Song Jinyin took two steps forward and took her hand.
"what happened?"
"Sister Jinyin."
Seeing her coming, Xueyu muttered: "I took the job myself. I'm not on duty today. I can get some extra wages for doing this."
Song Jinyin raised her eyes and glanced around. Apart from carrying buckets of mud and carrying stones into the backyard, they were all young men. There was no woman.
This is obviously because others don't want to do it, so they spread out the work in their hands and give it to them for more than ten cents at a time, hoping to be clean for a day.
"You can get money by doing embroidery work in the house for a day, so why do you do this?"
"I'm not good at embroidery, and I'm not like other girls who can read a few words or have the skills. If I don't do these things, I don't know when I will be able to save up the one thousand taels..."
Xueyu lowered her head, her voice getting smaller and smaller, her hands hanging on her sides holding her dress, not daring to raise her head, let alone look at others.
After she finished her work last night, she went to Song Jinyin's place with food. When she saw Biyu's figure at the door, she knew that the prince was here.
Just as she was hesitating whether to keep the clear soup she had specially saved up for, she saw Biyu and Cang Lin chatting under the light.
In the past, the cold bluestone steps under the moonlight, and Cang Lin, who had always been unsmiling, seemed to be infected with the smoke and fire of the world at the same time.
Xueyu suddenly didn't dare to go any further.
After thinking about it carefully, she really didn't have much ability, and she wasn't very smart either. She could only do these strenuous tasks quite smoothly, and she wouldn't bother Sister Jin Yin to stand up for her from time to time.
"Don't worry, sister, I only did it after I could bear it."
"That won't work. The place behind is being repaired by men. How can you, a little girl, get along there? If Butler Wang pays attention to you one day, he might be able to find a steward or bodyguard who matches your needs. Now, of course, reputation has to be taken into consideration.”
"How can I deserve it?"
Xueyu raised her head in panic, subconsciously glanced at Biyu next to her, and kept waving her hands.
"Why not? It's not like you signed a death contract not to marry good people. It's me who can't."
Song Jinyin didn't care about Biyu's expression after hearing this, she just took Xueyu's hand with a serious look on her face.
"I'll take you to embroider in a while. Others' survival depends on luck. Since you still have hope, live a better life."
"Sister Jinyin..."
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not pitiful either."
After stroking the folds of the clothes on Xueyu's shoulders, Song Jinyin smiled, but her eyes lacked the color of the past and were hazy, making it difficult to tell what was in her heart.
...
After such a delay, when we arrived at the third girl's courtyard, the sun had already brightened again.
Pei Musheng saw her coming and came out of the house to welcome her, without any airs of a legitimate daughter.
"I heard that you met Ye Wanqiu last night?"
"Back to the third girl, I saw it when I was returning from the water pavilion. I was enjoying the scenery with the eldest girl in the pavilion."
"It's Pei Wenshu who doesn't do good things again."
Pei Musheng led someone into the house with a look of disdain on his face, "Why don't you call me? Although I can't stand up to Ye Wanqiu, I still have the ability to get you away."
"The slave was not punished, but we met by chance and listened to the two girls chatting."
"That's because they didn't find an opportunity to humiliate you. If they hadn't caught the maid in front, I guess you would have been crushed."
Pei Musheng's eyebrows were wrinkled, and there was hatred in his eyes.
"It's a joke. After all, she was the legitimate daughter of the second wife, and she was teasing her own maid there with people from other houses. When she heard that the little girl had gone, the old lady later reprimanded Pei Wenshu, but she didn't do anything in the end. What to do with her, it’s just a copy of Buddhist scriptures and a grounding order.”
Before Biyu could speak, she heard the third girl explain clearly what happened next.
She looked at Song Jinyin with a worried look on her face, and saw that her face gradually turned pale and her eyes began to become misty.
However, this appearance only lasted for a moment, and the person who was in a trance came back to his senses. Except for the stiffness of the hands in his sleeves, there was no emotion on his face.
"Really? That little girl is really pitiful."
"It's true that she's a little pitiful, but she's not an honest person. She could steal it from her previous master. That's all. No one is here anymore, and it's hard for others to say anything. Take a look at this hairpin."
Pei Musheng pushed the things on the table, found the small box piled inside, and motioned for Song Jinyin to sit down and talk.
Although Song Jinyin felt confused for a moment because of those words, she did not dare to lose her composure.
She had obviously guessed the outcome, and she also knew that Ye Wanqiu was deliberately provoking her. Regardless of whether she would encounter this incident, the two noble ladies had no intention of actually sparing their lives.
But Ye Wanqiu's deliberate words still made her struggle with self-blame and guilt all night.
But she won't show it at all.
Once her timidity and panic are known to others, such vicious things will only happen to her again and again, and may even implicate the people around her.
Song Jinyin moved her stiff fingertips and followed Pei Musheng's movements to look at the wooden table.
"A lot of new styles have been given away recently. I thought it was convenient, so I didn't let anyone clean up this place."
"Three girls, this place is not a mess."
"My mother has read it several times, but today I have asked people to follow the two women. When the new order comes tomorrow, I will be better able to free up this place. You are right, you can't wait for that Point evidence.”
There was a tea set on a tray on one side of the table.
A little further to the side, there was a basket containing small items. It was a little messy due to Pei Musheng's rummaging, revealing a post decorated with gold foil, full of nobility.
Song Jinyin remembered that this was the invitation item that Pei Musheng sent to various families a few days ago.
"Whose family did Miss Three forget?"
"No ah......"
When Pei Musheng saw the post, he didn't react. It wasn't until he opened it and saw the words "Xu Family" inside that he pursed his lips subconsciously.
She was not someone who liked to be secretive. After putting the things back where they were, she looked at Song Jinyin.
"It's a post for the Xu family. When I was delivering the post, my eldest brother happened to be going to the racecourse with the girl from the Xu family. Seeing that she was riding a horse and couldn't take care of it, the eldest brother took it directly and told me to tell the girl from the Xu family when the time comes. Serving snacks...Many people saw it at that time, so I didn’t send anyone to deliver it again.”
Song Jinyin was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered the scene of the two walking side by side in the courtyard that day.
The man was tall and tall, and when he lowered his eyes to look at the person, his sharpness disappeared, leaving only his handsome outline with a touch of nobility, reflecting the gentleness and warmth of his smile.
Pei Yanzhou had never cared about this kind of thing before. It was so meticulous now that she couldn't think of anything else but care.
"You, don't take it too seriously. The Xu family girl may not be able to enter the Duke's mansion..."
After a pause, Pei Musheng suddenly stopped talking.
What's the use of saying this.
It doesn't matter whether she is a girl from the Xu family or not. What matters is that Song Jinyin will never have the status to stand upright beside her eldest brother.
She may be a pitied concubine, but she will always be in this position. Even giving birth to an heir may be something she dare not think about.
"The third girl was joking."
Song Jinyin came back to her senses, but for some reason, there was some discomfort in her throat when she spoke.
"No matter who comes into the house in the future, I will naturally hope that the prince will get what he wants."
"...If you think so, that's great."
Biyu didn't look at the third girl's expression. She only felt that Song Jinyin's words were terrifyingly calm.
The speculation in her room just now became clearer and clearer. Thinking about it layer by layer, Biyu began to feel a little panicked.
After confirming that Song Jinyin did not want to compete for favor at all, she did not dare to think about whether this girl would have a way to survive in the future if the prince knew about Song Jinyin's cold-heartedness.
The maid's voice came from outside the house, and then the curtain was opened, and the maid slowly entered the house with her head lowered.
"Girl, the Zhusheng in the Crown Prince's Courtyard has sent a message, saying that the Crown Prince wants the lady to choose a set of well-grown jadeite heads in the next few days and send it to Zhuya Courtyard, and record it in his account."
"Brother, did you say anything else? Who gave it to you, what is your identity, and how old are you?"
"Girl, the meaning of those words should be to send it to the young girl's family. I didn't mention it much. However, these days, there are news about the prince and Miss Xu outside. Seeing that the banquet in the mansion is coming soon, maybe. .....”
Pei Musheng signaled the maid to shut up. When he looked at Song Jinyin again, he saw her obediently lowering her head. Her green jade fingers stretched out from her sleeves and slowly stroked the lines of the hairpin she had just taken out on the table.
A new scar slid from her palm to her fingertips. As long as she raised her hand a little, the scar was particularly eye-catching.
The sun filtered in through the opened curtain and fell onto the table, making the pale flesh color more obvious.
Song Jinyin herself was stunned for a moment, and for some reason, she subconsciously retracted her hand.
She had better not touch such a beautiful hairpin.
