Chapter 53

◎“Indeed, she was born like a flower in the spring dawn.” [First update] ◎

Xue Lingyu didn't even bother to grab the broom and hurriedly ran back. She almost tripped and fell on the way, but she didn't care about anything else. She grabbed her clothes and rushed into the house.

He didn't know if the person was made of dog, but they had bitten his lips until they were swollen. Xue Lingyu covered his lips and felt that there was still a trace of alcohol on them. His brows furrowed deeply. He rubbed them several times, but he could still feel the person's breath. He was so angry that he almost cried.

He was actually taken advantage of by a woman. If he hadn't escaped, the consequences would have been unimaginable, and his innocence would likely have been completely destroyed.

Xue Lingyu was determined to go back to that courtyard. He had decided that even if Steward Qiao asked him to sweep the plum blossoms again, he would pretend to be sick and not go. In any case, he was quite frightened tonight, and his veil had been torn off.

Speaking of the veil, Xue Lingyu didn't really care. Anyway, Xin Yan had given him a lot and told him not to let anyone see his face. The most important thing he had was money!

Xue Lingyu reached for the silver hidden in his chest as usual, only to find it empty; his silver had vanished!

He searched through his clothes again, but couldn't find a single tael of silver.

He had moved so hastily that the silver might have fallen on the road. But then Xue Lingyu remembered that when he ran out of that room, he seemed to hear something fall. At that time, he was in a hurry to escape and didn't have time to look back.

In other words, his silver likely fell into that room?

That silver coin was his most prized possession. Xue Lingyu, with a mournful face, hid under the covers and couldn't help but sob softly. What was he going to do?

Earlier, Yuan Ge noticed that the window of Jiang He's room was open and thought to herself that this was bad. The cold wind had been blowing in all night, and Jiang He had drunk so much wine the night before. Even if she didn't catch a cold, she would feel uncomfortable for a while.

She hurried into the room, intending to close the window, but found that Jiang He was not resting on the bed, but sitting in a chair with slightly red eyes.

She seemed to be thinking about something, still holding a silver ingot in her hand.

Yuange was startled by her appearance and asked with her mouth agape, "Miss, did you not sleep all night?"

Jiang He was dressed in thin clothes and had been exposed to the cold wind all night, but she seemed unaffected. Apart from some bloodshot eyes, the corners of her mouth were even turned up, as if she had encountered something happy.

Jiang He fiddled with the silver in her hand, her voice still hoarse from a hangover, "She slept, then woke up again."

Yuange noticed that the furnishings in the room were a bit strange, especially the couch next to the bed, which looked particularly messy.

She secretly observed this, assuming that Jiang He had just gone on a drunken rampage that night, and didn't think much of it. She went over and closed the window that had been open all night.

Outside the window were plum trees planted in the courtyard. Yesterday, someone came to clean the outer courtyard, but how come there were still so many fallen flowers piled up? Yuan Ge immediately felt dissatisfied.

She remembered that the maid who came yesterday was a veiled servant girl. She looked obedient, but she was so lazy and couldn't do even the smallest task well.

Yuan Ge thought to herself, "I must drag this person out and teach him a good lesson."

Yuan Ge turned her gaze and noticed that Jiang He had somehow acquired a veil. It was clearly a man's veil, and the more she looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. Finally, she recognized it—wasn't this the veil worn by the lowly maidservant in the outer courtyard yesterday...?

Jiang He looked up at Yuan Ge, her deep, dark eyes already filled with unwavering confidence. "Yuan Ge, did any outsiders come to the courtyard yesterday?"

Yuange answered truthfully, "Yes, there weren't enough people in the courtyard, so they called in some lowly maids from the outer courtyard to sweep up the fallen flowers. I don't know if the manager was negligent, but the person who was supposed to do the work only rushed over last night. Miss was drinking at the time, so Master Su told him to wait outside for a while."

Yuan Ge felt uneasy, afraid that something had gone wrong and displeased Jiang He, or that the maid had done something to offend Jiang He.

"What is the name of that lowly servant girl?"

"I noticed he looked rather strange wearing a veil, so I asked him a few more questions. He said his name was Chunxiao and he worked under Steward Qiao. He had an accident that left a scar on his face, which frightened others, so Steward Qiao made him wear a veil." As Yuange spoke, she looked at Jiang He's expression and saw that she did not show any displeasure, but instead smiled.

“Indeed, she is as beautiful as a flower in spring.” Jiang He laughed out loud. She originally thought it was a dream. When she was drunk, she kept dreaming about Xue Lingyu. But when she looked in the bronze mirror after waking up, the bite mark on her lips had not disappeared. How could such a real feeling really be a dream?

Jiang He believed her intuition was correct.

"Yuan Ge, don't you think he looks a lot like someone?"

Jiang He didn't ask, and Yuan Ge probably hadn't thought about it too deeply yet. She had the same idea long ago, but it was already late yesterday, and she had other things to do, so she didn't take it to heart.

Seeing Jiang He staring at the veil, her eyes seemingly looking at an old friend, Yuan Ge recalled the clear eyes from yesterday and suddenly found herself catching up with someone from her memory. She couldn't help but widen her eyes and look at Jiang He, trying to find an answer.

Jiang He's reaction was tacit agreement.

The silver ingot in her hand looked ordinary, but it had the mark of the Jiang family business on the bottom. It was usually used to pay for large transactions, and very little small silver would flow out unless she spent it herself. The only time she spent money in the past few days was when someone tried to stage an accident, and she casually paid them ten taels.

In the end, she found her silver on a lowly maid in the mansion.

In other words, the person who recklessly stopped her car that day was the one she had been searching for for many days.

Yuan Ge's face lit up with joy. "Congratulations, Miss! Congratulations, Miss! This is wonderful news!"

While she was happy, Yuange also noticed something was wrong. "But Chunxiao looked at me with unfamiliar eyes, as if he had never seen me before. If it is Young Master Xue, since he has come to the Jiang residence, why did he not reveal his identity immediately, but instead conceal his face and do such menial work?"

This was also Jiang He's question. That person was indeed Xue Lingyu, there was no doubt about that, but why did he look at her with such fear and flee in panic?

Xue Lingyu didn't recognize Yuange, and it seemed she didn't remember her either.

Yuange tentatively asked, "Miss, shall I go to the outer courtyard and bring Young Master Xue back?"

Jiang He did want to, but if Xue Lingyu really lost his memory due to some accident, he had already frightened him once last night. If she rashly acknowledged him, she would only be met with his resistance. The teeth marks on her lips still hurt. Xue Lingyu really didn't care about her at all.

"Go and call Manager Qiao over first. Don't make this public for now. We'll make plans when the time is right."

When Xin Yan had some free time at noon, she took all the food that her master had given her to the outer courtyard, intending to share it with Xue Lingyu.

He also brought good news: Ruiming said today that because he was clever and reliable, if he continued to do so, he would be promoted to a third-class servant and brought into the room to serve him.

Ruiming also started as a third-class servant, but now he is a first-class servant who can work independently in the main courtyard and is highly respected by everyone in the mansion. Xinyan took him as her role model.

He came looking for Xue Lingyu with a big smile, but he didn't see her at the work site. So he went to her residence and found her hiding in bed, refusing to come out.

Xin Yan put the food aside and quickly went over to comfort her, "Chunxiao, why are you crying? Who bullied you?"

Xue Lingyu dared not tell anyone about the humiliation he had suffered. Right now, money was the most important thing to him. He sniffed and said, "I lost some money yesterday when I was sweeping the inner courtyard. It was money I had saved up for a long time."

"Did Steward Qiao ask you to sweep the inner courtyard yesterday? Which courtyard was it?"

Xue Lingyu thought for a moment, her eyes brimming with tears, and said, "It seems to be called something like Xiaozhu."

Xin Yan wanted to help him, but she was powerless to do so. There was only one small house called Liushui Xiaozhu in the mansion, which was where the young lady lived. Even the stewards of the inner courtyard could not enter or leave at will. If she wanted to find the money back, she was afraid there was no hope at all.

How much did you lose?

Xue Lingyu held up her fingers and counted out a number. Xin Yan looked at it and smiled in agreement, "It's just a few strings of cash. I'll make it up to you when I get my monthly pay. It's not a big deal."

He clearly lost silver. Xue Lingyu blinked, not daring to make a sound.

Xin Yan thought she had coaxed him, but when she touched his icy hands, she couldn't help but frown and say, "Why are you wearing so little? And the blanket is so thin. Aren't you cold?"

Even servants have cotton quilts and cotton clothes to wear in the cold weather. The Jiang family never mistreats people in this regard. Xue Lingyu has nothing, so someone must have secretly done something to her.

Xin Yan immediately knew who it was. The four people who came with Xue Lingyu were always forming cliques and gossiping in front of Manager Qiao. None of them were well-behaved.

“I’m going to talk to Manager Qiao. I refuse to believe that we can’t deal with those guys. Here, take this hand warmer. I’ll be back in a bit.”

This hand warmer was given to me by Ruiming. He said that his mistress hadn't used it for several years. Xinyan didn't know what it was called, but it was warm in her hands. This was a rare item among servants, and Xinyan gave it to Xue Lingyu without blinking an eye.

Xin Yan was determined to stand up for Xue Lingyu.

Manager Qiao never expected that Miss would summon him. On the way there, he kept thinking about whether he had made a mistake recently. Although he rarely saw Miss, he knew that Miss was not a soft-hearted person. Among the people who were sold off some time ago were several managers, who had been in the Jiang family for several years. Who would have thought that Miss would not show them any mercy in the end.

When they arrived at Liushui Xiaozhu, Manager Qiao's hands were shaking so badly that he almost tripped and fell onto the steps.

Yuan Ge smiled insincerely and said, "Manager Qiao, don't panic. Miss called you here just to ask about some things in the outer courtyard."

Manager Qiao felt a chill run down his spine, his back almost bent to the ground. "Greetings, Miss."

Jiang He held up an account book and casually said, "Manager Qiao is getting on in years, please have a seat."

As soon as Steward Qiao sat down, he heard Jiang He ask, "Has the outer courtyard bought a new batch of maids these past few days?"

Although it was cold, Manager Qiao was sweating. He wiped his sweat and nodded: "Yes, they were all bought from human traffickers. Their families are clean and honest. There are fifty people in total."

Jiang He slammed the ledger face down on the table, her sharp eyes seeming to see right through everything. "Does Manager Qiao think that I'm too old to be easily fooled?"

Manager Qiao was so frightened that his legs went weak and he fell off the chair, lying on the ground trembling.

"Miss, spare me! Miss, spare me! Among these fifty people, some are indeed of unknown origin..."

A note from the author:

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 21:00:02 on February 4, 2022 and 18:22:59 on February 5, 2022!

Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: chili-flavored candy, tea cake, yogurt, and one egg pudding;

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Aba Aba 12 bottles; Qingyu 6 bottles; Xie Wuyan, Egg Pudding, and Mrs. Wei 1 bottle;

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!

◎Latest Comments:

[I get it, the domineering young lady falls for the rough maid (convinced face)]

【Here it comes! Here it comes! Here it comes!】

[Get together soon!]

[Waiting for your second update]

Is it going to be super sweet soon?

I will dedicate my entire life to nurturing you, and may the nourishment guide your way forward!

[Please add more chapters]

[Are we finally going to meet?!!!!]

Can I have another chapter before bed?

[Ahhhhh, hurry up and make this sweet! There's a great story here, one that I'll never forget, I'll be drooling over it, I'll be obsessed!]

[Damn! Where's the wife's daily routine? This isn't enough for me to watch [disheveled in the wind] Waaah]

I'm so anxious!

-over-