"Eldest Brother didn't come home all night?" Tong Aning rubbed her eyes and looked toward Tong Yibin's seat.
"All right, your eldest brother knows what he's doing. Don't worry." Su Zhouyue placed a bun Tong Aning liked on her plate and said gently, "Eat your breakfast."
Tong Aning nodded.
Holding the bun, she glanced to the side and suddenly froze.
She rose and walked over to the gold, silver, and jewels, asking in shock, "Mother, Second Sister, what are you planning to do?"
Tong Yi'an ran over too. "Fourth Sister, I know! I know!"
Tong Yi'an tipped her little face up proudly. "These are all rewards the Princess Royal gave you."
"The Princess Royal?"
Tong Aning wondered to herself, Why would the Princess Royal suddenly send me things?
Su Zhouyue said, "The matron attending the Princess Royal said that, if not for you yesterday, the princess's household would have had that filthy water splashed all over it."
Embarrassed, Tong Aning said, "But I didn't really do anything."
Tong Aning suddenly remembered something.
I still haven't told the Princess Royal there's something wrong with those male favorites!
Yesterday, she had been too busy rushing to Spring Breeze House to save someone.
"I heard," Tong Siyan said, "the Princess Royal seems to have disposed of all her male favorites."
Tong Aning paused. "Why?"
Tong Siyan said seriously, "Perhaps they weren't to her liking."
Tong Aning nodded. The Princess Royal really lives up to her title. Replacing them once a year is far too conservative. She should change them once a month.
Su Zhouyue coughed lightly. "Come eat. You'll be late for school."
Tong Aning obediently went over.
After Tong Aning and Tong Fengye left, Su Zhouyue quietly asked Tong Siyan, out of Tong Yi'an's hearing, "Are you interested in that too?"
Tong Siyan asked, "What do you mean, Mother?"
"Male favorites. Honestly, I think taking in another live-in husband wouldn't be out of the question. With him firmly in our hands, what storms could he possibly stir up? If you stop liking him, just throw him out of the household..."
Tong Siyan covered Su Zhouyue's mouth, amused. "Mother, I have no such plans."
"Then you..."
"There's still so much I need to learn about the shops. Only now do I realize that being a good wife and loving mother isn't my path."
As Tong Siyan spoke, her eyes and brows held a smile, but rather than gentleness, there was a spirited confidence about her.
Gratified, Su Zhouyue asked, "What do you want?"
"Money."
"Second Sister, I support you."
Tong Aning had come running back at some point. Taking Tong Siyan's hand, she said, "Only what you hold in your own hands is real."
Su Zhouyue poked Tong Aning's forehead. "Did you forget something?"
"Mother, you have to keep these things safe for me. Keep them safe!"
Tong Aning had hurried back and hurried away again.
Su Zhouyue and Tong Siyan exchanged a look. Shaking her head with a smile, Su Zhouyue said, "That little money-grubber."
"Then what am I?" Tong Yi'an tugged at Su Zhouyue's clothes and asked expectantly.
Su Zhouyue stroked Tong Yi'an's head. "You're a candied-hawthorn-grubber."
Tong Siyan chuckled.
Tong Aning sat down in her seat, only to see a familiar face.
Lou Yingyu beckoned her over.
Tong Aning asked, "Yingyu, why are you here?"
Lou Yingyu propped her face in her hands and said gloomily, "It's a long story."
Tong Aning nudged her. "Then make a long story short."
Lou Yingyu: "..."
"That business with my second uncle made my father furious. He's been busy cleaning up the mess Second Uncle left behind, and then yesterday-"
Tong Aning stared at her intently. "What happened yesterday?"
"I drove another teacher away in anger. My father had no choice but to send me back to the girls' school. He kept warning me not to cause trouble, or he'd wash his hands of me."
Tong Aning nodded. I can imagine how badly the chancellor must be burning at both ends.
What was that supposed to mean?
She was having a miserable time too, all right?
"What are you doing standing here, you lowly servant?"
A commotion came from the doorway, and Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu both looked over.
It's her.
A secret?
Lou Yingyu's eyes darted, and she pulled Tong Aning over to join the excitement.
Only after squeezing through the crowd did Lou Yingyu discover that the person being harassed was the maid her father had recently chosen for her.
Tong Aning asked, "Yingyu, do you know her?"
Lou Yingyu nodded. "She's mine."
She came to eat melon, only to find it landing on her own head.
Lou Yingyu: "..."
Lou Yingyu reached out and pulled the maid to her side, asking quietly, "How are you? Are you all right?"
The maid shook her head, but her right cheek was swollen, probably from a slap.
Lou Yingyu raised an eyebrow at Meng Zhaoyuan. "Did you hit her?"
Meng Zhaoyuan folded her arms and said contemptuously, "I did. So what? Are you really going to stand up for a servant?"
Lou Yingyu sneered. No one had ever dared speak to her like that.
Now they were in for it.
Everyone knew Lou Yingyu was notoriously arrogant and overbearing, while the other girl was the daughter the general's household had recently recovered, spoiled to the point of lawlessness.
With these two facing off, there would be quite a scene.
Someone had already gone to fetch a teacher.
Lou Yingyu rolled up her sleeves and was about to charge forward.
Tong Aning caught her. "Have you forgotten what your father said?"
"No."
Lou Yingyu bit her lip in frustration, but she simply couldn't swallow this insult.
"The teacher's here."
Lou Yingyu glanced over and once again felt the sky collapse.
This teacher was famously gentle, yet Lou Yingyu had made her cry with anger several times. She surely disliked her most of all. What if this teacher complained to her father?
Lou Yingyu decided to strike first. Pointing at Meng Zhaoyuan, she said, "Teacher, she's the one causing trouble."
The teacher: "..."
How extraordinary. A day had actually come when someone else picked a fight with this young lady?
Tong Aning said, "Teacher, that's indeed what happened."
The teacher: "..."
What was going on today? Even the well-behaved, sensible Tong Aning had stepped forward of her own accord?
There were two of them on Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu's side, but Meng Zhaoyuan had quite a few people on her side too.
Xie Zhilin was momentarily at a loss.
Tong Aning said, "Why don't we treat her injury first?"
Someone was injured too?
Xie Zhilin nodded.
Tong Aning took out some wound medicine and approached the maid. "I'll be gentle. Don't be afraid."
The maid said softly, "Thank you, Miss."
Tong Aning lifted the maid's face and carefully applied medicine to her swollen right cheek with her other hand.
Lou Yingyu ground her teeth. "We'll charge this medicine to the general's household too."
Why does she look a little familiar?
Sometimes, when the system fed Tong Aning gossip, it not only told her about it but also flashed images before her.
Tong Aning seemed to have seen this face before.
Host, isn't she the general's household's true heiress?
Tong Aning's eyes widened. What a coincidence!
The fake heiress was throwing her weight around here, while the true heiress was serving as a slave and maid. Their circumstances were truly worlds apart.
Lou Yingyu's eyes lit up.
She grabbed Meng Zhaoyuan, who was about to leave. Meng Zhaoyuan stumbled and snapped furiously, "What are you doing?"
"I've changed my mind. I'm going to deal with you. You'd better summon your father, or I'll..."
Lou Yingyu returned the slap her maid had suffered to Meng Zhaoyuan.
Meng Zhaoyuan covered her face, venom filling her eyes. "Just you wait."
Xie Zhilin: "..."
"Lou Yingyu, you..."
Lou Yingyu spread her hands helplessly. "Teacher, I'm doing a good deed."
She stood beside Tong Aning. "Aning, wouldn't you agree?"
Once the general arrived, perhaps the truth would naturally rise to the surface.
Tong Aning nodded, her eyes clear and bright. "Teacher, Yingyu really is doing a good deed."
Xie Zhilin: "..."
The chancellor's daughter, the marquis's daughter, and a general's daughter-no, perhaps two daughters.
This Imperial Academy really was...
Impossible to manage!!!
Hearing what had happened, Tong Fengye rushed over, worried that Tong Aning was being bullied. Feng Chu followed behind him.
The sister-protecting fanatic took Tong Aning and checked her all over. Only after seeing that she was unharmed did he relax.
Tong Fengye said, "Don't worry. Your second brother will back you up."
Tong Aning: "..."
Halfway through backing her up, Tong Fengye was dragged away by a teacher.
Tong Aning and Lou Yingyu turned and entered the classroom too.
When school ended, people arrived from the chancellor's household, the marquis's household, and the general's household.
Su Zhouyue exchanged a few pleasantries with the general's wife, Zhuang Qing. As soon as Lou Ming arrived, he walked toward Lou Yingyu with a dark expression.
Instead, Lou Yingyu pulled him aside and whispered, "Father, let me treat you to a good show."
Lou Ming: "..."
They listened as Xie Zhilin recounted what had happened.
Zhuang Qing slammed the table. "Did I teach you to hit people at school?"
Meng Zhaoyuan said aggrievedly, "But she-she was the one blocking the way first."
"You hit someone for blocking your way? If someone argued with you, would you kill them?"
"Mother, how could I..." Meng Zhaoyuan's eyes reddened.
"Madam, it wasn't entirely the young lady's fault."
The person beside Zhuang Qing urged her quietly, "The young lady is about to cry."
Naturally, the daughter she had finally recovered was the flesh of Zhuang Qing's heart. Seeing Meng Zhaoyuan like this, Zhuang Qing softened too.
Why is she here too?
Zhuang Qing froze. What was that voice?
Xixi, if I remember correctly, isn't this Meng Zhaoyuan's birth mother?
Yes. Not just Meng Zhaoyuan's birth mother-her birth father is also in the general's household. After selling off the true heiress, they all entered the general's household. Now they're almost its most trusted servants.
They're planning to pocket the entire general's household! They've taken the cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest to an unparalleled level.
Yes, Host. And Meng Zhaoyuan came up with this whole plan.
Tong Aning couldn't believe it.
Zhuang Qing was unwilling to believe it either.
She swayed on her feet. Wang Su, beside her, reached out to support her, only to be shoved away.
Meng Zhaoyuan hurried to steady Wang Su. "Mother, what are you doing!"
Zhuang Qing closed her eyes in anguish, then said through gritted teeth, "What? Does it hurt you to see me shove your birth mother?"