Qiao Zhao’s single question left Li Jiāo speechless, her face instantly turning the color of pig’s liver.

Fourth Miss Li Yan watched this with secret alarm: Mother was indeed right—ever since Third Sister returned to the residence, whoever went against her would meet misfortune!

Her gaze wandered and inadvertently met that of Fifth Miss Li Shu.

In that moment, the two sisters felt a kind of telepathic understanding. Their eyes flickered before they both looked away.

Fourth Sister (Fifth Sister) had also noticed—Third Sister was terrifying!

“You, what nonsense are you spouting?” Li Jiāo was both ashamed and annoyed, but remembering her mother’s warning, she suddenly lost her momentum.

Stay calm. She had just made a fool of herself—she couldn’t confront Li San head-on again!

“I never speak nonsense. It would be good if Second Sister also refrained from doing so in the future.” Qiao Zhao gave a mild warning, thinking: This girl doesn’t learn from her mistakes!

The calligraphy teacher was an old examination candidate with a scholarly temperament. Having figured out the meaning behind Qiao Zhao’s words, he didn’t give Li Jiāo a proper glance for the rest of the class, leaving Second Miss so embarrassed that tears kept welling up in her eyes.

Old Madam Jiang placed great importance on the women’s school. Qiao Zhao and the others studied for the entire day, always staying at the East Residence for lunch, which was served in a dining room specially set aside next to the school.

When noon arrived, the six sisters sat around together. Without their usual casual conversation and laughter, the atmosphere was quite awkward until the food was served, and Li Yan and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Since they were dining at the women’s school for convenience, the young ladies ate from individual boxes. Each miss had a red lacquered carved food box containing several dishes: vegetarian stewed three-treasure balls, wine-preserved whitebait, steamed minced meat with eggs, crystal shrimp, and other accompaniments to rice. The main course was silver thread steamed rolls, plus a bowl of red dates and glutinous rice porridge.

The East Residence’s food had always been more refined and abundant than the West Residence’s.

After washing her hands, Qiao Zhao picked up her porridge bowl, then suddenly set it down again. She swept her gaze over the food before her, picked up the water cup beside her, and silently took a sip.

Li Jiāo secretly clenched her hands, her knuckles turning faintly white.

Seeing Qiao Zhao act this way, the others didn’t pick up their chopsticks for a moment.

“Why isn’t Third Sister eating?” Li Jiǎo asked.

“Stomach pain.”

Li Jiǎo put on a concerned expression: “When did Third Sister develop stomach problems? I’ve never heard you mention it before.”

Never mentioned it?

Qiao Zhao smiled.

She wasn’t lying. Little Miss Li Zhao indeed had stomach problems, and with Li Zhao’s personality, she naturally wouldn’t mention it to her eldest sister, whom she regarded as a natural enemy. Fortunately, since returning to the Li residence these past days, her routine had been regular, and she had taken some medicine, gradually curing her stomach ailment.

But today, the food before her couldn’t be eaten.

Li Jiāo sneered: “Stomach pain? I think Third Sister can’t wait to draw a clear line with the East Residence! Whatever anger Third Sister has, take it out on me—but putting on this attitude, won’t it break the elders’ hearts!”

Qiao Zhao glanced at Li Jiāo indifferently.

So the retreat in the classroom was because this meal was waiting for her.

Miss Qiao lowered her eyes, looking at the red lacquered carved food box placed before her. The aroma of the food was quite enticing.

This could be considered a Hongmen Banquet, just on a smaller scale.

A maid in a blue vest came forward, placing a round platter decorated with magpies and plum blossoms for food scraps in the center of the table. She curtsied to the young ladies and silently withdrew.

Qiao Zhao remained composed while her foot under the table lifted slightly, gently kicking the blue-clad maid’s calf.

The blue-clad maid stumbled and reflexively grabbed the table edge to steady herself, right where Qiao Zhao’s water cup sat.

The water cup fell to the ground and shattered, accompanied by the blue-clad maid’s cry of alarm, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

“Clumsy servant! What kind of behavior is this!” Li Jiāo’s willow brows stood on end.

The misses from the West Residence naturally said nothing.

The blue-clad maid hurriedly knelt to beg forgiveness: “This servant deserves death! Please forgive me, Miss!”

It seemed someone had lightly touched her leg just now, but everyone present was a master—how could a lowly maid give such a reason?

Moreover, that touch had been quite light and should have been unintentional. It was just that her calf had inexplicably gone numb for a moment, which caused her to lose her footing. This made it even more impossible to blame others—saying so would only displease the young ladies.

The blue-clad maid accepted her bad luck and repeatedly begged forgiveness.

Everyone in the residence said Second Miss had been in an extremely bad mood since returning yesterday. She had just run into this—what terrible luck!

Already harboring anger, Li Jiāo was indeed quite displeased by such an incident. Just as she was about to explode, she caught sight of Qiao Zhao’s calm expression and immediately suppressed her anger, saying coldly: “Clean this up quickly and get out!”

The blue-clad maid felt as if granted amnesty, quickly cleaned up, and hurried away.

Only then did Li Jiǎo speak: “Second Sister, don’t be angry. Let’s eat quickly, or the food will get cold.”

“Don’t play the good person!” Li Jiāo said coldly.

She hadn’t yet settled the score for the earlier backstabbing, yet this one dared to boss her around. What did “don’t be angry” mean, as if she were the only one among them who couldn’t tolerate servants!

Li Jiǎo was so choked she blushed, suppressing her anger as she lowered her eyes and picked up a spoon to drink some red date porridge.

Watching the sisters gradually begin eating while Qiao Zhao still didn’t touch her chopsticks, Li Jiāo felt increasingly frustrated.

She had secretly instructed someone to add something to Li San’s food during the class break, but who would have thought Li San had stomach pain and wouldn’t eat!

Could she have known?

Impossible! Li San had been distracted during the break. Unless she could divine the future, how could she have known her plan?

“It seems our East Residence’s food is beneath Third Sister’s notice. Since that’s the case, Third Sister should bring her food in the future!”

So what if she didn’t eat and avoided disaster this time? If she had backbone, she shouldn’t eat any of it in the future—eat the cold food she brought herself.

Thinking of how during the deep winter months, the sisters would sit around eating hot, steaming food while Qiao Zhao could only drink water and eat cold food, Li Jiāo’s mood improved considerably.

“Second Sister jests. We should remember that every grain of rice and drop of porridge comes with difficulty, let alone such abundant delicacies.” As Qiao Zhao spoke, she picked up a silver thread roll and asked Li Jiāo in an indifferent tone: “I have stomach pain—would Second Sister also be angry about that?”

Li Jiāo was immediately stumped and couldn’t speak. She gripped her chopsticks tightly and finally snorted coldly: “Do as you please—eat or don’t eat!”

Because of her angry embarrassment, Li Jiāo held her breath and ate even faster than usual. When she was nearly finished, she suddenly frowned at Fifth Miss Li Shu: “What’s wrong with you now?”

Li Shu hadn’t expected that being so low-key would still draw Li Jiāo’s attention. She instinctively gripped the silver thread roll in her hand tightly and stammered: “I… I also have stomach pain…”

Although she didn’t know why Third Sister only ate the steamed rolls and not the dishes, following Third Sister’s lead was surely right.

Fourth Miss Li Yan looked down at the food she had eaten most of and suddenly felt her stomach hurt too.

She had momentarily succumbed to the temptation of delicious food—how careless of her.

She quickly tugged at her sister Li Chan, hinting for her to eat less.

Li Chan puffed out her cheeks with an innocent expression: “Why is Fourth Sister pulling me?”

Li Yan felt quite embarrassed and coughed lightly: “Eat less. Didn’t you hear Aunt say the other day that you’ve gotten fat?”

Li Chan’s mouth drooped, and she immediately lost her appetite.

After lunch, everyone rested briefly before returning to the classroom.

The afternoon was music class. The music teacher had once been a court musician and, though a young man not yet thirty, had an excellent reputation. Old Madam Jiang had expended considerable effort to invite him to teach once every ten days.

The music teacher in blue robes was testing the qin’s tone when Li Jiǎo suddenly clutched her stomach.