Wei Yuewu looked around at the servants in the yard, a trace of derision glimmering in her eyes. So she was right: all these servants were loyal to Lady Li and Wei Yan. Their disapproval and contempt were writ large on their faces, determined to drive her out of Lotus Courtyard. Unfortunately, she had no intention to leave once she moved in.

Wei Yuewu slightly raised her chin toward Jin Ling as a gesture for her to take action. By now, Jin Ling understand her mistress without words being said. This was a result of accompanying her mistress during their journey to the capital. She comprehended Wei Yuewu"s meaning instantly and walked to the old maidservant angrily.

"Sixth Young Lady..." Seeing others echoing her words, the old maidservant in charge became more presumptuous. She turned to Wei Yuewu and was about to say something else when Jin Ling, who had by now stopped before her, slapped her hard in the face and then kicked her skillfully with the right foot. The old maidservant was tripped and knelt on the ground.

Under the foot of the old maidservant was a hard blue flagstone. Her sudden fall created a crisp sound of collision between her bone joint and the stone. She immediately let out a shrill scream, and the whole yard fell silent at once.

All the servants stared at the mistress and her maid in horror!

None of them expected that the Sixth Young Lady, who looked so delicate, thin and weak, would be so fierce that she ordered her maid to strike the old maidservant without any warnings. The maid"s moves were also so surprisingly swift that everyone was taken aback involuntarily.

"How can you treat me like this, Sixth Young Lady? My mistress was the Second Lady."

The old maidservant shouted at Wei Yuewu in fury after she let out the painful scream. With her hands clenching her knees, she felt that her legs were really hurt, but she was not sure if the bone was broken.

"Are you saying you work for the Second Lady but not for the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang?"

Wei Yuewu retorted coolly. She stood in the corridor, her chin slightly raised, emitting an overwhelmingly powerful air that made all the servants tremble uncontrollably.

Since Lady Li was a member of the Hua Yang family, anyone who worked for her worked for the family. With this line of logic, Wei Yuewu was truly the young lady of the mansion of Hua Yang. After all, Wei Yan was not Marquis Hua Yang"s daughter, and therefore she was not a first daughter of the Hua Yang family.

The whole yard was eerily quiet for a while. No one dared to answer the question!

"Ah, what"s the matter? Why did the situation become so chaotic in only a while?"

Suddenly a voice came from out of the gate of the yard.

Lady Li walked in with a broad smile on her face from the gate, accompanied by several maids and old maidservants. No one could find out that Lady Li had received a punishment of protracted kneeling from the Madam Dowager unless they noticed the stain on the corner of her dress.

Lady Li seemed to have changed her strategy. She carried on a big smile all over her face without any trace of gloominess when she had been defeated and suppressed by Wei Yuewu and Lady Tu in front of the Madam Dowager. She put on a friendly appearance, as if she had really come to solve difficulties for Wei Yuewu.

In fact, Lady Li had just hurriedly come here from the Madam Dowager"s place.

"Help! Second Lady. The Sixth Young Lady is going to beat all of us to death!"

Seeing Lady Li coming, the old maidservant in charge grew more emboldened. She remained on the ground and started to wipe her eyes with a handkerchief and wailed loudly.

"Yuewu, what happened here? You just moved in, why did you gather them all in the yard? Although these people are our servants, they are also living people. Besides, there are so many of them. Calm down and don"t be too angry even if you are really angry."

Lady Li looked absolutely amazed!

She sounded like she was offering advice and concern, but in truth she was suggesting that Wei Yuewu was so ruthless and vicious that she wanted to punish all the servants in the yard to death on her first day of moving into this courtyard.

"Second Lady, Second Lady... please, please help us."

After hearing Lady Li"s words, all the maids and old maidservants in the yard started wailing, as if Wei Yuewu really intended to kill every one of them.

Anyone would think that Wei Yuewu was a cruel and merciless person if she got such a reputation on the first day of her returning to the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang.

"Yuewu, what"s the big deal? You can replace them if they don"t serve you well. Why do you have to make them suffer in the cold winter? Somebody, help Nurse Li to get up. She is too old to kneel down in that painful position."

Lady Li said smilingly as she waved her hand. Two old maidservants came over to help the maidservant in charge to stand up.

Seeing how the Second Lady managed the issue, all the servants became emboldened at once. Many of them pretended to cry without shedding tears, covering their faces with handkerchiefs. All the servants were waiting for the drama to unveil.

"Jin Ling!"

Wei Yuewu"s face turned cold.

Hearing her mistress call her name, Jin Ling took a step forward. She pushed away the two old maidservants and cried out to Lady Li, "Second Lady, my young lady is punishing these despicable servants. Are you intended to prevent her?"

Preventing Wei Yuewu from punishing despicable servants? Of course Lady Li could not say that, because Wei Yuewu was the nominal mistress of the whole group of servants in this courtyard.

But Lady Li would also lose face if her order was foiled by a maid. She grew irritated and was about to retort. At this point, the old maidservant in charge, who was so painful that she lost her common sense and wasn"t able to perceive people"s intentions as usual, unexpectedly cried out, "Sixth Young Lady, our mistress is the Second Lady. You can"t punish us."

"So you"re all my Second Aunt"s servants?"

Wei Yuewu smiled faintly; then her eyes turned cold. "No wonder you didn"t even prepare hot water for me. Is it because Second Aunt didn"t tell you to do it? In that case, Second Aunt, let"s go to my grandmother and let her decide how to deal with the matter of servants neglecting their mistress?"

Lady Li, not her, was acknowledged by the servants in her own courtyard as their mistress. On the surface, one could judge that the servants were disloyal. But to put it in a more serious way, it could be said that Lady Li had evil designs against Wei Yuewu so that she arranged her own servants to serve in the yard. Since the Madam Dowager would not choose to offend Lady Tu and Wei Yuewu at this moment, she would definitely be on the side of Wei Yuewu.

Lady Li"s face was somewhat livid. She shot a fierce glare at the impertinent old maidservant.

"Yuewu, that servant was only being stupid to say that. Listen to me, it is in the middle of winter. You should let them go! I"ll have them get the hot water ready for you right away!"

Seeing Wei Yuewu was so tough and determined and thinking that Lady Tu was still in the mansion, Lady Li decided that she had better soften her att.i.tude, so she put on a play like she was trying to settle the dispute.

"Second Aunt, I thought all these servants in this yard worked for me. I didn"t know they were actually all your servants. In that case, they would not take orders from me. Of course, they don"t have to wait for me."

How could Wei Yuewu be willing to let Lady Li have her way so easily? She blinked her long eyelashes and her big dark eyes shone with coldness. "But why are these servants allocated to my yard when they are all your servants? Didn"t I, the mistress of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, have the rights to order a servant in my own mansion?"

Those words were put in such a sharp way that Lady Li almost failed to maintain the forced smile on her face. Unable to make any arguments, Lady Li finally managed to suppress her anger. She gave two hollow laughs and then said, "This is your yard. Of course they are your servants, not mine."

"Second Aunt, that sounds very reasonable, but these servants just don"t understand it. May I ask you to tell them in person who their mistress is in future? "

Clapping her hands gently, Wei Yuewu suggested smilingly. She glanced around, then her face turned cold. "If they don"t want to wait on me in my Lotus Courtyard, please tell my grandmother to drive them out. I will not keep despicable servants who dare to impose on their mistress in this yard."

Despicable servants imposing on their mistress? No servant would be able to bear such a label!

The old maidservant in charge was a quick-witted person. Otherwise, she would not have been a.s.signed to lead the other servants here. At this point, she recovered her senses and immediately cried out at Wei Yuewu, "Sixth Young Lady, we never thought of refusing to serve you. It was just that you came back so suddenly that we didn"t get ready and was a little slower than usual. We didn"t mean to impose on you."

Although the Madam Dowager no longer managed the house now, everyone knew that she had plenty of means to punish servants and that she was never lenient towards disloyal servants.

"You didn"t mean to impose on me? Look at you, you used "I" and "we" to address me. You are just a servant. How dare you refer to yourself as "I" when speaking to your mistress? I reckon hot water should be ready when you received my order even if you only started to prepare it after I came in. Besides, is there no ready hot water in the kitchen of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang? How long do the masters and mistresses have to wait each time before they can have it?"

Wei Yuewu rebuked in a cold voice.

The old maidservant in charge was speechless. She turned to Lady Li, only to find an expressionless face, an indication that Lady Li was unable to help. Now she was really nervous. In spite of her bodily pain that made her unable to stand up, she kept kowtowing to Wei Yuewu. "Sixth Young Lady, I dare not let this happen again."

Now she had no choice but take the blame. If she didn"t, she would have to tell who instructed her to do this. Needless to say, that person was Lady Li, who would never admit it. Therefore, there was no escaping from punishment for her.

"Second Aunt, you are helping my father manage the backyard of this mansion. May I ask you how to deal with these servants who dare to impose on their mistress?"

By those words, Wei Yuewu had incriminated all the maids and old maidservants in the yard. It was exactly her intention to let Lady Li dispose of them in person.

She would like to see who dared to help Lady Li in the future!

Her words also implied that her father was the real master of the mansion. Lady Li, the wife of the second branch of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang, took charge of the internal affairs of the mansion mainly because her father didn"t marry again after the death of her mother. Therefore, Lady Li"s position as the mistress of the mansion was not perfectly justifiable.

Lady Li took several long and deep breaths before she suppressed her wrath. As much as she wanted to slap Wei Yuewu in the face, she knew how to act properly. She could not win a battle at the expense of losing the war. If Wei Yuewu continued pressing hard and made a scene in front of the Madam Dowager, she would definitely be in an unfavorable situation. Then, she could only bite her teeth and swallow the consequences.

"Somebody, come and give these servants ten strokes each as an admonishment."

Lady Li was so furious that she felt like spitting blood. These servants were her confidants, and she was forced to punish them in person!

"Second Aunt, you are really good at running the family. After these servants are punished, you can take all of them back. And please choose several menial servants who do rough work from other yards for me. I"ll choose other servants by myself next time when the servant-seller comes."

Wei Yuewu said to Lady Li casually. Then she entered her chamber with Jin Ling.

Since she just arrived here, she should be satisfied now that she had established her authority. It would be truly inappropriate if she led to someone"s death!

Lady Li was full of fury and resentment at the fact that Wei Yuewu took the upper hand again in this fight. She almost broke her teeth by clenching them too hard. After ordering the punishment of the servants, she went straight back angrily to her own residence—Virtue Pavilion. When she arrived at the gate of her yard, she saw Wei Yan hurriedly coming with maids. Wei Yan burst out crying at the sight of Lady Li and fell toward her mother and collapsed on the ground...