“Perhaps it was from when you bit me yesterday.”
After Xiao Yujue said this, Song Zhiyun fell completely silent.
After the two had finished and called for water, Wan Tang deliberately tried to lift the bed curtain with enthusiasm to attend to them. As soon as she opened a crack, Song Zhiyun’s voice, unable to suppress her anger, came through: “Prepare water, I want a bath.”
As usual, Xiao Yujue gently carried Song Zhiyun to bathe together. Normally, Ziyan would be the one attending to them, but today Song Zhiyun signaled with her eyes that Wan Tang was not to come near.
Only after Xiao Yujue had returned to rest first did Song Zhiyun call Wan Tang over: “Did you bite Daye’s arm?”
The tooth marks were so clear that Song Zhiyun couldn’t help but suspect they were left during an intimate moment between the two.
“This servant did not.”
“Why exactly did the Marquis reprimand Daye? Could it be that he saw the two of you being too outrageous?” The more Song Zhiyun thought about it, the more likely it seemed. The Marquis must have seen Xiao Yujue indulging with a maid and was standing up for her, his daughter-in-law!
Wan Tang skillfully knelt down: “Eldest Mistress has misunderstood. The Marquis asked Daye how long he studied each day, and this servant couldn’t answer, which is why he reprimanded Daye.”
Song Zhiyun didn’t believe it.
Did she bite Xiao Yujue or not? She knew perfectly well. Lately, he hadn’t dared to go out, and within the entire Wu’an Marquisate, aside from Wan Tang, there was no other suspicious person.
Thinking of the two conspiring to deceive her, Song Zhiyun angrily splashed a ladle of water onto Wan Tang.
The warm water drenched Wan Tang’s face, trickled down her neck, and soaked her clothes.
Still unsatisfied, Song Zhiyun splashed another ladleful: “Change my clothes!”
Wan Tang quickly raised her hand to wipe the water from her face, dried her hands, and then carefully helped Song Zhiyun up.
The warm water on her body soon turned cold, and the wet clothes clung to her, seeming to form a thin layer of ice in the silent, chilly night, making Wan Tang shiver uncontrollably. Only when even breathing came from the bed did she tiptoe to the small cot in the adjoining room, fumbling to take off her wet clothes and hide under the covers to warm up.
The adjoining room was small, and the cot wasn’t large either—it was specifically for maids on night duty to rest. There were no spare clothes for the maids to change into.
Just as Wan Tang had taken off her wet padded coat, she caught sight of a tall, dark figure out of the corner of her eye.
She covered her mouth in surprise and, by the dim candlelight, recognized Xiao Yujue’s face.
He reached out to touch Wan Tang’s face, but she dodged.
At that moment, Song Zhiyun called out anxiously: “Master? Where did you go? Yun’er is scared.”
Xiao Yujue walked out of the adjoining room unhurriedly, rustled back onto the bed, and casually lied: “Just relieving myself. Go back to sleep.”
Wan Tang covered her chest, her heart trembling with fear, her mind in chaos, unsure what Xiao Yujue was up to. She had seen clearly—there was no desire in Xiao Yujue’s eyes, and she didn’t know why he had crept in so quietly.
But Wan Tang didn’t dare to sleep, nor did she dare to take off her clothes.
She spent the entire night like this, wearing wet clothes.
Even though there was a heater in the room, she still felt as if she were wearing clothes made of frost, freezing to the bone.
The next day, after returning to her room to change clothes, Song Zhiyun gave her no time to nap, instead having her help prepare for the family banquet.
Today was Laofuren’s forty-fifth birthday, an age not suitable for grand celebrations, so only the Old Marquis’s siblings had come to offer their congratulations. Previously, the Flower Appreciation Banquet had been entrusted to Song Zhiyun, and Laofuren had been very satisfied that day, so today’s family banquet was also handed over to her.
With numerous trivial matters, Song Zhiyun harbored resentment in her heart and, regardless of whether Wan Tang could handle the workload, assigned her everything to do.
Wan Tang was so busy she barely had time to catch her breath.
It wasn’t until everyone had taken their seats that she finally had a moment to rest. Seeing Song Zhiyun signal for her to serve dishes nearby, she had no choice but to obediently walk over.
Since it was a family banquet, the men’s and women’s seats were arranged together, separated only by a twelve-panel Huanghuali screen in the middle.
After the masters were seated, young maidservants streamed in carrying utensils for rinsing mouths.
Wan Tang held the spittoon, received the water Song Zhiyun had used to rinse her mouth, and turned to place it on a young maid’s tray. Unexpectedly, a foot extended from somewhere, tripping her. The rinsed water and spittoon were about to spill onto Madam Zhang beside her.
Wan Tang tightly gripped the spittoon with one hand and covered it with the other to prevent the water from spilling, allowing her body to bump into Madam Zhang instead.
A bodily collision was better than being hit with a spittoon.
Madam Zhang glared over unhappily: “What’s going on?”
The Old Marquis had two full brothers; the Old Marquis was the third son. Neither Elder Master Xiao nor Second Elder Master Xiao had achieved much, relying on the Old Marquis’s influence their entire lives. After Xiao Zhi inherited the title, he repeatedly forbade the Xiao clan from acting arrogantly and domineeringly, warning that he would not hesitate to turn against them if they did. Thus, the first and second branches had not been living very comfortably lately.
Madam Zhang was the granddaughter-in-law of the first branch. When the Old Marquis and Laofuren were selecting an adopted son for Xiao Zhi, they nearly chose Madam Zhang’s husband. Therefore, Madam Zhang now viewed Song Zhiyun and her husband with great displeasure, feeling that Song Zhiyun was enjoying the wealth and honor that should have been hers.
Now that Song Zhiyun’s maid had bumped into her, she naturally showed no mercy, not lowering her voice in the slightest.
This questioning drew the attention of all the female relatives toward Wan Tang.
Wan Tang broke out in a cold sweat, bowing to apologize: “Third Mistress is magnanimous. This servant slipped just now. I beg Third Mistress to forgive my offense.”
Madam Zhang shot Wan Tang a disdainful look and sneered, “How was this maid taught? So unfit for proper occasions? She even hurt my arm.”
Song Zhiyun’s face darkened as she glared at Wan Tang: “Sister-in-law is magnanimous and doesn’t hold grudges against lesser folk. Let’s first celebrate the Ancestor’s birthday. After the meal, you may punish her however you wish, I promise I won’t protect her.”
Madam Zhang hadn’t expected Song Zhiyun to be so accommodating today, leaving her with no room for further sarcasm.
Seeing everyone watching the commotion, she knew it was unwise to cause more trouble. Angrily, she shot Wan Tang a sharp glance: “If you don’t know how to teach your maid, send her to me another day, and I’ll properly help you train her.”
The wife of Elder Master Xiao cleared her throat: “A maid of the Houfu—how could it be your place to discipline her?”
Madam Zhang’s face flushed with embarrassment, not daring to retort.
Laofuren glanced indifferently at Wan Tang and said displeased, “She should indeed be properly disciplined. Today, it’s all family, so losing face won’t spread outside. But if discipline continues to be neglected, it won’t be good if she embarrasses us in front of outsiders in the future.”
Wan Tang bowed her head again to admit her fault, her heart pounding wildly.
After such a fright, she suddenly realized something.
Xiao Yujue had deliberately aroused Song Zhiyun’s suspicions yesterday, then deepened them at night, all to make Song Zhiyun teach her a lesson. This way, she would learn her lesson without tarnishing his gentle and refined good-guy image—after all, he wasn’t the one who did the deed.
Song Zhiyun, having been provoked last night, had indeed gone mad today, recklessly scheming against her at the family banquet without considering the consequences.
Once Wan Tang understood these twists and turns, the color drained from her face, and she quickly steeled herself to deal with the situation.
But Song Zhiyun clearly had no intention of letting her off, having prepared a way to stay out of it herself while forcing Wan Tang to make a grave mistake at the Xiao family banquet.