Chapter 102 (1/2)

Chapter 102

Chapter One Hundred and Two: No Response

Because the Yuan Family were presently criminals, the Yuan Family members who had been sent as servants to other families were not treated specially. The masters who were kind treated them like normal servants, those who were harsher purposefully bullied them in order to fawn on the Emperor. Consequently, in just one month, several of the Yuan Family juniors who had lived in luxury before killed themselves.

When Yuan Shu Yi heard that her younger female cousin who had been close to her had killed herself, she was so frightened she hid in her room and cried for half a night. But on the second day, she still had to learn the rules with the w.a.n.g fusteward.

The rules of Xian w.a.n.g Fu were strict, and it was rare for the servants to have dissention. Therefore, after Yuan Shu Yi entered the fu, she was not bullied. In the eyes of these people, she was the same as the other low-level servants.

But because she was treated the same, she felt unspeakably uncomfortable and awkward. She could even guess the disdain these people had under their expressionless faces. The honored junzhu had become a criminal servant who was even lower than them in status—how ironic. These people finally had things to talk about over tea—how great was that?

“You have all come into the w.a.n.g fu for a month. While you are still clumsy, you can manage to serve. Now, I will send you to different departments, and have the stewards arrange your duties.” A steward looked at the dozen or so males and females in front of him. Other than the three who had special ident.i.ties, the rest had been bought and strictly selected to enter the w.a.n.g fu. They were smart, close-mouthed, worked hard, had clean family histories, and would be able to be put into slightly more important positions.

As for the three girls from the Yuan Family…

The steward thought of what Chief Steward Mu had said. He said expressionlessly, “When I call your name, go report to the steward.”

Yuan Shu Yi was sent to work under a steward responsible for taking care of the flora in the w.a.n.g fu. This job was not extremely tiring, and the people were simple. However, they could not easily enter the inner compound. The servants who qualified to send flowers and plants beyond the second gate were all those who had worked in the fu for three years or more. Those like Yuan Shu Yi didn’t even have the ability to touch the second gate.

After working for almost two months in the Flora Pavilion, Yuan Shu Yi finally gave up on the idea of using the excuse of delivering flowers to get near Xian w.a.n.g. She became more and more hard-working, but the desire inside her became even stronger.

If she had been bullied deliberately after entering the fu, she would have had an excuse to see Cousin, but no one had bullied her. She hadn’t seen a shadow of Hua Xi Wan’s servants. It was as though her existence was not important at all to Hua Xi Wan.

She didn’t believe that Hua Xi Wan didn’t know anything about her feelings for Cousin. But now that she had entered the fu, the other hadn’t responded at all. Was the other able to keep her composure so well?

Just as she was worrying about the future, a higher-ranked steward came and pointed at them.

“All of you, go to the yard outside and look closely for weeds. In a few days, w.a.n.g Fei is going to have a crab banquet for the n.o.ble personages of Yi’an Marquis Fuand General Lu’s fu. There cannot be any missteps.” The steward looked at the people he had picked. He put his hands behind his back and then said, “It has been a long time since w.a.n.g Fei has married, and this is the first time that she is having such a great

banquet. If there is any mistake which displeases the guests, then all of you will be punished.”

Yuan Shu Yi’s head was lowered but she was sneering inside. What n.o.ble personages? The Lu Family was Hua Xi Wan’s maternal family, the Hua Family was her paternal family. They were just her family members—were they worth the w.a.n.g fu treating them with such seriousness?

She was dismissive inside, but she had to admit deep inside that with how much importance Xian w.a.n.g placed on Hua Xi Wan, the members of Hua Xi Wan’s family’s status in the w.a.n.g fu would rise as well.

Autumn crabs were fat and sweet. After Hua Xi Wan received the tribute from the servants, she had only just planned to send some to her paternal family. But Yan Jin Qiu had to say that he had never received her paternal family, so he wanted to use the crab banquet to get closer to her paternal family.

Hua Xi Wan did not refuse. While she did not know if Yan Jin Qiu just wanted to get to know them better or had other intentions, she had intentions of having her family talk more with Yan Jin Qiu. With the present situation in Jing, even if the Hua and Lu Families wanted to stay apart, they were still on Xian w.a.n.g’s side in the eyes of other people.

Now that the situation had become white-hot, she would not naively think that the Hua and Lu clansmen didn’t have thoughts of their own. Therefore, she would have them meet and would not interfere with the results.

The w.a.n.g fu started to become busy at Yan Jin Qiu’s orders. In the time that Hua Xi Wan took a noon nap, all kinds of beautiful purple and red chrysanthemums had appeared in the w.a.n.g fu.

In her previous life, chrysanthemums had ranked first among the flowers that had been ruined for meaning. Chrysanthemums had once been the representation of cleanliness and beauty, but had been twisted into such an x-rated word.

“w.a.n.g Fei, the chrysanthemums outside are beautiful. Do you want to take a look?” Hua Xi Wan was usually indolent, and when it was afternoon, she liked to curl up on the soft couch and not move. Therefore, her servant girls always tried to think of ways to get her to move. Today, they found the excuse of admiring flowers.

Hua Xi Wan looked at the descending sun in the sky, and the antic.i.p.ating gazes of her servant girls. She nodded helplessly and led a group of servants out the door.

The scenery inside the second gate was naturally beautiful. There was a new scene every three steps. The chrysanthemums that had been put out were carefully cared for and were extremely valuable breeds. They displayed the status of the w.a.n.g fu.