Chapter 32: Bearing the Burden Alone

  At this moment, in Jingting Garden.

  Before the rain stopped, a young servant from the accounting room came to call Qiner over to receive her monthly allowance. When she arrived at the management house, not only did she receive the money, but the housekeeper also praised her for taking good care of Seventh Miss and specially rewarded her with a box of Xu Fu Ji pastries. Seeing that it was the new housekeeper who looked kind and gentle, Qiner happily accepted without any suspicion.

  She returned to the Quiet Ting Garden and called Chun Tao over, wanting to share with her. However, when she opened the crimson box, instead of pastries, there were ten colorful gemstone rings and two pairs of red gold inlaid pearl bracelets inside. The two women were shocked and exclaimed out loud.

  Just then, Hua Ruoyan led a group of maidservants into the room with an air of urgency.

  "Dare to steal the jewelry from my mother's room and put it on me, there are only a few of you, search me!" Hua Ruomeng's eyes were cold and stern, as soon as she entered the house, she ordered the servant girls to thoroughly search each room.

  Those people didn't say a word, they all rolled up their sleeves and rushed towards each room. Seeing someone rush into the wing room with rain, Chun Tao hurriedly stepped forward to block: "What do you want to do? That is Miss Qi's room, no entry allowed."

  A sturdy woman pushed her to the ground with one hand, spat, "The precious jewelry of Eighth Miss is lost, now even the mistress's room has to be searched, otherwise where can we catch the thief? Get out!"

  Chun Tao got up and still wanted to hold her leg, a embroidered shoe with a connected branch pattern was already stepping on her finger bone. "Chun Tao, I didn't expect you, this lowly maid, to also dare betray me. What? You want to be loyal and protect your master? Well, today let you show off your loyalty..."

  Hua Ruo Meng's eyes narrowed as she stepped on Chun Tao's fingers with the heel of her foot, causing Chun Tao to wince in pain. "Eighth Miss, I'm just doing my job, I've never betrayed you..."

  "You cheap servant girl, how dare you be so insolent!" Hua Ruo Meng lifted her foot and kicked her in the face, Chun Tao let out a blood-curdling scream as she was kicked down the stone steps.

  Seeing Miss Eighth being so fierce, Qiner was so frightened that she only wanted to find a place to hide the thing in her hand, but unfortunately, before she could move, the housekeeper from earlier pointed at her and shouted loudly, "Look, the box is in her hand, it must be this dead girl who stole the jewelry I kept for Miss Eighth when she was leading the money..."

  The crowd of women rushed forward upon hearing this, and Hu's mother snatched the box from Qiner's hands, opening it with a loud cry: "It really is Eighth Miss's, not one bit different."

  Qin'er was so frightened that she cried out, "It wasn't me, it was Guan Shi Mama who gave it to me, it has nothing to do with me..."

  "You damned servant girl, stealing things and not even admitting it! Come on, beat this shameless wretch to death!" Hua Ruo Meng pushed Chun Tao towards Qin Er, who had been prepared for a while. The old woman pulled out a large wooden stick from behind her back and struck Qin Er's knee with one blow. Qin Er let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground on her knees.

  Then three more sticks in a row, only to hear the sound of cracking, Qiner's leg bone was already broken, and the wooden stick was still swinging mercilessly. Chun Tao couldn't help but rush over and pounce on Qiner, begging for mercy, "Eighth Miss, spare her life... The thing really wasn't stolen by Qiner, please spare her..."

  Hua Ruomeng waved her hand, and the sticks stopped. She looked at Chun Tao's face with a hint of yellowish complexion and chuckled: "Is this still the same Chun Tao from before? How did you change so much in the blink of an eye, it's like you've become a different person. Alright, since you want to show your loyalty, I'll let you be loyal enough. Come on, this cheap servant has a hard bone, let me give her a rotten skin, now I'm thinking of eating braised pork."

  An old woman handed over the iron wire that had been prepared long ago and was burning red, looking at the iron wire that seemed to still be spitting fire, Chun Tao was so scared that she retreated continuously, but was pressed down by two old women, Hua Ruo Meng smiled and drew the iron wire on her face, the mournful cry that shook the sky and the smell of burnt skin made the executioner laugh with a trembling flower branch...

  At the same time, after reaching a verbal agreement with Hua Zheyu, Fang Lisheng sat down again and spread out the two sheets of paper on the table. However, one sheet was completely blank. Hua Zheyu stared at the other sheet, which had a contract written in neat and tidy cursive script, even more regular than printed text, and wondered: "Why is there only one?"

  Fang Xuan brought out another brush and inkstone from behind her back, smiling slightly. "This is the one I've prepared, I'm sure it's flawless and you'll be satisfied. However, since there are two copies, I hope the one I have is also written by Miss Qi herself, so it seems fair and sincere."

  Hua Zhe Yu was taken aback once again, although she was indeed very satisfied with the large sum of money on the contract, but if she had to copy down the entire contract with a brush, wouldn't that be taking her life?

  She has been here for so long, and she always thought that writing with a brush was an extremely difficult skill. Not to mention the ugly handwriting, but the brush can only let her paint big characters like a broom, how can she write beautiful characters like others?

  Seeing her sitting still, Fang Lingsong directly handed over the brush with ink on it and said half-jokingly: "Miss Qi won't be unable to write even a word, will she?"

  Staring at the slender fingers in front of her, Hua Yu smiled stiffly and said: "As a young lady from a wealthy family, how could I possibly not know how to write? It's just that for artistic purposes, I'm only skilled in one type of fine pen calligraphy. Since it seems like there isn't any here, if Fang Daxia doesn't mind, why don't we sign the contract tomorrow instead?"

  Fang Yingsong gazed at her intently, his eyes floating and sinking like the clouds in a clear sky. Hua Yuexin hastily looked away, only to hear Fang Yingsong chuckle softly and put down his brush. In an instant, he had somehow produced a black, thumb-thick cylindrical object from nowhere, "I wonder if this pen meets Miss Qi's requirements?"

  Hua Zhe Yu couldn't believe it as she took over the pen-like object that still had a warm temperature, twisted open the black cap, and when she saw the silver-white pen tip, she couldn't help but be amazed. This was indeed the pen she had only seen in her previous life. She twisted open the pen holder, and the soft, black part was fully filled with ink, it was an authentic fountain pen.

  Fang Xian didn't give her time to ask questions, "If it's satisfactory, please have Miss Qi sign for it."

  The rain is refreshing, and as soon as it's over, he copied the original with a fountain pen, naturally elegant handwriting, pleasing to the eye.

  After the two of them separately signed and pressed their fingerprints on the contract, Fang Lishuang stood up with a swing of her sleeves, calm and composed: "Miss Seventh can go to the main hall first, I'll bring Si Tong over later. If anyone asks questions, you don't have to say anything, just push everything onto me."