Chapter 6: Punishing the Servants

“Miaoyi, do not be rude.”

Qin Xuan had already sent someone to inform Miaoyi about the gathering of souls and explained the reason for Fang Yuean’s presence in the house. However, seeing her overreacting, Qin Xuan knew that someone had been gossiping in front of her.

There was no need to guess—it was certainly Madam Meng’s doing.

The servants in the Eastern Courtyard needed to be properly dealt with.

Fang Yuean looked scared, carefully putting down the nine-link ring she was holding. She awkwardly stood up, ran to Qin Xuan’s side, and hugged her leg, timidly saying:

“Mother, I’m scared.”

Hearing her call her “mother,” Fang Miaoyi instantly forgot Qin Xuan’s previous warning.

“This is my mother, not yours!”

She clung to Qin Xuan’s other leg, looking up and asking: “Mother, will you sleep with me tonight? Please?”

She absolutely didn’t want this wild child to take away her mother’s love.

Grandmother had said that if she didn’t fight for it, Mother would love her younger sister even more.

Fang Yuean quickly followed: “Mother, I want to sleep with you too.”

Fang Miaoyi pouted, her voice teetering on the verge of crying, shouting at her: “I only want Mother to sleep with me!” Then she began crying, repeating the same words.

Qin Xuan’s face darkened. “Miaoyi, I have told you many times, either I sleep with both you and Er’er, or no one will sleep with anyone. It’s not possible to sleep with just one of you.”

“Also, if you have something to say, say it properly. Crying is useless. I will not agree to your request just because you’re crying.”

Fang Miaoyi still pouted, her eyes welling up with tears, but she no longer made any noise. She looked quite aggrieved, saying, “Then, will you sleep with me and Er’er?”

Fang Yuean looked up at Qin Xuan with wide innocent eyes.

“Mother, you smell so nice, I really like it. I’ve never slept with you before. I don’t know what it feels like, but it must be very happy, right?”

Fang Yuean smiled with a silly grin, her eyes bright and happy.

Qin Xuan’s heart ached when she looked at her biological daughter. She had already forgotten the words about “this poor child” that could make her become a goddess.

She had raised Fang Miaoyi for five years, so she couldn’t possibly have no feelings for her. But whenever she thought of the truth, Qin Xuan couldn’t treat Fang Miaoyi selflessly like she used to.

They said children were innocent, and that it was the adults who did wrong, but was her own daughter not innocent?

If she pitied Miaoyi, who would pity her own daughter?

Lost in thought, Qin Xuan didn’t notice that Fang Miaoyi slowly let go of her leg and quickly shoved Fang Yuean.

Fang Yuean, still holding onto Qin Xuan’s leg, wasn’t knocked over.

“Miaoyi! What are you doing?!” Qin Xuan suppressed her anger, forcing her voice to stay calm as she looked at Miaoyi in disbelief.

Fang Miaoyi, tears welling in her eyes, threw a tantrum. “I don’t like her, I want her to go!”

Qin Xuan patiently asked, “But who told you such things?”

Fang Miaoyi sniffled, “They said that Mother only likes Er’er, that’s why she brought back a child just like Er’er. From now on, Mother will forget about me and only love them.”

“Sure enough!”

“Who said that?” Qin Xuan asked.

“In my courtyard, the maids who clean. I don’t remember their names.” Fang Miaoyi wiped her tears.

Qin Xuan called out to the door, “Nanny Lei, bring all the maids and nannies from the Fifth Miss’s courtyard here!”

Outside, Nanny Lei immediately responded.

[Hooray! Something exciting is happening! I’m going to grab a good spot.]

Fang Yuean let go of Qin Xuan’s hand and immediately went to move a small stool.

After half an incense stick of time, in the courtyard of Mingyue Residence, two neat rows of people stood, including the wet nurse and maids who came with Fang Miaoyi, totaling ten people.

Qin Xuan stood on the wooden platform in front of the house, her face stern as she scanned the crowd.

“I don’t know who it is or what their intentions are, but someone has been spreading rumors, stirring things up, and causing division between me and the Fifth Miss.”

“Is anyone willing to admit it?”

The crowd lowered their heads in silence, no one responding for quite a while.

Qin Xuan sneered coldly as she looked down, then raised her eyes again, icy coldness in them.

“No one is admitting it, right? Good. You have just given up your last chance.”

“Nanny Lei, take Miaoyi down to identify the culprits!”

Among the crowd, a few uneasy heads tilted slightly, exchanging glances.

As Nanny Lei started walking over with people, three maids hurriedly knelt, begging in unison, “Please forgive us, Madam!”

“We were just chatting. Maybe Fifth Miss misunderstood,” one of them tried to justify.

“Yes, yes,” the other two quickly echoed.

Qin Xuan’s gaze turned cold. “You think you can discuss matters of the master’s family in casual conversation? Have I treated you too well that you’ve forgotten the rules?”

The scandal of the Meng family, she had to find a way to expose, but before that, she couldn’t let anyone detect her abnormal behavior.

So, she didn’t plan to interrogate them.

But she had to let everyone know that she, Qin Xuan, was not someone without temper.

For the first half of her life, she had been merciful to others, but some people hadn’t been merciful to her.

“Nanny Lei, gather all the servants from our East Yard, let them see with their own eyes how those who speak nonsense in front of the young master are dealt with.”

“Let them understand what should and shouldn’t be done.”

The servants in the children’s rooms had all been carefully chosen by Qin Xuan. After years of observation, the incompetent ones had already been replaced, and the overall change wasn’t significant.

These three cleaning maids must have been bribed long ago and had been hiding, doing similar things in secret countless times.

She had indeed noticed that, over the past two years, Miaoyi often became inexplicably angry.

From Miaoyi’s words, she also suspected that someone might be sowing discord and making her appear partial toward Er’er.

But in the past, she had thought that doing such things would not benefit the servants. The master’s family was harmonious, so she must have overthought things.

Until today, many things were confirmed.

The three hadn’t expected that the usually merciful Madam would act so harshly. They immediately turned pale, and one of them fainted on the spot.

Qin Xuan coldly stared at the three.

Now that her husband was not around and her family couldn’t offer her protection, if she didn’t act decisively and intimidate others, how could she survive in a place full of dangers and protect her children?

She took a deep breath, raised her voice, “From now on, anyone in the East Yard who dares to do this will meet the same fate as them.” Her tone softened slightly. “There are many elders in this house, and many people know that I, Qin Xuan, never mistreat loyal servants.”

As she finished speaking, several strong and burly women stepped forward and dragged the three maids away.

Their shrill cries echoed through the courtyard.

Fang Miaoyi’s face turned ashen with fear. She didn’t dare to cause any more trouble and obediently returned to her wet nurse.

Qin Xuan stood lost in thought for a moment, watching Miaoyi leave, silently making up her mind.

These were not her children, and their fate had been exchanged for the suffering of a biological daughter.

Everything must be set right.

[Mother, you’re not softening your heart, are you? You don’t want to keep her, do you?]

Qin Xuan turned her head to see Fang Yuean resting her chin on her hand, looking at her.

[According to Mother’s original plan, after the main house weakened, this ungrateful child would know she wasn’t Mother’s real daughter. Not only would she not protect Er’er, but she would also follow the Second Madam’s youngest daughter all day, helping her bully and tease Er’er, even humiliating her for fun.]

[When the Second Madam locked Mother up, instructing her wicked servants to torment Mother into an unrecognizable state, she never begged for mercy, never cared.]

[When Er’er grew up, that old villain promised her to marry a foolish nephew from the maternal family. Fang Miaoyi didn’t oppose it, and in the end, Er’er was beaten to death.]

Qin Xuan calmed the turmoil in her heart, squatted next to Fang Yuean, and gently stroked her head.

“In the future, you just need to eat well, sleep well, and play well. Mother will protect you.”

Fang Yuean nodded her little head, her eyes twinkling with joy.

“Mother?” A voice came from the doorway.

Both of them turned their heads to see Er’er standing at the door, slightly tilting her little head, with a trace of confusion in her eyes.