Actually, breaking a few things wasn’t a big deal, nor was the quibble between the maids. However, what really irritated Minglan was that Caihuan had tried to play the other maids against each other and destroy the harmony in the yard. With the smile on Minglan’s face turning even tenderer, she asked Lvzhi to help her stand up, “Don’t be frightened. It doesn’t matter. Concubine Gong is just bored. Since you two really hit it off, you should chat with her more often.” Caihuan felt her heart trembling. She was an eloquent girl. Though she knew that it wasn’ t a big deal, she still felt very scared.

“The others could take care of the affairs in the yard. If you are not busy, you should go to Concubine Gong often.” Minglan said that softly, but the smile in her eyes already disappeared. Caihuan, face turning pale, claimed that she didn’t dare to do that but couldn’t utter those words clearly.

Minglan turned around to look at Danju. The latter understood what Minglan meant at once and walked out of the room with her chest out. After that, she started to scold Xiayu with a loud voice. The latter lost her wage for this month and got herself beaten. Also, she was removed from the current position and assigned to do the cleaning job.

“… I guess you won’t break the brooms.” Danju said loudly.

Hearing the crying voice outside the door, Caihuan bit her lips tightly. She and Xiayu had been on good terms. As she heard the punishment to Xiayu, she didn’t dare to say anything but couldn’t help but get indignant.

Caihuan believed that Minglan knew exactly why Wang shi had sent her here. Actually, Caihuan hadn’t wanted to come to the Gu’s mansion either. Her parents were both in great positions in the Sheng family and Caihuan could also be considered as a second-class lady, so she really was not willing to go to another family. However, after she arrived at the Cheng Manor, she saw the wealth and power Gu Tingye had as well as his young and strong figure and also witnessed how great he had treated Minglan. Then, Caihuan couldn’t help but get tempted.

When Minglan had just got married, Caihuan hadn’t dared to have any thoughts. However, now that Minglan was pregnant now, Caihuan felt that no matter how strict Minglan was, the latter wouldn’t tie her husband to herself for more than half a year. If Gu Tingye wanted to pick a girl, Caihuan believed that she would be the first choice.

Little did Caihuan know that Minglan never gave a chance to her as time went by. When Caihuan had lived in the Sheng’s mansion, she had heard everyone said that the Sixth Lady of the Sheng family had a good temper. Now she found it a lie and that Minglan was actually a jealous woman. Caihuan had been serving Minglan for a year, but the latter still didn’t allow her to enter into the main room. She even couldn’t serve tea or do the cleaning in the main room.

What’s more, Gu Tingye was an upright man and never took a look at those maids. No matter how beautifully she had dressed herself and how many make-ups she applied, Gu Tingye was never attracted to her for once, which really annoyed her.

Seeing Caihuan stepping out of the room reverently, Minglan propped up her chin and lost in thoughts.

Caihuan went back to her room straightly. After she closed the door and took a few steps, she saw Ruomei staring at her coldly on her bed, “Your sister, Caichai, has put in some good words for me in front of Madam, so today I’ll remind you a few things.”

Before Caihuan could say anything, Ruomei said indifferently, “I know what you are up to. You just want to learn Sister Canzan who has followed Eldest Lady to the Yuan family, right? Madam must have told you to do so.”

Ruomei accurately summed up Caihuan’s thought. The latter, face turning completely red, complained, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“You better be smart in this!” Ruomei said with a sarcastic look in her eyes, “At that time, Eldest Lady hasn’t given birth to a child for three years and her mother-in-law  is hard to deal with. Then Caizan has become Master Yuan’s concubine. Whereby can you do that? Do you think that Madam Wang can still control this?”

Caihuan, ashamed and angry, turned around and fell into silence. Ruomei was a tough girl. Once she wanted to say something, she had to finish the speech. Then she walked to Caihuan’s front and said resolutely, “Don’t think that our Madam wouldn’t punish you because she fears Madam Wang. Do you know what happened to Mama You and Yancao?”

Caihuan looked at Ruomei with a shocked and also puzzled look, then the latter said, “Mama You is a greedy drunkard. Madam wanted to punish her long ago. However, there wasn’t a suitable cause at that time, so Madam has tolerated Mama You for a year. Finally, after Madam found enough of Mama You’s mistakes and get something big on the latter, she dealt with Mama You once and for all! As for Yancao, Madam has an opinion about her long ago. However, Madam still treated her well for the old-time sake. Do you think Madam would keep such an unfaithful and evil girl? Don’t kidding! As long as you serve Madam well, she’ll definitely find you a good husband!”

With the look on Caihuan’s face changing, she cursed secretly, ‘When did Madam ever treat me great? She’s so shameless. How could she keep her man in her room with her swollen belly? Sometimes she and Master even make out with each other. Those Mamas all like to bully the weak and fear the strong. They are all awed by Madam and don’t dare to say anything, only Mama Cui has advised her a few times.’ Caihuan had wanted to tell Wang shi about that in order to let Wang shi to tell Minglan to be tolerate and virtuous. However, Liu Kun’s wife who had accepted favors from Minglan stopped Caihuan from doing that the whole time. Caihuan then had a grudge against Minglan.

Thinking of those displeased things, Caihuan sneered, “You want to marry a scholar, not everyone does… Even if you become a madam in another family, it still means nothing. If your husband isn’t capable enough, you’ll still be bullied. That kind of life will never be as comfortable as the one in this mansion!”’

With Ruomei’s face flushing, she kept snorting and said ‘Fine’ for three times. Then she turned around and opened the door to leave.

In the early spring of Year Chongde, even the beautiful scenery couldn’t infect the gloom in the capital. The Emperor had a great difficulty in reforming and reshuffling. The censor whom the Emperor had appointed to check the salt business in Huainan and Huaibei cities had been attacked twice before he had reached the two cities. At first, the censor had run into caterans in the mountain in Hebei province—When Gu Tingye had heard of that, he said indignantly with a murderous intention in his eyes, “If His Majesty hasn’t sent me to the north at that time, I could eliminate all the caterans in two months!” When he had led the troops to put down the rebellion of the two lords, he had made the ground from the south to north run red with blood and fill with heads. In only a few days, he had hunted down every rebel. Minglan gave compliments to him as usual and then asked confusedly, “Isn’t Hebei province full of plains and that the mountains and forests are very rare at that place? Why those caterans are so bold?” Minglan’s geography grade was great when she had been in middle school.

The look in Gu Tingye’s eyes seemed a bit obscure, “… That’s right. There aren’t even mountains, where are those ‘caterans’ come from?” His voice sounded a bit sarcastic and also a little dangerous.

After a few days, a message came that the imperial commissioner and his companions ran into gangsters in Shaodong. Luckily, General Geng Jiezhong and others had put up a desperate fight so that Cheng Lianfang, the imperial censor, could stay safe. However, the solders in the group had been great slaughtered. Before long, Old General Geng was brought back to the capital on a stretcher. After that, he was summoned to the imperial palace right away before he could visit a doctor because the emperor needed to question him carefully.

At night, when Gu Tingye returned home, he said with a heavy voice, “It’s not that simple as I have expected.” During daytime, Madam Geng had asked for some medicine from Minglan with two red eyes. At that time, Minglan had already sensed what had happened. Then she sighed, “How can they be so bold? And all this is to stop the inspection on the salt affairs?!” Gu Tingye touched the black jade ring on his finger and said with an ironic tone, “Money talks. Every year, those guys are able to collect millions ounces of salt tax, and it has lasted for years.” Minglan couldn’t help getting dizzy with the picture of all those silvers flashing in front of her eyes. Having stayed in a trance for a long while, she then said, “Oh, by the way, Madam Geng came here this afternoon. I gave her all the two ounces of tiger bone which was left in the storage.”

“Well done.” Gu Tingye praised. Then he sighed, “Brother Geng doesn’t have too much money or connections in the capital. We should try our best to help.” As saying this, he saw the girl who was sitting opposite to him frowning gently, then he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Minglan bit her lips and seemed a bit hesitant, then she faltered, “Actually… Madam Geng went to the Empress’s brother’s family first.” She didn’t know how to continue. The look on Gu Tingye’s face turned serious, “What happened?” His voice sounded a bit scary. Minglan sighed, “Actually, the Empress’s brother’s family should have more valuable medicines than any other families. Unfortunately, today Madam Zhang happened to go back to her parents’ family and Concubine Zou greeted Madam Geng. As a result, the latter left empty-handed.” Gu Tingye thumped on the table and said angrily, “What a shallow woman! Brother Congxing is too…!”