But she had been sold into the estate, having signed a lifetime contract. Without her master’s grace, she would remain a slave-servant in the Marquis’s Estate for the rest of her life.
Now that she had lost her virtue, it would likely be impossible for her to marry into a respectable family in the future. And even if she did find one, if her fate turned out like those half-true, half-false storybooks, she might as well follow the Heir.
The Heir came from a distinguished family with a promising future, and he had never treated her harshly. Becoming his concubine in the future wouldn’t be a loss—at least she would be half a mistress.
Only, the Heir had died suddenly…
No, no, no. That was just a dream.
Fake!
Youli refused to believe it from the bottom of her heart.
“What? Unwilling?” Seeing her unresponsive for so long, the Heir said with displeasure.
“No, this slave-servant thanks the Heir for his favor. From now on, I will serve you with all my heart and strength.” Youli knew how to read people’s expressions, and she immediately spoke softly and gently.
“Hm.” The Heir was fairly satisfied with this answer.
And so, Youli became the Heir of the Yongan Marquis’s bedchamber maid.
She attended the Heir as he bathed and changed, then dutifully tidied up the bed. Since it was still early, the Heir lay back down to rest a while longer.
Youli then withdrew from the bedchamber and returned to her own side room to rest.
By then, the sky was just beginning to lighten with the pale white of dawn, and all around was quiet. The moment she stepped out, her legs trembled uncontrollably.
That place was terribly uncomfortable!
Thinking that as a bedchamber maid she would have to do such bedchamber things in the future, Youli truly wanted to shave her head and become a nun on the spot.
She wasn’t just thinking idly.
If the Heir kept this up, she might really petition to become a nun at the Family Ancestral Temple, ostensibly to pray for blessings on the Heir’s behalf.
Back in the side room, she collapsed onto the bed and fell dead asleep, unaware of when someone knocked on the door.
Youli opened the door in a daze and saw a lady in green.
The moment the Lady in Green saw Youli, she hurried inside and whispered, “Did you know? Last night, the Heir ordered Hong Tao to receive twenty strokes of the paddle. She was beaten bloody—right now she’s nearly dead…”
Youli was shocked and hurriedly asked, “Why?”
The girl before her was named Lv Liu.
In fact, three girls had been arranged around the Heir, all candidates for bedchamber maids, meant to teach the Heir the ways of the world before his marriage.
Besides Youli, there were Lv Liu and Hong Tao.
Lv Liu was seductive and charming, Hong Tao was an attentive, understanding confidante, and Youli… was just there to make up the numbers.
Although Youli was lovely, with picturesque features and skin fairer than snow, she had no interest in competing with them. She usually quietly handled the Heir’s embroidery work, so she had little presence.
Meanwhile, Lv Liu and Hong Tao went to great lengths to make themselves noticed before the Heir. But the Heir was normally attended only by his long attendant and pages, so Lv Liu and Hong Tao could hardly get close to him and could only serve in the outer courtyard, waiting for an opportunity.
Lv Liu considered herself eloquent and curvaceous in all the right places, and had always regarded Hong Tao as her greatest rival.
As for Youli, to outsiders she seemed a bit slow, not very clever, and lacking any ambition.
For instance, when the Heir grew tired of studying, he would assign the prospective bedchamber maids the task of practicing calligraphy to pass the time. Lv Liu and Hong Tao strove with all their might to impress, yet Youli was the only one whose palms were struck with the ruler.
For instance, when told to recite two classical poems, Lv Liu and Hong Tao recited in melodious voices—they could even sing intoxicating little tunes to please the Heir, truly the ceiling of the maidservant world. Only Youli stumbled through her two poems and was kept behind to copy them out as punishment…
Because of this, Lv Liu and Hong Tao had secretly mocked her plenty of times.
With so many things like this, it was only natural that Youli was easily overlooked, and others couldn’t be bothered to target her.
But ever since three days ago, when the quiet, tight-lipped Youli was exceptionally promoted to First-Class Maid by the Heir, Lv Liu and Hong Tao could no longer sit still.
They had never imagined that they, the most competitive candidates, would lose to an immature, foolish girl.
They simply couldn’t understand it!
The three of them had originally shared a room, sleeping on a shared kang bed, but with Youli’s rise in status, she had moved into the Side Room next to the main chamber, and even got to keep night watch in the Heir’s room. Lv Liu and Hong Tao were green with envy—this was nothing short of a humiliating disgrace to them.
The two blamed each other, sneered at each other, and in their fury, came to blows in the room. In a moment of carelessness, Lv Liu’s head struck the floor, and her body was taken over by a transmigrator.
That’s right—the Lv Liu standing before Youli now was Lv Liu with a new soul inside.
The transmigrated Lv Liu wanted to teach Hong Tao a good lesson, so she schemed to send Hong Tao to her death.
And Hong Tao indeed did not disappoint her. Just last night, Hong Tao was dragged out and caned.
Youli, still unaware of the truth, hurriedly asked what had happened.
Lv Liu said, “What else could it be? Hong Tao deliberately tried to seduce the Heir in the middle of the night, and even drugged him with an aphrodisiac. The Heir was furious and punished her.”
The aphrodisiac had originally been secretly purchased by Lv Liu through an intermediary, and she had deliberately let the information slip to Hong Tao, who then stole it to seduce the Heir.
Through the original owner’s memories, Lv Liu knew that the Heir was aloof and proud, and despised self-important people above all. He could not tolerate anyone scheming in front of him. Once discovered by the Heir, the lightest punishment was a caning, and the worst was being sold off. So no matter whether Hong Tao succeeded or not, there was only one outcome for her.
Youli pressed a hand to her chest, her expression not looking good.
The Heir… what exactly were his tastes?
When someone tried to seduce him, he ignored them.
She hadn’t even tried to seduce him, yet he threw himself at her, kissing and pawing all over her.
Youli felt utterly wronged.
Lv Liu carefully observed Youli’s expression, her lips curling slightly.
Before transmigrating, she had spent a fortune attending a Socialite Training Academy. After graduating, she built a fake socialite persona online and attracted countless fans—partly to make money, and naturally, partly to hook rich men.
She had already locked onto a super-rich second-generation heir. Although he was already married, anything she set her sights on, she had no reason to let go.
But who knew that on their way to a date in a luxury car, they would get into a car accident, and when she opened her eyes again, she was here…
Well, here was here!
Her determination to climb upward would never stop.
What were those frivolous rich boys compared to the status of the Yongan Marquis’s Heir? Besides, this Heir was highly capable in his own right, and his looks were top-tier.
She absolutely had to win him over!
Fate had been unkind, dropping her into hell mode as a slave-servant the moment she arrived. So she would climb, step by step, all the way to the top—and no one would stand in her way.
Now that Hong Tao had been eliminated, this Youli before her, if she couldn’t be used, would also have to be eliminated.
First, let’s see how this foolish girl behaves!
If she performed well, then once Lv Liu successfully rose to her position, she would let this girl serve her—considering it the height of mercy.
So Lv Liu said, “You’re serving at the Heir’s side now only because you’re honest and simple. But if you ever get any ideas you shouldn’t have, Hong Tao’s fate will be your future…”
Youli pressed down the corner of her mouth.
She had no desire to argue with her.
Because she was slow and not clever—that had always been the impression she gave people.
She truly didn’t want to stand out and become a thorn in someone’s side, with people coming to make trouble for her day after day.
For a maidservant, if she constantly bickered and fought with the other maids, in the eyes of the masters they were all equally troublesome. No one would bother asking for reasons—they would simply punish everyone together. So all these years, Youli had lived very cautiously, trying to get along with everyone.
That was why her reputation in the Marquis’s Estate was quite good. Perhaps it was precisely because of this emotional intelligence that the Heir, choosing among the three of them, picked her—the one with the least remarkable personality.
Lv Liu was still daydreaming pleasantly when someone knocked at the door.
It turned out to be Yanyun, the Heir’s personal attendant, who had arrived at the door with a maidservant in tow. “Miss Youli, the Heir has ordered you to move into the West Wing Room. From now on, Qiu Shuang will be at your service.”
“Thank you.” Youli expressed her thanks, and smiling, took the hand of Qiu Shuang, with whom she had always been close, and went off to take a look.
Lv Liu, on hearing this, was utterly bewildered and asked Yanyun, “Why does Youli receive such treatment?”
Even though Youli had become a first-rank maidservant, that was no reason for her to live in the West Wing Room, where the masters were supposed to live!
Had she missed something last night?