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  Chapter 16: The Cost

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  Chu Gaoshi nodded in satisfaction, and suddenly knelt down behind Qing Guo. Unlike the panic of Bai Guo and Ba Bao in front, she knelt in the house, although she responded when she should have, but always felt like an outsider. Chu Gaoshi was also clever and immediately guessed that this might be the third-class maid who stood beside San Guniang yesterday. Looking at her appearance, it seemed that she had already been promoted to a senior maid? She smiled faintly, today's establishment of authority, not only in front of the maids, but also in front of these daughters, she must establish her authority even more.

  "Is this maid Qing Guo? She seems a bit too thin." Chu Gao asked, looking at the trembling Qing Guo standing aside.

  Chu Ke'er kept her head down, and Stepmother was about to get angry, so as a daughter, she naturally didn't dare speak up. When she heard Chu Gaoshi ask the question, she raised her head and nodded slightly, originally it was the third-class maid on the daughter's side, the daughter thought she was quite clever, so she called her in to serve.

  "Yes, since it feels suitable, call her in to serve, from now on she will be a second-class maid with monthly wages." Chu Gaoshi said calmly.

  "Yes." Chu Ke nodded, she had only called Qing Guo in to serve yesterday and hadn't mentioned making her the head maid, also waiting for today's matter. Chu Gaoshi wanted to establish authority, these were naturally things she would take charge of. If she didn't wait for Chu Gaoshi to bring it up and proposed making Qing Guo the head maid instead, today might not have gone smoothly, not only using the maids in the house to establish authority but also using giving her authority.

  Now look, it's indeed like that

  The old lady is still quite clear about what's going on around here.

  Qing Guo hastily and tearfully went forward to kowtow and thank her, but Chu Gaoshi coldly said: "Don't think that you're being praised for doing a good job. Today, everyone saw the consequences of Lotus's actions. In the future, if anyone dares to be lazy or disrespect the young lady again, this will also be their consequence."

  Qing Guo and Bai Guo, along with the Eight Treasures, repeatedly kowtowed, answering in unison. The two maidservants were so frightened by this scolding that their souls had flown out of their bodies.

  The servant girl's matter is finished, and the two old women outside report back to the mistress, "Sun Cheng's family has been knocked unconscious."

  "Chu Gaoshi's face was filled with hatred, saying 'Take all of their family out and sell them, investigate every person in each courtyard, if they have any relatives with them, not a single one will be left behind, all will be sold.'"

  "Yes." The old woman took her orders and left.

  Chu Yun's family was in charge when she was alive, and Sun Chengjia's family had not been idle in placing their own people in the mansion. She was also Chu Yun's confidante, making it easy for her to place people. After more than a decade of operation, the entire mansion, except for the old master and mistress's side, was filled with her family members.

  Chu Yun's wife had passed away, and Chu Gao's wife, who was in the midst of a hot mourning period, had entered the house. At that time, she had suffered from these people's secret machinations. Although she didn't dare to provoke them openly, she would often drag her feet when doing things, giving east while taking west, pointing south while hitting north.

  Chu Gaoshi took a deep breath, yesterday the old lady entrusted her to take advantage of the matter in San Gu Niang's room to clean up the people around San Gu Niang, especially Sun Chengjia's family, and to severely reprimand those around San Gu Niang, telling them to respect San Gu Niang.

  "Is it Chu Gao's daughter, Dao Jing'er?"

  A maid came forward and said, "Madam."

  "Chu Gaoshi pointed at her and smiled to Chu Kei, saying: 'Jing Er is from my side, she's careful with things, and she knows the rules, so let's keep her.'"

  Chu Kei hastily expressed her gratitude, "Thank you so much, madam."

  Jing'er immediately came forward to pay respects to Chu Ke'er and salute Third Young Miss.

  Chu Ke stretched out his hand politely and said, "Let's dispense with the formalities." He took a closer look at this maid and found that she was quite tall, half a head taller than average women. Her face was fair and clean, not particularly striking, but her smile made people feel warm and at ease.

  Chu Gaoshi has been in the mansion for only a few months, and she should only have her personal maid, but it's impossible that she would give her maid to Chu Keqi. Therefore, this Jing'er must be someone from the old lady's side.

  The old lady put someone here, actually it's a bit unnecessary, even if not, every move should be under the old lady's eyelids? Chu Ke thought of this and turned to think again, feeling that it was not right, the old lady was not a person who shot randomly, and Jing Er shouldn't be simply placed by her side.

  Jing'er retreated after paying her respects, standing behind Chu Keji. The people in the room didn't even dare to breathe loudly. Ba Bao and Bai Guo exchanged a look at each other, although they didn't say that Jing'er was the head housekeeper, but from their expressions, it was already clear. They were intimidated today and seeing that Jing'er was on the madam's side, so they quietly paid their respects to her from behind, bowing slightly. Jing'er gestured with her hand for them not to do so.

  Several maidservants' slight movements behind went unnoticed, Chu Gaoshi's stern reprimand finished, and she promoted one of the original courtyard's servant women to be in charge, then called all the attendants over and severely scolded and warned them before hastily reporting back to the elderly lady.

  This new development today not only shocked the maidservants, but also made Chu Ke look at her with newfound respect. Thinking back to how Old Lady had mentioned Hong Xiuniang, this woman's calm demeanor suggested that she was no ordinary person. The gentle behavior of the past few months was merely because she had entered the household during the mourning period and hadn't yet received Old Lady's instructions, so she had been temporarily holding back.

  Chu Ke stood under the eaves to see off Chu Gao and Men, Chu Gao was very considerate, holding Men's hand, giving enough face to Men, Men went to Sun Cheng's house again today, with a look of satisfaction.

  Chu Gao and Men Shi walked out with their heads held high, and when they reached the gate, a woman bowed to them. Chu Gao stopped and exchanged two sentences with the woman before leaving.

  Chu Xue saw clearly that the woman was Liu Yiniang, so she turned her head to Qing Guo and said, "Go invite Liu Yiniang to come in and sit down." She also instructed Jing Er to pour tea.

  Jing'er responded with a soft "oh" and turned to leave, but Ba Bao quickly intercepted her, squatting down slightly as he whispered, "This way," before leading the way into the tea room. Jing'er smiled calmly and followed him in. Ba Bao rapidly explained, "The tea leaves are over here, the copper kettle is on the stove, and there's always hot water." As he spoke, his hands moved swiftly and efficiently, already brewing a pot of tea which he placed onto a tray, presenting it to Jing'er with a smile, saying "hot".

  Jing'er glanced at her and smiled, saying "thank you". She carried the tray, turned around and went into the main hall.

  When Qingguo arrived at the gate, Liu Yiniang was about to leave. After hearing Qingguo's words, she looked very surprised and hesitated for a moment, looking around the courtyard. Seeing Chukui still standing under the eaves looking this way, she panicked and hurriedly came in.

  Chu Ke saw Liu Niang's reaction clearly, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Thinking of her brother Zhu Yuehuan, she felt that Liu Niang was really pitiful, having been replaced by her own daughter, and her own daughter being so ruthless to her...

  So she had been thinking about it, and from now on, in order to make up for the debt owed to that Chu Xuegui, or to make up for her brother who couldn't be by her side, she must treat this aunt well.

  "Yuan Niang came in, and before she even walked up to me, I quickly explained that I had just happened to walk to the entrance of the girls' courtyard... um, it was to find Zhang Pozi in the girls' courtyard, not intentionally peeking at the girls..."

  Chu Xue heard and was stunned, for a moment she couldn't say anything good, the previous Chu Xue was treating Liu Niangniang like this, making Liu Niangniang like a frightened bird?

  She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, with a sense of being rebuffed. Of course, she also understood that this was due to the deep-seated impression left by Chu Xuegui for Liu Yiniang in the past, just like Sun Chengjia and Lianzi.

  She could only nod and say softly, "I didn't think Auntie was here to snoop... Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?"

  Liu Yiniang's eyes widened in surprise, and she dared not look at Chu Ke'er. However, when Chu Ke'er also looked at her, she quickly lowered her eyes and did not dare to meet her gaze, saying softly, "I... do not dare disturb the young lady."

  Chu Ke sighed inwardly, this matter couldn't be rushed, so he nodded and said "You can go slowly, I won't see you off." As he spoke, he turned around and entered the house first.

  Liu Yiniang stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring blankly for a while, not quite adapting to Chu Ke's gentle and amiable demeanor, and only turned around and left after a long time.

  Chu Ke returned to the house, saw standing by the table smiling at Jing Er, on the table was a tray, inside a set of Qinghua porcelain tea cups and teapot, from which a faint warmth rose.

  She sat on the edge of the kang, Jing'er placed the tray on the small kang table, then took out the teacup, poured out more than half a cup of tea, and held it with both hands to offer her cousin a drink.

  Chu Kei took a sip, nodded and smiled as she roughly asked about Jing Er's situation. Indeed, Jing Er was born into the Chu family and wasn't someone who came with Chu Gao Shi as an accompanying servant; her parents were both in the Chu household.

  Chu Ke didn't ask any more questions, took a sip of tea, leaned back on the cushion and closed his eyes to rest, and thought about the Chu family's affairs at the same time.

  Zhu Yuhuan once said that the Chu family was not a place for good men and women, he said this because of his own life experience. However, in the past two days, Old Lady Chu has shown her true colors, making Chu Keqian feel it personally, the Chu family is indeed not a peaceful place, she has a feeling of impending doom...

  ……

  Although the old lady killed Chu Yunqing's two maids, it was clear that the warning was for Chu Yunting, but Chu Yunting still did not calm down and mind her own business.

  She might be willing

  Her dedication in the previous life was met with Zhu Yuxu's unwavering decision to marry another. Yet, with the same dedication, Chu Yunqing became the one he was willing to take as his wife. The attitudes of both the princess and the old lady were now clear.

  She was indignant and furious at this method, it turned out that Chu Yunqing also dared to use it, it turned out that Chu Yunqing's means were even more superb, and she could actually make Zhu Yuetian marry her.

  She hated Zhu Yuxu, hating him for being so ruthless to her alone. But she hated Chu Yunqing even more, hating that she couldn't take a knife and kill her. What Chu Yunqing did was simply mocking her, ridiculing her.

  ……

  Mrs. Chu Gao took over the household of Sun Cheng's family on San Guniang's side, and in the following days, she was busy taking over their relatives. As soon as she started, it turned out to be a huge family affair, with many changes in personnel in various courtyards.

  Chu Ke heard Qing Guo's report, saying that two wives and four maids from the side of Liu Niangniang were found to have connections with the Sun Cheng family. One of them was even a close relative of the Sun family, and at Liu Niangniang's place, she was also a person who had a say in everything. Now they have been exposed and expelled from the mansion.

  The chaos in the mansion continues, and many people have been implicated, including some that Chu Gaoshi did not expect. For example, Sun Cheng's family has two daughters who work in the mansion, and they are married to people from the mansion as well. These people are connected to another family, and when you pull on the thread, over a hundred people are implicated. Chu Gaoshi doesn't dare to take action now, so she goes to ask Old Lady about it. Old Lady is shocked and orders her to clear out all these people, selling off those who should be sold and expelling those who should be expelled.

  The Chu Gao family dared to take action, but after so many people left, they had to find an equal number of people to fill the gap. However, it was impossible to match the personnel in a short time, so they hastily found a matchmaker to bring people over for selection, and after selecting, they quickly handed them over to the teaching nurse to teach etiquette.

  Little did they know, an even bigger storm was yet to come.

  ……

  Qing Guo hurriedly walked in, saw Jing Er standing beside Chu Ke Hui, and casually picked up the needlework basket from the door frame, rummaging through it for needles and threads.

  Chu Xue was reading a book and didn't move, but suddenly asked "What's going on?"

  Qing Guo raised his head, took a glance at Jing Er, and stuttered: "Something's happened outside."

  "What's wrong?" Chu Ke asked, still looking at the book.

  Qing Guo looked at Jing Er for a moment, but didn't answer immediately. Jing Er stood quietly beside him, as if she had been frozen in place, her face calm and serene.

  Didn't hear Qing Guo's voice, Chu Ke Xi raised her head and said "Ah?" Only to see Qing Guo's face had turned pale, her expression was shocked beyond compare, frequently gasping for air, the hand holding the needlework basket was slightly trembling. She furrowed her brow, Qing Guo was also a clever and steady maid, what happened today?

  Qing Guo saw that the young lady didn't seem to want to avoid Jing Er, so she quickly reported back: "Fourth Miss is in trouble! Today, she and Madam went to Qinglian Temple to burn incense, but on the way, the carriage... it's gone!" Her voice trembled slightly, clearly frightened.

  Chu Ke blinked her eyes and after a while said "What does 'not seeing' mean?"

  The young lady was surprisingly calm, and Qing'er seemed to be not scared at all, staring with wide eyes. Qing Guo also took a deep breath to calm down, and then said that the fourth young lady's car had gone missing on the way. Anyway, the driver of this car didn't hear any sound after walking for a while, turned back to look, and found that the fourth young lady's car was gone. The madam quickly asked the driver to turn around and find it, but couldn't find it anywhere. The madam was anxious... At this time, everything in front was messed up. The old master and the big master had come out of the palace. As soon as the big master entered the door, he slapped the madam. The old lady was furious... Qing Guo glanced at Jing'er, and Jing'er's face changed color after hearing the words behind.

  It is by.

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