At night, Guiyu waited quietly in the house for Jiang Anhes return. The sand in the hourglass slowly sank, but he still didnt come. The little maid beside her occasionally looked up and carefully observed her expression, seeing that she was tearfully choked with emotion, felt a pang of sympathy, and got up to go out again. Guiyu stopped her, saying: "Dont go ask for news again, the mistress is strict in managing the household, if she finds out I asked you to secretly inquire about the masters affairs, well both be severely punished tomorrow."

  The little girl sat back in her original place, staring at her master, and spent the whole night with nothing to say. After dawn, the Jiang familys main courtyard became lively, and the noisy voices made Madame Guiyu wake up. She asked the little girl to bring water over and carefully cleaned up her makeup. She slowly applied snow water to her swollen eyes, which had been crying all night, until she saw a pair of big eyes in the mercury mirror, only slightly red, looking quite pitiful.

  She gazed at herself in the mirror, still as beautiful as a flower, and smiled in satisfaction, releasing her frozen hands. She turned around and called out to Xiaoyu to bring in dinner. Xiaoyu rushed out of the room with the tray, seeing two women sweeping the courtyard, chatting and laughing softly as they worked. She hastily ran up to them, shaking her head to signal that their master was in a bad mood this morning. The two women looked at Xiaoyu in surprise, since Fifth Misss hundredth-day celebration, Master had been immovable, and today he was coming to spend the night with his mistress.

  The little maid called the outer maid to quickly bring in the meal, she herself ate a bit casually and then went in to serve her master with a tired face. Each of the madams in the Jiang family had a personal maid, an outer maid, and two rough servant women, but the young lady only had one maid and one rough servant woman. Guiyu Madam was originally a maid, before she was promoted to madam, the maid by her side was given by Madame Jiang herself.

  Gu Yuniang was promoted to be the madam, and she used the excuse that her mother-in-law had given her a maid, now that she is older, marriage needs to be arranged by her mother-in-law, so she returned the maid. She decided to find two new maids. At that time, in Jiangs family, no one wanted to follow the older maid, and she herself did not want an older maid with many thoughts. She chose a young maid as her personal attendant, and then selected another honest and simple maid for outside work, and finally let her mother-in-law arrange a rough servant.

  Gui Yu glanced at the maid who came in to serve, seeing the fatigue on her face. She thought of when Yu Niang entered the Jiang family, because Jiang An and Chu treated her with great affection, sometimes even forgetting the days she spent in the masters room. In those early days, every night, the mistress would sit quietly until dawn before getting up, at that time, she was guarding her side.

  The mistress had always been deeply affectionate towards these personal maids, and she made no distinction between them and the three companions who came with her in front of the mistress. Before entering the Jiang family, the mistress had quietly mentioned to the four of them that although there was a meaning of accompanying the house, she still hoped they would live a good life. It was precisely because of this sentence that the other three people had different ideas.

  The resplendent and charming Jiang Anhe, with his outstanding talent, had already captivated her at first sight. Gu Yuniang knew that she was a concubine sent by the Shang family, and after hearing Masters words, her heart fluttered but soon calmed down. The Shang family was a scholarly family, where the difference between the legitimate wife and concubines was vast, which she had taken note of. However, as a concubine with children, no matter what, she would be better off than the servants, having someone to serve her and not worrying about food and clothing.

  Jiang An and his wife were deeply in love for the first few years, and except for two old servants, no new people entered their household. The two older maids by their side were given to the steward of the estate by their master. At that time, Guiyu had set her sights on Jiang An, but he only had eyes for his master, and she gradually lost hope. However, later on, the birth mother of the second miss entered, and afterwards Yu Niang came in. Her heart began to stir once again, and she carefully made sure not to reveal anything to her three companions.

  The mistress was clever and had grown up with the maid, so she gradually understood her intentions and only treated her well on the surface. Guī Yù was completely captivated by Jiāng ān Hés charm, and whenever he came to the main courtyard, she would carefully serve him. Jiāng ān Hé, having been in many romantic entanglements, could tell three parts of Guī Yùs thoughts with just one glance. However, this was a maid who had been brought over by his first wife, and although he said it was for himself, the other three maids had already been promised to others, so perhaps his first wife had other plans for this one.

  Jiang Anhe was initially worried about his wifes opposition, so he remained silent and let Guī Yù show off in front of him. Later, when he saw that his wifes expression didnt change, he thought to himself that after taking a concubine, his wife would be concerned about her position in the household and tacitly allow the use of a maid to solidify her favor. For the sake of appearances, he secretly began to make moves on Guī Yù behind his wifes back. Guī Yù, with a mix of shyness and willingness, seemed even more alluring in Jiang Anhes eyes, and they eventually spent a night together, their mutual intentions clear.

  Madam Jiang was the first to hear the news from the housekeeper, and she was furious. If these two wanted to get together, they could have mentioned it in front of her, and she wouldnt have refused. Why did they need to do it behind peoples backs and let others hear about it? Jiang An spent a wonderful night, and the next morning he came to see his wife with a clear face, casually mentioning what had happened to her before waving goodbye and leaving the courtyard.

  Jiang An and Shu Fu walked away comfortably, leaving behind Jiang Dafuren sitting steadily in the room, so angry that she couldnt get up for a long time. The small Jiang family received the news and quickly rushed over to support their master, saying: "Its all because of that shameless woman, losing face for our master." After Jiang Dafuren came back to her senses, she thought that it was good that she had known about this earlier, otherwise, if she had just seen Jiang An and Shu Fus calm and composed attitude, she might not have considered the years of training in etiquette and would have directly scolded them as "a pair of dog-like men and women".

  Madam Jiang summoned the housekeeper to bring in Guiyu, looking at her who had become a woman, and only asked one sentence: "Do you still have the last chance now, make a choice, be the legitimate wife of the housekeeper or come in to serve the master?" Guiyu did not expect that it would happen overnight. These two days were her rest days, she heard the mistresss summons, with a face full of shock and loss.

  Gui Yus eyes met the angry gaze of Xiao Jiangs family, and she saw the anger in her mother-in-laws eyes. Her heart immediately panicked, and her legs softened, causing her to kneel down on the ground. For a long time, she didnt dare to get up, clutching at her heart. Now, hearing her mother-in-laws words was like listening to heavenly music, and she suddenly looked up at her own master, seeing that she seemed to have thought of something, her expression had eased compared to before, but still gazed at her with a sorrowful face. She looked at her mother-in-law with a blushing and joyful face, knocking her head and saying: "Master, I am willing to serve you and Master Gou for my whole life."

  Madam Jiang slowly got up from her knees, her eyes fixed quietly on hers. After a long while, she spoke in a low voice: "Alright. Ill grant your wish, and I hope you will never regret it. Also, on the day your child is born, I will promote you to be a lady-in-waiting. The four of you followed me to the capital, and I thought that each of you would have a better life in the future. But they chose another path, only you wanted to take this road, so just walk it obediently from now on. You may go down now, I will arrange for your courtyard."

  Guixiu gave her mistress three loud kowtows, then stood up and followed the housekeeper to her own small courtyard, where she stayed for many years. Guixiu had been with Madame Jiang for many years and naturally understood her temperament, knowing that their relationship was only superficial after this incident. They maintained a calm demeanor as usual, chatting and laughing together. After spending some romantic days with Guixiu, Jiang An still remembered his first wifes face and would occasionally visit her to show concern.

  Gui Yu thought about the past while having a meal, and she didnt regret her choice at all. Now she has a daughter who is the young lady of the Jiang family, and the master of all the servants in the Jiang household. In recent years, her father had praised her for "having the demeanor of a legitimate mother." Her own daughter was much more brilliant than that foolish Third Miss, bringing glory to the Jiang family. Now she acted as if she were her own legitimate elder sister, studying and winning praise from everyone.