Not long after, Xiang Lan came in.
The expression on her face looked a bit hesitant. She seemed to have a bellyful of grievances she wanted to vent, especially after seeing her own young miss. She felt utterly stifled.
She had no idea what her young miss was thinking. Every day, she was either courting death or on the road to courting death.
If she managed to stay quiet for a few hard-won days, she was definitely gathering strength for the next round. Xiang Lan felt that if things continued like this, everyone in the general’s manor, from top to bottom, would end up offended by them. And it was easy to imagine that their future days would only grow harder!
Xiang Lan felt deeply uneasy in her heart.
Sure enough, following a young miss who took pleasure in courting death meant she would eventually be targeted by the whole world.
Xin Yi saw her like this and raised an eyebrow. “Handled it?”
She had only asked casually, since the task she had given the little maidservant was not difficult at all. It shouldn’t have gone wrong.
Xiang Lan sighed helplessly and nodded. “Mm.”
Then she saw Xin Yi continue to lower her head and fiddle with the green medicine vial in her hand, still looking so leisurely. She couldn’t help but remind her, “Young Miss, couldn’t we just live our lives steadily from now on? Always stirring up trouble like this— this servant is really afraid that one day we will…”
“And Xie Shuo hasn’t offended you at all. Why drag him into it too? Just those piles of venomous bugs and snakes he’s raising in the courtyard— we shouldn’t offend him.”
Just now, her young miss had urged her impatiently to go to the neighboring courtyard and pass a message to that youth from the Miao Frontier: saying that tonight she would monopolize all of the general’s favor, leaving his A Jie destined for a lonely, sleepless pillow. Xie Shuo could seize the chance to perform well, go over, and keep his A Jie company to comfort her.
This was clearly a provocation— and provoking two people at once!
Faced with the youth’s pair of emotionless, icy cold and pitch-black eyes, Xiang Lan had immediately shrank back, her spine prickling with cold sweat. It was more bitter than soaking in water made from bitter herbs.
She shouldn’t have listened to her young miss.
Now they were done for. She was definitely thoroughly hated by this new wife’s little brother.
Xin Yi saw her expression, as if she were attending a funeral, and let out a light chuckle. “Relax. The little mute won’t do anything to me. He likes me so much he can’t wait.”
Xiang Lan looked at her like she was crazy, as if she had said something utterly outrageous.
— Chu Chu’s little brother liked her? Impossible.
Xin Yi had no way to explain too much, because their relationship had indeed grown more distant recently. It was even worse than the cold war from before.
At least that’s how it looked to outsiders.
Ever since that day when she had fed him her blood, Xie Shuo had always avoided her.
But it was also contradictory, because he would always transform his snake tail in the middle of the night and sneak into her room, stealing kisses from her in a restrained yet obsessive way.
He was probably afraid of being discovered, so he only dared to kiss her cheek.
After kissing, he wouldn’t leave right away. Instead, with his narrow eyes flushed red at the corners, he would nuzzle into her collar and sniff for a good long while. It was utterly perverse.
Xin Yi was done with it. She recalled Shen Ru Jie from the previous small world— he had been just like this.
Wanting to kiss but not daring, only daring to leer at her sinisterly while she slept, pretending to be so pure and innocent.
She had even made it clear: as long as he agreed to help her plant the love Gu on Xiao Cheng Ce, she was fine with kissing and hugging— even giving him her body.
She had displayed her unscrupulous methods and vain ambitions to the fullest, as if as long as it helped solidify her position in the manor, she was willing to do anything.
But Xie Shuo had been furious and flatly refused.
No matter how deliberately she teased and seduced him, he remained coldly unmoved. Not only did he refuse to kiss or hold her, he avoided her like a venomous snake or scorpion. The moment he saw her, he fled far away. It was as if he feared being tempted by her and forced to agree to her request.
What a hassle.
Xin Yi lowered her head to toy with the medicine vial in her hand, thinking darkly: It seemed she had no choice but to use some special means, like forcing herself on him.
In the study, a pageboy pushed the door open from outside.
He asked Xiao Cheng Ce deferentially, “My Lord, those two sets of jewelry you ordered from the Treasure Pavilion a few days ago— the shopkeeper has already sent someone to deliver them to the manor. Should we still follow your original instructions: one set to Madam Chu Chu, and the other to Miss Bai?”
They were extremely valuable hair ornaments. Even the ladies in the palace would like them if they saw them.
Not to mention someone with Bai Xinyi’s extreme vanity. If she received something comparable to what Chu Chu got, she would surely be delighted to death.
Xiao Cheng Ce had almost forgotten about it.
Reminded by the pageboy, he recalled there was indeed such a matter, but his face darkened for a moment before he merely gave a cold snort. “Give them both to Chu Chu. Bai Xinyi doesn’t deserve it.”
He had originally intended it as some compensation for Bai Xinyi, specially selecting jewelry of equal value to Chu Chu’s, so that everyone in the manor could see she wasn’t completely out of favor.
Who would have thought Bai Xinyi wouldn’t know her place and grew even more outrageous.
Xiao Cheng Ce recalled their last unhappy parting, when she had said those words: “Want to sleep with me? Sure.”
“Get rid of Chu Chu first.”
That frivolous, contemptuous gaze, those deliberately provocative moves.
As if she was dead certain he was just a dog groveling at her skirts, revering everything about her as divine.
This time, he was determined to give her a thorough cold shoulder, let her learn her lesson the hard way, until she came crying to him begging for mercy.
Thus, he instructed the pageboy at his side, “Tell the steward mammy that starting this month, cut the food, clothing, and daily necessities in Bai Xinyi’s courtyard by half again.”
“Yes.”
At dusk, the breeze blew comfortably.
Especially with the purple wisteria in the courtyard blooming lushly. Even sitting inside the room, one could smell the refreshing, soul-soothing fragrance.
The water temperature in the wooden tub was just right, with many vividly colored petals floating on top— all freshly picked.
Not a single wilted one. Mixed with the fragrance of her skin, the steam rose hazily, making it embarrassing to look too long.
Xiang Lan felt a bit embarrassed to look too long.
She had served her young miss in bathing many times already, but each time she couldn’t help blushing— especially when her gaze fell on the high, undulating curves below her young miss’s shoulders and neck. If she were a man, she definitely wouldn’t be able to hold back.
Every time she gripped her young miss’s shoulders, it felt like touching warm, soft, creamy mutton-fat jade. She couldn’t bear to use any force.
Afraid that if she was even a bit rough, her young miss would frown.
Moreover, she noticed that when her young miss was like this— quiet and not making trouble— she had a refined and noble air.
Her lushly beautiful brows and eyes lowered slightly, her ink-black hair cascading like a waterfall, carrying the indifferent temperament nurtured by a great clan.
Very beautiful, very alluring.
If only she could always be like this, the general would surely like it.
Xin Yi had no idea what the little maidservant beside her was thinking. She simply felt very comfortable soaking in the warm water, even a bit drowsy.
She lay draped over the edge of the wooden tub, her damp black hair covering her slightly flushed cheeks, spilling over her slender, delicate pink-and-white shoulders. With a faint smile, she said, “Xiang Lan, if we leave the general’s manor in the future, where in the Capital City do you think would be a good place to settle?”
Xiang Lan hadn’t expected her to ask this and was suddenly stunned.
— Leave the general’s manor?
Though she often worried about this, afraid that one day her young miss would thoroughly anger Xiao Cheng Ce and they would be thrown out.
But she had never given much thought to life after leaving the general’s manor, so she shook her head honestly. “I don’t know. This servant hasn’t thought about it.”
Before marriage, she had followed her father; after marriage, her husband. This was the unchanging rule for a thousand years. Not just in official families— even her illiterate parents had taught her the same.
In this world, how was a woman supposed to survive without her husband’s family to support her? Of course, she hoped they would never be driven out.
Xin Yi relaxed against the bath tub, her eyes shimmering like rippling water. For once, she spoke a bit from the heart. “No matter where we go, it’ll be freer than being trapped in this deep courtyard.”
“A flock of warbling birds and swallows all crammed together, squabbling over a fickle, unfaithful man, wasting their best years… Just thinking about it feels such a pity.”
Not to mention the original host.
Even a gentle-tempered woman would be driven mad after staying too long in such an environment.
Xiang Lan: “…”
She had felt a bit sorrowful at first, but hearing her young miss say this… well, now she was sure her young miss was talking nonsense.
After all, when it came to squabbling for favor, wasn’t her own young miss the noisiest of them all? Why was her young miss talking like she was delirious today?
And the most outrageous part: she actually called the general fickle and unfaithful. What man in the world was ever truly faithful?
Two incense sticks later, Xin Yi finished washing and dressing.
Her hair was still not fully dry, so she simply gathered it loosely behind with a red silk hair ribbon. She wore a lotus-purple gauzy floor-length ruqun, her willow waist swaying with flowery grace, exuding natural charm.
Unfortunately, just as she pushed open the courtyard door and hadn’t taken a few steps out with the food box in hand,
She was blocked by the handsome youth hiding in the corner. His face was very dark, his icy gaze laced with anger fixed on her attire.
Then, just as she wanted to brush him off with a couple words and slip past lightly, he scooped her up horizontally with a cold, sinister face.
Xin Yi let out a startled cry, then seemed a bit guilty. Coaxingly, she pecked his lips. “Good little snake, I have important business today. I’ll play with you when I get back.”
As soon as she spoke, the youth seemed even angrier.