Ci’er settled into the Heir’s Mansion.
For three consecutive days, Xie Chen did not summon her to serve tea.
Every day between 7 a.m.
and 9 a.m., she reported to Qing Tang.
She swept the tea room, organized the tea sets, and aired out the stored tea leaves.
During her free time, she sifted powder and made incense.
She did her work and ate her meals, never speaking an unnecessary word.
A Tao, however, was quick on her feet.
In just a few days, she had become well-acquainted with the older female servants and maids in the courtyard.
At noon that day, she begged two roasted sweet potatoes from the kitchen and shoved a piping hot one into Ci’er’s hands.
“Miss, why hasn’t the Young Master summoned you to serve tea yet?
Could it be that he became suspicious after seeing you with the Second Master that day?”
Ci’er took a bite of the sweet potato.
“It’s roasted perfectly.
The flesh is yellow as honey, and its sweet fragrance coats the throat.
It’s just a bit too hot.”
“You have to answer me!” A Tao tugged anxiously at her sleeve.
“Say what?” Ci’er wiped her fingertips clean.
“Should I block the door to his study and beg him to drink my tea?
That would be asking for a death wish.”
A Tao pouted and said indignantly, “But everyone in the courtyard is gossiping.
They say you stole the spotlight in Huanfang Pavilion, but now that you’re in the Heir’s Mansion, you can’t even get an audience with the master.
They’re calling you useless eye candy.”
Ci’er didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“They’re not wrong.”
“Huh?”
“I am useless,” Ci’er said, casually placing the peeled potato skins onto a small dish.
“A useful person wouldn’t let them gossip for this long, nor would they be sitting here peacefully eating sweet potatoes.”
A Tao froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
Ci’er did not laugh.
It was completely within her expectations that Xie Chen would give her the cold shoulder.
His words in the Plum Garden that day—”do not ruin yourself”—were both a warning and a rejection.
If she eagerly threw herself at him now, she would be nothing but meat on the chopping block.
She had survived five years in the Stone Prison; what was a little cold treatment compared to that?
A Tao sighed and sat cross-legged on a woven cushion.
Holding her sweet potato in both hands, she took a bite and couldn’t help but peek at Ci’er.
After holding it in for a long while, she finally couldn’t contain herself any longer and leaned in like a thief.
“Miss, you know how the Young Master stays away from women?
Do you think he’s…
impotent?”
Ci’er rolled her eyes.
“What, do you want to test him out?”
A Tao’s face flushed bright red from the teasing.
She freed one hand to shove her.
“You only know how to make fun of me!
I’m just worrying on your behalf.”
“What’s there to worry about?” Ci’er unhurriedly dusted off her fingertips.
“If he’s impotent, the Second Master isn’t.”
“Miss!” Panicking, A Tao reached out to cover her mouth, spitting twice in bashful exasperation.
“That mouth of yours is getting more and more lawless…”
Ci’er tilted her head to dodge and put on a serious face.
“Oh, you don’t like the Second Master?
Well, we have a castration knife.
It’d be easy to make him impotent too.
We just have to castrate him…”
A Tao laughed so hard she almost threw her sweet potato across the room.
“Oh my, I can’t take it anymore!
Miss, please spare me…”
The dappled afternoon sunlight flickered between the two of them as the tea room filled with the sounds of their joyful banter.
Right at that moment, the curtain was lifted from the outside.
“My, aren’t you two having a leisurely time.”
The laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Ci’er looked at the four maids who had intruded into the tea room.
The oval-faced girl leading the group was Yunxiang, a second-class maid in charge of sweeping the courtyard.
She dressed a bit more neatly than the others and wore a silver bracelet on her wrist.
Her parents worked on the estate farm and had pulled strings to get her into the mansion.
It was said they had subsidized her with quite a few clothes and pieces of jewelry, all with the singular hope that she would climb into Xie Chen’s bed.
An old acquaintance from the maid selection office.
Even after failing to be chosen to serve Xie Chen, she still hadn’t given up.
She had actually managed to team up with Yunxiang and extend her reach into the Heir’s Mansion.
She certainly was a scheming one.
“Sister Ci’er, it’s been a long time.” Cui Wei’s voice was sickeningly sweet.
“Are you getting used to the Heir’s Mansion?”
Ci’er ignored her greeting and glanced at Yunxiang instead.
“Is there something you need?”
“It’s nothing major.” Yunxiang walked up to her, looked her up and down, and lifted her chin.
“The shack at the cellar entrance is piled high with old junk.
Nanny Liu said we need to clear some space, so you go clean it out.”
The cellar shack was a small, low-roofed building at the entrance to the backyard’s vegetable cellar.
It was the most remote area in the Heir’s Mansion, and people rarely went there.
Were they trying to treat her like a beast of burden?
A Tao huffed angrily and stepped in front of Ci’er.
“Ci’er and I serve in the tea room!
We don’t answer to the sweeping staff.”
“Nanny Liu has the final say on all matters in the courtyard.” Yunxiang raised an eyebrow.
“What?
Do you really think that just because the Young Master showed you some favor, you’re half a master yourself and too good for heavy labor?”
Cui Wei smiled as she happily twisted the knife.
“Sister Yunxiang, she used to be a castrator, so she has plenty of strength.
Cleaning out a shack is practically overkill for someone with her skills, isn’t it?”
Yunxiang laughed in amusement, and the two maids who had followed them covered their mouths to snicker.
A Tao’s cheeks flushed red with rage.
“Don’t take things too far!”
“I’ll go.” Ci’er stared at Cui Wei’s gloating face.
She pulled A Tao behind her, dropped her hand towel, and stood up to leave.
The maids exchanged subtle glances, their hushed snickers rising and falling around the room.
Ci’er simply acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing and turned to leave the tea room.
The shack was even filthier than she had imagined.
Pushing open the wooden door, a thick, musty odor mixed with the stench of rotting wood hit her in the face.
It was dirty and damp, choking her so much that she had to cover her nose.
Ci’er did not hesitate.
She rolled up her sleeves and carried the dilapidated odds and ends out one by one, organizing them neatly outside.
She worked until the sun dipped toward the west, finally getting the shack into some semblance of order.
Straightening her back, she rubbed her sore arms.
She was just about to move a pile of broken wooden boards in the corner when she suddenly heard footsteps outside.
They stopped right at the door.
Her heart tightened.
Before she could turn around—
CLANG!
The door was slammed shut from the outside.
Immediately after, there was the crisp click of a metal lock snapping into place.
Ci’er rushed to the door in a few strides and pushed against it, but it didn’t budge an inch.
“Who’s out there?”
Yunxiang’s voice drifted in from outside, laced with unconcealed triumph.
“Nanny Liu said that the items in this shack are valuable, and she’s afraid someone might try to steal them at night.
Since you’re already here cleaning, we’ll have to trouble you to stand guard for the night.
I’ll come let you out first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Yunxiang!” Ci’er called out, her voice dark.
“You dare lock someone up privately?”
Yunxiang scoffed.
“Don’t go throwing false accusations around.
We locked the door to guard against thieves.”
Another maid whispered, “Sister Yunxiang, what if something happens to her during the night…”
“What could possibly happen?” This time it was Cui Wei’s voice.
It was cold and dripping with malice.
“She’s just a lowly wretch with thick skin and tough flesh.
Freezing for one night won’t kill her.”
The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
Ci’er stood motionless behind the door.
She had originally planned to use the heavy labor in the shack to pull a bitter-flesh trick on the Princely Heir.
She turned around and surveyed the contents of the shack once more.
Walking over to the corner, she picked up a broken axe.
It was a bit rusty, but the edge was still sharp.
She weighed it in her hand, her expression blank as she walked up to the door.
Swinging the axe, she chopped fiercely into the wood.
CRASH!
Wood splinters flew through the air.
She didn’t even blink.
It was fortunate that back in the Wei family, her mother had raised her and her sister as if they were boys, never restricting them to the makeup and manners of a lady’s boudoir.
Whether it was horseback riding, archery, or hand-to-hand combat, they never fell behind others.
All the martial skills she had honed over those years were poured into this single swing of the axe.
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
The wooden door cracked open line by line upon impact.
She raised her foot and delivered a vicious kick.
The shattered door crashed to the ground.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she stepped out.
Tossing the axe backward, it hit the floor with a CLANG.
She didn’t look back; she simply patted the dust from her sleeves and made her way toward Nanny Liu’s quarters at a leisurely pace.
The window to Nanny Liu’s room was half-open, and the sound of two people talking drifted out from inside.
“Nanny, I’ve completely cleaned out the shack.
It’s neat and tidy.
I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.” It was Yunxiang, sounding both smug and sycophantic.
“Not bad.
You’re a sensible one,” Nanny Liu said coldly.
“I’ll add a little extra to your monthly allowance later.
As for the Princely Heir, this old woman still holds some sway, so I’ll be sure to put in a good word for you…”
“Thank you, Nanny!
To have your protection is a blessing this servant has cultivated over several lifetimes.”
Standing outside the window, the corners of Ci’er’s lips curled up slightly.
She circled around to the back of the house and pressed herself against the base of the wall to wait…
The voices inside soon died down, and Yunxiang bustled away.
After waiting for another half a cup of tea’s time, Nanny Liu’s silhouette flickered past.
She locked the door and left as well.
Ci’er unlatched the bolt on the back window and vaulted silently into the room…
Nanny Liu’s room wasn’t large.
It held a canopy bed, a black lacquered wardrobe, and a long, narrow table.
Ci’er’s gaze swept over the bed.
She lifted the pillow but found nothing.
Opening the wardrobe doors, she sifted through a few pieces of clothing before finally discovering a small, locked wooden box at the bottom.
Taking out a bent piece of iron wire she had picked up while cleaning the shack, she put it to good use.
The internal springs of the copper lock weren’t tight, but she fiddled with it for a long time, breaking out in an anxious sweat.
CLICK!
The lock popped open.
Holding her breath, she strained her ears to listen for any movement outside, then slowly opened the box.
Inside the box was a layer of velvet cloth.
Lifting it gently, she found two spools of golden thread underneath.
Her intuition told her that this was no ordinary embroidery thread.
It was thinner and tougher, a brilliant golden yellow that gleamed with the luster of something precious.
The broken ends bore the marks of having been pressed by stitches.
Most importantly, the base of the wooden spool was stamped with the wax seal of a tributary state’s envoy.
Engraved in the wax were tiny characters: “Tribute of the third year of Yongxing.”
Could this golden thread be the very same kind used by the killer in the Painted Skin Case to embroider their designs?