Shopkeeper Wang was also an old fox. Even though he suspected Su Minguan was a competitor sent to scout, he showed no signs of it on the surface, being so solicitous that it was touching.

“Shopkeeper?” Lin Yuchan reminded, “Keeping me has benefits, right?”

Wang Quan didn’t know where she had solved her toilet problem. Irritated, he flipped open his account book to check the records, snorting coldly: “Fool! He finds you curious and is just playing around—you took it seriously? What do you know about doing business? If my Defeng Trading House kept a woman as a worker, the yin energy would be deadly, and all our fortune would leak away!”

Several clerks in the shop laughed, looking at Lin Yuchan with contempt, as if watching a shameless stray dog.

A broad-shouldered, thick-waisted clerk suddenly said: “Shopkeeper, naturally we can’t have women in business, but our shop could still keep someone to mend clothes. Look at this shirt of mine—several holes torn in it, no wife at home, and it costs money to get it mended outside…”

Another clerk also laughed: “Shopkeeper, we young men get tired standing in the shop all day and would like a woman to massage our legs and feet—girl, can you pound legs?”

Wang Quan made the decision: “Tell Old Second’s apprentice he doesn’t need to sweep anymore—that’s not man’s work, we’ve wronged him these past months. Girl, you’ll come sweep every day from now on. Be content with that!”

He looked down at Lin Yuchan, waiting for her thanks.

Lin Yuchan: “I…”

Looking at the expressions around her, she suppressed a bellyful of words and said sparingly: “Fine.”

The leverage she held—”the young master wants to redeem a courtesan, and the shopkeeper is going along with the fun”—had limited weight. Getting Shopkeeper Wang to say the word “stay” to her was already fortunate. If she angered this big capitalist, killing her would be effortless. Even if it got to the master, at most it would just be a scolding.

Being able to escape her drug-addicted father and avoid being sold to some mountain village, she was already grateful to heaven and earth. She’d do whatever they asked.

Wang Quan pondered for a moment. Finding himself with this hot potato, he seemed the only way to handle it temporarily. Hiring a cleaning girl in the tea house’s name neither counted as “women meddling in business and ruining feng shui,” nor would the Qi residence have any objections.

Then he thought that fifteen taels of silver for a cleaning girl was still a bit expensive. After finishing this business with Young Master Su, he’d find another buyer to get rid of her.

Seeing Lin Yuchan had already found a broom and started working, Wang Quan remembered something else and instructed: “By the way, this floor has lots of grease—it’s slippery to walk on. Figure out how to clean it properly. The counter was left by the previous owner—it hasn’t been moved in decades. Give it a good scrubbing. See the mold on the walls? And the shelves—we’ve had cockroaches these past days. Clean them out—your fingers are thin, stick them in the cracks and dig them out one by one!”

“This is too damn hard… I should go preach…”

After carrying boxes for most of the day, her shoulders were blistered, then bent over cleaning the shop until dark—she’d only wiped half the greasy floor. Lin Yuchan felt completely broken apart, practically crawling back to the dormitory.

In the cramped side room, she lay like a corpse on the communal bed, feeling like every bone was weighted down, unable to move an inch.

Bought servant girls were naturally worked to death. Luckily, her feet were big, or her legs would have broken today.

She’d chosen this path and had to walk it through tears.

Of course, preaching might not be much better either. Today, she’d heard people chatting about a newly converted Christian who went to the countryside to preach and was beaten to death with clubs. The killers were collectively protected by the local gentry and didn’t even get a beating.

She remembered a variety show from her past life that made wealthy people who believed “hard work can change fate” go incognito to experience poor people’s lives in slums. The ambitious tycoons quickly discovered that after daily overloaded physical labor, their brains went completely numb and they just wanted to collapse and sleep—who had the mind for career planning or saving money…

Now she was experiencing this numb state herself. She’d originally been thinking “working as an indentured laborer in the tea house is just the first step. To truly gain freedom and sufficient food, I still need to…”

Her mind was in a daze, unable to flash any thoughts, only able to comfort herself like a broken record: “Survived another day.”

Qiu Lan and Xiao Feng came in together after work, taking off their shoes. Xiao Feng kicked Lin Yuchan’s pair far away.

The two whispered together.

“Didn’t they say they were going to match her with someone? Why is she still living here?”

Xiao Feng had originally thought a helpless big-footed girl had come whom she could bully properly. Who knew she treated all orders like background noise—wouldn’t help empty chamber pots, wouldn’t wash foot-binding cloths, like an idiot. Xiao Feng had never seen such an ungrateful girl. She wanted to fight her, but unfortunately, her bound feet were delicate, making even fast walking difficult, so she really wouldn’t be a match in a real fight.

Xiao Feng glanced sideways at Lin Yuchan’s bedding and said: “She won’t agree. I heard the Seventh Madam say the master has an old, long-term worker at his estate in Foshan who sold his life for a lifetime. Last month, he broke his leg protecting the crops. Seventh Madam was kindhearted and promised to match him with a servant girl to carry on the family line. Those in the house couldn’t bear to send anyone away, so when a new one came, matching her to that worker would be perfect—he wouldn’t mind her feet either. Who knew she refused, don’t know what she’s thinking.”

Her voice was a bit loud, making Qiu Lan feel awkward as she glanced in Lin Yuchan’s direction.

But Qiu Lan couldn’t help agreeing with Xiao Feng, saying softly: “We servants all hope that after serving enough years, we can go out, marry, and have children—at least have our own homes. She’s unwilling because she’s temporarily confused. After a while, she’ll come around…”

Xiao Feng suddenly understood: “I heard about it. She somehow got close to Shopkeeper Wang and ran to the master’s shop to sweep floors… oh no, not just sweep—do everything!”

Glancing at Lin Yuchan’s feet hanging outside the bed board, she expressed exaggerated surprise: “With such big feet, who would want her! Tell me, instead of staying quietly in the mansion, she insists on going to places like shops full of men—what’s her intention?”

Lin Yuchan had been pretending to sleep. She felt that Xiao Feng and the others, having bound their feet, were already disabled for life. As a healthy person, she might as well be tolerant—after all, Xiao Feng was just talking to find some sense of superiority for her humble status.

But this girl’s tongue was too long, disturbing her rest.

She gathered her energy, turned over, and got up to boil water. After the water boiled, she dropped in a pinch of tea leaves and waited with her chin propped up.

She’d been ordered around by Wang Quan to clean. In the corners of the shelves were quite a few spilled tea leaves, and she picked out the clean ones, quietly claiming them as her own without any guilt.

Guangdong people loved drinking tea—from high officials to common laborers, everyone could drink several cups a day. As for servant girls doing rough work, they only got a few bowls of poor-quality tea water like dishwater daily, to stay alert.

The tea sold by Defeng Tea House was top grade among the finest. Though these were just old dregs, they were still kings among dregs, instantly filling the room with fragrance.

Qiu Lan soon smelled the aroma and said in amazement: “Such fragrant tea!”

Lin Yuchan was generous: “Sister Qiu Lan, come drink some.”

Qiu Lan hesitated a moment but couldn’t resist the fragrant temptation. She ladled a bowl and took a big gulp.

“This must be tea only foreigners can afford!”

Xiao Feng sniffed hard, frowning as she shouted: “She’s sowing discord again! Qiu Lan, don’t drink it! Who knows what she put in there!—Ah, I know, she stole tea leaves! She stole the master’s tea leaves!”

Lin Yuchan blew on her tea, unfazed: “Shopkeeper Wang gave it as a reward.”

Xiao Feng couldn’t leave the mansion anyway, so he had no chance to verify.

Lin Yuchan smiled as she invited, “Sister Xiao Feng, would you like some tea too?”

Xiao Feng was stunned, wanting to say “who wants your crappy tea” but couldn’t get it out.

Defeng Trading House’s tea was precious. When servant girls quarreled, they often cursed each other’s low worth: “How many taels of tea are you worth to the master?”

One sip would be worth a meal, right? This big-footed girl was throwing money around!

And she said it was “Shopkeeper Wang’s reward.” Though Xiao Feng didn’t believe it, what if it was true? That would mean she had backing.

Combining both factors, Xiao Feng suddenly lost interest in bullying this big-footed girl.

While hesitating, Lin Yuchan smiled again: “The food in your chest is too greasy, cold, and cloying. Drink some tea to cut the grease, don’t be polite.”

Xiao Feng hadn’t heard the full sentence when she jumped up like she’d been struck by lightning, her heart pounding, instinctively blocking her chest.

“You… what did you say… how do you know…”

Lin Yuchan had observed for so many days and discovered that though Xiao Feng openly despised others for being greedy, she herself daily scavenged leftover food from the kitchen, wrapping it in oil paper and hiding it under her clothes to bring back, eating it with Qiu Lan as a midnight snack when hungry.

Hidden in the clothes chest by her bed.

This naturally counted as stealing food. The master’s leftovers could only be enjoyed if bestowed upon servants. But sometimes the ladies didn’t want to give too much—they had to feed the dogs too.

But Xiao Feng and Qiu Lan had an understanding—shared midnight snacks, and neither would tell. This had gone on for a long time.

So when Xiao Feng brought food back to the room, she wasn’t very vigilant. Besides, Lin Yuchan always pretended to sleep, be deaf, and act stupid, so Xiao Feng didn’t take her seriously at all.

Xiao Feng covered the chest lid, stammering for a while before calling softly: “If you… if you dare inform, I’ll… they won’t believe you…”

Lin Yuchan filled a bowl of tea: “Have some tea?”

Xiao Feng couldn’t figure out her intention and hesitantly accepted the tea, taking a sip. It was fragrant.

She thought, maybe the big-footed girl was backing down and trying to make peace?

So she remained stubborn: “Don’t think giving sister a sip of tea means she’ll protect you. Go empty the chamber pot in a bit…”

Lin Yuchan: “Sister Xiao Feng, I forgot to tell you earlier—this tea was also stolen from the tea house.”

Xiao Feng had just swallowed the last sip of tea when her breath got stuck in her chest and she nearly died.

“You… you… How dare you…”

Lin Yuchan cleaned up the pots and bowls and went to sleep.

Xiao Feng and Qiu Lan looked at each other. Qiu Lan said softly: “Forget it. We already drank it. If we make a fuss, we’ll get punished too.”

Now Xiao Feng had two pieces of evidence in Lin Yuchan’s hands: stealing food and stealing drinks. Lin Yuchan had also contributed one piece of evidence. But there was no proof of the tea theft—maybe she was just talking nonsense. If she stole tea and Xiao Feng drank it, they were equally guilty.

Xiao Feng weighed this with her limited intelligence and still came out at a loss.

Unconvinced, she muttered with Qiu Lan: “Someday we must catch her with evidence!”