Seeing Xie Qinyun come, she struggled to get up.
"Third Miss, why have you come."
Xie Qinyun looked at the desolate room, shrouded in gloom after twilight, and was astonished to find not even a single oil lamp lit.
In the cold northern spring, homes like theirs typically had underfloor heating, yet the mistress of the Jie Family didn’t have such a luxury, not even a brazier to speak of.
Whether it was due to the sheer coldness of the room was uncertain, but Xie Qinyun shivered violently.
Miss Du saw this and sighed softly, "I have neither underfloor heating nor a stove here, please forgive me, Third Miss." Then, without looking at the surprised expression still on Xie Qinyun’s face, she turned to Cuiya and said, "Cuiya, light the lamp."
Cuiya responded with a ’yes’ and went to light the lamp by the table.
A tiny oil lamp, Cuiya carefully lit it and just as carefully adjusted the wick into the oil to make the flame smaller, to save oil.
Xie Qinyun was shocked again, pointing to the oil lamp and saying, "The flame is so small, what’s the difference between having it lit and not."
Cuiya hurriedly explained, "Third Miss, if the oil runs out, I’ll have to go beg the Concubine for more. Last time I asked the Concubine for oil..."
"Cuiya, stop." Before Cuiya could finish, she was interrupted by Miss Du.
"Miss..." Cuiya’s voice was laced with grievance, and she bowed her head, forcibly holding back the rest of her words.
"What about last time?" Xie Qinyun latched on firmly to that point, determined not to rest until she got an answer.
Miss Du looked at the dimly lit oil lamp, her eyes filled with an emptiness of desolation. It had been five years, what was there left for her to be upset about? Just a lamp, a jar of oil, that’s all.
"Third Miss, why make life hard for a maid? I know you mean well, wanting to stand up for me, but this isn’t the first time you’ve helped me. You know very well how it turned out every time, let’s just leave it be, I don’t want to trouble you all any further."
Hearing these words, Xie Qinyun felt her head throb. It had been again, after all these years, she hadn’t learned to fight back, it seemed she had become more submissive and resigned. Yet, under the dim light of the oil lamp, to see the current state of Miss Du, was indeed another shock for Xie Qinyun.
"How have you become so thin? You’ve been ill for just a few days, you..." Suddenly realizing something, she immediately closed her mouth.
Her heart swelled with indignation, like a tide about to burst forth. Why?
She gritted her teeth and said, "Is it that shameless woman who has been mistreating you? Ah, don’t be too quick to thank me. I’m not doing this for you; I’m doing it for the honor of the Jie Residence. Although our residence lacks a lady to uphold its honor, we still can’t let a concubine act so unbridled. If you can bear it, I certainly cannot."
Having said that, she no longer looked at Miss Du’s drastically changed face and led the maids and servants away from the courtyard.
Cuiya collapsed onto the ground and watched the shaky door, saying, "Miss, what should we do now?"
Based on past experience, with Third Miss making such a scene, that Concubine was likely to complain to the Second Master again, and Miss might suffer for it.
Miss Du’s eyes were numb, and with a bitter smile, she said, "Let’s not sleep then, let’s just wait."
He was going to say that she took Aqing’s rightful place as his wife, causing her to be ridiculed and bullied.
Xie Qinyun was clever today, upon seeing her Second Brother, she didn’t directly speak of how the Concubine bullied Miss Du, but instead mentioned how her coming-of-age ceremony was made a laughing stock by her.
And the target of her attack was not the Concubine, but the Second Master.