Time flew like a white horse flashing past a crack; in the blink of an eye, six years had passed.
Though it was only early summer, the blazing sun at noon already had a vicious bite.
A row of new maids stood outside Deer Song Courtyard. The maids of marriageable age had gradually been released from service, and some had become married servants at the Marquis's Estate. Now, Chen Pozi was the only familiar face left in all of Deer Song Courtyard.
The new young maids did not know Fifth Miss's temperament. Lively by nature, they kept peeking into the main room.
When Fifth Miss suddenly rolled over, one young maid brightened, thinking her mistress was finally getting up.
But Fifth Miss had merely rolled over, changed direction, and gone back to sleep.
Chen Pozi glanced at the sun. "Go and rest for a while. In an hour, tell the small kitchen to start cooking."
The young maids withdrew in unison.
An hour later, Jian Ruonan stretched in bed and finally woke up.
The maids of Deer Song Courtyard filed in with her washing supplies. The moment they entered the main room, they all shivered, as though they had stepped into a cold-storage warehouse.
Fifth Miss could not stand the heat, so her room had been filled with ice from the outset. By the usual allotment, Madam and Old Madam each received two basins of ice a day for their rooms.
Fifth Miss's room held a full eighteen basins of ice. Only a passage had been left for people to come and go; every other space was packed.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought Fifth Miss was a polar bear that had taken human form.
Fifth Miss had declared that summer was only comfortable with the air