Yue Yiniang was cursing viciously in her heart!
Even though the third branch of the Xie family were merchants, she had still grown up as a pampered young lady who received endless affection and indulgence.
When had she ever played with mud?
“What’s wrong?”
Lin Yu’er ran ahead for a distance before turning back to see Yue Yiniang frozen in place. Noticing her constipated expression, Lin Yu’er’s clear, translucent eyes swept over her from head to toe.
“No way, no way. Someone as grown as you can’t possibly be incompetent at playing with mud, right?”
After saying this, she noticed Yue Yiniang’s face grow even more unpleasant.
Immediately, her expression shifted to one of sympathy and pity.
Tsk!
Such a pitiful little weakling!
Well, well, bullying such a feeble creature brings no sense of accomplishment.
But as the brave and fearless future Demon Lord, tormenting a weakling would be rather undignified.
“A strong person like me only seeks to challenge those stronger, growing more valiant with each battle. Slaying gods and buddhas is as easy as splashing water! Thankfully, my chopsticks didn’t kill you last time. Otherwise, if I had bullied the weak, my demon heart would surely be unsettled afterward!”
The more Lin Yu’er spoke, the more she felt she was upright and exceptionally noble.
She stepped forward, grabbed Yue Yiniang, and dragged her into the grassy area of the courtyard. “Keep up, little weakling! This lady will personally teach you today and let you witness what a mud expert looks like!”
Yue Yiniang stumbled several times from being pulled along, struggling to break free but failing each time.
When they reached a corner by the wall and crouched down, Lin Yu’er deftly plucked the unsightly flowers and plants and tossed them aside.
Wanqing let out a shrieking cry like a groundhog—
“Ah! That’s my lady’s favorite moth orchid! It’s in full bloom, so vibrant—how could you pull it out?!”
“Madam, ahhh! Please don’t pluck that! I beg you, don’t tear out the hyacinths! They’ll bloom beautifully come spring!”
“Stop! Those are silver thread winter chrysanthemums—they’re terribly expensive to buy outside!”
“Pulled out, you pulled them out again! Madam, how cruel you are! My lady planted those herself!”
Amid Wanqing’s frantic shrieks, Lin Yu’er swiftly cleared a bald patch in the flowerbed.
Wanqing’s voice grew hoarse from screaming, yet the merciless Lin Yu’er didn’t even glance back.
“Du Du, fetch a basin of water…”
“This servant will go right away!” Unlike the distraught Wanqing, Du Du beamed with delight.
Soon enough, Du Du brought the water.
Lin Yu’er crouched down with Yue Yiniang and enthusiastically began teaching her how to dig soil by hand:
“Put some strength into it, will you? Your claws look like the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, but you use them like tiger skin phoenix claws—dig deeper! Scoop it all out and pile it here!”
If Yue Yiniang moved too slowly, Lin Yu’er would grab her hand and use it as a shovel.
This madwoman was both strong and sharp-tongued. The mere sight of her reaching out made Yue Yiniang fearful, so she had no choice but to cooperate in digging.
They piled the excavated soil together, poured water over it, and stirred it into a muddy paste…
“One lump for you, one lump for me!”
“A small lump for you, a big lump for me!”
Yue Yiniang couldn’t hold back any longer: “I dug so much soil—why am I only getting this little?”
Lin Yu’er replied matter-of-factly, “I’m a mud-playing expert, and you’re a weakling who’s never touched mud before. Of course, I get the bigger share! You just questioned me—penalty! One less lump for you!!”
Yue Yiniang stared at her fair, delicate hands now caked in mud, her nails filled with dirt. “This isn’t fair—let me be the one to divide it!”
Lin Yu’er: “How is it unfair? I think it’s perfectly fair! I’m quite satisfied!”
Yue Yiniang refused to back down and immediately retorted, “But I’m not satisfied!”
Lin Yu’er cast her a faint glance, speaking with the patient guidance of a mentor instructing a disciple:
“You’re such a weakling—what right do you have to be dissatisfied? Weakness is a single word: weak. If you’re weak, shut up and don’t speak. Listen to the arrangements of the strong—that’s the survival rule of the Demon Realm!”
Yue Yiniang: “…”
Cuihu, standing not far behind, gaped in surprise.
What the mistress meant was: weakness is the original sin, right? It means the weak have no rights.
Even a loyal servant like her felt the mistress was right!
It was entirely her own yiniang who was being unreasonable.
Cuihu stepped forward and said, “Yiniang, if you don’t want to keep eating cabbage at every meal, you should listen to the mistress.”
Yue Yiniang, admonished by her own maid, felt embarrassed and then grew furious from shame.
“Don’t talk nonsense!!!”
Cuihu wore an expressionless face and uttered, “Oh.”
After shouting, Yue Yiniang worried about alienating her maid and added, “You’re the servant, I’m the master. You’re the weak one in front of me too. Didn’t you hear what the mistress said? If you’re weak, shut up and don’t speak. Listen to the arrangements!”
Cuihu spoke in a tone one might use to praise a child: “Yiniang is so impressive, you’ve already memorized the mistress’s words perfectly.”
“Mistress, did you see that?”
Lin Yu’er nodded in approval. “To quickly recognize your own understanding and replicate the words of a strong person like me… Young one… ah no, my dear stinky treasure, you will eventually slay the evil dragon and stand at the peak!”
Yue Yiniang rolled her eyes and muttered, “Where would a dragon come from in this world?”
Lin Yu’er: “If there are no dragons in the world, then… what about the ones in your heart? The evil dragons in your heart can be slain.”
Everyone, including the maids of Bibo Pavilion, turned to look at Lin Yu’er.
Did the mistress really have something wrong in her head?
How could she say something so profound and mysterious?!
Seeing that everyone was awestruck, Lin Yu’er raised an eyebrow and flashed a mischievous grin, revealing a set of white teeth as she chuckled.
“Whoever has a dragon in their heart, go slay it. In my heart, there’s only Brubru, My Little Pony—I can’t bear to slay them…”
After saying this, she hurled a mud ball in her hand to the ground, producing a loud bang.
The maids shrieked in fright.
Only Zhang Momo stood firmly in place. “Mistress, you’ve scared them!”
Lin Yu’er wiped the tip of her nose with a dashing gesture. “A bunch of weaklings, truly leaving my greatness with nowhere to belong.”
Yue Yiniang, seeing how such a small lump of mud could make such a loud noise, looked astonished.
“How does this thing make such a loud noise when thrown?”
Lin Yu’er: “Want to learn? I’ll teach you!”
Since her dress and hands were already dirty, Yue Yiniang hesitated for no more than three seconds. “I… can give it a try?”
And so, Lin Yu’er taught Yue Yiniang how to knead mud balls.
The maids nearby also gathered around. At first, they were just watching, but as they watched, they joined in.
Throughout Bibo Pavilion, bangs rang out one after another.
He Jiulin, who had returned to Crabapple Courtyard and found no one there, came to Bibo Pavilion.
Then, along with Chang An and Chang Sui, he stood at the courtyard entrance, not daring to take a single step inside.
The once elegant garden was now patchy—bald spots here and there.
Exquisite flowers and plants were tossed about everywhere.
The ground, walls, stone tables, and chairs in the courtyard were covered with exploded, blackish clumps…
Dense and layered, one upon another.
Like livestock passing by in herds, leaving behind their special products.
“My lord, let me go in and check,” Chang An originally intended to find a maid inside to inquire, but upon reaching those lumpy objects, he discovered they were merely mud.
He retreated back out, “My lord, those are all mud balls, not… filth of that sort!”
“Hahahaha, so much fun! Look, Charizard, your concubine has gone completely silly with joy!”
A woman’s clear voice drifted from the corner of the courtyard. Moments later, a grimy young girl suddenly leaped out from the corner, pointing at an exploded mud ball on the ground while laughing hysterically with hands on her hips:
“This definitely wasn’t me! So ugly! I’m a mud expert! This must be Pouty’s work, hahahaha… Look, it resembles chocolate-colored poop!”
He Jiulin standing at the entrance: “…”