Song Ruotang's courtyard was not eye - catching. It was located in the southeast corner of the Pei Mansion. Since there were several Chinese flowering crabapple trees in front of the yard and a few clumps of lush bamboo behind it, creating a secluded and serene environment, it was named the Pure and Elegant Courtyard.
Although it was a secluded small courtyard, it was the closest one to Pei Zhiyan's.
Recently, the weather had started to warm up, and the snow was melting. There were always water stains on the bluestone slabs on the paths, which kept the cleaning maids extremely busy.
Song Ruotang had nothing to do. Coincidentally, the sun came out that day, so she asked Xiaoxi to move a chair for her to bask in the sun in the courtyard. The gentle sunlight shone on her body, and the bamboo forest behind the yard rustled softly. She felt a bit drowsy.
"Third younger sister really has good spirits." A voice with a soft laugh sounded, with no lack of sarcasm in the tone.
Song Ruotang opened her eyes and immediately saw Du Lingxuan standing not far from her, looking at her with a half - smile.
Standing beside Du Lingxuan was Lin Yun, with a calm expression, but there was a hint of disdain in her eyes, seemingly quite contemptuous of Song Ruotang's act of basking in the sun in the courtyard.
"Greetings to both elder sisters." Song Ruotang stood up and bowed to them. "May I ask what brings you here?"
Lin Yun looked around the small courtyard. Having seen more magnificent and noble mansions, she was not particularly impressed by this small and delicate courtyard. She came here today just to secretly find out how Pei Zhiyan really treated Song Ruotang.
Looking at the scene in front of her, the coldness in her eyebrows softened slightly.
"It's nothing urgent. We just thought that you are new here and might not be familiar with the layout of the mansion. Since the weather is nice today, elder sister and I decided to come here and show you around."
Du Lingxuan explained, waiting to see Song Ruotang's reaction.
Naturally, Song Ruotang couldn't refuse. She nodded. "Thank you for your concern, elder sisters."
"We'll be family from now on. No need to be so formal." Lin Yun said calmly and then turned around and walked out of the courtyard gate.
Song Ruotang followed behind them. Du Lingxuan walked beside Lin Yun, affectionately holding her hand. There was a small lotus pond on the right side of Song Ruotang's courtyard. The ice had already broken. Amidst the withered branches and leaves, Song Ruotang vaguely saw some tender green shoots emerging from the withered lotuses under the ice.
Du Lingxuan turned to look at her. Seeing her staring at the pond, she slightly raised her eyebrows. "Third younger sister, what are you looking at? You seem so absorbed."
Song Ruotang withdrew her gaze and shook her head. But Du Lingxuan turned to look at the pond and let out a surprised sound. "The ice hasn't completely melted yet, but the lotus leaves in the pond are already sprouting."
"Really?" Lin Yun became interested after hearing this and turned to look at the pond.
Du Lingxuan nodded. "Yes, elder sister, look over there."
As she said, she pointed into the pond. But the newly emerged green shoots were extremely hard to spot. Lin Yun looked more carefully and slightly frowned. "I can't seem to see them..."
"Elder sister, over there." Du Lingxuan pulled Lin Yun's hand and took two more steps towards the pond.
Song Ruotang pursed her lips. Seeing that the water stains on the bluestone slabs under their feet hadn't dried and were still shiny, as if there was ice on them, she still spoke up. "Watch your step..."
Before her words fell, Lin Yun stepped on it. The ground was slippery, and she involuntarily leaned backward and fell to the ground.
Seeing her fall, Du Lingxuan quickly rushed to help her up. "Elder sister, are you okay? Did you hurt anywhere?"
Lin Yun was helped up. Her light purple satin winter clothes were soaked, stained with large patches of dark dirt mixed with mud. Her hairpins had fallen off, and her hair bun was a bit messy.
What was even more serious was that there was a cut about an inch long on her arm, which was scratched by a sharp stone on the ground when she slipped. Blood was gushing out.
A group of maids surrounded Lin Yun to help her tidy up her appearance. Du Lingxuan looked at Song Ruotang with dissatisfaction. "You saw it earlier. Why didn't you say anything? You only spoke up after we stepped on it?"
Song Ruotang originally didn't want to remind them, but she knew that if she didn't, they would still blame her after they fell. So she decided to speak up. Unexpectedly, she was still blamed even after giving the reminder.
Du Lingxuan didn't give her a chance to speak and continued to ask. "The paths in every courtyard are cleaned. Why is there still water here?"
This instantly caught everyone's attention, and the looks towards Song Ruotang around them became rather subtle.
Lin Yun's eyes changed. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. Du Lingxuan scanned the maids around. Since this place was not far from Song Ruotang's courtyard, some of her maids were also there.
"Who was in charge of cleaning here today?" Du Lingxuan's tone was a bit cold, showing a bit of the aura of the mistress of the house.
A maid stepped out of the crowd, with her head down and trembling. "Reporting to the second mistress, it's this maid..."
Du Lingxuan stared at her sharply. The maid immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed. "This maid knows her mistake. This maid did clean here, but I don't know when the water came back, so..."
The maid's voice was filled with panic. She was just a cleaning maid and knew that she couldn't offend these two mistresses. Moreover, since the eldest mistress was injured because of her mistake, her life was in danger.
"Still trying to defend yourself!" Du Lingxuan shouted angrily. The maid trembled. Du Lingxuan immediately said, "Drag her down and beat her..."
"Please calm down, second mistress!" Another maid squeezed out of the crowd and knelt beside the previous maid. Her voice was trembling with anxiety. "Sister Yue did clean here. This maid can testify. This water was carried out from the third mistress's room. Some others just dumped it here for convenience."
The maid glanced at Song Ruotang standing aside, bowed down, and said, "Please, eldest mistress and second mistress, judge fairly."
Du Lingxuan's eyebrows twitched slightly. "So, it's the fault of the third younger sister's dressing maid."
Song Ruotang's dressing maid was Xiaoxi. She was originally a maid in the main mansion. After Song Ruotang went to the outer mansion, Pei Zhiyan brought her to take care of Song Ruotang.
Xiaoxi also realized that they were talking about her. She quickly knelt down and said, "Second mistress, this maid didn't know that the maids under me would be lazy and dump the water here. This maid..."
"Enough." Du Lingxuan interrupted Xiaoxi. "Even if you didn't know, they are under your management. How could such a mistake happen?"
What Du Lingxuan meant was that since the maids under Xiaoxi had made a mistake, it was because of her poor management. This was also an indirect accusation against Song Ruotang. Since Xiaoxi was her maid, maybe it was Song Ruotang's instruction.
Xiaoxi also understood the meaning of Du Lingxuan's words. She quickly kowtowed. "It's this maid's fault. The mistress hadn't gotten up yet today and didn't know that the maid who carried the water came early..."
Du Lingxuan's words were clearly targeting Song Ruotang. Xiaoxi had no choice but to give up defending herself and instead admit her mistake to protect Song Ruotang.
Du Lingxuan was about to say something else, but Lin Yun beside her said, "The third younger sister was also unaware. It's just that her maids are incompetent. It's better to replace them with more capable ones."