Apart from Mo Zi, everyone present had followed Qiu Sanniang since childhood—how could they not detect the sudden change in tone? Three pairs of eyes looked back and forth between Mo Zi and Qiu Sanniang, not knowing what had happened.

Bai He worried so much her wrinkles multiplied. What was going on? Earlier, Miss had smiled while inexplicably saddling Mo Zi with three hundred taels of debt, and now Miss was angry—but about what? From where she stood, she couldn’t see Mo Zi’s eyes and naturally couldn’t interpret them.

“Miss…” Wanting to mediate but not knowing where to start, she pushed Mo Zi. “Mo Zi, quickly apologize to Miss.” Right or wrong—for maids, there was no need to investigate deeply. Their lowly status meant they must bow their heads first.

Mo Zi didn’t bow her head, but the color in her eyes lightened somewhat. “Miss, I’m not angry, merely surprised. I’m just a second-class maid, nothing particularly outstanding anywhere. Has Fourth Madam perhaps made a mistake and taken me for someone else?”

“Then just go along with the mistake. I think this matter is quite fine.” Qiu Sanniang’s cool voice carried mockery.

“Miss, how is this kind of thing fine?” Lu Ju blurted out. “Better to be the head of an ox than the tail of a phoenix—don’t you often admonish us with this?”

“That’s right, I do teach the three of you that, but not her.” Qiu Sanniang’s fingertip rose, pointing in Mo Zi’s direction. “Which of you has as many schemes as her? Who among you can match her cleverness? If you want to marry into wealthy families as concubines, I won’t stop you.”

“Miss, don’t say such things. What does this have to do with schemes or cleverness? Mo Zi wouldn’t want to marry as a concubine.” Bai He spoke on Mo Zi’s behalf.

“Each person has their own aspirations—I won’t force anyone.” Qiu Sanniang picked up her chopsticks again, eating methodically.

“Mo Zi, say something!” Lu Ju stamped her foot anxiously.

“Being a concubine…” Mo Zi pressed her lips into a curved line. Facing Qiu Sanniang who was stirring up trouble for no reason, even though her inner fire blazed fiercely, she couldn’t let herself lose composure and satisfy her. “…is quite fine.”

Both Bai He and Lu Ju cried out in shock.

“Mo Zi stays. You three go eat.” Qiu Sanniang glanced over sideways.

“Miss?” Lu Ju was rather unwilling. With her heart still confused and unclear, where would she find an appetite?

“If you don’t go now, I’ll punish you with no dinner tonight.” Qiu Sanniang’s apricot eyes glared.

Bai He knew Qiu Sanniang wasn’t joking at this moment. She quickly took one hand in each of hers, glanced at Mo Zi wanting to speak but stopping herself, and finally withdrew helplessly.

For two quarters of an hour, Qiu Sanniang didn’t speak, chewing carefully and swallowing slowly as she ate her evening meal.

When Mo Zi saw she’d eaten about enough, she presented the water bowl for rinsing, then handed over the white cotton cloth. Wasn’t there a saying? Habit is a frightening thing. Having been a maid for over half a year, many tasks of serving others had become smooth and practiced. Even though things seemed strained with Qiu Sanniang at this moment, what she should do, she still had to do.

After Qiu Sanniang finished eating, she rose and entered the inner chamber, lazily sliding into the rosewood reclining chair, rustling through the pages of a book.

Mo Zi followed in, wanting to say that lying down right after eating easily led to weight gain. She even opened her mouth but then closed it again. Why meddle in such idle matters?

“Mo Zi.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Had I known you had such thoughts, I would have kept watch for you. Being a concubine… is quite fine?” Qiu Sanniang smiled faintly. She was beautiful, and her smile was extremely beautiful too—like clean white pear blossoms, bright and pure, completely contrary to her true temperament.

“Miss said it first.” Speaking of schemes, Mo Zi not only had more than Bai He and Lu Ju, she had several more than even Qiu Sanniang. Like designing a warship—if you didn’t consider every aspect thoroughly, how could you defeat the opponent?

Qiu Sanniang was clever, but she was also too proud, always disdainful of inner chamber women’s conflicts, and thus willful and reckless. Mo Zi, on the other hand, had no relatives to rely on and survived in the cracks, having no choice but to be cautious everywhere, opening one careful thought after another.

“I said it’s quite fine, so you said it’s quite fine. So if I said to give you away, you’d obediently follow Fourth Madam?” Qiu Sanniang turned the book pages but wasn’t actually reading.

“Does Miss want to hear me speak honestly?” Mo Zi lowered her eyes, her smile also charming.

Qiu Sanniang snorted. “Speak. Who could block your mouth?”

“Since Miss hasn’t yet agreed to Fourth Madam, wouldn’t saying these things be meaningless?” Mo Zi answered.

Qiu Sanniang slowly said “Oh,” the final sound turning twice, asking in return, “Since you guessed it, why did you burn me with your eyes just now?” That blazing gaze, so fierce, had actually stirred in her a thought of competing.

“Just now, Mo Zi hadn’t guessed yet. Thinking Miss had truly agreed to Fourth Madam, I was scared into a cold sweat, shivering.” Thinking of the instant when she might be given away truly brought panic. “Later upon reflection, Miss truly isn’t such a faithless person, so I spoke as Miss spoke.”

“It’s rare that you were afraid—now my heart feels comfortable. Usually seeing you unmoved by anything, I kept thinking someday I should force you to change expression. As for the latter half—that’s not quite right. Whether or not I keep faith, I’m too lazy to consider. Even the sage books say that only petty people and women are difficult to nurture. A word like ‘faith’—what if I don’t care about it? But the banknote Fourth Madam produced dazzled my eyes—I very much wanted to accept it.” Qiu Sanniang then began explaining what had happened.

“How much silver was Fourth Madam willing to part with?” Not only exchanging four maids for her alone, but also giving Qiu Sanniang silver? Mo Zi thought—it seemed as a maid, she could count herself successful.

“One thousand taels.” When Qiu Sanniang spoke of money, her voice was gentle and beautiful, breath like orchids. “Half to provide your dowry, half for me.”

“Five hundred taels for a dowry?” Mo Zi could barely smile. “Taking in a chamber maid truly isn’t cheap.”

Qiu Sanniang laughed until her flower-like frame trembled. “You think it’s always like this? When Madam rewarded Ai Lian to the fourth household, my sister-in-law merely sent a set of hair ornaments and jewelry—twenty taels of silver and it was done, not even hosting a banquet. So I say, that Jiang Shi has wickedly sharp eyes. She most likely knows clearly that getting you this time won’t be easy, so she wants to use silver to make the little ghost push the millstone. That thousand taels must be Jiang Shi’s private silver—Madam could never possibly produce it.”

“How could Madam agree to this?” After that night, she should hate Mo Zi to the bone.

“This you don’t understand. No matter how ruthless she is, she can’t bear to deal with her most beloved son and daughter-in-law. Besides, taking you in is still better than bringing someone in from outside. Ultimately, in their eyes, you’re just a maid. As long as your indenture contract is in their hands, can you turn heaven upside down?” Qiu Sanniang not competing with those people didn’t mean she didn’t know.

“Indenture contract?” So that was indeed their calculation. “This time I can rightfully ask Miss to sell it.”

“They want to buy it, but whether I can sell it—I’ll have to ask you.” Qiu Sanniang tossed the book onto the desk, using a voice sickeningly sweet asking, “Miss Mo Zi, do you ultimately want to be the head of an ox, or are you willing to fall to the tail of a phoenix?”

“What does Miss think?” Mo Zi learned from Qiu Sanniang and asked in return.

“I think, since I couldn’t make you have the complete consciousness of being a maid, you also needn’t belittle yourself anymore. Among the four beside me, only you work for me through fulfilling a contract. My trust in you is also built upon the principles you uphold. Loyalty—I don’t require you to give it. But if you can’t bring me benefits, what use do I have keeping you? And I, if I cannot give you what you need, seemingly also cannot keep you. Bai He and Lu Ju consider you a sister, little knowing that you and I have the clearest, most mutually beneficial relationship in this world. Mo Zi, listen well—toward you, I won’t be like I am toward Bai He, Lu Ju, and Xiao Yi. When absolutely necessary, the person I’d abandon first would be you. Therefore, don’t be too at ease with me, or too unbridled.” Qiu Sanniang finished speaking.

Though that passage Qiu Sanniang spoke seemed unrelated to what Mo Zi had asked, Mo Zi understood it very clearly, and thus also clearly expressed her own meaning: “I wish to follow Miss when she marries.”

That’s right—this was Qiu Sanniang’s meaning. Mo Zi wasn’t Bai He or Lu Ju. She couldn’t play guessing games of sisterly intimacy with Qiu Sanniang. What she wanted, she had to state directly. Whether Qiu Sanniang agreed depended on what benefits she could bring her.

This kind of relationship between miss and maid, just as Qiu Sanniang said, was crystal clear—each taking their own benefit.

Wasn’t that quite good?