It was nearly the Wu Hour.
A dozen or so maids entered Xi Yun Pavilion in twos and threes, rubbing their shoulders and backs as they complained with weary sighs:
"There are so many people in the garden they could have used. Why did they have to make us suffer through this?!"
"If you ask me, someone thinks our mistress has fallen from favor and is eager to make an example of us..."
"Shh! This was First Wife's order. If you want to get yourself in trouble, don't drag the rest of us down with you!"
At the mention of "First Wife," the courtyard immediately fell silent. Though many of them looked indignant, no one dared say another word.
Just as the dispirited maids were about to scatter, someone suddenly pointed toward the inner room of the main hall. "Huh? Why have they hung the curtains again in broad daylight?"
Everyone followed her gaze and saw that the glass windows installed the previous year had indeed been tightly covered by Lotus Root Color gauze.
One maid blurted out, "Could Second Madam's illness be acting up again?"
She was immediately met with countless eye-rolls—anyone with even average intelligence could guess that Wang Xifeng was only pretending to be ill.
And if she was pretending, what was there to relapse?
Still, the reckless little maid was only twelve or thirteen. It was understandable that she could not make sense of all the twists and turns involved.
"That's enough."
Shan-jie, who was leading them, spoke up. "Everyone, go on and disperse. While Mistress hasn't assigned us anything else, get some proper rest."
With that, she headed for the main hall on her own—now that they had returned from the garden, someone had to report to Wang Xifeng.
"Big Sister!"
A maid who was