Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 154

Jiang returned to her room.

Longxiang was making the bed and folding the quilts. She adjusted the length of the lamp wick on the headboard according to Jiang's preferences, making the light bright and soft just right.

Under the lamp, there was a carefully brewed calming soup, with plump longans as lustrous and tempting as amber.

"This servant will fetch water for Madam. Madam, please rest now."

Longxiang curtsied and prepared to leave.

Jiang called her to a stop and sat down on the edge of the bed. Then he looked at her beautiful face under the lamplight.

"Why haven't you been serving the master lately?"

Longxiang suddenly tensed up: "This servant wouldn't dare!"

Jiang smiled and said, "What's there to be afraid of? I know you've liked the master for a long time."

"Madam!" Longxiang knelt down with a thud. "This servant dares not, this servant really dares not! If I had ever done anything wrong before, this servant has already corrected it! Ever since Madam slapped this servant last time, this servant has never approached the master again!"

Her previously rosy cheeks had now lost all color.

Jiang took a sip of soup and said casually, "Get up."

Long Xiang shakily got up.

Madam Jiang looked around at the neatly made bed and said, "You've always been very efficient, which I appreciate. Otherwise, I wouldn't have specifically asked you to stay and serve me."

"Although I have disciplined you, it was because I didn't want you to lose your dignity."

Longxiang didn't know what to say, so she could only clench her hands tightly and bite her lower lip.

"A man like the master is truly an exceptional individual. Even at thirty-five, he is still in his prime, no less than a young man. Isn't it normal that you like him?"

Madam Jiang lowered her eyes and put down the bowl, looking around the huge house: "Our Minister's mansion's back residence is indeed too desolate."

Even Granny Du left today.

"From now on, you will be my head maid. You will not only take over Du Mama's affairs, but also be responsible for the master's daily life."

Long Xiang suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Madam Jiang sighed: "As long as you behave well, even though you are a head maid now, whether you become a concubine or a mistress in the future depends on your fate."

"Madam, is what you're saying true?"

Everyone knows that Madam Lu is a ruthless woman; over the years, not a single maid in the Lu family has managed to rise to a higher position.

Do you think I have time to waste on your lies?

Under the lamplight, Jiang's eyes were deep and unfathomable.

"Don't you think that since the young lady returned to the manor, even the master has spent less time in his room these past two days?"

"I still miss the old days when it was just us. Even if we were to add more people, it would be us who did it."

"What do you say?"

Longxiang felt as if an electric current had passed through her body, and she immediately knelt down again: "This servant understands, this servant will never dare to have any disloyalty in the future. Madam is this servant's mistress, and this servant will always follow Madam's lead in this life!"

Madam Jiang smiled and said, "Master is resting in his study tonight. Starting tonight, you will serve him. After you've served him well, I'll give you your first facial."

“…Thank you for your kindness, Mrs. Xie.”

Longxiang's face was flushed, and she went out with her head down.

The lights flickered.

Jiang's eyes flickered under the lamplight, then turned deep and dark.

……

After Yang Bonong returned, Lu Jie finished washing up, lit an incense burner, wrote many words on a piece of paper, looked at it for a long time, and then lit the paper and threw it into the spittoon.

The outside world was completely silent, yet it made one lose oneself in the night. The door creaked open, and Longxiang entered carrying tea.

"This servant is here to serve the master on the orders of the madam."

Lu Jie raised his head, his brows furrowing imperceptibly.

"I stay in my study for peace and quiet, and I don't need anyone to wait on me."

The maidservant stood there and wouldn't leave.

Instead of leaving, she glanced at him several times, then took two steps forward, knelt down, and massaged his legs.

Lu Jie had no interest in putting on an act today, and was about to reprimand him sternly when a muffled cry of surprise came from somewhere outside the window.

It was because so many things had happened in the past two days that he immediately got up upon hearing the sound.

"What happened?"

A servant outside reported: "Master, it seems to be some night owl that climbed the wall and knocked over the flowerpots."

Which yard's cat is that?

The servant paused for a moment: "It seems to be in the side courtyard above the southwest corner gate."

Southwest corner?
Isn't that where Granny Du lives?
Lu Jie glanced back at Long Xiang, his expression quickly changing before he sat back down on the bed: "Since Madam has summoned you to serve her, go and get some bedding."

Longxiang quickly agreed and retreated with small steps.

Lu Jie immediately opened the window, glanced at the southwest corner, and then instructed the servant: "Go find Mr. Yang and ask how the arrangements for the matter I entrusted to him are going?"

……

When it was time to go to bed, Lu Jia blew out the lamps, leaving no lights on except for the lanterns under the eaves.

A glass lamp was lit inside the canopy bed, but it wasn't very bright.

However, when Yin Liu rushed in, the wind she brought made the flames inside the lampshade sway back and forth.

"Young lady! You were absolutely right, the Jiang family did indeed intend to silence you!"

Lu Jia leaned back on the pillow: "What did Granny Du say?"

“She didn’t say anything! She didn’t say anything at all! He was so scared by Jiang that he wet his pants and couldn’t say anything when asked! But when I went back to look for her just now, she was walking towards the well in the southwest corner!”

"Want to jump into the well?" Lu Jia raised his voice, then sneered, "That's right. If it's hanging or slitting the throat, how can we frame them?"

Panting heavily from running, Yin Liu caught her breath and then held out her hand: "Look at this!"

Lu Jia looked at her palm and saw a familiar jade ring lying in her hand.

Fuxiao immediately exclaimed, "Isn't this the lady's 'quiet step'? — Where did you find it?!"

"Right there, by that well!"
"I saw her walking towards the well and guessed that she was going to jump into it, so I quickly followed her, first pinning her down and tying her up. Then I realized that they wanted to frame the girl, so they had to leave the illusion that she had been to the well. So I quietly went to the well to look for her, and I actually found it!"

Fu Xiao gasped, looking at Lu Jia.

Lu Jia paused for a moment, then immediately jumped off the bed: "I'll give you a plan. You just need to quietly get Granny Du out and hand her over to Changfu under the Second Gate, and then do exactly as I say..."

As she spoke, she beckoned Yinliu closer and whispered a few words in her ear.

After listening, Yin Liu nodded emphatically and disappeared into the night.

Lu Jia turned to Qinghe and instructed, "To prevent anyone from testifying for me, there's probably no one around at the foot of the southwest slope right now. But just to be safe, you two should go over there and check if anyone's there."

Qinghe and the other two hurried off as well.

Lu Jia walked around the room twice, went to the window, looked in the direction of Lu Jie's study, then closed the window and called Zhi Mu over.

"Go and do what I told you before. Remember, come back immediately after you go, within fifteen minutes."

"My slave understands!"