"What are you two doing!"
Qing He rushed over in a fit of rage, only to witness a sight that almost made her faint from anger.
Shen Linyi and Liuyun were brandishing laundry pestles, tearing the clothes that were supposed to be washed into a mess. All the clothes in the bucket had been dumped out and were floating everywhere in the stream.
Shen Linyi wiped the sweat from her forehead and said innocently, "Little master, we've done our best. Look, those clothes are all washed, but they've floated too far away. We can't reach them. Please send someone to fish them out."
Qing He felt a blackout in front of her eyes. When she stepped closer, she found that all the originally abundant Chinese honey locusts had been used up by the two of them.
"You... You... You have to compensate for all these losses!"
Qing He gritted her teeth and managed to squeeze out only this sentence after a long while.
The smile under Shen Linyi's veil was almost uncontrollable, but she still said calmly, "Sure, put it on the account."
Qing He rolled her eyes in anger and fell backward, almost fainting.
Put it on the account? Whose account?
Put it on the account of Lord Wen, the top third scholar?
She might be bold enough to do so, but if she failed the task and instead asked him to compensate, he might just kill her.
Put it on Shen Linyi's account?
Shen Linyi's current attitude clearly showed that she didn't care at all. What's the use of recording more debts?
It seemed that she had to bear this loss herself.
Qing He ground her back teeth and said, "Fine, fine, fine... You don't need to do the laundry anymore. You... You go and sweep all the fallen leaves on these stone steps clean. If you don't clean them up, you won't get to eat today!"
After saying that, Qing He flounced away.
The bluffing threats of a child like Qing He had no deterrent power in Shen Linyi's eyes.
But Liuyun's smiling face instantly collapsed after Qing He left. She said dejectedly, "Miss, we're going to starve. What should we do?"
Shen Linyi couldn't help but find it funny. She said, "Do you think they can starve us to death? The nuns may run away, but the kitchen can't."
Liuyun's eyes suddenly lit up. She clapped her hands and said, "Miss is really smart. Then shall we go and sweep the floor now?"
"No. We've been busy for a whole morning. Of course, we should go back and rest."
It was noon, when the sun was high in the sky. Only a fool would go and sweep the floor at this time.
They went back and rested for two hours. When it was almost sunset, Shen Linyi and Liuyun finally went out. They found brooms in a corner and pretended to sweep for a while.
Qing He came over. Seeing that the fallen leaves in the first half were clean, she didn't check further and let Shen Linyi and Liuyun go back.
In the evening, the vegetarian meal Qing He brought was cold. Before Liuyun could say anything, Qing He preempted her and said, "This is all there is. Take it or leave it."
Shen Linyi held Liuyun back. Although the vegetarian meal was cold, it was obviously freshly made that day, so she didn't argue.
The next day, Qing He brought a stack of scriptures as tall as a person and asked Shen Linyi to copy them.
On the third day, Qing He asked Shen Linyi to clean the firewood shed...
After five days like this, Shen Linyi and Liuyun weren't tired at all. Instead, Qing He was severely scolded by the abbot.
The firewood in the shed was wet, the order of the copied scriptures was in a mess, and the clothes were unwearable.
Qing He was completely at a loss. After all, she was so young that the things she could come up with were only these.
Qing He thought angrily all night. Then, an idea flashed through her mind.
Shen Linyi and Liuyun "busily" returned to the courtyard after a day. Just as they were about to rest, they found that their dinner for that day had already been placed on the table.
Liuyun didn't think much of it because in the past few days, all the vegetarian meals they had eaten were cold. Shen Linyi would warm them up with a small stove for warm tea, which didn't affect the taste.
But today's food was different. As soon as Liuyun entered the room, she smelled a strong sour and rancid smell that filled the whole room.
Shen Linyi had already smelled the stench when Liuyun pushed open the door. She covered her nose with her sleeve. Before she could remind Liuyun, she saw Liuyun rush out and retch against the wall.
"Ugh! Miss! Ugh! It stinks so much! Miss! Don't go in!"
Shen Linyi was a bit helpless. Was Liuyun using her name as an interjection?
After taking a deep breath, Shen Linyi walked in and saw their dinner on the table.
Thick grease was floating on the murky green soup. The rice was rancid and even soaked in pickled vegetable water. There were wriggling little white worms all over the oily-free green vegetables.
Just one glance and Shen Linyi almost went out to retch with Liuyun.
Liuyun finally managed to calm down the nausea. Then she saw Shen Linyi come out of the room with a livid face.
She immediately stepped forward and supported Shen Linyi. She said aggrievedly, "Miss, they're going too far! For so many days, it's okay that they've made us work, but now they don't even give us decent food. They're trying to starve us to death! Miss, how long do we have to endure this?"
Shen Linyi half-closed her beautiful eyes, and a trace of annoyance flashed through them. "Since Wen Heyu wants to force us, then we'll cooperate."
The continuous harassment in the past few days had really annoyed Shen Linyi. Although she hadn't completed the tasks assigned by Qing He and had mostly been muddling through, she couldn't stand someone's endless interference.
She, Shen Linyi, did have a favor to ask of Wen Heyu, but she didn't owe him anything!
"Liuyun, bring those disgusting things. Let's go and make a scene!"
Seeing that Shen Linyi seemed to have made up her mind, Liuyun responded excitedly. She covered her nose with a handkerchief and carried the food on the tray out with one hand.
Shen Linyi pinched her leg hard. Her eyes instantly turned red, and tears welled up, making her eyes look like they were filled with shimmering waves, as if she was about to speak but shy, arousing people's pity.
It was just the time for dinner. Many people were walking back and forth in the Jingxin Nunnery.
The food in Liuyun's hand was so stinky that it immediately attracted many people's attention.
Coupled with the fact that both the mistress and the maid looked extremely aggrieved, everyone's curiosity was piqued.
"What's going on? What are those two holding in their hands? Why does it stink so much?!"
"Shh, be quiet. I passed by this mistress and maid's courtyard before and found that they were often bullied by the nuns in the courtyard. I guess these things were specially prepared for them by the nuns in the nunnery."
"Ah? This nunnery is the most famous place for spiritual cultivation in the capital. How could such a thing happen? Look at the things in their hands. It's so disgusting. No, I have to go back and tell my young lady not to eat!"
"Me too! If the nunnery can make such vegetarian meals, who knows if our food is clean!"
Everyone was talking animatedly. Although they didn't know what had happened, they already felt that there was something wrong with this nunnery.
Listening to everyone's discussions, although Shen Linyi still looked aggrieved on the surface, she was secretly delighted in her heart.
It didn't matter if only they had such bad food. There was a truth in everyone's mind: when you see one cockroach, your house is already full of them.