The maid said, "Miss Lin once came to visit the Jie Residence to play with our third young mistress, I’ve seen her."
"Oh," Lin Qianqing nodded and said, "So, about the illness of your second young mistress..."
It was true that the second young mistress was ill, and the maid at this moment had come out to seek Concubine’s permission to invite a doctor to treat the young mistress.
To ask the concubine for a doctor when a legitimate master had fallen ill, the thought made the maid bitterly sad.
She had grown up beside the eldest miss from a young age, serving not just as a maid but as close as sisters, yet she hadn’t expected the legitimate younger sister of the eldest miss to be so heartless.
Thinking of all the suffering they as maid and mistress had endured, she couldn’t help but sob quietly.
Gu Youyou and Lin Qianqing exchanged a glance, a hint of shock on their faces.
"What’s wrong? Why the tears all of a sudden?" Lin Qianqing asked.
The maid suddenly knelt down, her voice breaking with sobs, "Miss Lin, Miss Gu, please save our young mistress, she’s been ill for many days already, and has been confined by the second young master..."
Gu Youyou had sharp ears and heard footsteps approaching, she quickly told the maid, "If your young mistress has been ill for many days already, then you should hurry inside."
Gu Youyou wanted to listen to her grievances, knowing that the more she heard, the better she could help by making an accurate judgment, but this wasn’t the right moment, in case the person approaching spoiled the situation.
"Right, right, as Doctor Gu said, please come into the garden, you two young ladies." The maid was quite clever, well aware that these matters should not be discussed at the main gate.
After inviting Gu Youyou and Lin Qianqing into the courtyard, the maid quickly closed the gate.
From the other end of the path, two matrons emerged. Seeing the shabby red lacquered door tightly shut, they went up and locked it.
Gu Youyou frowned at the noise from outside the door, and the maid standing by the door had her face turned pale as paper.
Soon after, a matron’s voice came through the door, "Our Madam has already instructed, today is a splendid day for the third young mistress’s coming-of-age ceremony, and in fear that your socially unacceptable appearance would cause trouble, we had to make due with this. Once today passes peacefully, I’ll come myself to unlock this for you."
The other matron spat, "Why bother unlocking it? The second young master said to confine her for a month, and it’s only been a few days, right? Since she can’t leave this courtyard anyway, isn’t it more worry-free to keep it locked?"
"That’s true! But our Madam is kind-hearted and mentioned coming to unlock it tomorrow."
The two matrons mocked the legitimate madam of the courtyard with their words and laughter as they walked away.
The maid standing by the door was pale, biting her lip tightly while her body trembled slightly.
Shaken by what she heard, Lin Qianqing gritted her teeth and said, "This is too much bullying, call her a Madam? What Madam is that woman? She’s nothing but a concubine, and to bully the legitimate wife , even I, a mere bystander, cannot stand it."
Gu Youyou kept silent for a moment before saying, "Let’s go in and see the second young mistress first."
Because the Jie Residence was understaffed, even an abandoned wife’s courtyard was not small.
Yet the courtyard was neglected, desolate and quiet.
The garden was overgrown with weeds, the ground littered with rotten branches and leaves.
It was spring, and the thick layer of decayed foliage was from the previous year, a clear sign of the desolation of the courtyard.
Indeed, there was a big problem in the Jie Family’s inner house.
"Doesn’t Master Jie do anything about it?"
Lin Qianqing explained quietly, "Haven’t I told you, cousin? He has intervened a few times, but as a eunuch, he cannot always meddle in his son’s domestic affairs. The Jie Family has traditionally adhered to monogamy, never having had such troubles. Master Jie rules with an iron fist in the court, but he’s at his wits’ end with the household matters and can’t manage them."