Her vivid red lips blew on the still-wet ink and handprint on the paper. Qiu Sanniang watched as Bai He pulled Mo Zi aside for a whispered conversation, a smile appearing at the corners of her mouth. Regardless of whether this decision was right or wrong, at least her mood felt very relaxed right now.
“Xiao Yi, you must be thinking I’m very bad, aren’t you?” Qiu Sanniang most enjoyed sharing her innermost thoughts with Xiao Yi, because Xiao Yi was simple.
“…” Xiao Yi looked east and west, and under Qiu Sanniang’s following gaze, was forced to say, “Miss, are you thirsty? Should I pour you some tea?” In fact, this was tantamount to already answering Qiu Sanniang’s question.
“Xiao Yi.” Qiu Sanniang pretended to put on a stern face.
“Miss, you’re not… still acceptable.” It was just that her mouth was bad—perfectly good matters she never was willing to do straightforwardly.
Qiu Sanniang was amused by Xiao Yi’s words. “Am I acceptable or not acceptable?” She knew the answer in her heart, but found it interesting.
“If Mo Zi accomplishes it, will you really let her go?” Thinking about it, this mistress was shrewd to the core, but at least she kept her word. However, Mo Zi was no ordinary person. When she watched Miss talking with Mo Zi, not only did Miss smile on her face, but her heart was most joyful.
“When have I ever not kept my word?” Qiu Sanniang shot her a glare. “Besides, I’ve figured it out. This Mo Zi isn’t material for being a maid, and I’m not material for being her mistress. Yesterday when the Old Princess Consort wanted someone to go up and slap faces, my temper flared up. I really couldn’t stand seeing her be suppressed by others. Think about it—even now in this prince’s mansion, I have to be extremely careful. As for her little life, someday I might not be able to protect it either. The indenture contract is in my hands. If the Old Princess Consort or my mother-in-law asks me for it, can I refuse? The struggles within the inner quarters are all ruthless beneath the surface. Just look at my mother—tormented to death while still alive. She’s the same as me. We both detest this kind of meaningless conflict. I at least bear the title of Third Young Madam, but she’s so clever yet happens to be just a maid whom anyone can manipulate. Better to let her go out—then no one can nitpick and cause trouble.”
“Miss, I thought you listened to the fortune teller’s words.” Xiao Yi blinked her narrow eyes.
“The fortune teller’s words—seem true yet not true, seem false yet not false. As for me, I believe some of it, don’t believe some of it. I’ve always had suspicions about Mo Zi’s identity. But you know me—I’ve always done as I pleased. Having saved someone with such difficulty, it can’t be for nothing. However, as time went on, I increasingly felt she was different from ordinary people. Even if I don’t release her, her leaving is only a matter of time sooner or later. Better that I do a favor—the fortune improves, and she also gets her wish fulfilled.” Qiu Sanniang folded up the contract she had agreed upon with Mo Zi and placed it in the small wooden box where Xiao Jin usually lay.
“Then why not just return the indenture contract to her?” Why add conditions?
“Xiao Yi, she’s someone who could earn back two hundred thousand taels of silver from being penniless. Though it was related to luck, it’s also her ability. I’m giving her two thousand taels. If she can’t even earn five thousand taels, she’d better stay obediently by my side. Also, aren’t I very bad? If I let her go like this, wouldn’t I become a good person? That won’t do.” Qiu Sanniang just enjoyed tormenting people a bit. She didn’t mind what others thought, nor did she mind what Mo Zi thought. She believed that gentleness was the weakness most easily devoured by this world, and she must overcome this weakness.
Mo Zi would ultimately leave. She appreciated this girl, but she didn’t expect that after she left, they would still have the same deep connection as now. Xiao Yi, Bai He, and Lu Ju would all eventually have their own families. In the end, she would be like her mother—walking away all alone.
Without deep connections, there would be no attachments, and without attachments, no regrets.
If kindness wouldn’t bring good rewards, then why should she wrong herself? Just think what she wanted and do what she wanted.
After Mo Zi finished talking with Bai He, Bai He sighed and lamented there. She hadn’t mentioned the contract matter, only saying that Madam was having her move out of Mozhi Residence the next day, and asking Bai He and Lu Ju to help move things.
She naturally pressed her handprint. Though in front of Qiu Sanniang she appeared conflicted, actually things progressed more smoothly than she had imagined. First, she hadn’t expected it to be so quick; second, she hadn’t expected to be given full responsibility for Hongyu Cove. She had thought someone would be sent to monitor her, but the contract didn’t mention this at all. Without putting it in black and white, there was room to maneuver.
Had this Qiu Sanniang encountered some good fortune? Mo Zi thought it strange.
How so?
The contract clearly stated that if the shipyard’s profits exceeded five thousand taels, the surplus would go to her—Mo Zi.
This greatly exceeded Mo Zi’s expectations, and she had forgotten to bargain with Qiu Sanniang. Thinking it over again and again, for someone who had always been stingy and petty to actually list such a generous term was very abnormal behavior. But she ultimately couldn’t read minds. Like Xiao Yi, she believed that Qiu Sanniang at least kept her word, or perhaps it was an erroneous decision made from not understanding the shipping business. In any case, this contract was her final contest with Qiu Sanniang. Being in charge—she could take it or leave it. As for silver—if she could earn private savings that would be good, but if it all went into Qiu Sanniang’s purse that was also fine. What she wanted was merely the opportunity to go out; an opportunity for a woman to live peacefully and comfortably.
What had originally been a ten-year death contract had, in just over half a year, already become loose and vulnerable. One year—saying it was long, it was actually very short.
The next day, Mo Zi moved to the small house behind the bamboo grove.
Because the house was usually uninhabited and used specifically for storing miscellaneous items, it took considerable effort to clean. However, the furniture was all ready-made, and counting, there were actually four rooms. The bamboo grove itself was a natural barrier, making Mo Zi’s new residence a small independent courtyard. One room served as a bedroom, one as a workroom, and the other two continued storing miscellaneous items.
Bai He was very enthusiastic, asking whether she needed to set up a small kitchen.
Mo Zi, though she loved eating, had cooking abilities at the level of a military cafeteria mess hall. She wasn’t picky about food, but having eaten food made by Bai He, unless absolutely desperate with no other options, she definitely didn’t want to eat her own cooking. Using the excuse that having separate meals would cause dissatisfaction among others in the mansion, and since the bamboo grove was right outside Mozhi Residence’s main gate, she didn’t mind going over at mealtimes to eat. Only then did Bai He abandon the idea.
Lu Ju also said that anyway she wouldn’t be there long before moving back, so there was no need to go to such trouble.
Mo Zi could only smile. She thought to herself that this stay, barring accidents, would probably last a full year.
Having lived there for several days, she discovered the benefits were truly many. The tranquility went without saying—apart from bird calls, she could hardly hear human voices. Only once did several young ladies from the Xiao family come, surrounded by a crowd of maids, their laughter like bells carrying into the bamboo grove. Moreover, there was hardly any work to do. Qiu Sanniang said she was assigned here to look after the bamboo grove, but bamboo was such a domineering plant—once rooted, not a blade of grass could grow around it. Where was there any need for her care? Each stalk stood lush and verdant, lacking no nutrition, dripping green in the sunlight, plumper than she was. Every morning after getting up, she would carry a hoe and water bucket and wander around the several rows of bamboo in front of Mozhi Residence, and that counted as completing her task. The rest of the day’s time was her own—reading books, carving wood, and even taking afternoon naps. At mealtimes, she would go eat, and didn’t even need to wash dishes.
This kind of life was fine for a day or two, but by the third and fourth days it started getting boring. By the fifth day, when she woke from her afternoon nap it was already dusk, and she stared blankly at the swaying bamboo leaves filling her view. No wonder southern people couldn’t match northerners in fierceness—Nande was even more corrupt from top to bottom. Amidst the elegant music of southern silk and bamboo, fighting spirit would truly be worn away completely. How could there be any thought left for serving the country and the people?
On the sixth day, at dawn, Xiao Yi came to the front of the house and saw Mo Zi comparing a saw against a bamboo stalk.
“What are you sawing bamboo for?” She thought Mo Zi only enjoyed playing with wooden blocks.
“Making a ladder.” Mo Zi turned her head and smiled at Xiao Yi. “If you hadn’t come, I was going to climb the wall myself.” This wasn’t a joke. Now every inch of time was worth an inch of gold—she only had one year to earn money, and five days had already been wasted.
“You’d need to make a very tall ladder for that.” Xiao Yi looked at the top of the wall, then at the bamboo.
Mo Zi waved her index finger. “Can’t make an ordinary ladder—too easy for people to discover. I need to make a folding, sliding kind of ladder.” As for the specifics, she’d need practical experimentation to verify the theory. Hopefully she wouldn’t need too many trials and end up cutting the bamboo grove bald.
Xiao Yi shrugged her shoulders—that was her expression of disinterest. She spread out her palm, revealing two banknotes. “From Miss. She also said the shipyard can’t be built in just a few days, so you might as well stay at Wangqiu Tower for convenience going in and out. Just come back every three or four days to show your face to others.”
“If others ask about me, what will you say?” Though sending her to this bamboo grove was to make it convenient for her to go out, if she truly didn’t appear for several days, the maids in Mozhi Residence would definitely find it strange.
“Miss originally sent you here as punishment. You eating three meals a day going back every time seems too light a punishment. Today she’ll announce that you’ll be doing hard labor and reflecting on your faults in the bamboo grove, and from now on I’ll bring you all three meals.” Xiao Yi relayed Qiu Sanniang’s words.
Qiu Sanniang had really thought this through carefully.
Mo Zi was even more thorough in her consideration. “Xiao Yi, if there’s nothing urgent at the start, I’ll still come and go daily. In case some suspicious-minded maid gets curious and comes to look, that wouldn’t be good. Once everyone gets used to me only showing my face once every few days, then I’ll stay outside.”
“Suit yourself.” Xiao Yi gestured with her mouth toward the high wall. “Miss wants you to go see how things are with Cen Er. Do you want me to send you over today, or wait until the ladder is finished?”
Mo Zi grinned. “It’s rare to see you humorous. Of course I’ll rely on you to send me over the wall. As for this ladder—it’ll take quite some work.”
Mo Zi went back to the house to put away her tools, then took the backpack with her disguise outfit and stood with Xiao Yi beneath the wall. Looking up, she thought that this wall-scaling and roof-walking—each time she did it would be one less time remaining.
Xiao Yi took hold of Mo Zi’s arm, said “hold tight,” gathered her energy, and rushed upward.
Mo Zi heard the sound of wind once more.
This wall-crossing action, Xiao Yi had done countless times, and Mo Zi as a passenger had also been carried along countless times. Although Xiao Yi occasionally varied her technique, constantly innovating, the landing was always very stable and secure. However, that Olympic gymnastics champion-level perfect dismount did not happen today.
When Mo Zi suddenly felt the body about to land lose its support, the only thought that emerged was that nothing was absolute—even if the same action had been done hundreds or thousands of times, the probability of causing a major accident was extremely small, but it was definitely not completely impossible.
Gravitational acceleration sent her head downward. A soldier’s instinct—Mo Zi forced her upper body backward, pulling up her head. Her hands struck first, she rolled forward on the spot, bent her waist, tucked her head, and stabilized on one knee. After this excellent recovery, she turned back to settle accounts with the fumbling Xiao Yi, only to discover that behind her, aside from grass and wall, there was no one at all.
Huh? What was going on?
“This young lady, why perform such a grand salute?”
It turned out a man’s voice could also have the wonderful quality of jade beads falling on a plate.