The sky had just revealed a hint of white, and with a flick, it let out a loud, hoarse cry: "Kuaner!" Immediately after, it flapped its wings and cried out again: "Get up! Get up! Go out! Go out!"

  Kuan Er let out a sigh, quickly got up and dressed, combed her hair, and without even washing her face, she first took the anxious Shuai Shuai out of the house and hung it under the corridor, added water and rice to it before having time to tidy herself up.

  Kuaner washed her face with well water, and Shuer had already taken out the water bucket and food box from the storage room, preparing to go to the kitchen to fetch hot water and breakfast. The Peony Courtyard was quite far away, far from anywhere, in order to avoid colliding with the peak hours of fetching water and taking meals, they could only try to go as early as possible.

  Kuan Er quietly opened the courtyard door as usual, picked up the heaviest bucket of water and called out to Xu Er: "Lets go a bit earlier and see what theyve prepared for breakfast. Keep an eye on them, they wont have anything to say, will they?"

  Xiao Ers face turned cold as she picked up the food box, suddenly stomping her foot and shoving it into Kuan Ers hands. With a cold smile, she rolled up her sleeves and headed towards the east wing where Li Mama and Lan Zhi lived: "Why should we two serve those two newcomers? It seems that Madame has assigned them to our place, not to serve Young Master, but to send two Bodhisattvas for us to worship!"

  Kuan Er took one look at her and knew what she was up to, hastily putting down the wooden bucket and food box, and rushed forward to grab Xiao Er, advising: "What are you going to do again? You dont listen to a single word from Young Madam. Not to mention others, even if they quarrel with Young Madam, its still laughable for outsiders."

  "Then according to you, we should just swallow our anger and remain silent? Look at who was causing trouble last night - its those two! You step aside! Your courage is small, I wont blame you, but dont come over here and meddle!"

  Kuan Er couldnt persuade her, anxious and flustered, she tightly grasped her and wouldnt let go. The two of them stood in the courtyard like a tug-of-war, neither willing to give in.

  The door of the west wing creaked softly, and Lins mother came out with a clean hairdo and neat clothes. She looked at the two people with a serious face, and they immediately let go and stood up straight, calling out in a low voice: "Mom, why dont you sleep for a while?"

  "Mother Lin said: "Its getting late, you two still dont hurry up to fetch rice and water?"

  The young servant in the east wing whispered: "Those two only cause trouble and dont work..."

  Lins mother smiled faintly: "You cant handle it because youre too young, right? Then just take what you can handle." In the past, she was worried about Peonys future life in the Liu family and didnt want to make more enemies, so she had to swallow her anger and keep a low profile. But now that her thinking has changed, she naturally couldnt continue to be as submissive as before.

  She rolled her eyes and smiled: "Got it!" Her strength was hers to command. She could take whoever she wanted, and not take whoever she didnt want to, without caring about anything else!

  Lins mother watched as Kuan and Xu left the yard hand in hand, then stood under the eaves, narrowing her eyes to gaze at the dawn clouds on the horizon. She said softly, "Early clouds dont go out, late clouds travel a thousand miles. It must be going to rain today. Someone should set up a shed for these flowers."

  Just then, the door of the main room opened quietly, and Yuhe slipped out, smiling: "Mom gets up early."

  Shuaishuai was eating rice and had eaten half of it when she suddenly saw Yuhe. She let out a shrill cry: "Dead Hehua, why arent you watering the flowers?"

  Yu He glared and flicked her eyes, saying "Hmph!" and continued: "Focus on eating your food, if you dont speak no one will think youre mute!"

  Flapping its wings and letting out two strange "cack" laughs, it bowed its head and continued to work hard.

  Yu He couldnt help but laugh and said, "Hes also an expert at reading peoples faces. When he sees the mistress and young master, he doesnt dare to make a sound; when he sees the second mistress, he fawns all over her and calls her cute little peony; when he sees you, he doesnt dare to be rude; when he sees Ru Er, he pretends not to see him; but he just loves to bully me and Kuan Er."

  "This beast and humans are the same, bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Dont look at its small size, its actually very clever. Last night with such a big commotion, it just pulled on its neck and looked, not making a sound." Lin Mama pointed to the door of the main house, "Did the young mistress sleep well last night? Hasnt she woken up yet?"

  Yu He nodded and said: "Sleep well, I just went in and took a look, sleeping soundly."

  Lins mother beckoned her over, her expression serious as she whispered, "I reckon that by this morning at the latest, or perhaps after noon, someone from the household will come to pay their respects to Young Mistress. The mistress and young master will certainly not allow Young Mistress to speak alone with the people from the household, and they will keep a close eye on us, not allowing us to mention last nights events. So we must all work together, think of a way to let the people from the household know what happened yesterday."

  "Its possible that Li Mama and Lan Zhi received instructions last night to keep an eye on us." Yu He nodded repeatedly, and the two of them discussed in a low voice what might happen. Just as they were about to take action, the door of the east wing was quietly opened by someone, and Li Mama stood at the entrance with a curious expression, smiling: "Hey, Old Sister and Yu He, what are you whispering about?"

  Yu He didnt say a word, turned around and went into the yard, took a gourd scoop from the large water tank and scooped out some overnight water, carefully watering the dozen or so peonies one by one, and then checked whether the paper bags on the peonies yesterday were still in good condition.

  Mrs. Lin said with a serious face: "Whats going on? Its just that the young mistress had an uneasy sleep last night, having nightmares and fever. I was just about to go upstairs to ask the mistress to send someone to invite the doctor. And today it might rain, we need to set up a shed for these flowers, otherwise they will be ruined by the rain."

  Mrs. Li frowned and looked worried: "Oh dear, the young mistresss body is really too weak." But she didnt say to go to the main courtyard to see Mrs. Qi and ask for a doctor.

  Lins mother didnt bother her either, and instructed Yuhe: "Ill go upstairs now. When Kuanger and the others bring back breakfast, you must persuade Young Masters wife to eat something no matter what."

  "Mom, you come back early. Im afraid Ill be too busy by myself."

  Lan Zhi poked her head out from behind Li Mama, smiling and saying: "Yu He, dont worry, arent I and Li Mama still here? You attend to your business, Ill go in and serve the young mistress." With that, she indeed walked towards the door of the main house.

  Yu He stepped forward, blocking the way, and said coldly: "I dont know where you learned your manners from, but last night when Madame was still awake, you quietly went to sleep first. Now that Madame has finally fallen asleep after a sleepless night, you want to go in and attend to her?"

  Lan Zhis face suddenly turned extremely ugly, but she couldnt find anything to refute, so she equivocated: "I was following the madam to get some medicine last night, and when I came back, the young madam had already fallen asleep, so I didnt dare go in to attend to her. Now I dont know if the young madam is still not awake, its all because of the servants carelessness, you just say something nice about it."

  Yu He sneered and stretched out her hand towards Lan Zhi: "Sister, wheres the ginseng slice you took? Hand it over! I was just about to brew some ginseng tea for Young Madam."

  Lan Zhi saw Yu He change from her usual silly and flattering expression, and early in the morning she was staring at him with a nail and one eye. Suddenly, anger rose from her heart, and she turned to attack: "Yu He! Dont think youre so great! The mistress assigned me and Li Mama to serve Young Mistress, not to be decorations. You control everything in this house, dont let us serve Young Mistress, what does it mean? Are you afraid that we will win favor from Young Mistress and surpass you?"

  "Im afraid of being compared to others! I dont want anything." Yu He sneered, "If Sister Lanzi wants to prove that shes not just a decoration, then please trouble yourself to take out the ginseng slices first. Ill brew some ginseng tea, and it will be good for me to report your merits to Young Madam."

  Lan Zhi was just making excuses, where did she get the ginseng from? Mrs. Li saw the situation and hastily mediated: "Isnt the ginseng in the tea house? Lets not say more, its not good to quarrel with Young Master."

  "Who wants to quarrel with her?" Lan Zhi said resentfully: "Mom, you also saw that she didnt have a good word from the moment she woke up, deliberately provoking us."

  Whats the point of deliberately provoking me? The best is yet to come. Yuhe smashed the gourd ladle in her hand to the ground, splashing water all over Lan Zhi and Li Mamas hem, then turned around and scolded with a stern face: "You dead bird! Youre originally a flat-haired beast, but you still dare to learn human speech early in the morning. You learned it, but you didnt learn it well. In the end, youre just a beast!"

  Shuaishuai was so angry that his hair stood on end. He immediately flew into a rage and retorted, "Bastard! Bastard!"

  Lan Zhi angrily lifted her skirt and scolded: "Who are you cursing?!"

  Yu He smiled and said: "Scolding a beast! What instruction does sister have? Not allowing me to scold a beast?"

  Lan Zhi wanted to quarrel with her, but this quarrel would be equivalent to admitting that she was a beast. She didnt want to quarrel, but couldnt bear the anger in her heart. So, she picked up the gourd ladle on the ground and strode towards the water tank, planning to scoop some water to pour on Yu Hes body.

  Yu He saw this and loudly shouted: "Lan Zhi! That water was specially left by the young mistress to water flowers, if something goes wrong, even ten of you wont be able to make it up!"

  Lan Zhi sneered: "Who are you trying to deceive? Isnt it just a bucket of water? Where in this mansion isnt there water? Dont even mention one bucket, I can afford to compensate for ten."

  "Then you try it out."

  Peony had been awake for a long time, with her ears perked up listening to the commotion outside. When it got loud, she started coughing. Rain Lotus hastily pushed Lan Zhi aside and entered, pouring half a cup of warm water and handing it over: "Did the young mistress catch a chill last night?"

  "Let them be anxious in their hearts, but you also need to be careful not to suffer a loss at this time."

  Yu He smiled and said, "Dont worry, I have it all under control. Young mistress, a little later when the meal is sent over, Ill let them in to serve you. No matter what, you must eat something."

  "Todays breakfast is completely unbearable for me."

  Yu He furrowed his brow and said: "How can you go without eating? You didnt eat last night either."

  "Come closer and listen," said Peony with a smile.

  The two had not yet spoken a word when they heard Lins mother exclaiming in surprise from the outer room: "Young mistress, madam is here to see you!"

  "So early?" Peony knew that this "madam" must be not Qi madam but He Peonys own mother, Cen madam.

  ——*——*——*——

  A new week, seeking recommendation votes.

  [bookid=1736421,bookname="Joyful Gate"][bookid=1296881,bookname="Heavy Flower Shadows"][bookid=1421817,bookname="Leftover Woman is Not Virtuous"][bookid=1589709,bookname="Heavenly Clothes are Seductive"]