Chapter 92 – Little Thing, Who Will Have the Last Laugh?

Qiu Yue didn’t believe it. She casually picked up a ledger, flipped through a page, and asked Xia Tian.

Unexpectedly, Xia Tian answered immediately.

Qiu Yue wasn’t convinced, so she continued flipping through and asked several more questions, all of which Xia Tian answered fluently, word for word.

In the end, Qiu Yue had no choice but to let her go. She had to call someone over to take the ledger and report it to Liu Shi.

When Xia Tian left the discussion hall, she saw Ning Xiang holding a food box, standing on the small path outside.

“Ning Xiang,” she called out.

“Madam,” Ning Xiang smiled and walked quickly over. “Madam, are you alright? You must be starving, right?”

“No, let’s go eat.” Xia Tian winked at Ning Xiang, who understood immediately, fell silent, and followed with the food box.

Qiu Yue had just been behind them, so it wasn’t convenient to talk there.

When they arrived at Jinglan Courtyard, Xia Tian washed her hands, sat on the heated bed in the warm pavilion, and finally felt more comfortable.

It was still a little cold since it was early in the new year. After Liu Shi left, the fire basin in the discussion hall was removed by the servants. Sitting there for too long still made her feet cold.

It was probably intentional on Liu Shi’s part—removing the fire basin, not letting her eat or drink, and even having her personal maid keep an eye on her, all to make things difficult for her.

Ning Xiang heated the food and brought it in, placing it on the table in the warm pavilion.

Ning Xue entered with some warm tea, and Xia Tian drank three cups before she felt a bit better.

She had gotten up early this morning and had been busy all morning. After eating, she quickly lay down to take a nap, fearing that Liu Shi would come looking for her in the afternoon.

Fortunately, Liu Shi didn’t send anyone to find her that afternoon.

She spent the whole afternoon drawing in the study.

The next morning, Xia Tian ate something first before going to pay her respects to Liu Shi.

As expected, it was the same as yesterday. Liu Shi waited until after her meal before calling them in.

After finishing her greetings to the old lady, Liu Shi still didn’t let Xia Tian go eat. Instead, she took her directly to the discussion hall to work.

This time, Xia Tian couldn’t shake the feeling that today, for some reason, every servant in charge of something had an unusually large number of issues to report. Each one seemed to be going into minute detail, reporting everything to Liu Shi.

Liu Shi sat in her chair, slowly sipping her tea, listening to the servants talk, occasionally adding a comment.

After a long while, Xia Tian felt like they hadn’t accomplished much, just listening to the servants talk incessantly.

One of the garden servants even repeated the same report from yesterday.

Xia Tian stood behind Liu Shi, expressionless, listening.

Liu Shi thought she was a fool, unable to see the obvious targeting.

After all the servants had left, exhausted from talking, Liu Shi, like yesterday, had more ledgers brought in for Xia Tian to review, twice as many as yesterday.

This time, Qiu Yue stood by and watched her.

Once Liu Shi left, Xia Tian moved a stool and sat down, slowly flipping through the ledgers.

When it was almost time for lunch, she stood up, stretched, and said to Qiu Yue, “Miss Qiu Yue, I’ve finished looking through the ledgers, but there are some things I don’t understand. I need to consult Madam.”

Qiu Yue didn’t react, “If Madam doesn’t understand something, you can ask me first.”

“I’m afraid asking Miss Qiu Yue wouldn’t be helpful. After all, you’re not in charge of the household. It’s better to ask Madam directly.” Without waiting for Qiu Yue to say anything, Xia Tian grabbed the ledger and walked out.

Qiu Yue was stunned and immediately rushed out to stop her.

Xia Tian coldly said, “Miss Qiu Yue, I’m going to consult Madam, why are you stopping me?”

“I said, if Madam doesn’t understand something, you can ask me first,” Qiu Yue stood firm in front of her.

“You, a servant, and I, a mistress—do you think it’s appropriate for me to ask you for advice?” Xia Tian sneered, coldly eyeing her. Did she think she could just trample all over her?

Qiu Yue hadn’t expected Xia Tian to use her status against her, leaving her speechless.

Xia Tian didn’t look at her again, just walked around her and made her way to Liu Shi’s courtyard.

When she arrived at the door, without waiting for a servant to announce her, she went straight in.

It was just about lunchtime, and Liu Shi was sitting at the table watching the servants set the meal. When she saw Xia Tian barging in without an announcement, she frowned and asked, “Why are you here? Have you finished looking through the ledgers?”

Xia Tian gave a slight bow, then placed the ledger on the table and sat down unceremoniously in the chair next to Liu Shi.

After sitting down, she answered Liu Shi’s question in a leisurely manner, “I’ve finished looking, Mother. There are several parts I didn’t understand, so I remembered what you said—that if I don’t understand anything, I should come and ask you. So I came directly.”

Liu Shi, seeing that Xia Tian was not being polite at all, felt a flicker of disgust in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. “Since you’ve finished, you can go back. I’ll teach you later in the evening.”

“No need, no need. It’s a waste of time to go back and forth. It’s just in time for your meal, so I’ll stay here and eat, then I can ask you about it after dinner,” Xia Tian waved her hands, dismissing the idea.

Seeing an empty bowl on the table, she immediately took it, served Liu Shi some soup, and placed it in front of her. Then, she served herself a full bowl of soup. “I haven’t had any water all morning, I’m really thirsty. I’ll drink some soup first.”

She drank the soup in one go. Seeing that Liu Shi hadn’t moved her bowl yet, she kindly urged her, “Mother, it’s good for your health to drink some soup before eating. Quickly, or it will get cold.”

Without waiting for Liu Shi’s response, she instructed Qiu Yue, who was standing behind Liu Shi, “Miss Qiu Yue, please serve me a bowl of rice. I didn’t have breakfast this morning, and I’m starving.”

Qiu Yue stood still, and Liu Shi looked completely baffled.

Xia Tian, seeing that no one was moving, had no choice but to get up and serve herself a large bowl of rice.

Before starting to eat, she took some vegetables and placed them into Liu Shi’s bowl, then began eating her own.

She ate half a bowl of rice, looked up, and saw that Liu Shi still hadn’t touched her food.

With a warm smile, she picked up the serving chopsticks and placed another bite of vegetables in Liu Shi’s bowl. “Mother, hurry and eat. After eating, I still have some questions to ask you!”

She continued eating, finishing two bowls of rice and one bowl of soup before setting her bowl down.

Liu Shi’s meal had still not been touched. Only after Xia Tian finished eating did she coldly ask, “Are you full? If you are, you can go back now. I’ll teach you tomorrow.”

Xia Tian patted her stomach, “Mm, I’m full. I’ll leave now, Mother, you eat slowly. By the way, Mother, your food is really delicious.”

She bowed again to Liu Shi before leaving the room.

As soon as Xia Tian stepped out, Liu Shi angrily slammed her bowl and chopsticks to the ground, shouting, “Take this away and throw it out. How dare such filthy things be put before Madam?”

The servants in the room didn’t dare speak, nervously cleaning up the mess.

Qiu Yue ordered a new meal to be prepared and brought back for Madam.

Once everyone had left, she complained to Liu Shi, “Madam, I think that wild girl did it on purpose. She even used her status to pressure me, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Hmph, let her enjoy herself for a few days,” Liu Shi said angrily.

As Xia Tian was walking out of the courtyard, she heard the noise from the house. She sneered to herself, “Little thing, who will have the last laugh? We’ll see.”

Liu Shi, a two-faced woman, was perfectly suited to this kind of rough handling.