voice, "What do you mean by this, Miss? Gui Lan has done nothing wrong."
Although Gui Xiang spoke softly, Xu Shaoqing still sensed a hint of anger in her voice and felt somewhat embarrassed.
"We have just arrived at the Marquis's residence, so we should be kind and gentle to the servants."
She added with a hint of shyness, "That's the demeanor of a matriarch."
Gui Xiang was speechless, but some of the rebukes were indeed inappropriate for her to utter. She had allowed outsiders to trample on her like this, yet she had foolishly failed to retaliate.
Even if you want to show that you are a kind and generous person, you shouldn't do it this way.
So he held his breath and stopped making a sound, tidied up the incense, and replaced it with other spices.
This test made Liu Xiang'er realize that Xu Shaoqing was easy to bully, which emboldened her even more.
The next evening, he sent away the cleaning maid and came over himself to make their beds and clean.
Guilan reached out to take it, but Xiang'er brushed her hand away, saying, "I'm almost done cleaning here, you can go ahead, I don't need your help."
Guilan's face turned ashen as she looked at Xu Shaoqing. The young lady was engrossed in her book; it was unclear whether she hadn't heard or was pretending not to.
They didn't leave until Xiang'er brought the incense burner from the quilt to make their beds.
Xu Shaoqing's expression also turned ugly, while Xiang'er still asked with a smile,
"Having heard that the young mistress prefers fruity scents, I specially selected four kinds of fragrances today. Are you satisfied, young mistress?"
Gui Xiang and Gui Lan were wise enough to keep quiet this time. Sure enough, Xu Shaoqing was so angry that she couldn't breathe and looked at Gu Ting, who had just returned.
But Gu Ting was also oblivious to the situation, so he let Xiang'er help him undress and wash up.
Even when the two were about to rest, Gu Ting glanced at her and said, "Get out!"
Xiang'er then took the used incense box and left. Once outside, she gave Guilan, who was standing guard under the outermost eaves, a playful look.
Guilan glared back fiercely, but Xiang'er not only wasn't angry, she even laughed twice.
"The young mistress said that I will take care of the cleaning tomorrow, so Sister Guilan can finally get some rest."
Guilan was skeptical, seemingly unable to believe that her young mistress could say such a thing.
Xiang'er was smug, raising her eyebrows. She was about to say a few more words when she turned her head and saw Gui Xiang looking over.
A chill ran down her spine, and she stopped talking and hurried back. Gui Xiang and Fang Li gave her a similar feeling. She didn't dare to act recklessly in front of Gui Xiang, afraid of being caught doing something wrong.
After she left, Guilan looked at Guixiang and couldn't help but feel her eyes redden. She wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start, feeling only a bellyful of grievances.
They lived a very respectable life at home, but now they are being humiliated time and time again.
Even a maidservant could be ordered around and arranged for them, and that was with the young lady's permission. How could they not be heartbroken?
Gui Xiang stepped forward and patted her hand, "Still on duty, stay alert! Be careful."
Upon hearing this, Guilan realized she had been too out of line, quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and stood up straight again.
In the following days, Liu Xiang'er became increasingly outrageous, even going so far as to send Xu Shaoqing's second-class maid to clean the backyard.
Now, even if Xu Shaoqing were to give in to Gu Ting again, she wouldn't be able to tolerate it anymore.
Just as I was about to find a reason to give Xiang'er a good beating, something happened.
It turned out that, apart from Liu Xiang'er changing the incense without permission on the first day, Xu Shaoqing had also ordered it to be removed.
Since then, Liu Xiang'er hasn't touched the incense much. Manjing came over and specifically told the Third Young Master that the incense he used had specific specifications and he shouldn't change it arbitrarily.
As a result, Guilan seized upon this remark and took over the task of adding spices without asking.
Liu Xiang'er was naturally dissatisfied. After holding back for two days, she used tricks to snatch it back.
He deliberately poured tea from the side, wetting a piece of incense. Guilan couldn't light it for a long time, and the Third Young Master scolded her for it.
The task thus returned to Liu Xiang'er's hands, and Gu Ting deliberately wanted to slap Xu Shaoqing in the face and vent his dissatisfaction.
However, after taking over the matter of incense making, Liu Xiang'er did not follow the instructions properly and forgot Man Jing's words.
She added a few spices that she liked, but little did she know that one of them was something the young master was allergic to.
When Gu Ting returned to his room that evening, his throat became so sore and swollen that he couldn't speak.
Fortunately, the royal physician arrived in time, and everything turned out alright. Not only was Aunt Yang alarmed, but even the Second Madam was alerted and, unusually, came to Mo Yuan Courtyard.
The third young master almost lost his life, and Aunt Yang was furious. The second wife also frowned. "Take that girl away for questioning! Investigate thoroughly."
Xiang'er had just fainted from fright and was brought into the room by two nannies, who splashed cold water on her to wake her up.
After waking up, Xiang'er knelt on the ground, her body limp, and cried out.
“How could this servant possibly add roses to incense? The Third Young Master can’t stand the smell of roses. We always keep that in mind and would never dare to forget it.”
The old woman asked her repeatedly, but when she got the same answer, she had no choice but to go back and reply to the second mistress.
The second wife's face darkened. "Go check the spice inventory in the cabinet, interrogate them one by one, including all the maids, and see if anyone can open the cabinet and take it."
The result was predictable: once Xiang'er took the key to the cabinet, no one else could touch it.
Moreover, the jar containing the ground rose petals in the cabinet was indeed half short, but when she handed it over to Guilan, the jar was full of roses.
Fang Li and Man Jing watched the handover from the sidelines and could all testify to this.
Now, no matter what Xiang'er said, the Second Madam felt it was just sophistry.
Zheng Jin didn't want to waste any more effort as long as he could come up with a respectable result that wouldn't lead to any mistakes.
"Give him three strokes of the cane and kick him out of the mansion." The decision was made in just a few words. Then, without even glancing at him, he led his group back to his own courtyard.
If the Second Madam had punished her so lightly in the past, Aunt Yang would definitely not have accepted it.
But now she felt that it might not have been Xiang'er's fault at all, but rather a scheme by Xu Shaoqing and her servant. Therefore, she didn't say much about the severity of the Second Madam's punishment.
No matter how Xiang'er tried to explain, no one believed her. Seeing how cruelly she was dealt with, they couldn't help but break down in tears.
However, after a few more blows, he could no longer cry and was beaten half to death.
Liu Dong'er cowered in the corner, not daring to say a word as she watched her sister being punished.
Aunt Yang didn't care at all, and when she left, she gave her a disgusted look, saying, "A good-for-nothing girl who's good for nothing!"
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