Lin Yu’er, covered in sweat from playing, was persuaded to leave by Zhang Momo.
Cuihu, who had been beaming with joy and playing more enthusiastically than anyone just moments before, emerged from around the corner and suddenly exclaimed, “Whoa!”
“What’s wrong, Sister Cuihu?!”
The other young maids hurried out from the backyard.
Then, seeing the mud splatters exploded all over the courtyard, they instantly understood.
What a mess to clean up!
The young maids wore gloomy expressions as they set to work.
Cuihu and Wanqing led Yue Yiniang, who had also snapped out of her daze, inside to change and wash up.
By the time Xie Xinyue finished washing up and came out, the young maids in the courtyard were still wringing out water to rinse the ground.
“That servant boy helping to fetch water—he looks somewhat familiar,” Wanqing suddenly remarked.
Xie Xinyue and Cuihu looked up.
Cuihu recognized him: “That seems to be… Chang An from the Marquis’s side!”
Xie Xinyue’s face immediately lit up with joy, and she began scanning the surroundings.
“Has the Marquis come?”
Chang An poured the water from his bucket, washing away the last patch of muddy ground, wiped his hands casually on his clothes, and stepped forward. “Greetings, Yue Yiniang.”
Xie Xinyue already knew He Jiulin hadn’t come, but she still gazed eagerly at Chang An.
“Did the Marquis send you to deliver a message? Has my confinement been lifted? Has my meals improved?”
Chang An: “Not at all.”
Xie Xinyue took a step back, her face filled with disappointment.
Chang An continued, “But the Marquis said: ‘Yiniang has worked hard today accompanying the Madam. Tonight’s meals will be restored! All the maids are rewarded with two taels of silver! As for tomorrow, it depends on how the Madam behaves.'”
With that, Chang An left.
Not long after, the Marquis’s accountant arrived.
He gathered all the maids who had played with Lin Yu’er and distributed the reward silver in public.
The maids were overjoyed, saying they never expected to get paid for playing in the mud all afternoon. Even Cuihu and Wanqing received rewards.
Xie Xinyue snorted coldly, turned around, and went inside to sulk.
Cuihu put away her silver and followed her in. “Yiniang, you shouldn’t be angry now. The Marquis praised you! He rarely rewards servants personally. Giving rewards to the maids of Bibo Pavilion today was also to show support for you!”
Xie Xinyue sat back on the stool, sullen. “Do I need his support?! I want my confinement lifted! Lifted!! And my meals restored!!”
Cuihu said, “From what I gathered from Chang An, it seems that as long as we accompany and play with the Madam, making her happy, there’s hope for lifting the confinement!”
Wanqing had just brought over scented balm to moisturize Xie Xinyue’s hands. Looking at her pale fingertips, she felt a pang of heartache.
“Why must our Yiniang coax and play in the mud with her? Yiniang’s carefully maintained nails are all scratched. Look, this nail on her index finger seems to have broken!”
Cuihu raised an eyebrow. “But I saw Yiniang having a great time too. She was the first to throw a mud ball at the back wall! After she ran out of mud balls, she snatched several of mine. I worked so hard to roll them and barely got to play with any before Yiniang took them all.”
Xie Xinyue’s face flushed slightly with guilt, her eyes darting. “It was only because Wanqing took mine that I took yours!”
Wanqing’s eyes widened. “This servant did not! From start to finish, I only threw seven—”
“Silence!”
Before she could finish, Xie Xinyue ordered her to be quiet.
Cuihu’s gaze swept over the two of them but she didn’t expose anything.
That evening, when Xie Xinyue tasted the perfectly cooked and fragrant meal, she finally stopped being stubborn.
Only when lying in bed did she mumble to Cuihu: “Remember to invite Madam over tomorrow, tell her I still want her to teach me… playing with mud.”
The next day, Wanqing who had gone to Crabapple Courtyard delivered gifts again.
Lin Yu’er came over carrying her bowl, continuing to play with mud after finishing her meal.
In the evening, Bibo Pavilion received another round of rewards, and Xie Xinyue once again got the standard meals for a concubine.
Having played to her heart’s content during the day with rosy cheeks, and eaten until full in the evening, Xie Xinyue opened her eyes after Cuihu covered her with the quilt and withdrew.
She stared at the bed curtains for a long time.
Then she recalled how Lin Yu’er had slipped during the day, planting her face right into a mud ball; after getting up, the mud ball bore an imprint of facial features identical to Lin Yu’er’s. She suddenly burst out laughing.
Lin Yu’er, covered in mud, wobbled as she got up. Looking at the face she’d imprinted on the ground with some alarm, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Momma, Momma! My face fell off! I have no face anymore!”
Later, no one knew how Zhang Momo managed to persuade her, but Lin Yu’er instantly became cheerful and extremely proud.
“So this is the power of my perfected Demonic power!”
“Just like cicadas shedding their skin! Snakes shed their skin too! When little snakes become flood dragons, they shed their skin!”
“Every evolution requires shedding skin! I’ve cultivated for ten thousand years, separated from my physical body nine thousand times without completing a single shedding. Let me add – it’s not that I’m not powerful, but my immortal roots, demonic bones, and Buddha body are too strong, making shedding too difficult! But this time I finally shed a face! You all don’t need to worship me too much!”
The maids listened to her nonsense while looking at her muddy face, stifling their laughter until their faces turned red. Some even dropped mud packages to cover their laughter.
Thinking of that scene, the smile on Xie Xinyue’s lips widened: “Madam is really so adorable!”
A few seconds later, her smile vanished.
“Am I bewitched? What am I grinning foolishly about? Sleep, sleep!”
…
Several days passed like this.
On this day, Wanqing went to invite Lin Yu’er but didn’t return even after waiting for a long time.
Xie Xinyue decided to make a few mud balls first, lest she be outperformed by Lin Yu’er again later. While mixing the dug-up soil with water, footsteps sounded behind her.
Several maids stood up to pay respects, but froze when they saw the visitor.
Cuihu sensed something wrong and turned to look, also surprised. She was about to warn her mistress when a sharp voice rang out.
“Xie Xinyue, I wrote you several letters arranging meetings but you never showed up, and it turns out you’re here playing with mud?!!!!”
Xie Xinyue turned around, her body freezing.
“Eldest cousin?”
“How did you get here?!”
Xie Zhiqiu stepped forward and slapped Xie Xinyue across the face.
“Don’t forget you’re a daughter of the Xie family! How dare you play with such things? If this gets out, it would bring shame to the Xie family! And what exactly have you been doing? How is it that the Marquis still hasn’t divorced that madwoman Lin Yu’er?!”
Xie Xinyue covered her face, her body trembling instinctively at the sight of Xie Zhiqiu standing before her.
“I’m asking you questions! Are you deaf? Or do you think just because you married into the Marquis’s household, I can’t do anything to you?” Xie Zhiqiu said furiously.
Cuihu quickly stepped in front of her mistress.
“You lowly slave! Get out of my way! Or I’ll hit you too!”
Cuihu didn’t move.
Xie Zhiqiu sneered repeatedly.
“Attack, all together!” She ordered her maids to step forward and strike, and within moments, Cuihu’s face was swollen from the slaps.
The maids in the courtyard looked anxious, frequently glancing beyond the yard.
Seeing this, Xie Zhiqiu sneered coldly: “What are you looking at? Still waiting for the Marquis to save you? I’ve heard that the Marquis has been summoned to the palace and won’t return until after dark! I also know you’re under confinement, which shows the Marquis has no fondness for you!”
“What good are your skills in poetry, song, and verse? What use is your ability to make incense and brew tea? No one will stand up for you! Not even your parents!”
Seeing Xie Xinyue’s stifled expression, Xie Zhiqiu’s mood immediately lifted.
She glanced at the barren flowerbed in the courtyard, curled her lips in disdain, and continued: “If I beat you, so what? Who dares to say anything against me?”
Just then, a flying shoe suddenly struck the back of her head.
The blow made Xie Zhiqiu’s vision darken.
“Who did that?!”
“Your grandaunt’s grandaunt’s grandaunt, your ancestor’s ancestor’s ancient ancestor… me!”
Lin Yu’er stood heroically at the entrance like a savior, the second shoe she had just taken off whizzing through the air again: “Bullying my dear friend… hmm, my mud-pie pal, I’ll beat you to death!”
Xie Zhiqiu saw the incoming shoe and tried to dodge once more.
But the shoe cunningly changed trajectory after being blocked by a maid and still hit Xie Zhiqiu squarely in the face.
With inexplicable force, a red shoe print instantly appeared on Xie Zhiqiu’s face, leaving her dazed.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu’er pattered barefoot over to Xie Xinyue, circling around her.
“Little pouty weakling, are you stupid? Why didn’t you fight back when she hit you? Look, your shoes have heels—they’ll hurt when thrown! Quick, take them off, I’ll pelt her! I never miss when I throw!”
Seeing Lin Yu’er’s mischievous, darting eyes, Xie Xinyue’s trembling body, once filled with fear, seemed infused with warmth, and her heart no longer felt afraid.
“Okay.” She took off her shoes.
Lin Yu’er gathered them into her arms in one swift motion, then shot sharp glances at Cuihu, Wanqing, and the other maids:
“You all take yours off too!”
“Lin Yu’er, what are you doing?! You’re the mistress of the Marquis’ household, how can you be so shameless, you madwoman! Y-you’re not really going to throw them at me, are you?!” Under Xie Zhiqiu’s disbelieving gaze, all the maids’ shoes were piled together.
And with a mischievous grin, Lin Yu’er grabbed a shoe and hurled it straight at her—