Chapter 291. V4C291: Moving Day (II) Translator: Ning LL

Bisi and Ruomei had been disciplined by Cuiwei since their childhood. Thinking of how stern she had been, Bisi shrank her neck. Ruomeigoggledandscolded, “I’ve already told you not to listen to that bitch. If you listen to her words and make mistakes in the future, do not come to me to cry!” Bisi laughedawkwardlyand kept apologizing.

After Ruomei felt much comfortable now, she then continued, “Let me ask you this, even though you don’t work for Madamaslong as Danju and Xiaotao, but what about Lvzhi? You are older than her, but she is able to serve in Madam’s room and you still have to wait in line to serve Madam. Even Qinsang and Xiahe are called more often to serve Madam than you. You always think that you are a capable girl, how doyou end up like this?”

Bisi, face turning red, lowered her head and said, “Sister,please givemesomeadvice.”

Ruomei was glad to see the humble look of Bisi. Onlywhenshe felt comfortable did shestartto giveinstructions, “What kindof people are we? We are the personal maids of Madam Ningyuan! None of the Mamasin charge would dare to punish us unless Madam tells them to do so! There’s no need to be afraid of them!” Ruomei was trying to imply that as long as they did a good job in serving their Madam, they didn’t need to worry about other things.

Bisi was quite enlightened. Then she sat by the bed and held Ruomei’s arm, saying fawningly, “Sister, you are so right! I just fell for that wicked girl’s nonsense and thought that we still haveto act cautiously the whole time like we did in the House of Clear Dusk.

Ruomei, with a proud smile on her face, straightened her back and said, “I’m telling you, don’t underestimate Xiaotao.She’s a very smart girl but only appears slow-witted! Everything she hears or sees, no matterwhetherit’s good or bad, she would tell Madam withoutholdinganything back. She always actsfreelyinfrontof Madam, which also shows that she doesn’t have any evil thoughts inside of her head.Sheisreallya loyal girl.”

Bisi was not fully convinced, “She’s just a silly girl who couldn’t even make her own decisions.Also,she seems quite ignorantonceshe’s not with Madam and is still not tactful enough. What kind of things would she be capable of? No wondershe couldn’t become the leader of the maids!”’

“So what? Madam likes her and trusts her a lot!” Ruomei poked Bisi’s forehead hard, “After Madam finds Xiaotao acompetenthusband, she willenjoya wealthy and decent life for sure no matterwhethershe continues working in the mansion or runs the estates or stores! Fortune favors fools.”Saying this, she started to think of the past, “When I was young, I heard from my father that the stewards in the Marquises or Dukes’ familiesareveryrespectedoutside. There are lots of officials with rankings scrambling to flatterthose stewards…”

Bisi was totally entranced. She had heard of the same thing when she was in the Sheng’s mansion, but never had she hearda straightforwardstatement like this.

Suddenly, Ruomei seemed to remember something and said in a stern voice, “You always have so many things in your head, that is your biggest problem! Do not forget about what has happened to Yancao!” Bisi had still been hesitating. Hearing that name, she suddenly felt a tightness inside of her.

“Yancao is gentler and more capable than you, but she also has too many thoughts. At that time, our Madam hasn’t been engaged, but Yancaoalreadygot anxious about her own future. She asked someone to send a message to her parents to tell them that she wanted to stay in the Sheng’s family.” Ruomei despised someone like thatmost, soher wordswere quiteharsh, “Madam knows everything but only said ‘Everyonehas his own ambition, just let her go.’ Although Madam didn’t lose her temper to Yancaoin ordinary times,what Yancao did already destroyed the little bond she had with Madam. After that, no matter how miserably Yancao criedor begged, Madam didn’t even bother to talk to her. You cannotfollowher road. Though Madam is kind and generous, she’s not easy to fool with.”

“… Madam truly is cruel. Yancao only made one mistake, but Madam still showed her no mercy.” Bisi felt her heart beating very fast.

Every time Minglan went back to the Sheng’s mansion, Yancao alwaystried to find a chance to meet her, wishing that Minglan could rememberthegoodold dayswith her. Minglan did have presented silvers and silks to Yancao, butrefusedto see the latter, not even for a short moment. What was that supposed to mean? Everyone was clear about that.

“What do you mean by she’s cruel? If a maid is disloyal to her Madam, why should the Madam treat her sincerely?” Ruomei snorted, “Our Madam, if you have to say that she’s hard to serve, it does make sense because she always has a clear mind and none of her maids could hide anything from her. However, we can also say that she’s easy to serve because she will never mistreat you as long as you treat her sincerely. Danju and Xiaotao devote their heart and soul to Madam, then Madam would definitely plan for their future.Asforthe ones like you and Yancao who always have your own intentions… Sister Bisi, since you are so clever andgoodat calculating, then Madam will let you plan for your future all by yourself.”

Bisi stammered something in a daze. It was hard to tell if she had taken in those words or not.

Sincethe quarrels and arguments hadn’t worked, the Fifth family moved out of Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion very soon. After three or four days, the Fourth family also left. Before Fourth Old Master left, he also snorted to the stone lions in front of the mansion.

Asa result, the people of the Ministry ofPenalty also stopped mentioning the new charge toward Gu Tingbing. Ifsomeone else arguedthat the chargewastoo light, the officials in the Ministry ofPenalty could retort with confidence, “There is a very promising man in the Gu’s family. He has made contributions to the country andHisMajesty relies heavily on his service.Themeritsoffsetfaults. What’s so wrongaboutgiving Gu Tingbing a light sentence?”

However, Gu Tingye was still wondering if he should send Gu Tingbing fartherafterhearingFourth Old Master’s snort.

“Don’t go too far. He’s your cousin after all.” Minglan didn’t think that Gu Tingye really wanted Gu Tingbing to be dead.

However, Gu Tingye said, “Theevils always live a long life. It’s hard for him to die.” When hewentto the Ministry of Penalty yesterday, he found Gu Tingbing crying about his treatment to his eldest brother ingreat spirits. Then Gu Tingyeturned around and left right away. In the meantime, hestill heard Gu Tingbing asking to have two maids and one old servant on the road.

WithGuTingye’s forehead throbbing fiercely, he suddenly remembered the past grudges, thinking, ‘Gu Tingbing, you think you are going on a spring trip?”

Seeing that half of the people in the mansion had gone, Minglan remembered her verbal promise right away. Then she lookedfor a group of masons to start the repairing work in the mansion.Afterall, she knew that sheshould stop putting on airs attherighttimein order tobuilda great publicimage.

“Fourth Uncle hasn’t returned our property and the ancestral propertyalso hasn’t been presented to you,areyou really willing to let this go?” Gu Tingye looked at her with a meaningful look, “Youaretrulytrustable.”

Only

“Even the thieves have their own principles.Oneshould always keep his word.”

“You keepyour wordto unreliable people?” Gu Tingye chuckled.

Minglan blushed and explained bashfully, “If I always keep my word, then my occasional dishonesty would be very useful.”

Gu Tingye, having burst into laughter, leaned back and prasiedher, “Excellent!Youhavetaken in the essence of the cunning schemes in the military strategy books.”

The girl who had just been praised raised her chin highlike a complacent fat frog and said breezily, “Anything which could be solved with money means nothing.”

The man raised his eyebrows and said in a teasing tone, “Minister Chen in the Ministry of Revenue would definitely agree with your words if heis here. Unfortunately, the national treasurydoesn’tallow him to do so.”

Minglan was speechless. The lines in the Hong Kong movies truly werenot suitable in the ancient times.