Cutting off the nose as punishment, establishing authority in the provincial government

  Suì Yuè Xuān is the best place to stay in the inner courtyard of the Prime Minister's mansion, on par with the Snow Pavilion of the Prime Minister's eldest daughter, Gu Yíng Xuě. Usually, Suì Yuè Xuān was just a decorative piece in the inner courtyard, empty and ownerless for years. But today, this luxurious place finally welcomed its master.

  When the first ray of sunlight fell on the window of Suimeng Xuan, Gu Zhongzheng ordered Gu De to personally dispatch the young servants and maids who had been standing outside Suimeng Xuan for an hour. They stood in the middle of the courtyard with impatient faces, occasionally letting out a low hum from their mouths, but it was unclear who they were cursing.

  With a creak, the main door of the central hall slowly opened, and Yuenuang, dressed in a light blue shirt, walked out. She had changed from her usual coarse linen clothes to a brand new pale-colored satin dress, and her usual face was slightly made up with powder and lipstick, giving off an aura that was vastly different from before.

  "What's with her—"

  "Is she the Vietnamese girl who used to sweep the floor downstairs?"

  The girl listened to the discussions of the people below, her mouth curled up slightly. She gently patted her own jacket and said, "I'm really sorry to have kept you all waiting."

  The people below listened to her tone and frowned, a pink-clad maid couldn't help but step forward and say, "Yu Niang, this isn't the place for you to speak, Gu Guan Shuo told us to come see the new master, but we don't know who the master is or where they are now?"

  Yu Nu's eyebrows rose, and after last night, almost everyone in the Fu family knew that Gu Yun Xi was injured while saving De Wang and was now resting at Su Yue Xuan. And yet, this jade spoon came out without knowing who its master was, with a tone of great disrespect already evident.

  As soon as the old lady finished speaking, almost everyone in the courtyard looked at Yu Niang with a mixture of surprise and schadenfreude. This usually timid and humble old woman was now facing an awkward situation. And then there was the second miss, who was used to hiding her head like a turtle, how long could she stay in Shui Yue Xuan this time?

  Yue Niang smiled, and a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face. "Apparently, everyone still doesn't know who the new master of Shui Yue Xuan is. It seems that Gu Guan Shi didn't make it clear to you all. In that case, I'll say it again here. The Second Miss saved De Wang's life and has earned merit, so Master specially bestowed Shui Yue Xuan upon the Second Miss and Luo Fu Ren. Everyone, do you understand now?"

  She paused for a moment, and then continued in a gentle tone, "By the way, I'd like to add that I'm grateful for Second Miss's kindness. As of now, I'm the one in charge of assigning tasks at Shuiyue Pavilion. Later on, all of your work will be distributed by me."

  A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd, and Yu Shao looked at Yue Niang's appearance with a slight hum, "I said why I didn't get used to looking at my mother today, it turned out that I changed into a good dress, but has everyone smelled the smell of the toilet?"

  The laughter suddenly grew louder, and Yu Niang, who used to do cleaning, often swept the toilets. At this moment, Yu Shao's words were clearly a slap in her face!

  Yue Niang was taken aback, lowered her head and sniffed her own clothes, looking embarrassed and silly. The crowd found this even more ridiculous, Yu Shao bent over laughing so hard that her whole body shook, her eyes full of disdain as she looked at Yue Niang's embarrassing appearance. Others didn't laugh as loudly as Yu Shao, but they also didn't give Yue Niang any face.

  She sniffed back and forth on her two sleeves for a while, "Eh, it's clearly not there..."

  As soon as this soft whisper came out, the crowd looked at her with even more disdain. Yu Shao sneered and laughed, coldly snorting, "It's really what kind of master has what kind of dog, such ignorance and lowliness, yet still daring to think about being a managing lady, it's not afraid to lose face for the Xiang Fu! This Su Yue Xuan is given to her to live in, it's truly ruined!"

  Yu Yu's voice was originally sharp, and now it carried a sarcastic tone as she spoke out in the midst of mocking laughter that filled the room. Her words were particularly clear amidst the ridicule. Yu Yu's eyebrows slightly moved, and she put down her arms that had been raised to her nose, but the smile on her face remained gentle and soft. However, to others, this smile was completely different.

  It was like a dull and thick knife, the more Yu Yang raised the corner of his mouth, the lighter he spoke, "I've smelled for half a day and didn't smell any toilet smell on myself. In my opinion, I'm afraid it's your nose that's not good, Yu Shao."

  Yu Yu was taken aback, thinking that she was the one who could speak in front of her husband's concubine, but this lowly old woman dared to be presumptuous? Her eyes changed color and she shouted loudly, "What did you say?!"

  Yu Nang smiled and smoothed out her sleeves, "It turns out that Yu Shao is not only useless with his nose, but also deaf in the ears!"

  Yu Shao's face changed greatly, but Yu Niang spoke slowly and heavily, "I often hear people say that Yu Shao is eight-sided and clever at observing words and expressions, with a nose, eyes, and ears that are all very useful. Now it seems that this is not entirely the case. In my opinion, since they're no longer useful, why don't we just cut them off together?"

  The whistling cold wind seemed to have stopped for a moment, and everyone felt a buzzing in their ears. They all stared blankly at this seemingly obedient woman, who had just said something?

  Just as everyone was wondering if they had misheard, Yu Niang's expression suddenly changed. "Guards! The jade spoon has no respect for hierarchy, speaking wildly and disrespectfully to our master. Cut off her nose!"

  As soon as this was said, the crowd realized that something was wrong. The gate of the Shuiyue Pavilion had two guards standing at some point, and these two guards were wearing black clothes with a black falcon-shaped waist card on their sides. Everyone looked at each other, and they were not people from the prime minister's mansion!

  As soon as the voice fell, the two guards walked towards Yu Shao. Before Yu Shao could react, a knife flashed and a bright red splash was accompanied by a shrill cry of despair!

  The change came so suddenly that everyone was still in a daze, and a faint smile floated back onto Yu Niang's face. She slightly bowed to the two guards, "Thank you, gentlemen. Please take this servant away from Shui Yue Xuan, lest she offend my master's eyes."

  Those two guards were very cooperative, one of them dragged the unconscious Yu Shang out like a dead dog, while the other quickly cleaned up the dirty things on the ground.

  The girl glanced at the pale-faced crowd, covered her mouth and smiled, "Come on, everyone take a sniff, is there any weird smell on me?"

  Everyone immediately changed color, hastily shaking their heads and kneeling on the ground, "Madam Yu spare our lives, Madam Yu spare our lives——"

  The young lady smiled upon hearing this, "Just because of these words, I should have cut off your mouths, you should remember that you are slaves, and I am also a slave. The only one who can spare your lives is our master alone. Do you know now who our master is?"

  After a moment of silence, someone whispered "Second Miss" and immediately, the kneeling crowd echoed in unison.

  "Second Miss!"

  "It's Second Miss."

  "From now on, we slaves will definitely follow the orders of the second young lady and absolutely dare not disobey."

  The empress nodded in satisfaction at this, "You all remember what was said today. If you go against it in the future, your fate will be the same as that of Jade Spoon today!"

  Everyone was stunned, and at this moment they realized that this Miss Yu was not stupid or clumsy at all. As for the second miss who came after her, they had no idea what she was like, but one thing was certain: she must have had a thunderous method. Perhaps from today on, the Hou Mansion would truly belong to the second miss!

  When Yuenniang entered the inner chamber, Gu Yunxi was sitting in front of the window drinking tea. Luo Qingyi sat opposite her, carefully grinding the medicinal herbs to treat her injury.

  "Miss."

  Looking at the woman standing with her head down in front of him, Gu Yunxi's eyes lifted, "Yu'e, after all these years, you've been hiding it really deeply."

  "Nothing, nothing," said the old lady with a shake of her head and a smile. "I don't know anything, it's all thanks to Second Miss's good teaching. That jade spoon is really reckless, daring to spread rumors in front of the secondary wife. If not for Xu's mother-in-law, who knows what other trouble would have arisen?"

  Gu Yunxi heard this but didn't show much expression, instead she asked softly, "What time is it?"

  The girl looked out of the window and said, "It's still two quarters before noon."

  Gu Yunxi nodded and got up with a twinge of pain in her shoulder, "Let's go, De Wang will be here soon, besides, many people are waiting for us..."

  Digression

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