Li Xiao watched Yu Luo with great interest.
She was holding the whip incorrectly.
Eldest Miss Yu had whipped people since childhood, and she wielded a long whip with extraordinary skill.
If she had lashed it down, the old woman kneeling on the ground would already have had her skin split and flesh torn open.
Yu Luo’s grip on the whip was light, and the motion of striking down was also light. The old woman who had been whipped by her only suffered a minor flesh wound, without even drawing blood.
Yu Luo came out from inside and pretended not to care that Li Xiao was there. She spoke indifferently, asking him, “Why are you here?”
“The Eldest Young Master has something to discuss and asks Miss to go over.”
Yu Luo frowned.
Why was Yu Yuan looking for her?
Could it be because of Liu Yanran?
Yu Luo nodded. “I understand.”
She did not go over directly. Instead, she asked Bitong to go and inquire about the situation while she returned to her residence with Ziming first.
As Yu Luo’s guard, Li Xiao naturally followed behind her.
On the surface, Yu Luo appeared calm, but in truth she was crying inside.
What virtue or ability did she have to let the only big boss in the book act as her little follower?
When he saw her use the whip earlier, the boss had probably recalled past grievances again and was already thinking about how to kill her.
In order to reduce the male lead’s hatred toward her, Yu Luo quietly asked about his treatment.
“Where do you live? How many people share the room? And how much salary do you receive each month?”
“I live beside the horse stable, four people share one room, and the monthly pay is one tael of silver.”
Yu Luo: “…”
Miserable. Miserable. Truly too miserable.
The dignified male lead received only one tael of silver a month and had to live in a four-person dormitory next to a filthy horse stable. No matter inside or outside the book, such treatment was unbearably pitiful.
No wonder that after the male lead rose to power in the future, he held such deep prejudice against the Yu Family Residence and even wanted to destroy the entire household.
But how could the people of the Yu Family Residence have imagined that the Heir of Prince Qin would hide his identity and come to their residence, pretending to be weak while secretly biding his time? No one would ever have figured out such a move.
Yu Luo complained silently in her heart.
But on the surface she still maintained the proper bearing of the Eldest Miss.
“The horse stable is so far from Jishui Courtyard. If a thief broke into the house and something happened to me, how could you come rescue me in the fastest time?”
Ziming secretly glanced at Yu Luo.
She thought Yu Luo’s next sentence would surely be, “You should sleep outside the courtyard from now on.”
Unexpectedly, Yu Luo said, “It just so happens that there are empty servant rooms at Xiuya Pavilion. It’s closer to here. You can live there from now on.”
Xiuya Pavilion was the library pavilion of the Yu Family Residence. Normally there were not many people there. The environment was good and it was spacious, and there were indeed several servant rooms.
Ever since Uncle Liu, who had guarded the library pavilion, passed away, rumors said the pavilion was haunted, so no one guarded it anymore.
Why Yu Luo knew this so clearly—because in the original novel, Liu Yanran and Yu Che had secretly had an affair there while no one was around, and the male lead had discovered them.
At that time the male lead had watched a good show. Although he personally had no comment, the readers in that chapter had been very enthusiastic, shouting for the author to include the seemingly cold but wild-in-bed Biao Xiaojie into the male lead’s harem.
Ziming trembled a little. “Eldest Miss, I heard Xiuya Pavilion is haunted…”
Yu Luo felt a bit speechless.
Would Brother Xiao be someone who feared ghosts?
In the world setting of the novel The Path of the Tyrant, even if ghosts appeared, they would still have to submit to the male lead’s domineering aura.
Yu Luo imitated Eldest Miss Yu’s tone.
“Haunted? That’s perfect. Let him go there. This young lady loves watching people fight ghosts.”
Ziming had originally felt that Yu Luo had been acting strangely these past two days. After hearing such vicious words, the suspicion in her heart instantly vanished—sure enough, this was still their Eldest Miss.
Yu Luo herself was actually very afraid of ghosts. She was even afraid to walk alone in the dark at night.
Only the male lead, who possessed all kinds of protagonist halos, did not have to worry about his safety.
As for raising his salary…
Eldest Miss Yu only received twenty taels of silver per month as allowance, so of course she could not increase the male lead’s pay.
Whether it was one tael or ten taels of silver per month, it probably made little difference to the male lead anyway.
Although the male lead had hidden himself in poverty within the Yu Family Residence, he himself was not someone who lacked money.
Thinking of this, Yu Luo sighed.
The truly poor and powerless little pitiful person was herself.
The life of a noble young lady in ancient times was not as good as that of a modern-day daughter of the richest family.
The only person who truly stood at the top and enjoyed everything was the male lead who would eventually obtain the entire world.
Yu Luo could not help but glance resentfully at Li Xiao.
Then her gaze met the boss’s eyes.
Yu Luo’s mind went blank.
Was Brother Xiao sizing her up because he was planning the hundred and one ways to kill her?
Li Xiao curled his lips slightly. “Many thanks for Eldest Miss’s grace.”
Yu Luo: “…”
No, no, no. There was no need to thank her. She truly could not bear such gratitude from the boss. It would already be good enough if he did not kill her in the future.
Though countless thoughts played in her mind, she could not let her outward persona collapse.
Yu Luo nodded lightly and said nothing more, leading the maids back to Jishui Courtyard.
She had just sat down and taken a few sips of water, not yet having rested, when Bitong arrived.
Bitong had likely run all the way there. She was sweating heavily, and beads of sweat kept falling from her forehead and cheeks.
Seeing her like that, Yu Luo could not help beckoning her over.
Bitong thought she had returned too late again and had angered the Eldest Miss. Trembling with fear, she stepped forward, waiting for the Eldest Miss to slap her as usual.
The expected slap did not fall on her face.
Yu Luo pulled out the handkerchief from her sleeve and gently wiped the sweat from Bitong’s forehead.
“Why run like this? In the future, just take things slowly when doing tasks.”
Bitong was startled. Looking at Yu Luo so close before her, that face was truly enchanting. Even though Bitong was just a maid, she felt somewhat unable to remain calm.
Her face turned red, and she quickly straightened her posture. “Thank you for Eldest Miss’s concern.”
Yu Luo felt that she had broken her persona again.
She tossed the handkerchief to Bitong and stiffened her expression, putting on a cold look.
“What did you find out?”
“Biao Xiaojie started crying as soon as she left Madam’s place. She ran into Eldest Young Master on the road, and no one knows what they said, but Eldest Young Master brought her to his residence,” Bitong said quietly. “Right now, Eldest Young Master firmly believes that you offended Biao Xiaojie again, so he has summoned you to go over and apologize to Biao Xiaojie.”
Yu Luo: “???”
Those foolish, straight-minded men were not like Madam Yu, the gentle mother who favored Yu Luo.
Yu Luo was not about to voluntarily present her face for them to slap.
No matter what Yu Yuan and Yu Che thought, Yu Luo did not want to deal with them.
The former Eldest Miss Yu had been willing to please those two brothers who favored outsiders, but Yu Luo was not.
Yu Luo said, “It wasn’t my fault. Why should I go over?”
Bitong quickly echoed, “Exactly. It wasn’t your fault. You can just explain it to the two young masters.”
Yu Luo knew that even if she had the reason on her side, those two would still favor Liu Yanran.
“There’s no need to explain. Just say I’m unwell and unable to go out.”