Back at Bitao Courtyard, a hint of coldness flashed across Su Hele's calm face.
It was clearly Li Shi who wanted to hold a banquet to curry favor with the powerful, yet she shifted all these tiring and trivial matters onto Su Hele. She sure knew how to shirk responsibility.
However...
Su Hele lifted her head and straightened her back.
It was just a small banquet. How difficult could it be?
"Su Mo, go and call all the servants in the courtyard. I have something to tell them," she said.
She had no experience in hosting banquets because in the past, she never had to worry about such mundane things. She only needed to be the eye - catching protagonist.
But so what if she had no experience? With her intelligence, as long as she was willing, she could surely host this banquet in a splendid manner, far better than Su Nansheng.
A moment later, all the servants of Bitao Courtyard were waiting in the front hall.
Su Hele looked at the sparse dozen or so servants in front of her and frowned in displeasure.
She was the second young mistress of the Marquis Mansion, yet there were so few servants in her courtyard. It was a disgrace.
It was all Su Nansheng's and Concubine Li's fault. They had transferred the servants from her courtyard. They were clearly deliberately making things difficult for her.
A bunch of villains, always resorting to underhanded tricks.
Thinking of this, Su Hele gritted her teeth and suppressed her anger as she said,
"You are all old servants in the mansion. You must have helped organize many banquets. Now I'm giving you a chance to shine. Tell me the procedures of the previous banquets in the mansion."
After hearing this, the servants looked at each other, with a look of confusion on their faces. They wondered what was so glorious about this.
After waiting for a long time, no one answered. Su Hele frowned and said,
"What? Are you all so ignorant that you don't even know the procedures of a banquet?"
Hearing this, a hefty nanny replied,
"Replying to the second young mistress, we servants have prepared everything for the banquets before, but we just followed the master's orders."
"Yes, the overall procedure of the banquet is not up to us servants to decide. We only take care of a small part of it."
"I only used to show the guests the way and never even entered the main hall of the banquet."
Once someone took the lead, the other servants began to answer one by one.
Some of them really didn't know, while others, adhering to the principle of "more haste, less speed", were reluctant to say.
Serving Su Hele was already a headache. Not only was it tiring, but they were also beaten and had their monthly salaries deducted from time to time.
Who knew what the second young mistress wanted to do this time? If something went wrong and they were implicated, it would be bad. They had already had enough bad luck.
Listening to their words, Su Hele's frown deepened.
"If you don't know, you can learn. You are all so unmotivated. I can't tolerate such lazy people in my courtyard. Go back and reflect on yourselves."
They didn't even understand the most basic things. She didn't know how they managed to be servants.
It seemed that she couldn't count on these vulgar people. She would have to do it herself.
...
The next day, when Su Nansheng saw Su Hele and Concubine Li in Qionghua Courtyard, her eyebrows lifted slightly.
This was a sign that they were up to something.
"Ah, Nansheng is here. Your mother and I were just talking about you," Concubine Li immediately put on a fake smile when she saw her.
Su Nansheng smiled faintly but said nothing.
Seeing that she didn't take the bait, Concubine Li's smile froze on her face.
Shouldn't she ask what they were talking about? Then she could continue along this line.
"Aunt and mother said that you've been busy attending banquets recently and might be exhausted," Su Hele continued.
Concubine Li glanced at Su Hele. Finally, she said something sensible.
Su Nansheng nodded and said,
"I've been really busy. I've been so swamped that I can't spare a moment."
So stop beating around the bush with her and just get to the point.
Before Concubine Li could say anything else, Su Hele lifted her head and said,
"I can testify to this. My younger sister has been so busy that she didn't even have time to see me when I visited her yesterday."
Yesterday, she had wanted to get some information about the banquet procedures from Su Nansheng, but she had waited in the front hall of Tingfeng Courtyard for a long time without seeing Su Nansheng.
She had quite a grand air!
Hearing this, Su Nansheng said brightly with a smile, "I'm glad the second young mistress understands."
"How could you..."
Su Hele stared at Su Nansheng. She actually admitted it. How shameless!
Before she could finish her sentence, Chen Wanrong interrupted her,
"Alright, A Sheng has been really busy. Since you've paid your respects, you can go back and rest first."
Hearing this, before Su Nansheng could move, Concubine Li quickly said,
"Hey, I haven't seen Nansheng for several days. Stay and talk to us for a while. Don't be in such a hurry to leave."
She still had something to say. How could she let Su Nansheng go?
Su Nansheng looked at Concubine Li knowingly and directly asked,
"Then I wonder what Concubine Li wants from me?"
"This... How could I have something to ask for? I just want to talk."
Concubine Li frowned, and her face looked a bit unnatural.
"Mother, although it's none of my business, I still want to give Concubine Su a piece of advice. In social etiquette, one should give as good as one gets. Concubine Su can't just attend banquets but never host one. It's a bit impolite," Su Hele lifted her head and said haughtily.
"So the second young mistress knows what social etiquette is. Then why were you so rude and annoying before?"
Su Nansheng looked at Su Hele coldly and spoke without mercy.
Su Hele's face stiffened, and she stared at Su Nansheng and said,
"When have I ever been annoying? Don't slander me."
Su Nansheng sneered,
"Then stop pointing fingers at me."
"Mother, Concubine Su is just a concubine, yet she is so rude to me. She is so arrogant and has no sense of the Marquis Mansion's dignity. She is extremely impolite and should be punished," Su Hele immediately complained to Chen Wanrong when she saw Su Nansheng's attitude.
This time, Chen Wanrong saw it. Su Nansheng was so arrogant even in front of her. She must be even more outrageous in private.
"Punished? Are you teaching me what to do?"
Chen Wanrong glanced at Su Hele with a hint of mockery in her voice.
Su Hele was stunned and quickly said,
"No. I just can't stand such a rude person in the mansion."
Chen Wanrong's voice was cold,
"I know whether she is rude or not. It's not up to you to speak in this mansion."
"Madam, she didn't mean that. She meant that last time when we were ill during the banquet, we couldn't greet the noble guests. It was very impolite. We were thinking that Nansheng could host another banquet as a return gift, and we could also make up for the lack of etiquette before," Concubine Li quickly explained when she saw the atmosphere was not right. At the same time, she gave Su Hele a fierce look.
She had just praised her, and now she was causing trouble. Couldn't she just keep her mouth shut?
Hearing this, Su Nansheng sneered and lowered her head to drink tea.
She knew they had something in mind. So that's their plan.