Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The maid named Qiuju was the very one who had led me into the manor during the day.

She beckoned to the household servants behind her.

Qi’er immediately spread her arms, protectively shielding the food on the table in alarm.

The servants paid her no mind at all and overturned both her and the table together.

Bowls and dishes shattered across the floor, and the flying soup drenched me from head to toe.

Thankfully, it had been brought in cold.

I stood there in a sorry state, my hair plastered into sticky strands by the broth.

At the sight, the girl let out a cold sneer.

“Just as Father said, always so good at playing pitiful!”

Qiuju immediately fawned, “Miss, don’t spoil your health over a base-born wretch.”

So this was the legitimate daughter of Zhou Manor, Zhou Rong.

With her apricot-red embroidered shoes studded with pearls, she viciously crushed the steamed buns on the ground before sweeping away with her entourage in grand fashion.

Qi’er wept as she scrambled to pick up the food from the floor.

She peeled off the soiled outer layers of the few remaining buns and held them up to me.

“Miss, eat these, these are clean.”

I took them, broke one in half, and tucked a piece back into her hand.

In the days that followed, whenever mealtime arrived, Zhou Rong would punctually sweep in with her crowd and overturn my table.

After only a few days, I was racked with hunger.

Qi’er clutched my hand, sobbing.

“Miss, we can crawl through the dog hole to get some food in the streets!”

I shook my head.

The day Mother led me through the streets of the capital, we had caused too much stir.

Because of this face of mine, everyone thought she was preparing to sell a daughter.

Who knows how many playboys and madams were waiting to snap up a bargain.

Even after I entered the Marquisate Manor, my identity was already known to everyone.

Outside the side gate and the dog hole of the Marquisate Manor, who knew how many were lying in wait, watching for me to be cast out?

Some of them wouldn’t even mind whether I was dead or alive.

Qi’er couldn’t fathom what I was thinking and simply assumed I was afraid.

“If Miss is scared, Qi’er will go alone and steal some buns for you!”

I used my sleeve to wipe away the sleep drool she had not cleaned off her face.

“If I get caught, they might still grant me decent treatment out of regard for the Marquisate Manor.

“You are a servant of the manor; if you are caught and treated as a runaway, you’ll be beaten to death.”

Qi’er trembled, her gaze a little lost.

Spending these past few days together, I had come to realize that she was not very sharp.

Had she not been ostracized, why else would she be left to suffer alongside me?

She clutched her stomach pitifully.

“But Miss, Qi’er is so hungry…”

I squeezed her hand.

“Don’t worry, I will make sure you eat your fill today.”