The Cui household—for Hong Yu, this term was somewhat distant. Her parents had originally been part of Cui Shi’s dowry given by the Cui family. Later, they were assigned to work at Cui Shi’s dowry estates and shops. Still later, they were implicated by Cui Shi’s death and, along with the few remaining members of other households, followed the Cui family back to Jinzhong.

But she, because she had been born at an auspicious time and caught Cui Shi’s favor, was designated to serve Song Chuyi, and thus had grown smoothly and steadily to her current age of twelve.

Toward the Cui household, she originally had no deep feelings. Only now, when Song Chuyi brought it up, did she suddenly realize that she was not actually a person of the Earl Manor—the indenture contracts of her entire family were all in the Cui household’s hands.

She had seen the scene of Madam Cui embracing Song Chuyi and crying in Tongzhou. Her heart felt heavy and sour, and immediately that sourness fermented into resentment. She raised her head defiantly to look at Song Chuyi, clenching her teeth and stubbornly refusing to soften.

In her view, she was merely trying to do a good deed, to accumulate virtue and do good on Song Chuyi’s behalf—Song Chuning was truly too young, only just over six years old. How much threat could such a small child pose? Yet Song Chuyi guarded against her as if guarding against a thief, and made things difficult for her at every turn. But even for such a minor matter that caused no one any trouble, Song Chuyi actually wanted to send her back to the Cui household to be dealt with by Madam Cui. Her heart filled with both disappointment and anger, and for the first time, she felt she had followed the wrong person.

After a long silence, seeing that Song Chuyi had no further reaction after saying that, she stubbornly kowtowed twice to the ground with loud thumps and laughed with no small amount of mockery: “Since Miss has spoken, this servant dare not disobey. I’ll go pack my things now.”

She walked step by step, quickly and urgently, and in an instant disappeared from the room.

Song Chuyi found Hong Yu’s behavior both laughable and felt a lingering fear about Song Chuning’s scheming mind. She turned around and instructed Ziyun: “Later, have Qing Tao and Luyi watch her and don’t let her go out again. Then send someone to the County Princess’s manor with a card—let’s send her over in the next day or two.”

Seeing Ziyun acknowledge with agreement, she thought for a moment and added: “Didn’t you say earlier that you’d found out Su Zhi and Su Wen are currently imprisoned in the stables at the back, guarded by several old women? Go bring them to see me now. And that Cui Qiao you mentioned before—since she’s willing to talk, bring her along as well.”

Su Zhi and Su Wen were Li Shi’s head maids and surely knew quite a bit, perhaps even more than Cui Qiao from Song Chuning’s side. Since Song Chuning had started with her people, she naturally couldn’t sit idle and pretend not to know—she had to give her a return gift.

Seeing her grave expression, Ziyun dared not delay for even a moment. After giving Qing Tao, who had just arrived, a few instructions, she hurried out the door.

Half an hour later, when she led Su Zhi and Su Wen in, Song Chuyi almost didn’t recognize these two gaunt girls with their listless expressions and bodies covered in scars as the first-rank head maids who had once wielded great influence at Li Shi’s side.

But Su Zhi and Su Wen recognized her at once. Without a moment’s hesitation, they fell to their knees before her with a thud, crying with tears and snot streaming down their faces, begging her to save them.

Now that Li Shi was dead and Nanny Yu had followed her in death, these close attendants who had originally served Li Shi naturally hadn’t fared well either. The first few maids had long since been sold off. They were beaten and cursed every day by old women they had once looked down upon, and had long been on the verge of collapse. Now, seeing Song Chuyi, they looked upon her as if she were their savior.

Seeing them kneel, the trembling Cui Qiao beside them also went weak in the knees without a word and knelt on the ground, her face white, not daring to utter a sound.

Song Chuyi knew that Su Zhi and Su Wen must have suffered enough hardship. After a brief consideration, she first threw out a statement that left them dizzy and disoriented: “Sisters, please don’t bow. I know you two sisters are different from Nanny Yu… When I go to Ningde Court, I’ll certainly speak a few words on your behalf before Grandmother, so you won’t end up in the same place as those previous sisters.”

The first part of her statement filled their hearts with joy and excitement, almost deliriously happy, but the latter part made cold sweat pour down—this was telling them the fate of that previous batch of head maids.

Having thrown out the bait and ensured they understood the threat, Song Chuyi smiled slightly, then suddenly turned the conversation to Song Chuning: “You two sisters served your mistress for many years—you must know quite a bit about Eighth Miss?”

Seeing Su Zhi and Su Wen both looking completely bewildered, Song Chuyi wasn’t anxious and continued the topic with indirect suggestions: “I won’t hide it from you two sisters—this eighth sister of mine is truly somewhat more than I can handle… You probably don’t know, but in just a few short days, she actually had the ability to recruit Hong Yu from my side to serve her. Now Hong Yu’s eyes and heart no longer have room for me as her mistress—her heart is completely filled with your Eighth Miss. I just want to ask, has Eighth Sister always been this clever and kind?”

If they still didn’t quite understand her earlier words, by the time Song Chuyi mentioned that Hong Yu had already been recruited by Song Chuning to serve her obediently, how could they not understand the purpose of Song Chuyi summoning them?

After Li Shi’s death, they had suffered endless hardships, falling from their position as vice-young mistresses superior to others to being worse than the rough servant women who swept the streets. Recently they had been thrown into an abandoned stable. During this long period, never mind seeing Eighth Miss—they hadn’t even seen a dog from Eighth Miss’s side. Now that their future was at stake, how could they not know what to do? They exchanged glances and began kowtowing in competition with each other.

Because they wanted to curry favor with Song Chuyi and have her speak well of them before Old Madam Song, the two of them feared they weren’t saying enough or going into enough detail. Everything Song Chuning had done that they knew about, they poured out completely like beans from a bamboo tube.

But the more Song Chuyi listened, the heavier her heart became.

When she heard that the hired assassin incident in Tongzhou had actually been orchestrated entirely by Song Chuning, who had even personally urged Li Shi to go to the Li Manor, she couldn’t help but feel a tremendous shock—at that time, the Tongzhou incident shouldn’t have been widely known yet. Even if anyone knew, it would only have been a select few like Old Madam and the others. How could Song Chuning have known?! Even if she knew, for a six-year-old girl, even if she were truly exceptionally gifted, she shouldn’t have thought of something like hiring an assassin to commit murder.

Could it be that Song Chuning truly was, as she had suspected, also someone who had lived a second life? That’s why she knew that Tartar invaders had entered Tongzhou, and that’s why she had taken advantage of the situation to give Li Shi the idea of muddying the waters and hiring an assassin?