“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Probably because it was her first time acting, the old woman forced out three extremely awkward laughs with her raspy voice.
Then she delivered her lines stiffly:
“So you want to eat for free without working? What kind of logic is that? See if I don’t beat you to death, you little slut!”
She raised her hand and pretended to slap the maid’s face several times, but didn’t actually leave a single mark.
The maid quickly pulled out a box of rouge and reapplied layer after layer onto her cheeks. Then she bit her fingertip and dabbed blood onto the corner of her mouth.
Crying dramatically, she pleaded,
“Ah! Ah! Ah! I’ll never dare do it again!”
Ruixue was the chivalrous type.
When she first saw the young maid being bullied, she had immediately wanted to leap out and defend justice.
But just as she was about to shout, standing from her elevated position, she noticed the strange behavior between the two women.
Why was the beating fake?
Though simple-minded, Ruixue had spent years in the front courtyard and had witnessed enough manor scheming dramas.
So no matter how slow her reactions were, she finally caught on.
Inwardly, she couldn’t help admiring Zhu Yiniang’s sharp instincts for seeing through things immediately.
She had even wrongly blamed Zhu Xinyan earlier for being cold-hearted toward servants.
Now that she understood the situation, she also asked the maids for two balls of cotton, stuffed them into her ears, grabbed a bunch of grapes, and squatted to one side while spitting seeds.
They were already pretending someone got beaten — why still no reaction?
The three conspirators were collectively dumbfounded.
Especially since they had just seen Ruixue watching anxiously moments ago. Why had she suddenly crouched down instead?
Could it be she’d eaten too much fruit and was now squatting in the pavilion to relieve herself?!
Concubine Wei had no time to overthink things.
Afraid Zhu Xinyan might wake up and leave, she decided to personally step out and push the plan forward herself.
Surely Zhu Xinyan wouldn’t dare publicly reject her attempt to place someone into Qingfu Pavilion.
Zhu Xinyan’s internal monologue: Whoever it is, if they’re plotting against me, even the Jade Emperor himself can forget about succeeding.
Just as Concubine Wei was about to step out from behind the decorative rocks, the corner of her eye caught sight of someone approaching nearby—
Mingyu.
The front courtyard wasn’t far from here, so naturally someone had informed her about the disturbance in the garden.
Normally, Mingyu wouldn’t bother caring about servants being beaten.
But when she heard that Zhu Xinyan had merely lounged in the pavilion and ignored everything, her competitive spirit flared up.
She wanted to criticize Zhu Xinyan while simultaneously boosting her own reputation for kindness and virtue.
After all, His Highness wasn’t in the manor, and she herself enjoyed considerable favor.
Wouldn’t suppressing a mere concubine be effortless?
Concubine Wei was quick-witted.
The moment she saw Mingyu’s arrogant expression, she knew this woman had come deliberately to provoke Zhu Xinyan.
Originally, Concubine Wei had already felt uneasy about secretly placing someone into Qingfu Pavilion.
If the scheme were exposed, she’d likely be the one blamed in the end.
But now things had turned out perfectly.
With this attention-seeking fool here, why should she personally wade into the muddy waters?
So she quietly withdrew again.
The two servants were too focused on watching the pavilion and completely failed to notice Mingyu approaching.
Only when she drew close did they finally spot her.
Feeling guilty, they immediately tried to slip away, but Mingyu stopped them.
“Stop right there.”
Walking up to the maid, Mingyu first pretended to inspect her injuries with concern before softly saying,
“With me here, there’s no need to be afraid.”
Then she turned toward the old woman and shouted,
“Who gave you the courage to openly beat and abuse a maid here?”
The old woman inwardly panicked, but still bowed and forced a smile.
“This servant deserves the reprimand. I won’t dare do it again.”
By now, the servants who worked in the garden had finished lunch and their midday rest.
Seeing there was drama unfolding, they all gathered to watch.
The larger the audience grew, the more smug Mingyu became.
She lifted her brows proudly.
“What? You planned for there to be a next time too? Fortunately, I happened to be here today and could step in. Otherwise, if certain people pretended to be blind, even if someone died right before their eyes, they’d probably act like they saw nothing.”
For the final sentence, Mingyu deliberately raised her voice.
The cotton in Ruixue’s ears wasn’t packed tightly enough, so she vaguely caught parts of the conversation.
Especially that final sarcastic remark.
She heard it crystal clear.
Immediately standing up, she shook Zhu Xinyan awake and pulled the cotton from her ears.
Pointing calmly outside, she added with clear enjoyment of the chaos,
“Mingyu says you’re blind.”
“Huh?”
Zhu Xinyan had only been lightly dozing.
The moment she heard someone insulting her, she instantly woke up and sat upright.
“What’s going on?”
After Ruixue explained everything, a mocking smile curled across Zhu Xinyan’s lips.
With the swagger of someone utterly unbothered by authority, she strode over to Mingyu and stopped before her, standing in the exact domineering posture of Park Yeon-jin from The Glory.
Tilting her lips crookedly, she pointed at Mingyu, then at herself, and asked with exaggerated politeness:
“Excuse me, were you just indirectly insulting me?”
What a ridiculous act.
Mingyu looked completely disdainful.
She couldn’t even be bothered to properly lift her eyelids.
Giving only the most perfunctory half-curtsy, she snorted lightly.
“You’re half a master, while I’m merely a lowly servant from the front courtyard. How would I dare casually criticize you? I simply feel injustice on behalf of this beaten maid. You were lounging in the pavilion avoiding trouble, yet refused to step out and help.”
The surrounding spectators immediately began looking at Zhu Xinyan differently.
So Zhu Yiniang had really been sitting there the entire time, simply watching the maid get beaten without intervening?
How heartless.
Crossing her arms beneath everyone’s judgmental gazes, Zhu Xinyan leisurely replied,
“Then may I ask Miss Mingyu exactly how I should’ve stepped in to protect her?”
Mingyu glanced at Zhu Xinyan with undisguised arrogance and contempt.
Curling her lips, she sneered,
“Then today I’ll generously teach you. This old woman beat someone recklessly, so she should lose one month’s wages. As for this maid—”
Before Mingyu could finish speaking, the supposedly beaten maid seized the opportunity and crawled forward several steps, attempting to grab Zhu Xinyan’s skirt.
But Ruixue wasn’t useless decoration.
She immediately stepped sideways and blocked her path.
Intimidated by Ruixue’s icy expression, the maid retreated a few steps and pitifully sobbed,
“This servant truly has nowhere else to go. Zhu Yiniang, please have mercy and take me in! I can endure hardship and do any kind of work!”
Zhu Xinyan crouched down and touched the rouge on the maid’s face.
Then she rubbed her fingers together and muttered to herself,
“Nice craftsmanship. Waterproof too.”
The instant those words fell, the two actors — along with Concubine Wei hiding nearby — all felt their hearts skip violently.
She had noticed the flaw.
But aside from those three, everyone else remained clueless.
Seeing Zhu Xinyan’s bizarre behavior only left them confused.
Mingyu thought to herself that this woman must have gone crazy.
Was she trying to take some bizarre alternative route to excuse her own indifference?
After being humiliated by Zhu Xinyan previously, there was no way Mingyu would miss this chance for revenge.
She had to thoroughly destroy Zhu Xinyan’s reputation in front of all the servants.
Once Zhu Xinyan lost favor, she would become the target of everyone’s scorn and humiliation.
Looking at Zhu Xinyan with utter contempt, Mingyu aggressively pressed forward:
“Zhu Yiniang, this isn’t some marketplace performance. Stop trying to attract attention with theatrics. You ignored the maid when she was beaten. Now she’s kneeling before you begging for shelter. Are you seriously going to ignore her again?”
Zhu Xinyan could no longer tolerate the woman’s endless screeching.
Standing upright, she looked at Mingyu with amused interest, planted her hands on her hips, and declared righteously:
“Mingyu, I’ve seriously been giving you too much face! A tiger doesn’t show its claws and suddenly you think I’m Hello Kitty?”
Then she pointed toward a servant boy.
“You. Go fetch a bucket of water.”