“Third Miss doesn’t even know how to pretend.” Otherwise how could she have fallen out with Zhang Shi? “Mo Zi was brought back by Third Miss before the New Year. After all, it hasn’t been long—she’s not like the other maids who grew up with Third Miss from childhood with deep feelings. I see her as more the type who serves whomever she works for wholeheartedly.”
If Mo Zi heard these words, she would understand that Fourth Madam absolutely, absolutely was not a vegetarian—though she had already believed Fourth Madam was no vegetarian.
Zhang Shi once again agreed with her daughter-in-law. Indeed, a maid who had only been with her for half a year—even if Qiu Sanniang was very good at winning people’s hearts, it would be impossible for the maid to be utterly devoted.
Seeing her mother-in-law’s expression soften, Fourth Madam showed a faint smile, though it passed in an instant. “Madam, even if I misjudged her, she’s merely a concubine after all. As long as Fourth Son doesn’t put her surname on the family register, and her indenture contract is in my hands—if she truly doesn’t suit your wishes, just sell her.”
Speaking casually, treating a person like livestock to be bought and sold without the slightest sense of guilt.
“Since you’ve said this much, so be it.” Zhang Shi compromised. At root she relented because of her love for her son, thinking that his liking a maid from the mansion was truly rare. Of course, her daughter-in-law’s words had dismantled her defenses sentence by sentence. “However, she cannot be elevated to concubine status when brought in—just take her as a room servant. Ai Lian carries Fourth Son’s own flesh and blood, yet she’s still merely a room servant. For Mo Zi to become a concubine, that must wait until after she bears a son. Also, I’ll keep her indenture contract—I’m afraid you’ll be soft-hearted and unable to be ruthless, allowing her to climb over your head later.”
“Yes, thank you Madam. Once she enters our household, I’ll teach her well and not let Madam worry.” Whether concubine or room servant, for a maid either was respectable. As for the indenture contract, it didn’t matter. If Qiu Si showed exclusive favor, she wouldn’t need to play the villain—her mother-in-law would naturally take charge.
“No need to thank me—I’m not happy about this.” Zhang Shi showed no smile on her face. “What use is my agreement? Third Miss must also agree. She normally can’t put on the airs of a legitimate eldest daughter—you’re conveniently delivering yourself to her doorstep. And there’s also the matter with Prince Jing’s mansion—she’ll definitely make things difficult for you.”
“Madam, since daughter-in-law proposed this matter, naturally daughter-in-law will endure the anger. As long as Madam no longer resents daughter-in-law for acting on her own initiative, daughter-in-law isn’t worried about anything else.” Fourth Madam’s smile sweetened. She intimately circled around and sat close to Zhang Shi, taking her arm and acting coquettish.
“I can’t blame you for acting on your own—it’s Fourth Son who took a liking.” Zhang Shi was very receptive to this approach and finally smiled. “If you can’t get the person, just tell me. Either don’t take her, or if we’re taking her, we absolutely must succeed in bringing her over. It will also properly dampen the other side’s arrogance.” In this household, whether the legitimate eldest daughter was formidable or the household’s principal wife was formidable needed to be settled once and for all.
In her room, Mo Zi was reading when she suddenly sneezed twice in succession.
Lu Ju was embroidering a cloak for Qiu Sanniang. Seeing this, she laughed and said someone must be thinking of her fiercely.
One sneeze means someone’s thinking of you, two means someone hates you, three means you’re catching a cold. This was something Mo Zi had told Lu Ju, which Lu Ju now used in reverse. However, Lu Ju didn’t like saying “hate,” so she changed it to “thinking fiercely.”
At this moment, she could never have imagined that a storm centered on herself was about to begin.
Perhaps she had thought of it when she recited the passionate verse, shedding her humble protective coloring and allowing people to discover her brilliance. Though it was still only faintly visible, it couldn’t escape observant eyes. But becoming the target of an approaching storm was completely beyond her expectations—it would engulf the entire Qiu Mansion, making her heart race with alarm along with everyone else.
Two days had passed since returning from the convent. According to Xiao Yi’s reports, the comings and goings between the various courtyards seemed to have suddenly grown cold.
“Perhaps they’re waiting for news from the Wei household,” Mo Zi guessed after hearing this.
“Right, it should come within these few days.” Bai He was setting up the chess board.
“Mo Zi, why won’t you learn chess from me?” Jade fingers plucked a piece, complementing the white stone they held. Qiu Sanniang’s hands were aristocratic hands, each joint rounded and lustrous like jade and pearls.
Playing chess with oneself was lonely.
“Miss, for me to figure out how to surround the stones—I might as well carve wood.” Mo Zi knew how to play chess. No, she should say her pre-amnesia self knew how to play chess. From the familiar feeling when her hand touched the chess board, she knew. But she couldn’t acknowledge it. Because no daughter of a poor family should know weiqi—that was a pastime for people with spare money. Fearing she might inadvertently let Qiu Sanniang notice something amiss, she simply didn’t touch it at all.
“Such a pity. I thought you would be a good opponent.” Qiu Sanniang picked up another black stone and placed it on the board.
Xiao Yi rushed in like the wind, the curtain flapping loudly behind her. Her movements were always quick and leaping, as if she had endless energy.
“Miss, there’s news.” She handed over a slip of paper.
It was sent from Wangqiu Tower.
How was it sent? Simple. Not by carrier pigeon. With hundreds of people in this mansion watching, if pigeons frequently landed in their small courtyard, anyone who didn’t notice something amiss would be a fool. Therefore, in a crack Xiao Yi had cut out in the outer wall closest to them, they placed message slips. Not only was this difficult for others to discover, but even if discovered, the content of the slips consisted mostly of symbols, making their meaning hard to interpret.
“It’s for you.” Qiu Sanniang only glanced once before raising her wrist and passing the slip to Mo Zi.
Mo Zi took it and saw nothing on it except a single ink drop.
“Miss, shall I make a trip there?” This was the first time Wangqiu Tower had contacted her specifically, and she was somewhat concerned.
Qiu Sanniang didn’t appear puzzled. “That’s fine. While you’re there, have Cen Da prepare everything properly. Before we leave, we need to cleanly dispose of those things and make one final good profit.”
Mo Zi acknowledged, returned to her room to change into men’s clothing, roughly applied disguise makeup, and drew the copper coin mark. Just as she was about to leave the room, she heard Lu Ju’s raised voice outside.
“Miss, Fourth Madam has arrived.”
Mo Zi quickly stopped behind the curtain door. Through the jade-green gauze she saw several shadowy figures vaguely heading toward Qiu Sanniang’s room. Now how could she get out? She leaned against the door, waiting for movement.
Before long, Xiao Yi came in, pointed to the inner room, then headed inside.
“What did Fourth Madam come for?” Two days ago Seventh Miss came, today Fourth Madam arrived. Mo Zi thought to herself that this small courtyard had recently been enjoying spring breezes—flourishing and prosperous.
“Don’t know.” Xiao Yi pushed the window open with one hand, bent down and flipped out without a sound. “Fourth Madam just sat down when Miss sent me out to prepare tea.”
Preparing tea was the pretext—bringing Mo Zi out of the mansion was the truth.
Without Xiao Yi, Mo Zi didn’t know how much effort it would take her to scale the Qiu Mansion’s walls—she’d never tried. But her manner of climbing out the window was extremely clumsy. Xiao Yi couldn’t stand watching and helped her, which eventually turned into pulling and dragging.
“Sometimes you seem very quick-witted, other times you seem especially slow. What’s going on?” Xiao Yi stood at the base of the back wall, hands on hips, asking.
That’s because her instincts were quick-witted, but she pretended to be slow. Mo Zi thought this with a smile and said quietly, “We have to climb two walls—can you manage it?”
Xiao Yi tilted her head, her left eyebrow raised high, as if very dissatisfied with Mo Zi’s underestimation of her. She leaped onto the top of the wall, bent down prone, and extended her hand to Mo Zi. When she was in a bad mood, she didn’t like doing things too smoothly. Like now—with her natural strength plus her martial skills, she could have directly carried Mo Zi over in one leap.
As Mo Zi grasped Xiao Yi’s hand and climbed up bit by bit, she kept her ears pricked, trying to catch even a fragment of movement from the main room.
However, the wind carried nothing.