Marquis's Household

Biodata

Organization and Personnel

The household employs hundreds of maids and older serving women, with disputes normally handled below the marquis's level 30.

Servant Life

• Purchased labor: Jiang Mi enters the manor with six other girls from her village. By sixteen, she is the only one of the seven still alive 1 2.
• Routine violence: Matrons regularly slap the menial servants. Jiang Mi learns to appear obedient and turn her head when struck 2.
• Harsh theft penalties: Stealing a master's property can lead to broken legs and resale, or an immediate beating to death 3.
• Restricted movement: Jiang Mi initially regards even the household's chickens and ducks as freer to roam than she is. A guarded perimeter makes escape dangerous 2 10.
• Patronage within the staff: Becoming Nanny's goddaughter considerably improves Jiang Mi's standing. In the first simulation, the kitchen servants effectively treat her as second-in-command 5.
• Kitchen intrigue: Control of food makes kitchen work both valuable and dangerous. Nanny manages it under constant fear of household schemes 4.
• Rewards from the masters: The heir's birth prompts generous distributions; Jiang Mi receives ten taels of silver merely for delivering soup in the first simulation 4.
• Freedom through indenture: Servants' bonds are held by the mistress. Nanny secures Jiang Mi's bond in the first two simulations; Jiang Mi later obtains and destroys it openly in reality 27 32.

Manor Grounds

Military Strength and Martial Heritage

Guards and Leadership

• Original marquis: Dingbei Hou is at the Houtian Ninth Level and has years of battlefield experience. Jiang Mi does not consider matching his realm sufficient to guarantee victory over him 27.
• Guard force: When Jiang Mi returns decades later in the second simulation, most guards are at the Houtian Second or Third Stage, with several at the Fourth Stage 24.
• Battlefield veterans: The manor's guards are retired soldiers. Their Fourth Stage officer refuses to retreat even after recognizing that Jiang Mi's Ninth Level strength makes confrontation suicidal 24.
• Successor: The succeeding marquis is at the Houtian Sixth Layer during that confrontation 24.

Inherited Cultivation and Techniques

Dingbei Hou shares the Li family's arts with Jiang Mi during her third simulation 33.

History

Jiang Mi's Early Servitude

Jiang Mi is sold to the household at eight when her eldest brother is preparing to marry. She spends years performing grueling menial labor before obtaining the Simulator trait at sixteen. Her first preparations for simulation take place while she is carrying firewood to the east courtyard 1 2.

First Simulation: Kitchen Patronage and Escape

Zhou Pozi and Li Pozi plant stolen jade beneath the maids' pillows to frame them. Jiang Mi hides the jade in a rat tunnel; the subsequent search finds nothing, and the two accusers are dragged away. Jiang Mi then accepts kitchen work under the newly promoted Nanny, who eventually adopts her as a goddaughter 2 3 4.

Dingbei Hou later dies in battle, and his already-unwell wife dies after receiving the news. Their son inherits the title. When Jiang Mi is thirty, Nanny abruptly gives her valuables and her indenture and orders her to leave that night. Old Chen escorts her through the rear gate and directs her toward a boat out of the capital's boundaries. Jiang Mi subsequently learns that Nanny died after sending her away 5 7.

Second Simulation: Steward Rong and the Succession Conflict

After Jiang Mi secretly develops a spiritual root, Nanny helps her leave the manor to pursue cultivation. Nanny also rises to junior steward after uncovering an attempt to poison the three-year-old heir and being placed in charge of his daily care 10 25.

Following the marquis's death, Nanny protects the heir's inheritance against the collateral branches. The marquis's second uncle eventually frames her for theft. She is beaten, expelled, and dies in a ruined temple, where Jiang Mi finds her body 14 25.

Decades later, Jiang Mi returns at the Houtian Ninth Level to demand an explanation. The succeeding marquis admits that fear prevented him from protecting Steward Rong. He explains that he later investigated the case, expelled his second uncle's family, and reduced them to commoners. With the mastermind dead and the perpetrators already punished, Jiang Mi declares her revenge concluded 23 24 25 26.

Reality: From Maid to Honored Guest

After receiving Ninth Level strength from the second simulation, Jiang Mi resolves to recover her bond openly rather than escape. She demands access to the marquis, slapping Steward Sun, Chief Steward Liu, and Deputy Chief Steward Qian as the matter moves through the household hierarchy 27 29 30.

Dingbei Hou recognizes the significance of a sixteen-year-old Ninth Level martial artist. Jiang Mi destroys her indenture, joins the marquis and his wife for breakfast, and receives Qingyan Residence. The marchioness arranges clothing, jewelry, furnishings, and other necessities for her 30 32.

Third Simulation: Patronage and Court Politics

As an honored guest, Jiang Mi requests systematic cultivation guidance. Dingbei Hou provides the family's arts and takes her to the emperor as a prospective competitor in the Five Nations Martial Arts Tournament. The emperor rejects her participation and orders the marquis to obtain and wear additional jade pieces from the Imperial Preceptor 33 34 35.

The marchioness recognizes the political danger and temporarily urges Jiang Mi to remain at the estate, promising that the marquis will shoulder the consequences. Jiang Mi continues training with his occasional guidance 36 37.

With arrangements made by the marchioness, Jiang Mi eventually leaves openly through the front gate with Nanny and settles in Liu Family Ferry. The following spring, she returns using the marchioness's token to visit her, remembering that pregnancy had damaged her health in earlier simulations 39.