Chapter 15: Four maids with unique skills

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Gu Yu Qi originally wanted to go and take a look herself, but she was only ten-years-old and Yan Zhi did not know martial arts.
She was afraid of causing unnecessary trouble, so she took Yan Zhi to Wan Xin Zhai.

She told her mother, Liang-shi, what she had just seen.
She used a naive tone so that it did not seem like she was complaining, but rather like she was talking about something fun.

As soon as Liang-shi heard this, her brows furrowed.

“Who else have you told about this?” Liang-shi asked in a low voice.

“Just Mother.” Gu Yu Qi said and played with the hem of Liang-shi’s clothes.
Pretending to be inexperienced was a really painful thing.
With her having crossed over and being reborn like an old witch, pretending to be a ten-year-old was painful enough to make her throw up blood.

“Ah Nan is good.
This thing sounds like a big deal, so don’t talk nonsense about it until the truth is found out.” Liang-shi held Gu Yu Qi’s hand and said with a smile, “You mustn’t tell anyone else in the house.
Especially your father.”

“Mn.” Gu Yu Qi nodded vigorously.
Although Liang-shi had a gentle smile on her face, her eyes had changed.
Gu Yu Qi could see it.

“Xia He, go and see who that person is,” Liang-shi no longer concealed it and spoke in front of Gu Yu Qi to Xia He who was waiting by her side.
“Don’t go from the front and don’t get caught.”

Xia He bowed slightly.
Her figure fluttered and she leapt out of the window, flying over the opposite flower wall.
This move by Xia He completely stunned Gu Yu Qi.

Expert! Chun Xing could do martial arts, and even Xia He could!

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Her mother was surrounded by capable people! She had not known that in her previous life…

She tried hard to recall where the four maids who followed her mother had gone after her mother had died in the previous life.
She remembered that Chun Xing had come to find her and seemed to have difficulty expressing something, telling her to be careful with Concubine Liu.
Before her mother had even been buried, Concubine Liu had claimed to be the madam of the house.
She had said a lot of disrespectful things about Liang-shi and Chun Xing could not help but hit Concubine Liu in front of the mourning hall.
She had then been taken by her father and locked up to be dealt with after her mother’s coffin had been buried.
Yet that night, Chun Xing, Xia He, Qiu Yue, and Dong Xue, the four maids, together with the ten guards brought by her mother from Jiangnan, all disappeared.
Their whereabouts were unknown. 

At that time, the Ding Yuan Marquis had only publicised that they had disobeyed their madam and had been sold.
Now that Gu Yu Qi thought about it, they had not shown up again after that and it was likely most of them had died at the hands of Concubine Liu.

As for Nanny Li, she had died in front of her mother.

In the previous life, she had been too indifferent and she did not care about anything except her status as the daughter of the Marquis’ residence.
Thinking about the look in Chun Xing’s eyes when she came to look for her, Gu Yu Qi’s heart palpitated.
The grief, indignation, and disappointment, accusing her…

“Xia He, she…” Gu Yu Qi pointed at the empty window where Xia He had left and said, “Is she also a martial artist? Mother?”

“Mn.” Liang-shi thought for a moment and felt that there was no need to hide it any longer.
Both Chun Xing and Xia He have learned some martial arts.”

“Then what can Qiu Yue and Dong Xue do?” Gu Yu Qi asked immediately.

“You’re such a smart child.” Liang-shi looked at her daughter and smiled, “Qiu Yue is best at embroidery and cooking.
Dong Xue can write well.
The things that she copies can be mistaken for the real article.
Don’t go and disclose these things outside.”

“Mn.” Gu Yu Qi nodded.
The look in Liang-shi’s eyes now was fresher.
It turned out that the people around her mother were capable.
In her previous life, she did not know any of this.
After all, her mind had been completely on that man and she even ignored her mother, so how could she have noticed the maids beside her mother?

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“I won’t lose.
The maids around my mother all have unique skills, but my maid doesn’t have any.
I also want a maid like that.” Gu Yu Qi hurriedly grabbed Liang-shi’s sleeve and acted like a spoiled child.
“I promise not to tell anyone else.” After listening to Liang-shi’s introduction, a thought gradually formed in Gu Yu Qi’s mind.
It was just that this idea was very vague right now and she still needed to think about it carefully.
If she could implement it, then maybe she really could bring Liang-shi and leave the Marquis’ residence to live a happy life.

Gu Yu Qi shook Liang-shi until she laughed, “We don’t know if the people around you are trustworthy yet or not.
Mother has asked Nanny Li and Chun Xing to help you observe them.
Don’t worry, if they’re all smart and reliable, mother will naturally ask Chun Xing to teach them. 

It turned out that her mother had already thought about her… Gu Yu Qi’s eyes warmed slightly.
In her previous life, she was really selfish and had always refused Liang-shi’s kindness.
She really had been a heartless daughter.

Gu Yu Qi suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
It was no wonder that Liang-shi had been depressed all her life.
After she crossed over, she had clearly been estranged from her.
She had looked down on these women in the back of the house and had been too lazy to talk to Liang Huai Yu.

Even her own daughter ignored her, so how could Liang-shi open up her mind?

Speaking of which, she had been one of the subtle factors causing her mother’s death from illness in the previous life.
Although it had been unintentional, her indifference and contempt really made her mother feel disheartened and lose interest in life.

Thinking of this, Gu Yu Qi’s heart was full of guilt.
She could not help but stretch out her arms and wrap them around Liang-shi’s slender waist, “Mother, you’re so good to me.” She said in a muffled voice as she buried her face in Liang-shi’s arms.
Now that Gu Yu Qi thought about it more, when she had escaped danger several times previously, could it have been because her mother was secretly protecting her rather than her being lucky?

The more Gu Yu Qi thought about it, the more she felt that this was a possibility.
She had not thought about those accidents in her previous life, so they were becoming a little fuzzy now.
If she had survived under the secret protection of her mother, then she was even more of a scoundrel! She deserved her final fate.
It had all been her own doing.

“Silly child.
You’re my daughter, if I’m not good to you, who would I be good to?” Liang-shi said with a sigh and stroked Gu Yu Qi’s hair lightly.
She was still staying in the capital right now for the sake of this daughter.

She saw the way Gu Huai Zhong looked at Liu-shi.
It was not that she was not jealous or resentful.
How could he hide her for ten years?! It was not that she had not considered making a scene and driving that woman out of the Marquis’ residence, or divorcing that man with whom they had once sworn themselves to each other!

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Yet for her daughter, she endured it.
Right now, she was the wife of a high-ranking official and her daughter was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis, so she could not have a bad reputation.
If she had trouble with Gu Huai Zhong, outsiders would say she was a jealous woman.
If she chased that woman out of the house, outsiders would say she was an evil woman.
If she really divorced Gu Huai Zhong, outsiders would say even more unpleasant things.

She did not care about any of these, but she had to think for Gu Yu Qi!

Liang-shi let out a long sigh at the bottom of her heart.
Her feelings for Gu Huai Zhong had paled and she would not bother herself with Liu-shi.
She only wanted her daughter to grow up safely and marry a good husband in the future.

Gu Yu Qi felt guilty and uneasy in her heart.
She was tired of Liang-shi’s unwillingness to let go.
When Liang-shi was happy, she would personally cook Gu Yu Qi’s favourite dishes.
Gu Yu Qi went back and forth around Liang-shi and refused to leave.
For a while, the small kitchen in Wan Xin Zhai was full of warmth and laughter.

On a whim, Liang-shi even taught her daughter how to cook.
Gu Yu Qi had been arrogant in her previous life, so there was no way she would have been willing to take the time to learn these things.
Before crossing over, her family conditions had also been excellent.
She was a wealthy girl who did not have to wash her own clothes, and she knew nothing about cooking.
However, she had experienced many things and tasted food from all over the world.
Before she had crossed over, all she did every day were beauty treatments, eating delicious food, buying beautiful jewellery and clothes, travelling, and posting various photos on WeChat.
After crossing over, she was arrogant, looking at and despising everything.
Everyday, she had been busy trying to become famous and show off in the circles of noble ladies at the capital.
She had been full of vanity.

Now her heart was more grounded and she learnt what she wanted to learn.
Her cooking was also presentable.

The principle of cooking was that by mastering one thing, you would master a hundred things.
Gu Yu Qi was intelligent and she quickly learnt by drawing inferences from other cases.

Cooking together with Liang-shi, who had learned martial arts well, Gu Yu Qi had a newfound appreciation for her knife skills.
The mother and daughter bustled busily in the small kitchen.
Dong Xue and Qiu Yue assisted them and in a while, they had made a large table of dishes.

They had made too much food and it would go to waste if they could not eat them all.
Gu Yu Qi simply sent Yan Zhi to her Dan Xia courtyard to summon Chun Xing, Nanny Li, and the new maids.
They all sat around the big round table in a large room, enjoying themselves.

At first, the four new maids were still very restrained as they had been taught by Nanny Li and Chun Xing, plus the madam of the Marquis’ residence and the eldest young miss were at the table.
They understood the rules and had a sense of propriety.
However, they were soon infected by Liang-shi and Gu Yu Qi.
The four of them glanced at each other as if they were in a dream, feeling that they must have cultivated great fortune in their previous life to be able to eat at the same table as the wife of a high-ranking official.
From the bottom of their hearts, they were grateful to Gu Yu Qi’s and Liang-shi’s kindness and were determined to serve them well.

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After dinner, Nanny Li and Chun Xing took the four maids back to the Dan Xia courtyard, but Gu Yu Qi was still reluctant to leave and chatted with Liang-shi.

”Eldest Miss.” Xia He had returned quietly.
She curtseyed to Liang-shi, then looked at Gu Yu Qie, “Young miss is also here.”

They were all long-term servants brought over by Liang-shi, so they still used Liang-shi’s former title before she had married.
Naturally, they called Gu Yu Qi the young miss.
If there were outsiders, they would change the titles and call Liang-shi madam, and Gu Yu Qi the eldest miss.

“Just say what you’ve found out.
Ah Nan isn’t an outsider.
She won’t go out and speak nonsense,” Liang-shi said with a slow smile.

She knew Gu Yu Qi was intelligent.
Besides, they were in the capital now and if Gu Yu Qi married in the future, she would encounter problems at home.
It would be good to let her have some experience now.
This was what Liang-shi thought.

She had been held in her parents’ hands and had been so sheltered that she had never experienced anything.
So when she came to the capital and was faced with such a situation, she turned out to be helpless.

If Liu-shi abided by the law, she would naturally ignore Liu-shi’s matters.

Liu-shi’s various deeds under Gu Yu Qi’s intentional or unintentional reminder, was now under Liang-shi’s watch.
She did not think that Liu-shi was as quiet as she looked on the surface, and had raised her guard.
She herself did not know anything about the back house.
Gu Yu Qi had reminded her several times, so she felt that her daughter knew something.
Hence, although Gu Yu Qi was young, she was more at ease when she was by her side.

She could not count on that husband.
She could see from Gu Huai Zhong’s eyes that if she had a dispute with Liu-shi, her husband would definitely favour Liu-shi.
That was why Liang-shi told Gu Yu Qi not to go out and speak nonsense.
If any rumours spread, she did now know what Liu-shi would do.
At that time, Gu Huai Zhong would defend her again and they would part in discord.

If there was really something wrong with her, then she would just watch her secretly and she would reveal her faults naturally.