The daily life of a concubine's daughter

Chapter 246: Ruler

Shi Yao walked and hummed all the way.

After passing a few moon gates and turning onto the main road, he ran into the outer courtyard guards escorting a servant who had committed a crime.

The guards stopped one after another and greeted Shi Yao.

Shi Yao smiled and glanced at him.

Among them were her old acquaintance Song Lan, as well as the maids Zhirou and Yunling around her fourth sister-in-law Gong Xuan, and her wet nurse and others.

The scandal at the old Duke's birthday banquet implicated many servants, who had to be taken to the manor in batches. Shi Yao was told about this by her sister-in-law Fu Nanjun.

The male servants bowed their heads and the servants made way. Shi Yao nodded politely and walked through. When she passed Song Lan, Song Lan suddenly broke free from the shackles, spat out the sweat towel in her mouth, and knelt down in front of Shi Yao with her hands tied.

"Miss! Second Miss! Save me, please save me, I know I was wrong! Please spare my life, Second Miss, I will be loyal to you from now on!"

Shi Yao was startled, walked around her, covered her face with one hand, pretended not to know her, and left quickly.

"Second Miss, we are sorry that we were not careful enough and have to take her away." Two guards stepped forward and restrained Song Lan.

Song Lan struggled desperately, tears streaming down her face, crying heartbreakingly: "Second Miss, I regret it, Second Miss——"

The maids and old women who were captured from Guanju Courtyard were all agitated, tears streaming down their faces. They struggled hard towards Shi Yao with pleading eyes.

Shi Yao left quickly without even looking back.

What’s the use of regret?

Before doing something bad, you should guess the consequences of failure.

No, even if they succeeded, they would not have a good ending, because the people they were plotting against were the direct descendants of the old Duke and the Madame Dowager. How could the old Duke and the Madame Dowager let them go?

Shi Yao hurried back to Guanju Courtyard. She looked around and didn't see Shi Jianan, so she instructed the newly assigned gatekeeper Fu Nanjun:

"Close the door quickly! If the Third Master comes again, inform me first. If he or anyone else comes in without informing you next time, you will go back to the Great Madam."

The two gatekeepers were startled and forced to smile, "Excuse me, young lady. It was the Third Master who rushed in without waiting for us to report. They had many people, and we only had two people..."

Seeing that the smile on Shi Yao's face was gradually fading, the maids' faces changed and they quickly changed their words, "Don't worry, young lady, there won't be a next time! If there is another time, we will go to the Madam to accept the punishment!"

Shi Yao nodded, stepped over the threshold and told them to bolt the door.

She didn't want to deal with the Third Master for the second time today.

She didn't know if her cheap father would be so angry that he would bring people to catch her after he got up because she didn't lend a hand when he fell into the water.

Now that the first and second branches are in decline and the third branch is in power, who knows if the third master will get too excited and teach her the so-called "filial piety".

"The girl is back!" Mu Xiang heard the noise and hurriedly came out from behind the curtain. She pulled Shi Yao to look her up and down and asked with concern, "Did the master catch up with you?"

"Don't worry, I'm still young and the Third Master is old and hasn't had lunch yet, so how can he catch up with me?" Shi Yao walked in, picked up the teapot, poured a full cup of tea, drank it in one breath, and asked, "Where are the others?"

In the past few days, all the old women and maids who had committed crimes in Guanju Courtyard were arrested. According to the severity of the crime, some were sent home and some were sent to the farm. It was impossible to replenish all the servants at once, so all the miscellaneous work fell on the shoulders of the senior maids.

Aunt Liu Hua came in from outside and said with a stern face, "Girl!"

Shi Yao, who was panting and sitting awkwardly, immediately restored her ladylike posture upon hearing the voice, sitting upright, and said with a slight smile: "Hello, Aunt Liu Hua. I am managing the affairs of our courtyard. Is that right, Sister Mu Xiang?"

She glanced at Muxiang.

Mu Xiang secretly laughed and said, "Yes, the young lady is managing the yard. In reply to the young lady, Banxia, ​​Xingmi and Rendong have gone out to look for the young lady. They are not as fast as the young lady and the third master, so they are probably left behind and will be back in a moment."

Aunt Liu Hua tapped lightly with a ruler in her hand.

Shi Yao blushed and shrank her toes uncomfortably.

It’s all my cheap dad’s fault!

He chased her around the yard, making her the laughing stock of the Shi family again.

Alas, the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop. She has never thought of making things difficult for anyone. These people are always like a round-robin war. One by one, they come to her door and slap her in the face, and then one by one, they leave. They persevere, over and over again. I don't know what lessons they can learn from the past.

Aunt Liu Hua raised her eyebrows: "Girl."

Shi Yao's heart shuddered, she slowly stood up and said with a smile: "Aunt, what's the matter?"

Aunt Liu Hua raised the ruler.

Shi Yao closed her eyes and stretched out her two hands tremblingly.

This was the first time Aunt Liu Hua hit her.

After all, this time she really went too far and she probably won't be able to escape a beating. Shi Yao accepted the punishment but she would never admit her mistake.

Mu Xiang cried out in shock, "Aunt, please be gentle! I can't have any injuries on my body. Tomorrow I have to go to Handan Courtyard to learn how to manage the household with Grandmother."

After a pause, Shi Yao still didn't feel the pain in the palm of her hand. She opened one eye and saw that Aunt Liu Hua still had the ruler raised. When she opened her eyes, Liu Hua put down the ruler and sighed helplessly.

"The girl is a grown-up now. She knows everything and the rules. I don't need to lecture her. If she gets beaten, it will spread out and her reputation will be bad. If she doesn't get beaten, I'm afraid she won't learn her lesson.

I just want to remind the girl that the most important thing for a girl is her reputation. Some people and some things, no matter how much you hate or resent them, should be kept in your heart. Some words, no matter how much you want to say, are better left unsaid.

Actions are always more effective than words and can better protect reputation. In a big family, to put it bluntly, the worldly wisdom can be summed up in two words: respectability. "

Shi Yao withdrew her hand and nodded repeatedly: "I have learned my lesson. Auntie's advice is very valuable."

Aunt Liu Hua asked, "What did you learn?"

Shi Yao said seriously: "A lady from a noble family, she says one thing to your face and another behind your back, she is two-faced."

When Aunt Liu Hua heard this, her eyebrows twitched and the ruler in her hand trembled slightly, with a tendency to raise it again. Shi Yao was afraid of being beaten, so she quickly changed the subject and asked, "Where is the banknote? Where is the banknote that the third master sent?"

"They are all put away! I think the young lady doesn't want the Third Master's silver, so you should return it. We servants are afraid of losing one or two bills, so we have put them away."

Mu Xiang turned around and brought a box, "Miss, please check it out. There are five thousand taels of silver in total."

Shi Yao was shocked: "The Third House is not good at business, and they took out five thousand taels of silver to bribe me. It's really generous! However, I don't plan to give it all back. Where is Brother Fan?"

Muxiang replied, "The rumor that the young lady and the Third Master were 'taking a walk' spread, so the Fourth Madam sent someone to take Brother Fan back to the Shenmai Pavilion."

Shi Yao nodded to indicate that she understood.

Brother Fan has been raised in Fusuiyuan recently. When the fourth sister-in-law was going to the family temple, she finally remembered that she had a son named Shi Yunfan.

Aunt Liu Hua quietly left.

After half an hour, the maids came back one after another. Muxiang asked, "Why are you back so late? The young lady came back earlier."

Banxia was covered in dust and pouted at Shi Yao: "It's all because of the young lady! We chased her to Yaoyue River, but the young lady untied the bamboo bridge. We heard that the third master fell into the water, so we had to go back the same way!"

Shi Yao hurriedly covered her mouth, and sure enough, when she turned around, she saw that Aunt Liu Hua had taken the ruler in her hand again.