Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My lady stepped forward to shield me, and in the end, Nanny Huang’s slap never landed.

Nanny Huang glared at me viciously. “You wretched little maid. I may not dare touch you, but Madam won’t let you off either. Just wait for your death.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Dongmei, one of Madam’s attendants, arrived.

Nanny Huang broke into a smug smile.

Dongmei immediately ordered people to take me away by force.

My lady cried as she tried to stop them.

Dongmei said coldly, “Eldest Miss, the Marquis and Madam are furious. Shuangjiang failed in her duty to advise and restrain you. She must be punished.

“Someone, escort Eldest Miss back to her courtyard.”

Two young maids stepped forward and dragged my lady toward the courtyard. My lady struggled and refused to go, making the scene unbearably ugly for a time.

When Song Jinxuan saw my lady in such a sorry state, she could not help smiling.

In the end, as if she had resigned herself to her fate, my lady cried out to Dongmei, “Go tell Mother that I am willing to marry Prince Chen’s heir. Beg Mother to spare Shuangjiang’s life…”

Her sobbing voice gradually faded into the distance. Song Jinxuan’s face went completely dark. She turned and left, cursing under her breath the whole way, while Nanny Huang carefully followed beside her, trying to placate her.

I was somewhat moved. My lady had always opposed this marriage and had fought Madam over it for a long time. I never expected that, to save me, she would compromise.

It seemed I had made the right choice after all.

Back when I first sold myself into the Marquis’s manor, I had always worked in the kitchen.

I wanted a better life, and I was not resigned to being nothing more than a servant.

I knew that when great families married off a daughter, they would also send two personal maids with her to become bedchamber maids later on.

So I set my sights on my lady.

My lady was kindhearted. If I followed her into marriage and became the Young Lord’s bedchamber maid, she would not make things difficult for me.

That was why I deliberately ran into Nanny Huang when my lady passed through the garden.

Nanny Huang had a foul temper and often beat and scolded the maids.

So at the time, Nanny Huang gave me a heavy slap across the face.

I cried and begged for mercy, sounding so pitiful and miserable that I finally drew my lady’s sympathy and made her save me. Because of that incident, Nanny Huang and I also became enemies.

Dongmei took me straight to Madam’s courtyard.

But after entering the inner courtyard, I did not see Madam. Instead, two young maids brought me away to wash and dress me up.

Dongmei did not say a word, and I did not ask.

I was not actually worried about my life. With what my lady had said, the worst I would suffer was some physical pain. But it would make my lady feel guilty toward me, and once I became a bedchamber maid, she would treat me especially well. This was not a bad bargain.

After they finished tidying me up, I looked at myself in the bronze mirror and could hardly believe my eyes.

Why had they dressed me up to look like my lady?

Dongmei looked me over and nodded in satisfaction, then pulled me straight to the front hall.

As soon as we reached the outside of the front hall, I heard fierce arguing from within.

Madam had been waiting for us there all along.

Faced with the confusion written all over my face, Madam slowly said, “From now on, you are my daughter, Song Shuning.”