Sure enough, Mu Guiyi had already woken up. Her hair was loose and she was only wearing a fur coat with a shawl over her shoulders. She sat on the soft couch by the window and looked at the desolate peach forest outside. Her slender fingers were holding an obsidian chess piece.
Bai Suyan put the blue and white porcelain pot on the pot rack and hurriedly took a cloak for Mu Guiyi to put on. At a glance, he saw the chess table in front of her. The situation was tense, with black and white occupying half of the board. At a glance, he knew that she had been playing chess with herself for a long time.
"Miss, if Master finds out …"
Mu Guiyi casually threw the chess piece on his fingertips onto the chessboard, which made a crisp sound and broke up the anxious chess game. "Will you run to tell father?"
Bai Suyan helped Mu Guiyi to the dressing table to freshen up. "Of course not."
"That's right. Whether I play chess on the couch or play the zither on the couch, what does it have to do with others?" Mu Guiyi took the wet handkerchief and wiped her face. Bai Suyan then handed over the cleansing cream.
After helping her wash up, Jing Jing hurried over, but her hands were empty.
Bai Suyan asked strangely: "I told you to wait for Miss's breakfast and to bring it over as soon as it was done. Where is it?"
Jingjing was stunned. After a while, she mumbled, "I just left for a while. When I returned, the lady in the kitchen said that someone had already brought it over. I … I'll go back now and get the kitchen to make another serving."
"Forget it. Missing a meal won't kill me." Mu Guiyi took off her cloak. "Change clothes."
Jing Jing hurried over to help. Mu Guiyi chose a light yellow Qianshui skirt and covered it with a robe of the same color. When she walked, the Qianshui skirt rippled like flowers. In addition, when she sewed it, she mixed in some fine silver threads. Under the sunlight, it looked like the sparkling surface of a lake.
She returned to the dressing table and quietly picked up the mahogany comb. Before she could ask Mu Guiyi what kind of hairstyle he wanted, someone walked in, accompanied by a fragrant wind. She looked up and saw Zhao Zhao, who was holding breakfast and a stick of oleander.
She smiled and said, "Sister Jingjing, you walked really fast. I was carrying breakfast and calling you a few times, but you didn't pay any attention to me."
Jing Jing retorted subconsciously, "I didn't see you."
Zhao Zhao ignored her and took the breakfast to the soft couch table. Seeing the messy chessboard, she turned her head and asked, "Miss, are we still going to play this game?"
Mu Guiyi said, "You can keep it. Jing Jing can just do a casual style."
"Oh, yes, Miss." She quietly came back to her senses. As she combed Mu Guiyi's smooth black hair with a fine-toothed comb, she ran through a few hairstyles in her mind.
Bai Suyan opened the dressing boxes one by one so that Mu Guiyi could choose. Through the bronze mirror, she saw Zhao Zhao caressing the chessboard carved from mahogany wood. Then, she carefully bent down and secretly took a jade chess piece and hid it in her sleeve.
Since she saw it, Mu Guiyi naturally saw it too. "If you like it, you can have this set of chess. It's not something expensive."
Zhao Zhao was shocked. She quickly packed up the chess pieces and the chessboard. She even quietly put the chess piece back in her sleeve. She spread out the breakfast on the table and got off the couch, kneeling to the side to wait for orders.
Mu Guiyi no longer paid attention to her. She pointed at two jasmine hairpins and a jade hairpin. She looked left and right in the mirror, then took out a hibiscus jade bracelet and put it on her wrist.
Jing Jing took out a pair of white jade earrings and gestured to Mu Guiyi's cheek. "Miss, what do you think of this pair?"
Mu Guiyi smiled and pushed it away. "How old am I? Why do I need to be surrounded by jade and jewels? It's like a dressing table."
Jing Jing listened to her and said, "Miss, at your age, you don't need those vulgar things. Even if you only wear a flower, anyone with discerning eyes can see that Miss has an extraordinary temperament."
Mu Guiyi stood up and looked at herself in the dressing mirror. Then, she turned around and sat on the couch. She glanced at Zhao Zhao, who had been kneeling for a long time. "Your waist is tied very nicely."
Zhao Zhao carefully said, "Thank you for your praise, Miss."
After a while, she asked again, "Do you want this servant to tie one for Miss as well?"
Mu Guiyi seemed to unintentionally brush the jade bracelet on her waist. She said, "No need. This is more suitable for my status."
Bai Suyan quietly served Mu Guiyi with her meal. She sighed at how time flew by. The simple and thorough little girl had now grown into a young miss of an aristocratic family.
And this Zhao Zhao was a little restless. She was afraid that her ambition was no less than Xiao's.
After breakfast, Mu Guiyi picked up the branch of oleander and carefully examined it. Zhao Zhao saw it and pursed her lips. "This servant heard that Miss loves peach blossoms. When I passed by the garden, I saw one and plucked one."
Jing Jing snorted. Bai Suyan pulled her sleeve and said, "Young Miss, this oleander is harmful. It's better to give it to this servant. This servant will throw it away for you."
Bai Suyan had only been here for a short time, but she knew from Dong Jin's exhortations that in the entire Mu Province, only Mu Guiyi's courtyard had a peach forest. There wasn't even a garden. However, there weren't any oleanders, which bloomed all year round, for ornamental purposes. In other words, there weren't any in the entire Mu Province.
Normally, aristocratic families wouldn't plant poisonous things like oleanders. It was the same in Mu Province. If this girl really plucked one, she must have spent a lot of effort. But where did she pluck it from?
When she heard Bai Suyan's words, Zhao Zhao's face paled. "This … this servant saw it outside the wall when I passed by the ancestral hall. That's why I sneaked in and plucked one. This servant thought that it was a specially cultivated peach blossom … this servant definitely didn't want to harm Master!"
Mu Guiyi casually threw it at Zhao Zhao's face. "Pretending to be genuine. Yan Yan, it's time to go pay respects to Maternal Grandmother."
Bai Suyan acknowledged and gave Jing Jing a look before walking away. She then pointed at Zhao Zhao, who was still kneeling on the ground with her head lowered.
Jing Jing understood and tidied up the tableware. Then, she stuffed it all into Zhao Zhao's arms. "Alright, quickly take the things back. Sister Yan Yan and I will take care of Young Miss. You don't have to worry about her."
Mu Guiyi's courtyard was in the west of Mu Province. They had to pass by the main courtyard and pass through a small garden before reaching Old Lady Yun's Nanshan courtyard. Originally, Old Lady Yun wanted to let her granddaughter live directly in the back of her courtyard. However, Mu Laoye and Mu Jiahua strongly objected. They felt that the old lady spoiled her granddaughter too much and it was not good for parents' upbringing.
Lady Mu felt that her husband's words were reasonable. She tactfully mentioned it to Old Lady Yun. The old lady was so angry that she fainted. She was even more disappointed in her daughter. Fortunately, Mu Guiyi didn't think it was too far away. Every morning, before going to bed, she didn't forget to pay respects.
When she passed by the main courtyard, she saw Lady Mu standing at the door. Her complexion was worse than when she saw her a few days ago.
Mu Guiyi quickly walked forward and held her mother's arm. "Mother, what's wrong?"
Lady Mu turned around and seemed to recognize who it was after a long time. "It's Yaohua ah. Mother's Yaohua." She raised her hand to tidy up her daughter's hair, but tears fell down.
"Mother?"
The unfamiliar maidservant behind Lady Mu came forward again. "Replying to Young Miss, Madam was a little uncomfortable when she woke up in the morning …"
"Did I ask you? What is your status? How dare you interrupt? "
The maidservant took a few steps back and bowed. "This servant is Qin Sheng. Master sent me to serve Madam."
Mu Guiyi frowned. "Where are Foliage and Maoye?"
"Foliage …" Lady Mu choked. Suddenly, she lost her composure and covered her face to cry. "Foliage is dead!"
Nanshan courtyard.
Old Lady Yun was sitting in the seat of honor, while Lady Mu was sitting below. Her expression was a little sluggish, and she could only cry foolishly. Mu Guiyi leaned sideways and hugged her with a sad face.
Ever since Bai Suyan walked into the house, she was berated to kneel down. After kneeling for the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Old Matriarch Yun asked her what happened. "Replying Old Matriarch, Madam seems to be overly sad and is unwilling to return to the courtyard. Therefore, Miss and this servant could only support Madam to Old Matriarch's place."
Old Lady Yun snorted coldly and glared at her daughter. "I already told you that Mu Jiahua is not a good person, but you didn't listen and didn't believe me. Do you think your father and I will harm you? Now, your father has been angered to death by your shamelessness. I am so proud that I have to fight to the death with you here! "
Lady Mu was frightened by this reprimand. Mu Guiyi subconsciously hugged her mother tighter. "Grandmother, you also watched Sister Foliage grow up. After all, she came from our manor. Now, she is wrapped in a straw mat and thrown in the Mass Grave. Can you …"
"Yaohua." Old Lady Yun also realized that she shouldn't say this in front of her granddaughter. "You shouldn't listen to what is going to happen next. Go out."
Mu Guiyi looked at Lady Mu's appearance and sighed. "Grandmother, I have heard most of it. I am not stupid and can guess most of it. Now, let's talk about Sister Foliage. This matter … is really disappointing."
Bai Suyan also sighed in her heart. Foliage's slave status was removed and she was wrongly betrothed to a lazy man in the south of the city who liked to gamble. In less than ten days, the lazy man took away all of her dowry. She was also sold to the brothel in exchange for gambling money.
Foliage couldn't bear the humiliation and died after hitting a pillar. The brothel's procuress could only sigh. She was wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into the Mass Grave.
As for Maoye, who had been chased out of the house for a reason, he happened to live in the southern part of the city with his family. Thinking of old friends, he secretly came back and waited outside the Mu house for more than ten days before he met the comprador who sent him the news.
Lady Mu thought of the old people around her and felt sad. She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve and cried again.
Old Lady Yun sighed deeply. "How can you be the mistress of such a good servant girl? If you let her marry into such a family, how will our Lin Manor's face be left? "
Lady Mu cried even harder. Mu Guiyi hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe her mother's tears and said, "Grandmother, perhaps the matchmaker was full of lies. Mother was careless and …"
"No …" Lady Mu sobbed. "It's not that family. The one I saw before was not that kind of family. Foliage served me for seven years. How can I let her marry into such a family? How can I? How can I? "
She pieced together the whole story intermittently. After Lady Mu received the news, she couldn't directly intervene because she was a servant girl who had already left the manor. She asked Maoye to complain to the Jingdu yamen and showed the name plate of Mu Province. Because the matter involved Mu Province, the Jingdu yamen also investigated seriously. They were dumbfounded after investigating.
There were two people named Liu Cang Lang in the south of the city. One of them was chosen by Lady Mu. He was a scholar who had some property in his family. His wife had just died and he had a two-year-old daughter. He didn't have any parents-in-law and was anxious to find someone to take care of his daughter. As long as the girl was pure and virtuous, her appearance and family background were not important.
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