Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Memory came rushing back.
I hauled Ye Rongfeng up by the collar. In his agony, cold sweat beaded across his brow as he clutched his pierced palm, his voice thick with resentment.
“So what if you rendered meritorious service by saving His Majesty? Who gave you the right to disregard the law and injure people as you please?!”
Naturally, I could not disregard the law.
However-
I smoothed my sleeves and said carelessly, “I, Ye Rongshu, am Commandery Princess Anhe, personally conferred by His Majesty. I am a member of the imperial clan.”
“Therefore, for some lowly maid of unknown origin, rude and insolent in speech, to presume to call me her sister as though we were equals is an offense of insubordination. By law, she could be beaten to death. So what if I only cut off half her tongue?”
“Not to mention…”
I paused and looked him over with mocking amusement, taking in his wretched state.
“Vice Minister Ye dared to assassinate a Commandery Princess. In self-defense, I injured one of his hands. That is perfectly reasonable, is it not? Tell me, if you brought this before His Majesty and the Empress, which of us would be more deserving of death?”
Ye Rongfeng was struck speechless.
He might not care about himself, but with Xu Yaoyao’s status, this might truly become a capital offense.
Still, he was unwilling to admit defeat. Through gritted teeth, he said, “You call yourself the foremost talented woman and have always stood above every member of our family. But Ye Rongshu, above you still stands filial piety. Father and Mother will never forgive you. And Jingwen too-once he returns and learns you harmed Yaoyao, he will only make you an abandoned wife!”
What an enormous threat.
I was truly terrified.
And so, holding my little sister by the hand, I stepped over him and entered the residence.
With a bloodstained dagger in my hand, not a single person dared stop me as I passed through the gates.
Instead, they looked as if they had seen some monstrous flood-beast. Trembling, they dropped to their knees.
“Second Miss! You’re back!”
Without looking back, I said, “All of you, follow me.”
News simply traveled more slowly in the inner courtyard.
We had only just reached the entrance to my little sister’s courtyard when we saw a matron seated at the table drinking wine. She raised her chin and looked toward my little sister, her tone full of complaint.
“Third Miss, where did you run off to this time? You made us search so hard.”
“Madam and Master said that you stormed off from Fourth Miss’s birthday banquet in a fit of temper, and it was terribly improper. You are to be confined to your quarters for three months.”
“So, if you please!”
She pointed toward the room. Only then did she notice me and the crowd of old servants behind me, and her eyes narrowed.
“And who are you?”
I narrowed my eyes as well. “And who are you?”
She looked entirely unfamiliar. Then she must have entered the household after I went to the estate to recuperate.
Very good.
My little sister had suffered no end of hardship these past years, yet she still could not bear to see me slighted by these matrons.
Gathering her courage, she spoke up. “You may not be rude to my elder sister!”
“So it’s Second Miss,” the matron said, utterly unconcerned.
“So what? These days, who in the residence doesn’t know that Fourth Miss is the apple of Master and Madam’s eye? What does Second Miss count for?”
As she spoke, she impatiently reached toward my little sister.
“Come along! Third Miss, don’t force us to use rough methods. If you end up hurt or ill, we could never bear the responsibility-”
Before she could finish, the maid beside me had already snapped both of those claws of hers.
A shriek rang out.
She howled, “How dare you hurt me! I am one of Madam’s people! Even if you are Second Miss, you cannot harm me! And you, you lowly wench! Let go of me this instant!”
She had no idea that the old servants behind me were looking at her with pity in their eyes as she spoke.
“Granny Li, you came late. Did no one tell you?”
“Before Second Miss went to the estate, she was the one who managed this entire household.”
The matron blurted, “How is that possible?!”
After all, in her eyes, my mother was still alive. I was merely a daughter. How could I overstep and act in her place?
But what she did not know was that my mother had always been weak by nature.
When she managed the household, the servants beneath her deceived and coaxed her at every turn.
They caused no small number of disasters.
Terrified that Grandmother and Father would find out and scold her, she could only come to me in tears.
“Rongshu, why is Mother’s life so bitter…”
I could not bear it. Using the skills I had learned while being raised at my grandmother’s knee, I cleaned up the messes for her.
But there is no such thing as a wall that lets no wind through. In the end, Grandmother still discovered the truth.
She flew into a terrible rage and pointed at me as she said to Mother, “You are as useless as that husband of yours. From now on, this family would be better managed by your daughter than by you!”
Grandmother was strong-willed, and once she said something, she followed through. Before she passed from illness, she gave Father a special order.
“Rongshu is intelligent and handles matters properly. In the future, in front of others, let that wife of yours put on a show if she must. But behind closed doors, let Rongshu manage the household for the time being.”
My father obeyed Grandmother above all else and agreed without hesitation.
Only my mother grew quite dissatisfied with me after that.
In her words:
“Whose daughter orders her own mother around like she does?”
Even toward my little sister, who was close to me, she became much colder.
I did not care much. I only thought it was some small friction between mother and daughter.
I never imagined that after I left, she would find herself a daughter she truly liked.
How truly-
“Incapable of learning from your mistakes.”
As soon as I uttered those words, the group of matrons had their hands and feet broken and were dragged out.
The maid who had been called a lowly wench could not help but sneer.
“The servants of Shangshu Mansion certainly are awe-inspiring. Even after serving by the Empress’s side for many years, this servant has never seen the like.”
“The Empress?!”
At those words, the matrons who had been wailing to the heavens and cursing the earth went deathly pale.
Their crying and scolding ceased at once.
In their place came terror and trembling.
“Did I not mention it?”
I strolled lazily into the courtyard.
“Everyone at my side today is a trusted confidant of the Empress.”
Even in the depths of the imperial palace, there were few who would dare provoke these people. Yet this pack of matrons had called them lowly wenches to their faces.
It was my first time seeing people so eager to seek their own deaths.