Taking Office, Part One

Having lost her chastity and thereby proven her innocence, Qingwen temporarily received "compensation" in the form of an increase of one tael and five mace in her monthly allowance, surpassing Shi Liu and Pheobe to become the senior maid with the highest pay in the household after Yuanyang.

Of course, that was only on the surface. In private, Ruan Rong had already made up the difference, sparing Shi Liu and Pheobe any resentment over losing out in a contest of looks.

As for Cai Xia, who had been found guilty and thus lost her chastity, she was once again demoted to menial labor—she seemed quite resentful of it, and who could rest easy if she remained in the Small Kitchen?

In short, such commonplace affairs in wealthy households caused no stir at Sun Mansion. They received far less attention than the news that Sun Shaozong was about to take office.

The first day of the tenth month. Overcast.

"Gurgle, gurgle... Pfft!"

Sun Shaozong spat out a mouthful of white foam, set the toothpaste aside, and a young maid immediately took it in both hands and carried it away to be carefully cleaned.

Pheobe promptly handed him tea. He took it, tipped back half a cup, swished it around with a gurgle for a moment, then sprayed it far away with another pfft.

After repeating this several times, Sun Shaozong returned the teacup to Pheobe. He took a towel from the tray held by another maid and washed his hands and face as he asked, "Did our household recently switch tooth powder?"

"Just recently."

Pheobe hurriedly explained, "They said it was a new formula from Zhi Shun Zhai. Even the noble ladies in the palace praised it after using it, so our household followed suit."

"Change it back to the old