Qing Luo waited for two days and Attendant Chen didn’t come to trouble her, but her heart was still unsettled, a string pulled taut, just waiting to see when it would snap.
After a refreshing beauty nap in the afternoon, and applying cucumber slices to her face, Qing Luo felt her skin condition had improved significantly.
Just as she was admiring her beauty in the mirror, Qing Luo suddenly heard a commotion outside.
“Zhu Lan, what’s happening outside? Who’s making all that noise?”
The weather was already hot, and with people shouting, it made one feel irritable.
“Little Master, it’s Xin Lan who’s back. She’s currently kneeling outside begging for forgiveness.” Zhu Lan walked in at the sound, her tone very unpleasant, and her face sullen.
Who is Xin Lan?
Qing Luo felt the name sounded familiar, but couldn’t recall where she had heard it.
[host, Xin Lan is one of the palace maids assigned to the Original Owner, along with Zhu Lan.]
With the good pregnancy system’s reminder, Qing Luo remembered who Xin Lan was.
Didn’t she go to serve Attendant Chen?
Qing Luo wondered, what’s this act now?
Couldn’t she stay with Attendant Chen and now wants to come back?
When she went out, she indeed saw a palace maid in green kneeling on the ground, covering her face with her hands, sobbing.
As soon as she saw Qing Luo, Xin Lan pounced on her, grabbing her hand and wailing, “Little Master, I can finally come back to serve you.”
Zhu Lan sneered, “Oh, so now that the Little Master is rising, you’re rushing back to climb the high branch. Who was it back then who couldn’t wait to escape the misery of the East Courtyard? Now that you’ve finally escaped the sea of suffering, you shouldn’t look back. As the saying goes, a good horse doesn’t go back to the grass it has eaten from and abandoned (return to the grass), and a tiger doesn’t eat the same food (return to the food).”
Xin Lan bit her lip and sobbed, “I had my difficulties back then, Sister Zhu Lan. Attendant Chen’s methods are truly formidable, I dared not disobey her. Moreover, Little Master didn’t keep me either, so I had no choice but to go serve Attendant Chen.”
She made it sound as if she was forced to serve Attendant Chen back then.
Zhu Lan was so angry her nose was almost crooked.
She pointed at Xin Lan and shouted loudly, “Is that so? Who was it who ran to the South Courtyard every other day to curry favor? And who was it who was overjoyed when leaving, vowing never to regret and never to look back? How dare you blame the Little Master for not keeping you? You can keep her body, but you can’t keep her heart.”
Indeed, Attendant Chen deliberately bullied her, but Xin Lan’s intentions were absolutely not pure; she was unwilling to follow an unloved Little Concubine.
Knowing that Zhu Lan was difficult to deal with, Xin Lan simply ignored her and tearfully complained to Qing Luo, “Little Master, this servant truly couldn’t endure it with Attendant Chen. She never treated this servant as a human being. If anything was slightly displeasing, she would either beat or scold me. Little Master, look, these are all from Attendant Chen’s beatings.”
Xin Lan rolled up her sleeves, revealing scars of various sizes on her arms, some old, some new, evidently from long-term abuse.
The beatings were real.
Seeing this, Qing Luo frowned.
Could she be a violent person who vented her anger by hitting people whenever things didn’t go her way?
“Now that Little Master has gained favor, Attendant Chen finds this servant even more displeasing. I beg Little Master, please let this servant return. This servant guarantees absolute loyalty from now on, never to have second thoughts again. No matter what Little Master’s situation is in the future, I will stay by Little Master’s side.”
Qing Luo said indifferently, “A minister does not serve two masters. Since you went to Attendant Chen, there is no need to return. Serving Attendant Chen diligently is the right thing to do. No master can tolerate such a fickle servant.”
Someone like Xin Lan, who could abandon the Original Owner when she was down and seek better prospects, and now, seeing that Attendant Chen seems to be doing poorly while her former master is rising, immediately abandons her again and wants to return, is absolutely not a loyal person.
She cannot be kept.
A person’s loyalty is never just empty words.
From Zhu Lan’s reaction, it’s clear that keeping Xin Lan would be inviting trouble, a ticking time bomb.
A disloyal maid might betray her again at any time, colluding with outsiders to scheme against her until nothing is left.
She wasn’t smart enough, but she wasn’t so foolish as to let others scheme against her.
Xin Lan kowtowed repeatedly, her forehead bleeding, “Little Master, this servant truly had no choice back then. Didn’t you also have to act according to Attendant Chen’s mood at that time? This servant is just a lowly palace maid, how could I afford to offend Attendant Chen?”
“So that’s your reason for betrayal?”
Qing Luo was almost amused by her.
Then why did Zhu Lan remain loyal and not betray her?
Ultimately, it was Xin Lan’s own problem.
If you want to climb higher, you must be prepared to fall one day.
“You can betray once, and you can betray a second time. Why do you think I would still keep you?”
“Little Master, this servant truly did not betray you, never. This servant merely helped the palace maids on Attendant Chen’s side with a few small tasks, and later Attendant Chen insisted on having this servant sent over.” Xin Lan stubbornly denied betrayal.
“Oh, if you’re so good at serving, why were you driven back now? Continue serving your Attendant Chen. The Little Master here has me, and that’s enough.”
Zhu Lan wouldn’t indulge Xin Lan.
She was determined to make the Little Master see Xin Lan’s true colors today.
Back then, the Little Master was misled, thinking she was incompetent, unable to keep a palace maid who served her, and felt very guilty and sad about it.
Who knew that Xin Lan had long been ‘in Cao’s camp but with Han’s heart’?
Now Xin Lan wants to come back and serve the Little Master, she can dream on.
“You should return to Attendant Chen. I am not that precious; one Zhu Lan is enough, and Zhu Lan is very good and capable; she serves me very well.” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
After Qing Luo finished speaking, she turned and went back into the room.
Out of sight, out of mind.
“Little Master, please have mercy and keep this servant. Forgive this servant for being temporarily muddle-headed and doing something that wronged Little Master…”
Qing Luo didn’t hear the rest because Xiao Guizi and Zhu Lan together dragged Xin Lan out.
Because of Xin Lan’s stunt, Qing Luo’s mood remained quite bad afterward.
Night deepened, and it was time for Qing Luo to sleep.
“Is she still there? Hasn’t she left?”
Zhu Lan nodded, “She’s still kneeling outside. Little Master, don’t mind her. She’s using a trick to gain sympathy, just waiting for you to soften. Little Master, you absolutely must not fall for it.”
Qing Luo sighed, thinking that Xin Lan was truly persistent, kneeling from afternoon until evening, for several hours.
Even if it was a trick, she was really putting in effort.
If it were her, she definitely couldn’t endure kneeling for so long.
It wasn’t right to let Xin Lan keep kneeling.
Nominally, she was still her palace maid.
Those unaware of the inside story might think she was mistreating her subordinates.
Reputation, in this era, was quite important and needed to be considered.
“System, can you think of a way? Can you give me a suggestion on how to send her away?”
[Sending her away is unlikely, host. You yourself know that Xin Lan was assigned to you by the Imperial Household Department. Even if she served Attendant Chen for a year, it doesn’t change the fact that you are her nominal master.]
“You don’t have a solution either?”
Qing Luo was a little disappointed.
[If you can’t drive her away, then keep her. host, I have a good item here that will guarantee you can control this Xin Lan. Even if she has any ill intentions, you won’t need to be afraid.]
The good pregnancy system’s tone was full of confidence.
Hearing this, Qing Luo’s eyes lit up,
“What good item? Quickly, take it out.”
As long as she could control Xin Lan as the good pregnancy system said, keeping Xin Lan by her side wouldn’t be a problem.
What she feared was Xin Lan being insincere, outwardly acknowledging her as her master but secretly serving another.