Chapter 11 The old lady sent someone. "Granny Gui is here?..."

Chapter 11 The old lady sent someone. "Granny Gui is here?..."

"Granny Gui is here?" Upon hearing Green Moth's report, Xiao Yan felt a mixture of disgust and fear lingering in her heart.

Then, her body inexplicably stood up and took a step towards the door. After taking two steps, she stopped abruptly, her face pale.

The lingering, shallow emotions and muscle memory in her body, which had previously brought her convenience, were now causing her to experience the downsides as well.

Even before Granny Gui had appeared, the reaction she elicited was far stronger than when she met her adoptive father. If you were to ask who the original owner hated most from childhood to adulthood, it would undoubtedly be Granny Gui; while hating her, she also feared her.

However, judging from the original owner's memories, her reaction is normal.

It's no exaggeration to say that nearly 70% of the grievances and hardships she endured from childhood to adulthood were suffered at the hands of the old lady, and the main perpetrator was this Granny Gui.

"Third Miss, there is an order of seniority. You shouldn't argue with your second sister."

"Third Miss, you should apologize for your mistake. Bring your sister a cup of tea to make amends, and then go to the quiet room to reflect on your actions."

"The third daughter's talent is ultimately limited; she is not as intelligent as the second daughter."

"Third Miss, a woman should be chaste and quiet. Copy 'I should not have spoken falsely and argued, I was wrong' a hundred times. This old servant will check it tomorrow."

"Third Miss, those who are improper in posture are of improper character. Go stand in the corridor for half an hour."

"Third Miss, a good woman is one who does not fight or compete. This old servant has been teaching you manners for so many years, but you just can't seem to learn the importance of respecting elders."

From the age of six to eleven, the calm and even tone of the third girl was practically the original owner's nightmare. During the days she studied in the old lady's courtyard, she seemed to suddenly become dull, narrow-minded, immoral, and prone to making mistakes.

The original owner was young and naive, and didn't think too much about things. Often, when she was wronged or punished, she would look for problems within herself. She would also feel that her feelings of discomfort, frustration, or even resentment were because she was petty and narrow-minded and did not win the favor of her elders. She would also reflect on whether she had done a good enough job.

However, from an outsider's perspective, Xiao Yan could easily see that these shortcomings all stemmed from the old lady's blatant favoritism.

Furthermore, Granny Gui, taking advantage of the old lady's indulgence, deliberately suppressed them.

From childhood, whenever the original owner and Xiao Quexian had any conflict, whether it was the old lady or the people in her courtyard, their common saying was always about respecting elders and juniors. "How can you, as the younger sister, be so disrespectful to your older sister?"

Regardless of right or wrong, they just used the concept of seniority to suppress her.

You are not as filial as your sister, you are not as eloquent as your sister, and you are not as smart as your sister when it comes to learning and studying. You have been with the old lady since you were a child. Such remarks have never stopped.

If the commotion upsets the old lady, she won't make a big fuss by scolding or beating her, because she wants to be a kind and compassionate elder.

As for things like slapping the hand, standing in the corner, copying books, not being allowed to eat, or being forced to meditate, how can those be considered severe punishments? They are just minor disciplinary measures given by elders.

To be honest, these are people who are not really bad people and if you take them out of context, even if you were to ask the First Madam, her own mother, for leniency, she would find it difficult to plead for them.

The crux of the problem isn't whether or not there's punishment, but rather the constant fear of being blamed and losing face. It's the repeated grievances and the constant trampling of one's dignity.

Take the punishment of standing in the corridor that the original owner hated the most, for example. Standing in the corridor to reflect on one's mistakes, at first glance, doesn't it seem like a big deal? It's just standing for a while.

But what if we add that she has to recount all the mistakes she made, one by one, and that the corridor where she is punished is visible to all the servants and maids who are working, and that people pass by from time to time?

Standing there admitting your mistake, and then feeling the various ambiguous expressions and glances of the people coming and going, such humiliation is enough to make one feel ashamed and indignant to the point of death.

And those so-called mistakes were often not because the original owner actually did anything wrong, but simply because she failed to satisfy people.

If someone is determined to do something malicious, it's all too easy for them to use a subtle, insidious attack on a child to make her feel disgusted and uncomfortable.

The original owner of this body couldn't understand for a long time why she was disliked. But in Xiao Yan's view, the root of the problem had little to do with the original owner. She was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

When the original owner was sent to the old lady's courtyard for upbringing, the stated reason was that the old lady's courtyard had good embroiderers, good cooks, and Granny Gui. She had learned etiquette from the old lady and the best governess since she was a child. As long as a female tutor was hired, the people in the old lady's courtyard would be more than enough to teach the girls in the family. Moreover, raising the children in the family together would prevent them from becoming unfamiliar with each other.

It sounds like a well-intentioned and considerate gesture, but if you push the timeline back, you'll find that a year before the original owner was sent to the old lady's courtyard for upbringing, the first wife obtained the management rights of the main house.

This made Xiao Yan Hui suspect that the truth was quite different, and that the old lady's actions were actually a way to suppress her daughter-in-law and also a form of subtle retaliation.

After all, they say it's the rule to be raised by elders, but they never put her eldest sister, Xiao Luanmiao, in the old lady's courtyard to be raised. How come such a rule applies to the original owner?

As for why the old lady's side was completely biased towards Xiao Quexian, that's easy to understand. This old lady of the Xiao family is surnamed Zhao. The second wife, Zhao Zhenzhu, is her niece from her maternal family.

Why was it possible for Xiao Fuyan to successfully manage the seemingly absurd situation of having two families inheriting the family line?

That's because the second wife has a special status. Not only is she the old lady's niece, but she has also been close to the two Xiao brothers since childhood, and they can be said to have grown up together like childhood sweethearts.

As she repeatedly pondered these trivial matters and pretended to analyze the underlying motives behind what had already happened, Xiao Yan gradually calmed down.

The curtain of the study was lifted by Green Moth, and an old woman who was very clean and tidy, wearing a red gold hairpin and a fine dark purple silk outer garment with a hundred auspicious patterns, walked in.

As soon as she entered, her stern eyes swept over Xiao Yan Hui, who was sitting behind the desk, like knives: "It's been a while since I've seen you. Third Miss, you've neglected all the rules."

The voice was as calm and even as ever, but upon hearing it, Xiao Yan felt a chill run down her spine. She even had an urge to stand up and apologize.

He bit his tongue hard and secretly, letting the slight pain suppress the remaining physical instincts.

Xiao Yan smiled perfectly: "Please sit down, Granny. Qingfu will serve you tea."

He casually pointed to a seat to the lower left and said casually, "I wonder what I did wrong with the etiquette that made the nanny criticize my manners the moment we met?"

The "lack of manners" of Granny Gui refers to the past, when the original owner would always stand up and give a half-bow when she saw her.

This was a show of respect given to her because she was someone close to the old lady, and also a lingering fear from being suppressed as a child.

Granny Gui always accepted the greeting without hesitation. But if you really think about it, she was the third young lady of the family, and Granny Gui was the servant. This greeting was unreasonable. She taught etiquette, but this matter itself was completely without etiquette.

Such things are best left unsaid, but when asked so directly, Granny Gui was momentarily speechless.

With a flash of her eyes, she saw Xiao Yan sitting there calmly, which surprised Granny Gui.

This little girl, whom I've molded and manipulated for so many years, has really started to act up after only a short period of indulgence.

She hadn't quite believed the second young lady's letter that the girl was becoming increasingly unruly, but it turned out she really had changed.

Granny Gui sat down gracefully and waved her hand. The little maid who had come in with her respectfully handed her a wooden box.

Granny Gui opened the wooden box, inside which were neatly arranged basic books: "I brought things for the old lady, and the young lady didn't even get up. This is indeed a breach of etiquette."

"Granny is old and forgetful. She's forgotten that she didn't mention you were delivering something for the old lady." Xiao Yan Hui still didn't get up, but just told Lü E to bring the box over.

"The old lady is incredibly kind to us younger generation. She wouldn't criticize my manners for such a small matter. If word got out that we were living like this, people would laugh at us. Just like when you came in, you didn't bow to me, but I didn't criticize you for not following the proper order of master and servant!"

Xiao Yan withdrew her smile, her tone becoming extremely sarcastic.

The moment she uttered those words, the room fell so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Qingfu, who had brought in the tea, stopped abruptly, and everyone else seemed to freeze as well.

The next moment, Granny Gui's face, which had been as stiff as a wooden board, suddenly turned as red as if it had been varnished, and then the room was filled with the sound of her panting heavily.

"Very well, very well. This old servant has taught Third Miss manners for so many years, and you have truly mastered them now." Granny Gui took deep breaths to calm the anger in her chest. Although she tried her best to speak in a calm tone, one could still hear that each word seemed to be squeezed out between her teeth.

It's not that she was too naive; rather, as the young lady she served gradually grew into an old woman, Granny Gui hadn't had her face stepped on like that in many years. And the person who stepped on her face was someone she had always held in the palm of her hand for years, so Granny Gui naturally found it even more difficult to accept.

"I've been hunting geese all day, and now this little sparrow has pecked my eye." Filled with hatred, Granny Gui slammed the box in her hand onto the coffee table beside her with a cold laugh.

"The third young lady is all grown up now and doesn't care about her elders anymore. She hasn't even mentioned going up the mountain to visit the old lady these past few days. But the old lady is still thinking about the young ladies. That's why she specially asked for these few scriptures that have been offered to the Buddha for forty-nine days and had this old servant deliver them to her."

There will be a Dharma assembly on the ninth day of next month. The old lady invites the girls to come to the mountain to attend. The third girl should copy these scriptures ten times, and then we can burn them together in front of the Buddha. That would be a meritorious deed.”

Granny Gui finished explaining the matter in a rapid-fire manner, and she even increased the original instruction from the old lady to copy the scriptures three times to ten times with just one sentence.

"Third Miss, please remember to copy it sincerely. This old servant will also check if your calligraphy has improved over the past few days. Now that the items have been delivered, this old servant will return to the mountain to serve the old lady." Granny Gui stood up, and her usually stern face actually managed a forced smile.

Xiao Yan glanced at the scriptures that Qing Fu had brought over. Just by looking at Granny Gui's expression, she could guess the amount of copying required without even opening it. It was probably impossible to finish it even if they worked day and night.

"Granny Gui, please take care. Greenie, could you see her off for me?" Xiao Yan Hui seemed completely oblivious to the threat in Granny Gui's words, deliberately ignoring her completely and simply instructing Greenie to see her out.

After Granny Gui left, Xiao Yanhui breathed a sigh of relief without anyone noticing.

She originally thought that this Granny Gui, who was considered a great demon in the original owner's memories, would be a tough battle today. However, she never expected that after only a few rounds of probing exchanges, Granny Gui would leave so easily.

A sudden, indescribable sense of relief welled up inside me, as if a mountain that had been pressing down on me for years had suddenly been removed.

"You see, as long as you face it, many things are much simpler than you imagine." These were the words Xiao Yan Hui said to the original owner of this body, and also to herself.

At this very moment, Xiao Yan Hui finally accepted everything that had happened after her transmigration, and fully embraced the reality that she had left her original world and was about to start a strange and brand new life in this world.

"Young lady, this...this is so much! There are only thirteen days left until the ninth of next month. Even if you stay up all night copying, you probably won't be able to finish. And that old hag is coming to torment you again."

Seeing his daughter looking down at the wooden box without saying a word, Qingfu was very worried that she might have already cried from feeling wronged.

A note from the author:

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