Eldest Miss Yu had been a healthy and vigorous beauty, the kind who could hold a whip and beat every servant in the residence.
Yu Luo, however, had been weaker in constitution—a delicate beauty who easily fell ill at the slightest change in wind or grass.
She had caught a slight chill while blowing in the wind on Yanzi Islet, and after returning, her body had been warmer than usual.
Therefore, Yu Luo instructed the servants to prepare hot water. She wanted to take a hot bath.
After bathing and changing her clothes, Yu Luo lazily lay down on the Imperial Noble Consort chair.
In the autumn evening there had still been a bit of lingering heat. A young maid cut some honeydew melon and brought it over. Yu Luo held a small pick and ate the melon piece by piece.
Her hair had not dried yet. What Yu Luo regretted most was that this era did not have hair dryers, yet everyone had to keep long hair.
And hers was especially long—long and thick. Even after wiping it with a cotton towel until there was no moisture left, it still took a long time to dry completely.
Not washing her hair was absolutely impossible.
As someone from outside the book, Yu Luo absolutely would not allow herself to drag around a head of unwashed long hair.
“Open all the windows around the room,” Yu Luo ordered. “The room feels stuffy.”
Bitong hurried to open them. All the windows around the room were opened, and a gentle cool breeze slowly drifted in. The wind here was far softer than the lake breeze on Yanzi Islet.
Ziming asked, “What would Eldest Miss like to eat tonight?”
Yu Luo felt somewhat feverish, and her forehead ached terribly. In truth, she did not have much appetite for food.
“Just a few light dishes and some porridge,” Yu Luo said after thinking for a moment. “And add a plate of tofu skin mixed cold with autumn soy sauce, dried shrimp, and vinegar.”
Her appetite was not good, and she only wanted something cool and refreshing.
Ziming quickly went to pass along the instructions.
Later in the evening, the kitchen sent the meal over. Everything was there—except for the plate of tofu skin Yu Luo had asked for.
Ziming was worried that Yu Luo had not gotten the food she wanted and might vent her anger on them, so she hurried to the kitchen to ask about it.
Madam Zheng, who was responsible for cooking in the kitchen, said, “These past few days the residence has been making less tofu skin to begin with. We didn’t know Eldest Miss wanted it. The only portion we had was just prepared for Eldest Miss, but Biao Xiaojie said she wanted to eat it too. I thought Biao Xiaojie has always been weak and doesn’t like to eat. It’s rare for her to want something, so I had someone send it to her.”
Ziming was so angry her face turned green. “Our Eldest Miss was the one who ordered it, yet you sent it to Biao Xiaojie instead. Are you not putting our Eldest Miss in your eyes?”
Madam Zheng quickly tried to smooth things over. “How about we make something else for Eldest Miss? Zi girl, you get beaten and scolded by Eldest Miss all day anyway. She treats you like that, so why care so much about her affairs? Just find some excuse and brush it off.”
The other older women in the kitchen also chimed in.
“That’s right. Biao Xiaojie has such a good relationship with our young master. In the future she’ll surely marry a young master and become a Noble Madam. She’ll still be our mistress then. Eldest Miss will eventually marry out. A daughter who marries out is like water spilled outside the door. Everyone should weigh which is more important.”
Ziming trembled with anger, pointed a finger at them, then turned around and left.
Under normal circumstances, Ziming would definitely not have told Eldest Miss Yu such words.
Eldest Miss Yu only looked at results and never cared about the process. As long as her requirements were not met, her whip would come down immediately.
But today was different.
Even though she had not gotten the dish she wanted, Yu Luo did not become angry. She simply drank the bowl of millet porridge in front of her slowly and calmly.
Summoning her courage, Ziming told her everything that had just happened.
Bitong’s eyebrows instantly shot up. “How can this be tolerated? They’re clearly looking down on our young lady and lifting that dependent girl up to the heavens! Our courtyard absolutely cannot swallow this insult. If we swallow it, who knows how much grievance we’ll suffer in the future.”
Those servant women were all the kind who stepped on the lowly and bowed to the powerful. Once they sensed weakness, they would seize the chance to bully someone forever.
Yu Luo finished the bowl of porridge and slowly wiped the corner of her lips.
“What do you think we should do?” she asked.
Bitong said, “This servant will take several of the women from our courtyard right now and smash their kitchen to pieces so they’ll never dare do such a thing again!”
Yu Luo thought for a moment and came up with a response that would neither collapse her character setting nor appear too arrogant.
“Let it go for today. I’m not feeling well. We’ll settle this account another day.”
Ziming responded, “Yes.”
Yu Luo knew Liu Yanran had been plotting against her and was simply waiting for her to make a fool of herself.
If she really let these maids go and cause a big disturbance in the kitchen, it would instead fulfill Liu Yanran’s intentions.
Eldest Miss Yu’s character setting was not only domineering and vicious. The most important point was that she was the daughter of the Yu Family Residence, a proper noble young lady. How could she be so unable to keep her composure—losing her dignity over a plate of small dishes and running to the kitchen to quarrel loudly with several servant women?
Since the people in the kitchen were merely servants, it would not be difficult to deal with them later.
Meanwhile, in Qiuxiang Pavilion, Liu Yanran lazily used her chopsticks to stir the dishes on the table, messing up the beautifully arranged food.
Beside her, Cai Die said with schadenfreude, “You’re the real young lady of Yu Family Residence. The tofu skin originally made for that one—I just said you also liked to eat it, and Madam Zheng from the kitchen immediately gave it to me.”
Liu Yanran let out a cold laugh. “It’s only a plate of side dish. Who actually cares about it?”
“Speaking of it, the servants in the residence all treat you as their mistress. They all think you’ll definitely marry Second Young Master in the future,” Cai Die said happily. “When that time comes, you’ll be the second young Noble Madam of Yu Family Residence. Eldest Miss Yu will eventually marry out. Although she’s beautiful, her personality is arrogant and tyrannical. In the future she won’t be able to marry into any good family. No matter what, she won’t be as fortunate as you.”
Only then did Liu Yanran’s expression become satisfied.
When she had first entered Yu Family Residence, Eldest Miss Yu had dressed extravagantly. The food she ate, the things she used, and the clothes she wore were all ten times better than Liu Yanran’s.
At that time, standing in front of Eldest Miss Yu, Liu Yanran had looked just like a rough servant girl.
Now the tides had finally turned. She had at last gained a foothold in Yu Family Residence, and the things she wanted were gradually coming into her possession.
Liu Yanran said, “That fool Yu Luo has never been able to hold her temper. Now that her things have been taken away, she’ll definitely make a big scene in the kitchen and smash the place clean. If she starts causing trouble, hurry and go find Eldest Young Master and Second Young Master. Have their people inform Madam Yu and Lord Marquis.”
The more fiercely Yu Luo made a scene, the worse her image would become in the eyes of her two elder brothers.
At that time, Liu Yanran would only need to cry pitifully and say she wanted to pack up and return home. Even if she was the unreasonable one, in the end she would become the one in the right.
In this residence, who did not like a gentle, considerate, cultured, and pitiful person?
After receiving Liu Yanran’s instructions, Cai Die quickly sent a young maid to keep watch over the kitchen area and report back at the slightest disturbance.
But they waited and waited.
Until the sky had completely turned dark, they still had not heard of Eldest Miss Yu making any excessive move at all.