Chapter 65 - Bullying the Boss

Su Jiu ran straight to the back of the kitchen and heard the sound of clothes being scrubbed. She also heard Qiu Kui and Dong Xue’s quiet giggles.

“Nanny, thank you so much for doing our laundry!” It sounded like Qiu Kui’s voice. Her tone was full of pretension and arrogance, taking complete joy in Nanny’s misery.

“Who told Young Madame to offend Second Young Madame? Tai Mama of the laundry department is a close confidante of Second Madame, and she won’t let servants wash our clothes. We certainly couldn’t wash our own clothes, could we?”

“That’s right! My hands have never been submerged in cold water before!”

“That’s why we have to rely on you, Nanny. Thank you for your help!”

They spoke one after another, and, after this exchange, burst into laughter.

Su Jiu’s expression became darkly violent. She dashed over, turning down the winding corridor. All she saw was Nanny scrubbing clothes in a wooden basin next to the well. She had already washed a fair amount of clothing, but there was still a pile left in the basin. All of the clothes belonged to the courtyard’s servant girls.

In the winter, the well water was bitingly cold. Nanny’s hands were red from the chill. She could only wordlessly listen to the two girls’ joyous giggles and keep scrubbing with her head down. Behind Su Jiu, Chang Huan’s breath was cold. He was about to stride up to them with large steps. Su Jiu raised her hand and held him back.

Qiu Kui and Dong Xue perched on the edge of the well. They were munching on sunflower seeds and chatting away when they saw Su Jiu. Shocked, they jumped straight up and stared at her in horror.

Hearing footsteps, Nanny looked up. She also quickly stood, wiping her hands on her apron. “Young Miss, you’ve returned! Are you hungry? I am almost finished. I will head over to prepare your meal in just a moment!”

Su Jiu walked over and pulled out a saffron yellow piece of clothing from the basin. She said in a low voice, “Whose clothing is this?”

Qiu Kui stepped forward, hesitatingly said, “That is mine!”

“If it’s your clothing, why aren’t you washing it yourself?” Su Jiu looked up at her and asked.

Qiu Kui paled, but stuck out her neck and said, “Young Madame, I am a second-rank servant girl. My duty is to devote myself to my master. I’m not in charge of doing laundry.”

“Oh, is that so?” Su Jiu laughed lightly, but her eyes were piercingly cold. She said, again in her low voice, “Then according to the manor’s rules, what rank is my Nanny?”

Qiu Kui’s shoulder sunk a bit. Trembling, she answered, “F-first-rank.”

“So, since I offended Second Young Madame, and no one is washing your clothes, you decided to have my Nanny do your laundry? Is that right?” Su Jiu swept her eyes across the room.

Qiu Kui was shaking and was just about to fall to her knees when Dong Zue grabbed her from behind. “Young Madame, the laundry department won’t do laundry for our courtyard. But the clothes still need to be washed. Young Madame’s clothing is so expensive that we feared damaging it, so we could only ask Nanny to see to it personally. As for our own clothing, if Nanny doesn’t want to do it, we’ll just pay her for it!”

The servant girl Dong Xue had pretty eyes and could have been called attractive. She spoke her words cleanly and calculatingly, without the slightest trace of respect or deference. Su Jiu looked at her coldly. Her entire body emitted a lethal aura. The last rays of the setting sun were fading on her face, like cold snow.

Nanny quickly pressed down on the hand that Su Jiu was about to lift. She looked at Su Jiu and slowly shook her head. Nanny’s hands were cold as ice, and the chill helped Su Jiu suppress the churning fury in her chest. She told herself, this is Ji Manor. I can’t go around killing people here! She, Su Jiu, had also never killed an unarmed woman before!

With a deep breath, Su Jiu pushed Nanny behind her. With a humorless smile, she said, “No need for payment. The clothes have been washed anyway. But since Nanny has washed them all clean, go ahead and put them on!”

Qiu Kui and Dong Xue were taken aback. “Young Madame, what do you mean?”

“Do you not understand me? I am saying that you two are putting on these clothes right now!” Chang Huan gave a small snort behind them.

The two servant girls shook in terror, looking at Su Jiu in a stupor.

“Put them on!” Su Jiu picked up the bright yellow clothing and flung it at Qiu Kui.

The clothes had been taken straight out of the basin full of water, so flinging them at Qiu Kui made her completely wet. Her whole body shivered, and she fell to her knees. “Young Madame, please forgive me. We know we were wrong!”

Dong Xue also got to her knees. “We won’t do it again!”

The causes and aftereffects of the marriage between the Su family and Ji Manor were familiar to everyone in Ji Manor. They despised the Su family and did not have very much respect for Su Jiu as their Young Madame. However much disdain they harbored in their hearts, though, they could not disobey her orders. When they began to bully Nanny, they were under the impression that the rumors about Su Jiu were true. They thought that she was weak and timid. They could never have imagined that she would be so ruthless.

“Which set is yours?” Su Jiu looked at Dong Xue.

“I know that I was wrong!” Dong Xue also gave in, becoming timid and meek.

“Which set is it?” Su Jiu repeated, her tone sharp.

Dong Xue turned white. Hearing Su Jiu, her heart also froze. She had no choice but to reach her hand into the basin and pull out a lilac-colored garment. “Th-this one is mine.”

“Who do the rest of these belong to?” Su Jiu demanded.

“Th-those belong to Chun Liu and Xia He!” Qiu Kui replied quickly.

“Chang Huan, go fetch them and bring them here!”

“Yes!” Chang Huan responded. He left quickly.

Soon, Chun Liu and Xia He followed Chang Huan back. They were shocked at the situation in front of their eyes and fell to their knees, exclaiming, “Young Madame, we know that we were in the wrong!”

“Go on. Go get your clothes!” Su Jiu ordered.

Chun Liu and Xia He exchanged a look of confusion then rose to go pick out their clothes from the basin of water.

“Good. Now put them on!”

Chun Liu and Xia He looked up abruptly. “What?”

“Nanny has washed them all for you. Hurry up and put them on!” Su Jiu’s tone was suddenly scarily icy.

Qiu Kui and Dong Xue hung their heads low, choked a few sounds out, and then began to put on the dripping clothes. In the chill September weather, the droplets had frozen over. The clothes they were already wearing were immediately soaked. When the chilly wind blew, it was as if they were encased in ice, and the cold chilled them to the bone.

Chun Liu and Xia He did not dare disobey, and they pulled on the clothes still dripping with water. They were shivering from head to toe, kneeling on the ground. They cried, “Young Madame, we know we were wrong! We won’t do it again!”

“Young Madame, please forgive us!”

“Young Madame!”

The four servant girls knelt on the ground. It hadn’t been very long, but they were all trembling from the cold, feeling like there was an icy wind blowing within their very bones. In unbearable pain, they knelt and bowed and begged for mercy. Su Jiu paid them no mind. She took her cape off and draped it over Nanny, holding her hands, which had turned red from the cold.

She asked, “Are you cold?”

Nanny lowered her head, a sound caught in her throat. She raised her head and smiled, saying, “I’m not cold!”

Just then, Fan Shi heard the servant girls crying and ran over to them. She saw them kneeling and crying on the ground and was stunned by the sight. “What is going on?”

With a curl of his lip, Chang Huan said coldly, “Having our Young Miss’ Nanny wash these servant girls’ clothes wouldn’t have been on your orders, would it, Fan Mama?”

With a face full of panic, Fan Mama said, “Young Madame, you are kind and wise. How could a servant like me ever try to bully a superior? I don’t know anything about this!”

Chun Liu, Xia He, and the others were still kneeling on the ground. Their faces were deathly pale, and their teeth chattered. Seeing Fan Mama arrive, they cried out to her, pleading for mercy, “Mama, we know we were wrong. Please ask her to be lenient with us. Ask her to forgive us!”

Fan Mama walked over to them and slapped them in the faces with her broad sleeve, declaring loudly, “Who are you to ask me to plead on your behalf? You have the guts to order Young Madame’s Nanny around? You’ve really done it now. Young Madame is compassionate. If it were me, I would have sent you away from the manor long ago.”

The servant girls were frozen cold, trembling, and with one swing of Fan Mama’s sleeve, they collapsed to the ground. They curled up, crying bitter tears.

Fan Mama turned to look at Su Jiu, immediately pasting on her prettiest smile, and said, “Young Madame, don’t waste your breath on these stupid wenches. If you must blame someone, blame the laundry department for trying to go around picking on the lower ranks. They’re even looking down on our Phoenix Garden! How infuriating is that?”

“Take me to the laundry department!” Su Jiu’s eyes were cold.