Chapter 85: Advance and Retreat

  Haitang was the first batch of servants they bought after returning to Shengguo Gongfu.

  She originally thought she would be with him for a lifetime.

  Sheng Siyan felt a little melancholy. She didn't like goodbyes and sometimes even tried her best to keep others from leaving.

  But farewell is always coming one after another.

  First neighbors, then friends, and finally lovers.

  Sheng Siyan's face had a somewhat desolate expression.

  Wang sighed secretly in her heart. This daughter was still too soft-hearted...

  But Wang felt fortunate. If an eleven-year-old girl could be as ruthless and decisive as a grown-up, treating human life as nothing, it would also be a failure of her upbringing.

  There's struggle in heart, which is a normal reaction.

  Sheng Siyan also sighed in her heart, but she knew she had to make a decision.

  "Do not think that a small evil is insignificant and do it, nor think that a small good is insignificant and not do it. This time, Hai Tang has gone too far." Sheng Siyan sighed lightly.

  Perhaps Hai Tang really just wanted to help Niu Xiao Ye with one thing, of course, the temptation provided by Niu Xiao Ye was also big enough.

  She forgot her place as a maid and nearly brought her master's household to the brink of disaster.

  The Sheng family is different from other families, and the Sheng family can no longer withstand even a slight breeze.

  Sheng Siyan took a look at Wang's abdomen, where a small fetus was growing.

  That would be the hope of the Sheng family. She must protect this child.

  "Yes, Hai Tang has indeed overdone it. How do you want to deal with her?" Wang asked again.

  Sheng Siyan lowered her head, not daring to look into the eyes of Wang Shi and Sheng Qiye. She said slowly: "Haitang is injured now, and it's cold outside. Let her recover from her injuries at home first."

  Wang nodded, "And then?"

  Nursing is necessary. It's also a roundabout way of telling the empress dowager a lie.

  "Then... then. Let her leave the household. She can be considered to have 'saved' my life, and yet I still make her a servant girl. It doesn't seem quite right." Sheng Siyan continued to say.

  A hint of a smile flashed across Wang's eyes. Her voice carried a few more notes of approval.

  Yes, even if Haitang's actions were disloyal, as the master of the house, they should have disposed of her and gotten rid of her, but instead they beat and killed her, as if afraid that others wouldn't know about it.

  There are many ways to get rid of beggars, and the best way is to advance by retreating.

  Sheng Siyan definitely couldn't let Haitang continue to serve by her side. However, abruptly demoting her from being a personal maid of the young lady to a third-class maid in charge of cleaning would attract many curious glances and give rise to countless speculations.

  Haitang is Sheng Sihuan's personal maid. When the personal maid made a big mistake and was demoted, it's easy to think that something must have happened to the young lady she served, otherwise why would she be punished for no reason?

  So openly humiliating Hai Tang, or even sending her to the Zhuangzi, or secretly beating her to death, are not good ideas. They will all make people wonder if something has happened to Sheng Siyan.

  In a sense, the maidservants are tied to their mistresses' honor and shame.

  When the hostess is choosing close-fitting shoes for the girls in the house, she is extremely cautious.

  But people's hearts are separated by a belly skin. Even if they are born in the same family, there will be exceptional servants.

  For example, in "Xiang Wen Ji" there is a story called "The West Chamber", where the maid Hong Niang is an unscrupulous person. She lures her master's daughter into having an affair with a man from outside, ruining her master's daughter for life.

  In the Great Xia Dynasty, "The West Chamber" was a forbidden book for maids.

  Therefore, the most correct way to deal with Haitang is to lift her up high and strip her of her status, so as not to let people associate her with the worst possible direction and also not affect Sheng Siyan's reputation.

  First, tend to your wounds, then remove her from the household register. This way, you can justify not letting Haitang attend to Sheng Sihuan anymore.

  "...But her family, I think, it's better to stay." Sheng Siyan heard the approval in Wang Shi's voice and was encouraged. She lifted her head, looked at Wang Shi and smiled: "Is this okay?"

  The Hai family came together as a whole. This kind of servant is generally very difficult to leave the household, because once one leaves, it means the whole family leaves together.

  Maybe haitang can be an exception?

  The smile on Wang's face became more pronounced, "Of course. Besides, Haitang has dragged you into trouble and gotten you hurt, so it's only fair that she gets to leave alone as a way of making up for it. As for her family members, they'll have to stay behind."

  Stay as a rope, pulling Haitang's neck.

  Sheng Siyan thought of another problem, "If she puts it out like this, will she talk nonsense outside?" For example, telling others that the time Niu Xiaoye saved was not Sheng Siyan at all?

  "Haifeng didn't dare to speak recklessly, because this was the Empress Dowager's personal decree. If she spoke out, she would also be unable to escape death, so she absolutely wouldn't say a word, and she would be even more afraid than us of others knowing the truth. Even if we take a step back and assume she did speak out, others would use this as evidence and report it to the Empress Dowager, which would be like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet. Because from start to finish, the Empress Dowager was crystal clear. There wasn't even any deception involved." Wang Shi had a plan in mind and wasn't afraid of Haifeng turning the tables on her.

  "Am I right?" Sheng Siyan was overjoyed and came over to pull Wang's hand, swinging it back and forth.

  Wang thought for a moment and praised her, "Hmm, not bad. The handling was reasonable and clear, with a good approach, and didn't leave any room for criticism. It's really commendable."

  Sheng Siyan burst into a sincere smile, her face radiant like the sun breaking through the clouds, stunning both Wang Shi and Sheng Qiye.

  Such an outstanding and resplendent face...

  "Luckily she's quite fat..." The same sentence popped up in both Wang Shi and Sheng Qiye's minds.

  Wang's voice was calm and steady as she instructed Sheng Siyan, "You must remember this. A personal maid, by definition, is someone who should always be by your side. From now on, you cannot recklessly send your personal maid out alone again, do you hear me? If you need to send someone, there are so many servants and maids in this household, why must you specifically send your own personal maid? Do you know that if something happens to your personal maid, it's as if something has happened to you, the young mistress? Even if nothing has happened to you, everyone will still think that something has happened to you. Because everyone knows that a personal maid should be inseparable from her mistress."

  If a personal maid is humiliated, it means the young lady is humiliated. There can be no other explanation.

  Sheng Siyan nodded hastily. She really hadn't thought of this before. She had assumed that sending her personal maid out was to give the Niu family face, but did Niu Xiaoye know about this?

  Sheng Siyan bit her lip and asked in a low voice: "......Does everyone think so? Is a personal maid equivalent to a young lady?"

  Wang understood her thoughts. She glanced at her and said lightly, "Of course, especially when something happens. Otherwise, how would Niu Xiaoye think of using Haitang to replace you?"

  Niu Xiaoye knew this and didn't remind her, instead intentionally using a trick of confusing pearls with fish eyes...

  When hearing that Mr. Wang is ill, instead of asking about his condition, he complains that Mr. Wang got sick at the wrong time.

  Every detail is etched in Sheng Siyan's mind.

  She wouldn't do such a thing to her friends.

  But if friends did something like that to her, then they wouldn't be friends anymore.

  Sheng Siyan let out a long sigh and gently put down Niu Xiaoye's layer.

  "Mother, I was just being softhearted for a moment, but I'll be more careful from now on." Sheng Siyan leaned her head against Wang Shi's arm.

  Wang's stature was tall and slender, with Sheng Siyan only reaching her chest.

  "Alright, you're tired too, put on the Guanyin hat and go back to rest. I'll find another personal maid for you. This time, remember, a personal maid is like yourself, no different. We can only part ways amicably, not make mistakes." Wang Shi let her own maid, Gan Cao, send Sheng Siyan back home.

  After Sheng Siyan left, Wang Shi said to Sheng Qiye: "In the end, he's still just a child, only thinking about removing his name from the family register."

  Sheng Qiye smiled and said: "It's already good that you can think of such a thorough plan. It's all thanks to your teaching."

  Wang smiled and took the maid to the courtyard where Haitang was recovering. He spoke kindly to her, "This time you saved our eldest miss, our whole family thanks you."

  Haitang is not afraid of anything else. What she fears most is the smiling face of Wang Shi, who hastily wants to get out of bed and kowtow.

  Wang had already dismissed all the servants in the house and only kept Da Ya and Ju Xiang to follow her.

  "......Madam, slave...slave...guilty." Haitang muttered.

  "What crime? What guilt is there? The eldest girl was in danger at the Niu family's hut. Fortunately, you risked your life to save her, and as a mother, I am even more grateful to you. You are the eldest girl's benefactor, and if we let you continue to be a servant in our household, people will say that the Sheng family does not know how to appreciate good deeds." Wang Shi paused for a moment, then smiled and said: "So I plan to release you from your servitude. From now on, you are a member of a respectable family."

  Having committed such a great mistake, Haitang originally thought she was doomed to die, thinking that it was somewhat unbearable, and just as she was about to ask someone to find her parents to report the news, the result was not only did she not die, but she could also escape, this is simply a joy from heaven!

  The blush on her face instantly returned, and she was beaming with joy.

  "Thank you, madam, for your great kindness!" Haitang kowtowed to Wang Shi on the bed.

  Wang said: "However, you implicated our Sheng family in this matter, and we cannot let it go unaccounted for."

  The movement of Haitang's kowtowing stopped, she was stunned and bowed her head on the bed, her two arms trembling slightly.

  Wang quietly waited for a while, making sure Haitang's heart had sunk to the bottom of the valley, before continuing: "So your family can't remove their registration, only you can remove yours."

  Haitang let out a breath of relief, her body went limp and she fell onto the bed.

  "This is all because of your master's kindness, asking for mercy on your behalf. If it weren't for her pleading, I would have broken all your tendons by now." Madam Wang said with a stern tone, mixing both kindness and severity, "You rest well and focus on recovering from your injuries first. Once you've recovered, we'll arrange another marriage for you, and you can properly become someone's legitimate wife as the head daughter-in-law." With that, Madam Wang turned around and left, supporting Ju Xiang's hand as she went.

  Haitang got up from the bed, looked at Wang's back and sighed for half a day, then wiped the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve. --- It was really dangerous, really dangerous! Luckily, the eldest daughter pleaded for mercy! She knew that the eldest daughter had a soft heart...

  Haitang took out a small purse from her close-fitting clothes and tightly grasped it in her hand, secretly pondering how to find a satisfactory Mr. Right...

  Wang returned to Yan Yutang and told Sheng Qiye about his handling of Haitang.

  Sheng Qiye frowned and said, "Still want to get married?"

  Wang smiled and said, "Of course. Haitang has to leave the household register, but after leaving the household register, she must marry a tenant on our estate. For this lifetime, it is impossible to really leave our family."

  Having done something wrong, you still want to divorce and remarry as a legitimate wife elsewhere?

  Wang sneered. Then she shouldn't be the mistress of this house anymore. —— Haitang will have to atone for her momentary greed for the rest of her life.

  Sheng Siyan knew that Wang would handle this matter properly, so apart from carefully thinking about Wang's way of handling things, at other times, she was quietly observing the maidservants around her.

  It's hard to know what's in someone's heart, and she has had a bitter experience of this kind.

  Of course, what she felt more deeply was the sense of powerlessness at having to be responsible for other people's actions.

  Unlike in later generations, everyone only represents himself and if he commits a mistake, it will not implicate others unless they are accomplices.

  But here, everyone's relationship seems to be closely linked, and pulling one hair moves the whole body.

  Wang also picked another second-class maid to send to Sheng Siyan's Womei Xuan, without mentioning the supplement of Haitang, but only saying that she would temporarily take someone's place.

  Sheng Siyan didn't mind, every day staying in the house reading books "to recover from injury".

  Only a few days later, Sheng Qiye returned from the palace and said that the Empress Dowager was ill. She had been bedridden for several days already. It is said that she caught a chill on the day of the outing and then busied herself with state affairs after returning to the palace, resulting in her falling ill due to overwork.

  The Empress Dowager, seeing that she could not get out of bed, was worried about delaying government affairs, so she issued an edict to let the Crown Prince temporarily take charge of state affairs.

  First update 3500 words. There will be an additional update in the afternoon. Hurry up and ask for pink tickets and recommendation tickets. O(n_n)O

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