Twenty-one shots

  Biyu barely reacted, staring blankly at Gu Man for a moment before being startled by the depth of his eyes and quickly looking away.

  She always felt that she had just seen a murderous intention in Gu Man's eyes, which was an undisguised disgust.

  This made her feel embarrassed and also a little surprised.

  Although she had always relied on her identity as Gu Man's personal maid to pretend to be the young lady of Mingyue Building, apart from being lazy and occasionally sneaking out, she had never done anything to wrong Gu Man. She was not clear where Gu Man's hatred towards them came from.

  What's more... If she didn't remember wrong, before Gu Man fell ill, her attitude towards herself was still fine, what exactly went wrong?

  She was in a panic, and it wasn't until just now that she remembered the tone of Gu Man's mention of Xiyu Pavilion earlier. Xiyu Pavilion! Her eyes lit up, no wonder why Fourth Young Miss had come to find trouble with Ninth Young Miss this morning for no reason at all!

  But now Coral still has to go to Fourth Sister's room, this is simply hitting the nail on the head.

  She hesitated for a moment, then carefully recalled the words: "This morning, after sending the girl out of the door, I was feeding the sparrows when Xianghua said she wanted to go to...to Seventh Sister's place to chat with Yuemei sister. I thought that the girl had always been kind to us, so I let her go."

  Gu Man nodded with a gloomy face and turned to look at Shanhu: "The fourth young lady lives in the Xiyu Pavilion, and the seventh young lady is actually living in the Biyuan's Moxiangxuan. Can you even get the door wrong?"

  Gu Qing had always looked down on Gu Xin, who was a concubine's daughter, because she herself was the legitimate daughter. As for Fan Shi, her affection towards Gu Xin was only superficial. Therefore, Gu Xin did not have her own independent courtyard, but instead lived in three rooms separated from her aunt's courtyard, which were called Mo Xiang Xuan.

  Gu Qing and Gu Xin's houses are quite far apart.

  Coral listened to Biyu say that, and her heart was already half disheartened. At this moment, seeing Gu Man ask like this, she was instead calmer in her heart. She raised her eyes to look at Gu Man leaning against the incense burner, thought for a moment, and then continued Gu Man's words: "Miss, it was originally my fault. I suppose you don't know that the ink chess in Fourth Miss's room is my cousin, her parents are the ones who used to be the housekeeper of our Second Madam's room. This time I went to Seventh Miss's place to get the shoe pattern, and took the opportunity to see her, and we chatted for a bit. There's nothing else besides that. Was it because of this that you were angry with me?"

  Pei Yin and Pei Qin knew that Gu Man was angry, but they thought she was just scolding them for being naughty. They didn't expect another round of scolding, so when it came, they were both startled and let out a surprised "ah".

  At the same time, they also have some lingering fear.

  Although this manor appears calm on the surface, everyone knows that the masters and mistresses of the various houses rarely get along well with each other and often clash within the manor.

  The fourth daughter of the big house, Gu Qing, often came to find trouble with Gu Man, and it turned out that Shanhu was a cousin of Gu Qing's personal maid, and they had kept it a secret so well that just thinking about it made them shudder.

  Gu Man has been ill for so many days, and Fourth Young Miss hasn't come to visit him even once. It's strange that today Gu Man is feeling a bit better, and coincidentally, Eldest Madam returned to the manor. Gu Qing came to Ming Yue Lou and made a scene. The more they thought about it, the more they felt that the coral was involved in this matter. Those words of seeking help and pleading for mercy were all taken back.

  She was indeed a clever girl, knowing that she had already suspected her, so she simply and honestly told everything about Mo Qi and her relationship.

  But she not only didn't think it was a frank way of doing things, but also felt increasingly frightened. How did an eleven or twelve-year-old girl learn such profound thoughts, and in her previous life, she had no idea at all?

  She lowered her eyes and looked at her again, then coldly smiled: "Is there anything else? I don't care, nor do I mind. It's just that I used to think you were handy, but today, for some reason, I feel that you're not handy at all."

  Coral was shocked, she didn't expect Gu Man to say such a direct sentence, which meant that he wanted to drive her away. But how could this be possible? She and Gu Man had always been on good terms, and Gu Man had always taken care of her. Was it just because of her sisterly relationship with Mo Qi that he wanted to drive her away?

  Although she indeed often confided in Gu Qing and frequently went to her room, she really hadn't done anything more improper than that. Why did Ninth Young Lady have to take it so far?

  She gritted her teeth and wiped away the tears on her face, sobbing: "Miss wants to drive me out, I have nothing to say. But at least give me a reason, otherwise once I leave this door, I'd rather hit my head against that pillar and die than lose face in front of my parents!"

  Pei Qin was very casual and got along with everyone, although she didn't like San Hu's petty and cheap behavior in the past. However, since they were sisters, her heart softened, and she couldn't help but speak up to plead for her: "Miss, it's not a big deal after all, why don't..."

  Pei Yin reached out and pulled her back to the original position, with an unchanged expression, whispered in her ear: "Mo Qi has never had any dealings with our Mingyue Building, and several times she even helped the fourth young lady to hinder our young lady, have you forgotten? If Xanadu really did something wrong to our young lady, it's her fault that she was driven out. If she didn't do anything wrong, going out would also avoid being caught in the middle between our two houses and feeling embarrassed, isn't that good?"

  Her voice was not small, just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear clearly.

  Gu Man's mouth curved up in a satisfied smile, and she calmly said to Shanhu, who looked shocked: "Did you hear that? You can't stay in this Mingyue Building anymore. Don't try to scare me with death threats. Although I'm young," she paused for a moment, then squatted down in front of Shanhu and whispered: "I remember that Mochi's mother was in charge of my mother's household when she secretly stole many things. It caused quite a commotion back then, and it almost went to court. In the end, it was only resolved because of Eldest Aunt's intervention. If you cause trouble in my room now, do you think Eldest Aunt will still protect you?"

  Some people are born to be rebellious and cannot be tamed.

  He finished speaking, then stood up with a smile and said to Qingyin: "Go find Mother Zhou and tell her that I'm not satisfied with any of the people in Mingyuelou. Let her re-pick some for me! Pick good ones, pick ones that satisfy me!"

  Coral's eyes widened, and she involuntarily collapsed to the ground - what Gu Man said was right, she was just a pawn after all. The mistress wouldn't speak up for her, and might even personally punish her in order to prevent her from dragging down Gu Qing.

  She seems to have forgotten the person in front of her. I've been serving her since I was seven years old, thinking that I understood her temperament very well, but now it appears that's not the case at all.

  It was strange that she also vaguely felt that the former Gu Man would do the same - she had always been willful, thinking of what she wanted to think of, but she still felt that Gu Man was different from before. The calmness in his eyes, with an unfathomable depth, was not a look that a child should have.