What did these words mean? Someone like Nanny Su naturally understood perfectly.

“Slap your faces,” she said, the smile instantly vanishing from her face as she raised her thin eyebrows.

Those several women immediately knelt down. Whether they had spoken earlier or were just watching the excitement, all began slapping their own faces. The crackling sounds rang out chaotically yet crisply.

“Nanny Su, this isn’t good. Originally it was my fault. As the saying goes, ‘Don’t blame those who don’t know.’ Punishing them like this makes me seem petty,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

“Stop it then,” Nanny Su said again, her expression apologetic. “Not recognizing the Young Madam shows my old eyes are dim and I’m useless. You few, leave this place today. In the future, you’re not permitted to take even half a step into the inner courtyard.”

This was worse than face-slapping. The several women immediately cried and begged, kowtowing. Being expelled from the inner courtyard meant cutting off their entire family’s livelihood.

“Nanny Su is being too serious,” Qi Yue said with a smile. “Please don’t do this. They all have families and businesses, old and young to care for. Even tigers nap sometimes, and people inevitably make mistakes. I’ve already hit and scolded them. Nanny Su, for my sake, please spare them.”

“The Young Madam is truly magnanimous,” Nanny Su said with a sigh, while glaring at those women again. “Hurry and thank the Young Madam, you blind things.”

The women kowtowed to thank Qi Yue while kneeling.

“Then I’ll take my leave first. Nanny Su, please hurry about your business,” Qi Yue said, helping them up and smiling at Nanny Su.

Nanny Su immediately followed closely to see her off. Only after Qi Yue told her to stop did she straighten her body as Qi Yue walked away with her maid A’Hao, fanning herself and smiling radiantly. The smile completely disappeared from her face.

“Get up,” she said, looking at the women still kneeling there.

The women hurried to stand. One of them, looking aggrieved, was about to complain.

“Enough, I’m not deaf yet. I heard everything,” Nanny Su glanced at her and said calmly. “If you don’t have the courage, don’t speak such arrogant words…”

The women kept their heads down listening to her speak, none daring to open their mouths.

“Go on,” Nanny Su said no more, waving her hand with some impatience.

The women didn’t dare say another word and hurriedly retreated.

“So Sister Zhou wasn’t seeing things,” Nanny Su said, looking up again toward the direction Qi Yue had gone. The master and servant pair could no longer be seen. She murmured, her gaze slightly focused, “Today she spoke more words than in the past five years combined, and spoke so well. It seems the Young Madam’s illness is getting better…”

She pondered for a moment, reaching up to smooth her hair at the temples.

“Go see if the Great Madam has finished eating. Is the Marquis still in the room or has he gone to the study?” Nanny Su said, turning her head.

The little maid behind her responded and left.

Qi Yue paid no attention to what Nanny Su was thinking. She was considering what had just happened while asking A’Hao about various rules, finding it quite interesting.

“…According to what you’re saying, in this mansion, I have the highest status except for the Great Madam?” she asked with a smile.

Although those women earlier couldn’t hide their contempt and disdain for her, they knelt when told to kneel and didn’t dare fight back when hit. They kowtowed and apologized properly. In their hearts they didn’t care and looked down on her, but their actions still followed the rules. This was quite contradictory. Could this be the habitual nature of ancient hierarchical status?

“Young Madam, do you even need to ask?” A’Hao looked at her and said, thinking the question was too foolish. “You are the Young Madam. The Prince will inherit the title, so you will naturally be the Marquis’s wife and the mistress of this Marquis Dingxi mansion.”

“What about the young ladies and young masters…” Qi Yue asked again.

“You are the eldest sister-in-law,” A’Hao couldn’t help but want to roll her eyes.

The eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Qi Yue nodded twice in understanding, fanning herself with her small fan while smiling.

“So in this inner courtyard, I’m the second-in-command?” she said to herself. “But second-in-command has always been an awkward position, not really a good post… Do I also need to ask this Nanny Su for a token when I go out?”

She asked, thinking of something else.

“Of course not,” A’Hao said, somewhat amused. “You just need to tell the Great Madam. How could a servant dare to control your comings and goings?”

“The Great Madam?” Qi Yue frowned and nodded without saying more.

Entering the courtyard, the two were still somewhat uneasy, worried about A’Ru.

“…A’Ru’s parents died two years ago. She only has a younger brother. Their family rented a house in the back alley outside the mansion. They said that although they couldn’t see Sister A’Ru often, being close to her made them feel better. When she was with the Old Madam, the Old Madam sympathized with her being sold since childhood. Her family wasn’t the type to sell their daughter and forget their flesh and blood, so she was allowed to visit them during holidays. But since we moved to Autumn Paulownia Courtyard, Sister A’Ru has rarely been able to go out. When her parents died, if she hadn’t finally pleaded before the Great Madam, she probably wouldn’t have seen them one last time…” A’Hao said, sitting on a small stool.

Qi Yue sighed and after thinking for a moment, stood up.

“Let’s go see her and see what we can help with,” she said.

A’Hao had been thinking about going anyway and was delighted to hear this.

“But I should go alone. Young Madam, your precious body…” she shook her head again.

Precious body? What’s precious about a beggar girl? Qi Yue couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re just children after all. What use would you be if something happened? Besides, I’m a doct… I’m your master, which means I’m your family head. If I don’t care, who will?” she said, having made up her mind. She turned to go into the room to get her medical kit, ready to leave immediately.

A’Hao had no choice but to lead the way.

“First we need to tell the Great Madam…” she reminded.

Not knowing what would happen when meeting this Marquis’s wife…

From the scattered information gathered these past days, it seemed “her” mother-in-law didn’t like her very much…

Qi Yue’s thoughts were complex and somewhat curious, but things turned out differently than she expected. She didn’t even enter her mother-in-law’s courtyard. Standing at the gate to greet her was Nanny Su, whom she had just seen.

“The Marquis is napping inside. Young Madam, why don’t you come back later? If you have something to say, just tell this old servant. Don’t tire yourself walking back and forth, Young Madam,” Nanny Su said with a smile.

Qi Yue couldn’t have asked for more and breathed a sigh of relief.

“A’Ru has been with me for several years now. I’m still worried about her. I’m going to check on her. It’s not far, just in our back alley. I’ll go and come right back,” she said with a smile.

“Oh my, what fortune has that girl A’Ru accumulated to deserve this? Young Madam, you’ll overwhelm her with kindness,” Nanny Su said hurriedly.

Qi Yue just smiled.

“Please tell the Great Madam for me,” she said, not continuing the conversation or saying another word.

Nanny Su was slightly stunned. She was the master, and she herself was a servant. She could properly tell the Great Madam about going out, but with her there was no need to say more—just one sentence to dismiss her…

“Should we have a few people from the gate follow you…” she said with a smile and nod, her feelings complex. Since the Old Marchioness had passed away, she had grown accustomed to serving only one master in this mansion, enjoying the flattery of maids and women, and the polite treatment from concubines, young masters, and young ladies. She had grown so accustomed to it that she forgot there was actually another woman in this mansion who could speak to her so unceremoniously…

Qi Yue, who had already turned around, didn’t look back and waved her small fan at her, indicating it wasn’t necessary.

Nanny Su watched her figure for a moment before turning to go inside.

Rongan Courtyard was quiet. Several little maids standing in the corridor were so sleepy their eyes were rolling, but they didn’t dare close them for even a moment.

Nanny Su lifted the curtain and went in herself.

There was no Marquis in the room, only Madam Xie kneeling before a small Buddha statue to one side, chanting. A senior maid beside her was burning incense.

Nanny Su stood waiting until Madam Xie put down her prayer beads, then immediately stepped forward to help her.

“Quite fast. Just a few days of scolding chickens and dogs, and now she’s started visiting neighbors,” Madam Xie said, sitting on the large kang bed to one side. She took the tea the maid offered, sipped it, and spoke calmly. “Let her go. Let her go wherever she wants. Let’s see what kind of spectacle she can create.”

Nanny Su acknowledged with a “yes.”

“The Marquis left the study. On the way he encountered Concubine Zhou’s little maid, and after saying something, he went to Concubine Zhou’s place,” she said.

Madam Xie gave a cold laugh.

“See? She’s starting to stir up trouble, isn’t she?” she said, putting down her teacup. “Doesn’t Concubine Zhu want to elevate that maid in her room? Go tell her to perform the coming-of-age ceremony for that maid.”

Nanny Su acknowledged with a “yes.”

Madam Xie leaned against the pillow and exhaled.

“One person isn’t enough. You need more people for the show to get going, to make it lively,” she said leisurely, closing her eyes.

Nanny Su and the maid helped her remove her shoes and served her as she lay down, then tiptoed out.

Meanwhile, Qi Yue and A’Hao, master and servant, didn’t return but went directly through two or three courtyards to the back gate, where three or four women sat chatting and laughing.

“Which courtyard are you from, girl? On whose orders are you going out? What for?” a woman asked lazily.

“Autumn Paulownia Courtyard,” A’Hao said, handing over Qi Yue’s token.

“This isn’t right. This isn’t a token from Nanny Su’s side…” The woman was illiterate and only recognized colors. “What color is this?”

A woman beside her leaned over.

“Purple… Oh my heavens…” she exclaimed, staring at A’Hao and Qi Yue, finally settling her gaze on Qi Yue.

The woman before them wore her hair in a high chignon, dressed in a goose-yellow floral gauze top and white long skirt, beautiful in appearance and graceful in bearing.

Qi Yue smiled at her slightly.

“Y… Y… Young Madam?” the woman asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

Qi Yue nodded with a smile.

“I need to go out. My maid A’Ru’s family isn’t doing well. Nanny Su’s side has already sent out the token earlier. I’m not at ease, and having nothing to do after eating, I thought I’d go check on them,” she said.

The four women in front of her were still in a daze.

“May I go?” A’Hao asked.

“Yes, yes, Young Madam, safe travels. Let me call a carriage for you…” The women snapped back to their senses, some opening the gate, some talking, all speaking at once.

“No need, it’s just in the back alley. Just a few steps away,” Qi Yue said with a smile, stepping through the gate.

Watching the master and servant leave, the women looked at each other for a moment.

“Heavens, the Young Madam actually went out…”

“She’s really come back to life…”

“Look at her complexion, even better than before…”

“Having drunk Meng Po’s soup and personally sent back by the Old Madam, she must be a ghost immortal, right?”

“Will the Young Madam take over managing the household for the Old Madam?”