Bai Kou and Bai Wei looked at her with a mix of emotion and admiration. In the past, their mistress was the most selfish person; as long as she was well, she never cared whether others lived or died. Even for them, her dowry maids, she would often vent her frustrations on them at the slightest provocation. One of them had even been forced to become a concubine for the Young Master and was nearly beaten to death by the mistress, while the other had desperately found a way to serve the Second Mistress just to escape her temper. However, the mistress had been relatively kind to the two of them, simply because they were usually quite clever and truly loyal to her.
Although the current mistress was not the same person as before, she had earned even more of their loyalty and respect. It was because she was not only unselfish but also possessed a heart for the world. What other woman could compare to such compassion and breadth of mind? Bai Kou and Bai Wei were so moved that tears were almost streaming down their faces, but then they saw Xia Qingyu pull a large steamed bun from her pack. She chuckled and said, "Jiangnan is a prosperous land. Although it is suffering from a disaster now, there will surely still be many wealthy families and landlords. When the time comes, I can treat illnesses and prevent epidemics while also making money—isn't that great? If I run into any corrupt and unscrupulous rich, I can fleece them for all they're worth. Ho ho ho..."
Bai Kou and Bai Wei's tears vanished instantly, and the surging emotion and admiration in their hearts cooled down. But on second thought, the mistress was right. Did they have the capital to just be do-gooders? If they didn't make money, would the three of them just drink the north wind? Besides, it would be very easy to burn through eight hundred taels of silver, wouldn't it?
Xia Qingyu gnawed on her steamed bun with some tea, while the people in the pavilion behind her also took out their dry rations to eat. Although it was spring, the sun was bright and dazzling. Fortunately, it had rained a few days ago, so the ground was still slightly damp and did not feel too dry.
Just as she was halfway through her steamed bun, the sound of horse hooves came galloping toward them. Before long, two horses passed the pavilion and stopped at the tea stall ahead. Two soldiers jumped off their horses, shouting for the owner to quickly bring them two bowls of tea, while simultaneously pulling oil cakes from their tunics and wolfing them down.
"Take it easy, officers, watch out for choking," the old man selling tea said with a kind expression. Seeing the two young soldiers eating so hurriedly, he couldn't help but offer a reminder.
One of the soldiers had a round face that looked quite likable. Hearing the old man's words, he couldn't help but laugh. "Take it easy? How can we afford to do that? We need to hurry to Jiangnan to announce the news of the disaster relief and settle the hearts of the common people."
The other soldier glanced toward the pavilion, then turned back and said loudly, "Heh, the old man doesn't know yet, right? The Emperor has appointed the Heir of the Marquis's Estate, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Lord Lu, as the Imperial Envoy to go to Jiangnan for disaster relief. You know Lord Lu, right? He is a very capable official..."
Xia Qingyu could no longer hear what the soldier said next. She remained frozen, holding half a steamed bun in one hand and a bowl of tea in the other, with a piece of bun stuffed in her mouth, staring blankly at the soldier chatting with the tea stall owner. This bizarre posture made her look like a sculpture with a strong postmodern artistic vibe.
Bai Kou and Bai Wei were also stunned, but they quickly came to their senses. Looking to the side, they thought: Oh no, is the mistress choking to death? Terrified, they grabbed Xia Qingyu's arms and began patting her back with their other hands in a concerted effort. Caught off guard, the piece of bun in Xia Qingyu's mouth was knocked right out.
"Cough, cough, cough... What are you doing? Are you trying to murder me?" Xia Qingyu finally came to her senses. Seeing Bai Kou and Bai Wei stop, they explained with a look of grievance, "No, Mistress, we thought you... you heard the news and were choking."
"If I were choking, the bun should be in my throat, not in my mouth," Xia Qingyu rolled her eyes. She finished the tea in one gulp, set the bowl on the ground, and then rested her chin on her hand, looking distressed. "This... this is truly a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road. I originally planned to go to Jiangnan just to avoid him. Who knew Jiangnan would have a flood? That's fine, I can't control the heavens or the Dragon King. But why does the disaster relief Imperial Envoy have to be him? Hmm, what did that soldier say his title was? Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices? Does that official handle disaster relief?"
"Disaster relief Imperial Envoys are appointed by the Emperor's special decree; they aren't necessarily any specific type of official, but there is no doubt they are always the officials the Emperor trusts most," Bai Kou and Bai Wei had grown up in a family of officials, so they were better at this than Xia Qingyu, who had been completely clueless since arriving in ancient times.
"Sigh! What should I do? Should we not go to Jiangnan and go to the northern frontier instead? Or the Western Regions? Hmm, I wonder if Liaodong has developed yet. If it's still just Jurchen tribes, then forget it."
"Mistress," Bai Kou glanced at her sideways. "Just a moment ago, you said the Jiangnan commoners needed talents like you. Are you going to give up halfway now just because the Young Master is going there too?"
"Hmm, you're right," Xia Qingyu slapped her thigh. "He's going for disaster relief, and I'm going for epidemic prevention. He walks his broad road, and I walk my single-plank bridge. We are each going our own way; why should I care about him? Besides, Jiangnan is so big, I don't believe my luck is so bad that I'll run into him again. And the Imperial Envoy must be very busy every day, right? He shouldn't have the leisure to travel incognito, right? Yeah, yeah, as long as he stays at the Imperial Envoy's headquarters, I won't have any chance to run into him."
"Mistress, that's hard to say. The Young Master has always been very hands-on with his work. How could he not inspect the public sentiment during this disaster relief?" Bai Kou and Bai Wei's words shattered Xia Qingyu's snail-like fantasy. She was silent for a long while before slapping her thigh heavily again. "Hmph! Whatever, let it be. I still have the Letter of Divorce in my hand, what am I afraid of?"
"Mistress, you certainly don't need to be afraid. We understand the Young Master's temperament somewhat; he probably hates you to the bone right now. He loves children the most and has always wanted one of his own, but he hasn't been able to get his wish. It was so hard for Concubine Zhen to finally be found pregnant a few days ago, and then... sigh! Although we know you were framed, the Young Master doesn't know that. He must hate you so much right now. Even if you saved the Old Madam, he wouldn't look at you differently. The fact that he chased after us last time was likely the Old Madam's doing, forcing him to come."
"Oh, is that so? That's even better," Xia Qingyu finally felt completely at ease. After thinking for a moment, she frowned at the two maids. "Tell me, can you stop calling me 'Mistress' from now on? I... I've already been divorced, so what kind of mistress am I? Can't you just call me 'Sister'?"
The two maids looked at each other and then shook their heads in unison. "That... how can that be? There is a hierarchy between master and servant..."
Before they could finish, Xia Qingyu waved her hand. "I don't care about that."
"But we care," the fact that Bai Wei and Bai Kou spoke in unison made Xia Qingyu roll her eyes. She secretly thought that the feudal dregs of ancient times were truly a potent drug poisoning the youth. Look at these two girls; they were already twenty, yet they were still so stubborn, refusing to be good sisters and insisting on being servants.
"We can't afford to care about that now. If we get to Jiangnan and people hear you calling me 'Mistress' while I have no man by my side, what if everyone thinks I'm a widow? If that gets to the Young Marquis's ears, don't you think he'll take his anger out on me? That's a blatant curse. Besides, since you treat me as your master, shouldn't you listen to me? Why are you making excuses now that I've only made one request..."
Xia Qingyu tried to persuade them earnestly. She realized that to change these two girls, she had to fight fire with fire and use feudal dregs to deal with feudal dregs. Sure enough, this left the two girls with nothing to say. They just stared at each other, seemingly at a loss for what to do.
"Then it's happily decided. From now on, call me 'Sister'," seeing them looking dazed, Xia Qingyu clapped her hands and struck while the iron was hot to settle the matter.
"Mistress..." as soon as Bai Wei spoke, she was glared at. She was not afraid at all, however, and said with a smile, "Where did you get such strange ideas, Mistress? What kind of curse is that? How could there be such a saying? Please don't let your imagination run wild. You are our mistress, and we are your servants. This hierarchy must never be disrupted."
"What? There's no such saying?" Xia Qingyu realized her imagination might have run a bit too wild. She was stunned for a moment before waving her hand powerlessly, thinking to herself that these two girls looked clever, so why were they so stubborn? Refusing to be good sisters and insisting on being servants. Forget it, whatever. Even a thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant's nest; she didn't believe she couldn't change these two girls with deep-seated servility through subtle influence. She would take it one step at a time; who was afraid of whom?
Thinking of this, she finished the rest of the steamed bun in a few bites. For Xia Qingyu, not having delicious dishes to go with it was a bit painful, which was why the steamed bun was always inferior to a stuffed bun in her mind. However, for someone like her who had been divorced the moment she arrived, this little setback wasn't worth worrying about. A flood in Jiangnan—she didn't know how much suffering she would have to endure on this journey, so how could she afford to haggle over trifles?
"Alright, are you full? If you're full, let's hit the road," Xia Qingyu stood up and looked at Bai Kou and Bai Wei, seeing the two girls wiping the bun crumbs from the corners of their mouths with their hands. She smiled slightly, thinking that was good. When it came to saving lives, time was of the essence. Since they were following her, they should be swift and decisive. They were clever and would surely be her good helpers in the future. As long as she could change those so-called elegant and dignified rules of the big families, that would be a great improvement. Just look at them now; under her influence, they didn't even use handkerchiefs to wipe their mouths slowly when they were in a hurry. So, the power of a role model was truly infinite.
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Awoo! Continuing to ask for recommendation tickets and collections! If you have recommendation tickets, don't forget to cast them! And now, marching toward five hundred collections, awoo!
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