Officials from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs presented Zhao Canchen, who was about to get married, with a congratulatory gift that included a small courtyard, some precious gifts, a considerable sum of silver, and a pair of palace maids.
Of all these gifts, the one that pleased Lin Yajun the most was the pair of palace servants.
These palace servants had clearly undergone years of rigorous training; their demeanor was elegant, their movements were precise, and they exuded a sense of composure.
When they stood beside Zhao Canchen, they were like two statues, completely still.
When they serve their master, they are orderly, humble, and every movement is just right.
"What a coincidence! I was looking to buy reliable servants, and the Imperial Clan Court sent two such palace maids to Zhao Canchen," Lin Yajun thought to herself. "These Hu (non-Han) palace servants are much easier to manage than a maid like Qiaoqing." This further solidified her decision to find an opportunity to get rid of Qiaoqing.
After Lin Yajun and Zhao Canchen set their wedding date, Qiaoqing suddenly became rude to Lin Yajun, which made Lin Yajun extremely unhappy.
Just now, Madam Xu returned with her wedding dress and jewelry and instructed, "Ajun, have Qiaoqing help you try on the wedding dress to see if it fits. If it doesn't, I'll go to the shop to exchange it."
Qiaoqing, with a long face, came forward to help Lin Yajun change her clothes, her expression of disgust showing no attempt to hide it. "This fabric is terrible. My sister-in-law's wedding dress was better than this." As she took off her clothes, she gave a hard tug, pulling Lin Yajun back a few steps, her forehead almost hitting the corner of the canopy bed.
Lin Yajun frowned and said unhappily, "If you don't want to serve me properly, then you should find another job."
"Hehe, Miss, you're joking. I've been serving you well the whole time." Qiaoqing chuckled dryly, then clicked her tongue and said, "Miss, you're too delicate. I was just changing your clothes normally." As she spoke, she rolled her eyes.
Seeing this, Lin Yajun knew that the maid's true nature had been revealed and she had begun to deceive her mistress.
She sneered, thinking to herself: This bitch has probably forgotten everything I said when I bought her.
When Lin Ya-jun bought the Ma mother and daughter, she publicly stated, "I will not be lenient with slaves who are not loyal to me."
Qiaoqing walked to the dressing table and stood there. She picked up a comb with her left hand and beckoned with her right: "Miss, come and comb your hair and try on your jewelry." There was no respect in her eyes, and her arrogance was on full display.
Lin Yajun strode over and sat down in front of the dressing table, thinking to herself: I'll see how you try to bully me!
Qiaoqing quickly styled Lin Yajun's hair into a bun, rummaged through the jewelry box, and took out a gold hairpin. After examining it for a moment, she said with disdain, "The workmanship of this hairpin is too old-fashioned!" With that, she casually inserted the hairpin into Lin Yajun's bun. Because she used too much force, the tip of the hairpin suddenly pierced Lin Yajun's scalp.
"It hurts!" Lin Yajun cried out. She pushed Qiaoqing hard with her hand, causing her to sit on the ground. At the same time, she stuck the needle in Qiaoqing's back.
"Ouch, my back hurts so much." Qiaoqing felt a sharp pain in her back and couldn't help but cry out.
Qiaoqing felt the pain for a while longer, and when it subsided, she sat on the ground and looked up, complaining with a wronged expression, "Miss, why did you push the slave with so much force? I didn't hurt you."
"Hmph." Lin Yajun snorted coldly and ignored her, looking at the jewelry her mother had bought for her one piece at a time, a box full of gold jewelry.
Qiaoqing got up from the ground, straightened her clothes and walked over. She reached into the jewelry box and took out a pair of gold earrings to put on Lin Yajun, saying with disdain, "Oh, these earrings are so small and old-fashioned. They're the kind of earrings old nannies wear in high-class families."
She raised her hand and said, "Come on, give it a try."
Lin Yajun raised her hand to stop Qiaoqing's hand and said coldly, "No need." She could foresee one thing: if Qiaoqing tried on earrings for her again, it would definitely hurt her ears.
Qiaoqing angrily threw the gold earrings into the jewelry box with a "thud," as if the earrings were something disgusting.
Qiaoqing was pushed to the ground by her mistress, but she only thought that it was a casual thing done by her mistress when she was in pain. She did not realize that her mistress was angry.
Qiaoqing frowned in dissatisfaction, muttering accusations, "Miss, how could you marry that man! If I were you, I would rather run away from the wedding than jump into that man's fire pit!"
Qiaoqing and Lin Yajun simply sat there quietly, playing with the gold jewelry, without responding to her words, which fueled her anger even more.
Qiaoqing couldn't help but raise her voice again, saying, "In my opinion, Miss, you should marry the gatekeeper of the Prime Minister's mansion! Even though he's just a servant, it's still better than marrying that guy!"
At this point, Qiaoqing seemed to feel that her words were not convincing enough, so she quickly added, "Miss, I'm doing this all for your own good! Think about it, we're all in this together. If you're well, I'll naturally be well too. Besides, my whole family is loyal to you. My father and brothers have worked hard to earn money for you!"
Lin Yajun couldn't help but chuckle as she listened to Qiaoqing's endless stream of nonsensical ramblings.
She thought to herself, if it were the original owner of this body, she might actually be brainwashed by this maid and think that everything she said was for her own good.
Qiaoqing exclaimed in surprise, "Miss, how can you still laugh? Aren't you scared? I'm so worried about you."
"You're being nosy. I'm not afraid of anything," Lin Yajun said irritably.
"Miss, you're so ungrateful! You'll regret this later!" Qiaoqing stomped her foot in anger.
Looking at Qiaoqing's rude behavior, Lin Yajun couldn't help but sigh, "So it really is true that 'a gentleman cherishes virtue, while a petty person fears power'!"
He had always been very kind to the Ma mother and daughter, but he never expected that this would make them think that he was an easy person to bully and control.
At first, the Ma mother and daughter were very respectful and enthusiastic towards Lin Yajun, and were also very honest and upright, which earned her Lin Yajun's favor and trust.
As Lin Yajun handed over the lucrative shop to Qiaoqing's father and brothers to manage, and as they earned hundreds or thousands of taels of silver every day, Qiaoqing's attitude gradually changed.
Gradually, Qiaoqing began to try to control Lin Yajun and wanted her to follow her arrangements.
When she realized she couldn't completely control Lin Yajun, she immediately put on a show of anger and acted out, trying to achieve her goals in this way.
Lin Yajun understood Qiaoqing's thoughts perfectly well. She mistakenly believed that she couldn't live without her family and that she wanted to use her father and brothers to make money through business.
In reality, Lin Yajun's opening of the shop was just a pretext to take out the silver from her spatial storage to support her family. She didn't care about the meager silver earned from the shop at all.
At this point, Lin Yajun made a decision: to find a suitable family for Qiaoqing as soon as possible so that she could go home and embroider her wedding dress. As for the Ma family, Lin Yajun planned to release them as well; such disloyal servants were simply unacceptable.
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