Although she went to bed late last night, Qi Yue still woke up on time in the morning. When she was having breakfast and saw the stewardesses coming in, Qi Yue was somewhat surprised.

“Oh my, why are there more people today?” she said quietly to A’Ru while wiping her mouth and laughing.

Through the soft silk curtains, she could see that there were many more women standing in the room than in previous days. They weren’t gathered together whispering and laughing quietly before Qi Yue came out as they had in the past, but were respectfully standing with hands lowered, waiting.

Que Zhi walked in from outside, and the stewardesses all smiled and greeted her. This was treatment Que Zhi had never received before. Before entering Qi Yue’s courtyard, these stewardesses wouldn’t even look at her properly. After entering Qi Yue’s courtyard, they only finally deigned to give her a proper look, and that was all.

Today they actually took the initiative to smile and greet her, which immediately made Que Zhi beam with joy. She instinctively wanted to bow and say a few pleasing words following their lead, but suddenly remembered her current status and thought of those past scenes…

You finally have your day too!

Que Zhi raised her head a bit higher, imitating the manner of these stewardesses from the past, gave an indifferent “mm,” and leisurely lifted the curtain to enter Qi Yue’s room without saying another word, leaving the stewardesses behind her pursing their lips in annoyance.

Seeing Que Zhi like this, A’Ru shook her head while Qi Yue laughed.

“Young Mistress, Young Mistress, your going out yesterday was so wonderful!” Que Zhi immediately dropped her pretentious aloofness upon entering, taking three steps in two as she rushed over cheerfully, lowering her voice excitedly. “It was too good!”

“How was it good? Didn’t you say it scared you all to death?” Qi Yue laughed.

“At first it did scare us to death, but who knew you actually went out with the Prince…” Que Zhi’s eyes were smiling so much they almost disappeared, shaking her head while glancing at the outer room. “Now let’s see how they can keep saying the Prince doesn’t favor you, Young Mistress…”

This wasn’t really their false talk either – this Prince really did seem to not favor her much…

Qi Yue smiled without speaking. However, it seemed this Prince was quite useful. Just by entering the door together with him, her status had immediately risen another big step. What if she and he lived together?

What was she thinking! Qi Yue quickly shook her head, dismissing this disgusting thought.

“I’m going out again today,” Qi Yue stood up and said to Que Zhi. “There are some things later that you’ll handle for me.”

“Go ahead, go ahead! Young Mistress, you and the Prince have a good time. This servant will definitely handle the household matters properly…” Que Zhi said with a smile.

Qi Yue smiled and patted her shoulder with her fan.

“How strange,” she said, looking at Que Zhi with raised eyebrows.

“What’s wrong with this servant?” Que Zhi felt somewhat uneasy under her gaze and asked anxiously. Although she had some selfish thoughts, she had really been working wholeheartedly these days.

“A smart, beautiful, and capable girl like you – how come no one wanted to use you before, leaving you for me to benefit from?” Qi Yue laughed.

No master had ever spoken to a servant like this before. If it were another girl, like Lan’er or the other second-class maids, hearing such words they would either be stunned not knowing how to respond, or think Qi Yue was speaking sarcastically. But Que Zhi immediately beamed with smiles.

“That’s because they were blind,” she said with a toss of her head, making her jade water-drop earrings trace beautiful arcs.

A’Ru was stunned, then turned away, really not wanting to say another word.

Qi Yue laughed heartily.

“Right, exactly,” she laughed. “They were blind.”

The laughter here naturally reached the ears of the stewardesses outside, making their expressions even more colorful. Only Nanny Su remained as calm as always.

A’Ru and Que Zhi lifted the curtain, and Qi Yue walked out with a smile.

The stewardesses all smiled and greeted her.

“Young Mistress looks so well today,” one woman even personally stepped forward to support Qi Yue, saying flatteringly.

Qi Yue recognized this woman, surnamed Tang, ranked fourth in her husband’s family, called Sister Tangsi. She managed the flowers, plants, and trees in the inner courtyard, belonging to the property and gardening supervisor at the very end of the logistics department.

“Then I must thank Sister Tangsi,” Qi Yue smiled, placing her hand on the woman’s. “The flowers and plants in the courtyard have been even better these past few days, and the flowers the little girls bring daily are all very good. Opening my eyes first thing in the morning to see freshly bloomed tender flowers naturally puts me in a very good mood.”

“Oh my lady…” Miss Tangsi felt itchy all over from these words, not knowing how to smile, just repeatedly saying this was what this old servant should do.

“Should do is should do, but there’s doing well and doing poorly even for things that should be done,” Qi Yue sat down while holding her hand.

Que Zhi personally served tea and then stood beside Qi Yue.

A’Ru, who had been about to come over, stopped when she saw this.

Hearing her words, all the stewardesses present looked up at her in surprise.

“Young Mistress, what I need to do today is also simple. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, for good luck, this month’s wages will be distributed early, so I plan to distribute wages today…” Nanny Su seemed not to have heard Qi Yue’s words and began her daily routine reporting with a smile.

“Young Mistress, our storeroom needs to dispose of some damaged tables and chairs and get out the tables and chairs to be used for the Mid-Autumn Festival…”

“Young Mistress, the three sacrificial animals and some fresh fruits we procured for the kitchen all arrived today…”

Once Nanny Su started speaking, the other stewardesses also began talking.

Qi Yue didn’t speak further, drinking tea while listening to them finish. Only after the last stewardess closed her mouth did she slowly put down her teacup.

“The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon,” she smiled. “How fast.”

Half the women in the room smiled and agreed “yes, yes,” while the other half stood like wooden posts. But this was much better than yesterday’s cold reception.

“The wages, let’s wait a bit,” Qi Yue looked at Nanny Su with a smile.

Nanny Su was stunned.

“Young Mistress, this is… established practice. If we wait, I’m afraid everyone will feel… especially with the festival coming up…”

“It’s fine, tomorrow at the latest,” Qi Yue smiled.

Nanny Su’s expression wasn’t good.

“Whatever Young Mistress says goes,” she said, then said no more.

The atmosphere became somewhat cold, and the stewardesses couldn’t help but lower their heads and exchange glances.

“I have to go out with the Prince again today,” Qi Yue stood up. “I’ve heard quite a bit about what you all need to do daily these past days. Today, Que Zhi, you’ll go look on my behalf to see how well they’re doing. For those doing well… like Sister Tangsi here…”

She smiled at Miss Tangsi as she spoke, and Miss Tangsi hurriedly bowed with a smile.

“Wages will be distributed as usual, plus an extra bonus,” Qi Yue said. “As for those doing poorly…”

She paused here, looking at everyone with a half-smile.

“Then I’m sorry, but we must have clear rewards and punishments, right?” she said.

This was too heavy a responsibility. Que Zhi hadn’t expected to be doing this and hesitated.

Before she could speak, a stewardess spoke up.

“This has never been done before…” the woman smiled. “We don’t know how to judge doing well or poorly… We’re all slow-witted…”

“Haven’t we?” Qi Yue smiled and beckoned to a little girl standing in the corner. “Xiao Die.”

Only then did everyone notice there was a little girl standing there holding a brush and a notebook.

“Young Mistress,” she came over and curtsied.

“She’s been recording what you say you need to do daily and how well you do it. Que Zhi, you take this and go look. This is all what the ladies said themselves, so no one can say you don’t understand and are judging blindly,” Qi Yue smiled.

What? The stewardesses’ faces showed great alarm as they all looked at the little girl.

She had actually recorded what they said! No wonder every time they reported, the Young Mistress looked absent-minded. They thought she was just going through the motions and didn’t take it to heart, but it turns out she hadn’t forgotten – she had it all written down on paper.

What was this? The things they said – they themselves didn’t even remember what they’d said. Those things were just said casually to get by…

Everyone looked somewhat panicked and couldn’t help but look at Nanny Su. After her initial shock, Nanny Su had already regained her composure.

“This makes it easy then. I don’t understand this either and was afraid I wouldn’t do well. Since we have this, that’s good. I’ll just look according to what the ladies said,” Que Zhi immediately breathed a sigh of relief and happily took the notebook from the little girl’s hands. Though the writing was crooked, it was indeed writing. “Oh my, you can actually write! I really didn’t expect it.”

After looking for a while, she recognized that this girl was one she had chosen herself – a house-born servant whose father had originally been an accountant but had long since been relieved of his duties due to illness. Her mother had also died early. This girl was also weak and sickly, and father and daughter just hung around the residence in name only, barely scraping by. That day when choosing little girls, she naturally wasn’t selected smoothly either. The ones pushed forward were all stupid or clumsy. Anyway, the Young Mistress had said she just needed someone with hands and feet who could run errands and speak, so she casually picked this little girl. She hadn’t expected her to be so useful.

Que Zhi immediately felt honored.

“You come with me today and read these to me,” she said immediately.

The little girl didn’t answer directly but glanced at Qi Yue.

Qi Yue smiled and nodded, looking amazed. Children in ancient times really matured early. Such a small girl – look at her awareness, actually knowing to wait for the direct supervisor’s permission before acting.

“Being literate is good. Que Zhi, when you’re free, you should learn from Xiao Die too,” she smiled.

This was permission.

“This servant isn’t that clever – I’m a blockhead and can’t learn…” Que Zhi smiled.

“This servant doesn’t dare. If there’s anything, please just give orders, Sister,” Xiao Die finally said.

Hearing this, the stewardesses knew the matter was irreversible. They had seen all kinds of situations, and after the initial panic, they calmed down, though their faces no longer hid their displeasure.

Fine, actually trying to catch their mistakes – not weighing how much they themselves were worth. Let’s try it then, and let you know what it means to kick an iron plate.

After Qi Yue finished saying this, she didn’t wait for the stewardesses to speak or look at their expressions.

“Disperse then,” she said, getting up and heading outside first. “I should go too.”

Nanny Su and the others stopped and bowed their heads in salute, following her out only after she had gone first.

A’Ru had already packed everything and was waiting under the eaves. Seeing her come out, she followed. Just as they reached the courtyard, two girls walked in.

These two girls looked very unfamiliar to Qi Yue and A’Ru, but the stewardesses’ expressions froze, especially Nanny Su’s.

“Young Mistress, the Prince sent us to ask if you’re ready to go?” one of the girls wearing a jacket and skirt curtsied and said.

As she said this, she couldn’t hide her surprise on her face, as if she couldn’t believe she was delivering this message.

Qi Yue pursed her lips in a smile and suddenly turned around, looking at the stewardesses.

The stewardesses were surprised that girls from the Prince’s courtyard had come over, and seeing Qi Yue’s smile, they couldn’t help but shiver in broad daylight.

“By the way, Nanny Su, the wages can wait until tomorrow, but there’s one thing that must be done today,” she smiled while calling out to Xiao Die.

Xiao Die stepped forward.

“The list of people who never come to report that I had you compile – have you finished it?” Qi Yue asked.

Xiao Die nodded, flipped a few pages in the notebook in her hands, and held it out.

“Give it to Nanny Su,” Qi Yue said without taking it.

Nanny Su watched Xiao Die walking over with an ominous feeling in her heart.

“These people are ones who haven’t come even once since I said everyone should come report daily, or who have only come two or three times. I think not coming to report naturally means having nothing to report…” Qi Yue smiled.

“That’s not true. Some couldn’t get away because they were busy…” Nanny Su couldn’t help but interrupt, already guessing what Qi Yue was going to do.

Qi Yue stopped talking and just looked at her. The smile that usually appeared on her face slowly disappeared.

Under her gaze, Nanny Su’s voice grew smaller and she slowly lowered her head.

“Busy?” Qi Yue finally spoke, laughing coldly. “Are others all idle then? The same stewardesses – others can complete their work and come to meetings, but only these few are so busy they can’t spare half a day? Busy? Or do they simply can’t handle this work? Others can do it, but they can’t? If that’s the case, then let’s have others do it!”

Seeing Qi Yue show a cold face for the first time in so many days, all the stewardesses’ hearts skipped a beat. So this was what she was waiting for – waiting to make an example by killing the chicken to warn the monkeys.

But would these chickens obediently stick out their necks to be killed?

Everyone kept their heads down with changing expressions, but no one spoke up.

“What? Nanny Su, still don’t understand what I’m saying?” Qi Yue asked.

“Young Mistress, these stewardesses are all veteran employees of many years. Isn’t this too hasty…” Nanny Su hesitated and said with a smile.

Qi Yue, who had been about to turn around, stopped again.

“Too hasty?” she looked at Nanny Su. “Fine, let’s take our time talking today.”

Then she looked at the two girls from the Prince’s courtyard who had long been stunned.

“You two tell the Prince that I have household matters to handle today and can’t get away, so I won’t be going,” she said.

At these words, everyone in the courtyard changed color.

“Young Mistress?” the girl was even more speechless.

This was a threat?

Nanny Su and the other stewardesses all looked at Qi Yue in shock. She actually… dared?

When the Prince invites you, that’s giving you face, and you actually…

“Go on,” Qi Yue said, not looking at anyone’s expressions, turning to walk back into the house.

The two girls looked at each other, and seeing that Qi Yue really didn’t seem to be joking, had to grit their teeth and turn to leave.

“Young Mistress, this cannot be delayed,” Nanny Su finally spoke up, hurriedly calling back the two girls.