Song Yan was startled by the rebuke, instinctively pulling Song Chuyi to retreat—he knew his sister was very close to the four senior maids around her. He had never seen her speak so sharply and sternly to them, and couldn’t help feeling a bit afraid.

Hong Yu’s sharp eyes caught sight of him. She cried out in a hoarse voice: “Miss! I’ve served you all these years, never knowing you were this kind of person! As the saying goes, punishment doesn’t extend to children. Li Shi has already been killed by you, and Eighth Miss is several months younger than Fourth Young Master. Why can’t you just spare her? Consider it… consider it accumulating virtue for Fourth Young Master, otherwise he’ll have…”

Lüyi, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, stood frozen in place with her mouth agape. She couldn’t believe this was Hong Yu, whom she had grown up with—back then they had sworn an oath that they would be loyal to their young miss for life, would never do anything to betray her. But now, Hong Yu was willing to curse Song Yan for Song Chuning’s sake.

Song Chuyi’s grip on Song Yan’s hand tightened. She couldn’t bear to hear such words—in her previous life, when her child died, Song Chuning had stood before her just as unconcerned, saying it was her retribution, that it was because she had always been tyrannical and domineering, not accumulating virtue. The face of her son from the previous life overlapped with Song Yan in this life, nearly making Song Chuyi grind her teeth to pieces.

“Hong Yu, have I not treated you well enough?” She abandoned her original plan, standing steadily before Hong Yu with Song Yan, looking directly at her: “Or is there somewhere I’ve wronged you?”

Nanny Xu sneered with a dark expression: “You’ve probably lived better than daughters of modest families, with eight sets of clothes for all four seasons, and rewards flowing like water. How have you been wronged? Such a treacherous servant—even in our family that treats servants generously, there’s no reason to tolerate this. Miss, you’re just too good-natured, which is why you let her act so recklessly!”

Qing Tao beside her kept nodding. These past few days, Hong Yu had truly caused endless trouble. Harming people without compensation, and now even cursing Song Yan. If this were the old Li family, not having all her teeth knocked out by Old Madam Li would be strange indeed.

Meeting Song Chuyi’s frank and open gaze, Hong Yu involuntarily turned her head away. After a long silence, she shook her head with some difficulty: “No… but Sixth Miss, the way you treat her…”

“Treat whom?” Song Chuyi laughed coldly: “Song Chuning? Do you know what kind of person she is? Do you know that Cui Qiao coming to deliver clothes to Nanny Yu that time—it was she who instigated the whole clothes delivery affair? Lü Shan, who’s still detained in the estate, also says it was she who had Nanny Yu set the fire. For such a person who nearly killed me and Fourth Young Master, you betrayed the relationship we’ve built over many years!”

Hong Yu was left dizzy and disoriented by these words, unable to react for a moment.

“The first time you had Nanny Yu try to kill me by collision, I didn’t blame you, didn’t even say a harsh word to you.” Song Chuyi took another step forward, staring at Hong Yu without yielding an inch: “The second time when you went to Song Chuning’s place and came back to plead for her, I also, considering our past relationship, only wanted to send you to the estate to stay with Nanny Xu. Even just now, when you’ve already caused me to let the tiger return to the mountain with endless future troubles, I only planned to send you back to the Cui family. Where exactly have I wronged you? Why would you feel so aggrieved that you went to Song Chuning?”

Her words made Hong Yu continuously retreat. For a moment, she felt her heart in complete chaos and couldn’t utter a single word, her lips trembling as she stammered: “I… I…”

“What you just said has completely severed the relationship between master and servant. In the past, I was too indulgent with you.” Song Chuyi turned her face away, unwilling to look at her again, and instructed Nanny Xu: “Nanny, I’ll trouble you. Please explain the full circumstances clearly to my aunt.”

Nanny Xu had been eager for this order. She immediately called several rough-working women to restrain Hong Yu’s arms and escort her out, while solemnly promising Song Chuyi.

Madam Cui couldn’t tolerate even a grain of sand in her eye. There would be plenty of suffering awaiting Hong Yu, this treacherous servant.

The side hall suddenly fell silent. Ziyun, Qing Tao, and Lüyi were quieter than the next, standing with lowered heads to the side, not daring to make a sound. The seven junior maids under their supervision dared not even breathe heavily.

“I didn’t notice before, but it seems I’m still quite poor at managing subordinates.” Song Chuyi smiled bitterly and glanced at the three senior maids: “I clearly knew that Lüyi and Hong Yu were too close, yet because I trusted them too much, I had no guard at all. If not for Lüyi being too close and unguarded with her, and if Ziyun and Qing Tao had been closer to her and able to detect her unusual movements in time, this incident wouldn’t have happened…”

Lüyi, full of shame, wiped the tears from her face and finally knelt on the ground sobbing: “Miss, it’s my fault… I was usually closest to Hong Yu, yet I didn’t even notice where she had gone. I also protected her too much—sometimes when Qing Tao and Ziyun criticized her, I would cover for her… It’s my fault…”

Ziyun and Qing Tao exchanged glances and also knelt on the ground: “We’re also at fault… If we hadn’t been afraid of offending Lüyi and Hong Yu, we wouldn’t have been so out of communication with each other, so clearly divided…”

“It’s also the result of my continuous indulgence.” Song Chuyi fully understood the importance of reorganizing the people under her command that Song Chengru had spoken of, carefully reviewing her own mistakes: “You all saw just now the reason why Hong Yu is being punished this time… I’ll also tell you honestly, my aunt won’t let her off.”

Everyone nodded heavily.

“From now on, let’s establish some rules. Qing Tao and Lüyi, you two will share a room from now on.” Song Chuyi thought for a moment and sighed: “I won’t say anything superfluous. You’re both clever—think about what you should do. As for Ziyun…” Song Chuyi paused before continuing: “If I’m not mistaken, my aunt will soon send another maid over. When that time comes, you’ll room with her. From now on, the four of you will separately manage my jewelry and hairpins, clothing, finances, and needlework along with the junior maids. The specifics will be assigned after Nanny Xu returns.”

All three respectfully agreed.

Song Chuyi looked at the junior maids kneeling behind them and pointed out two: “Qing Yu and Qing Feng, you two have followed your sister Qing Tao for quite some time now. From now on, you’ll go serve Fourth Young Master.”

Qing Feng and Qing Yu had both grown up under her watch. They were fairly upright people without improper thoughts. Most importantly, one of their fathers tended the flowers and plants in this side hall, while the other managed the study’s cleaning, and their contracts of servitude were already in her hands.

Qing Yu and Qing Feng were both stunned, then hastily kowtowed in agreement—they all knew Song Chuyi treated Song Yan well. Moreover, Song Chuyi’s quarters already had Ziyun and the others who were more senior and had connections. They simply couldn’t get a foothold. Even waiting for Ziyun and the others to be released from service, they’d probably have to wait at least seven or eight more years. But going to Song Yan’s quarters meant becoming senior maids immediately.