Chapter 175 out of 513 – Paying a visit to Errong’s maiden home (2)
At this time, Wen Wan stepped forward, curtsied, and magnanimously said, “My lord, you don’t need to trouble yourself over this servant. Right now, this lowly one is only a servant. Whatever Young Madam wants this servant to do, this servant should do it. This servant will leave right away to buy the snacks.”
Ning Yuxuan looked at her, then he waved his hand.
Ning Errong mockingly glanced at Wen Wan, then she tugged Sangyu’s hand and acted cutely spoiled. “Old Madame, let’s go to Feiwan Courtyard.”
“Alright.” Old Madame stood up and informed Nie Xiangyuan that they were leaving.
Nie Xiangyuan politely cupped his hands toward the other men to take his leave, then he got up and accompanied them as they walked to Feiwan Courtyard.
—
Dengxin was currently angrily standing at Feiwan Courtyard’s entrance. From a distance, she saw that a couple of the masters were walking over here. She hurriedly walked over to Nie Sangyu’s side. Feeling a bit apprehensive because Old Madame was also here, she kept her lips sealed.
Ji Man whispered, “What’s wrong?”
Dengxin was so angry that she wanted to stamp her feet. She whispered into her master’s ear, “Master, why on earth did you bring those servants to Feiwan Courtyard? Go and look. It’s already bad enough that they’re all so lazy, but they act as if Wen Wan is their master. They wouldn’t even heat up some water for tea when this servant ordered them. It’ll look so bad if there’s no tea to offer the guests when they reach Feiwan Courtyard.”
Ji Man nodded. This didn’t surprise her. Wen Wan’s dowry servants were used to doing light work like embroidery. Even after Wen Wan lost her position, these servants were assigned to the two honored concubines’ courtyards and didn’t have to do unskilled labor. For example, Ah Zi was assigned to Honored Concubine Xue as her personal servant girl.
And so, they naturally wouldn’t be happy doing work like chopping firewood and boiling water. In addition, their real master, the crown princess, had recently visited, so they were thinking quite highly of themselves right now. How could they possibly be willing to listen to Dengxin’s orders?
“Keep calm. Don’t get impatient.” Ji Man squeezed Dengxin’s hand.
Then, Ji Man walked to Old Madame’s side and said, “An order of spring tea was recently delivered to the residence. There’s a box of it left in Feiwan Courtyard. Since father and Errong have come over, Sangyu will take it out for everyone to drink. But, Sangyu isn’t very good at brewing tea. Danggui or Shouwu, could you help me by brewing the tea instead?”
Danggui and Shouwu were Old Madame’s personal servants. Every time Nie Sangyu sent something to Old Madame, there would always be a portion given to them as well. Thus, they naturally liked her a lot and easily agreed to her request.
And so, the group of people entered the main room in Feiwan Courtyard to sit down and talk. Ji Man took out a few embroidered items and gave them to Errong. She also gave newly embroidered sachets to Nie Xiangyuan and Old Madame.
Nie Xiangyuan looked at the sachet and said, “Sangyu, your embroidery skills are getting better and better. You must practice a lot, right?”
“Exactly, Sangyu has been using the marquis’s clothing and other items to practice. The more Sangyu perfects my craft, the better the items Sangyu will be able to embroider for Old Madame and father in the future.”
Hearing these words, Old Madame cackled. “Oh, you lovable girl.”
During this conversation, Danggui had already left the room with the tea leaves to brew the tea. But, even after they had waited for a long time, she still hadn’t returned.
When Old Madame reflexively stretched her hand out to pick up a cup of tea, she only grasped air. She asked, “Why hasn’t she brought tea back yet?”
Shouwu glanced towards the outside and said, “This servant will go over there to check. Perhaps, Danggui is just being lazy.”
A short while later, Danggui and Shouwu returned. Danggui was still holding the container of tea leaves as she approached Old Madame and said, “The servant girls in this courtyard are outrageous. They were just sitting there, goofing off and joking around with each other instead of boiling water for tea. This servant had to call them several times to get their attention. In the end, they only hurriedly worked on starting a fire when they found that Old Madame had come here.”
“That’s disgraceful!” Old Madame frowned. “When did the servant girls in this household become so lazy? If they’re so neglectful when there are guests present, then how are they serving their master normally?”
Dengxin hastily stepped forward and said, “They aren’t even serving Madam at all. It’s Madam that’s serving Miss Wen. When this servant asks them to do something, they only roll their eyes in response. Who knows where they learned such bad behavior?”
Old Madame harrumphed and immediately stood up. “Let’s go! We’ll see how pampered these servant girls are!”
Wen Wan had already left the residence to buy snacks, so these dowry servant didn’t have anyone to warn them. As soon as Danggui and Shouwu had left, they had sat back down. As they watched the water being heated up on the stove, they started complaining again.
“What kind of life is this? I thought life would be easier after coming here to work for the marquis’s wife. I didn’t expect that we would still have to do hard labor.”
“You’re one to talk. Who was that fought over the chance to be a dowry servant and even dragged me along into this mess?”
“You wench. You have some nerve saying that. If it wasn’t for me, then you would still be cleaning chamber pots in the crown prince’s residence.”
Ah Zi poked at the firewood under the stove. Feeling discontent, she said, “Just wait and see. I believe in the crown princess’s foresight. Miss Wen will definitely be able to reverse her fortunes. That Nie Sangyu is just shrewish trash. Even after six years, she still hadn’t gotten pregnant even once. Let’s see how long she can hold her head high.”
When Old Madame announced her presence by coldly harrumphing, it felt like lightning was striking the ground.
Shocked and scared, the servant girls stumbled as they hurriedly got up and saluted, “Old… Old Madame.”
The back courtyard was always a messy place. Normally, the masters would never come to this place. This was why they dared to be so bold in their conversation. They would have never expected that Old Madame would come here without sending a servant to announce her arrival beforehand.
“In my twenty years as the matriarch of this household, I’ve never seen such wicked servants.” Old Madame swept her gaze across these servants and sneered. “It’s one thing for a servant to be lazy, but you actually have the nerve to speak badly about your master behind her back. Danggui, fetch me their servitude contracts. Sell them to farmers in the countryside to be their wives!”
Translator Ramblings: In defense to Ning Yuxuan and Ji Man’s seemingly obliviousness to the other peoples’ true characters, first impressions have an unfairly, long-lasting advantage or disadvantage. If your best friend or anyone else that you think is good person does something horrible, are you really going to think, my friend is a bad person, or are you going to make excuses for your friend’s behavior? They were just having a bad day. They didn’t meant to do that. It was the other person’s fault. Even if they mess up multiple times, everyone has a natural tendency to cling to their narrative of the world. And, the inverse is true. If someone makes a bad first impression on you, they have to work so much harder to erase that impression.
It doesn’t matter how smart Ning Yuxuan and Ji Man are, they’ll fall victims to this trap too.