Volume 3, Chapter 267 – I Don’t Want to Disappoint the Second Young Lady

On the other side.

Bu Lianshuang wandered through the courtyard in a daze.

She pressed a hand against her chest, a lingering ache still gnawing at her heart.

She had made up a random excuse to leave. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she would do something embarrassing.

Bu Lianshuang knew it herself. Ever since she had entered the Chi Residence, she had not been thinking clearly.

Within these walls, and with that eldest young lady of the Chi family, she felt a sense of crisis unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

It was not the kind of crisis that came from fearing for her life. It came from somewhere else entirely.

That Chi Xiyan would take something very important from her.

And it was that feeling, that creeping dread, that had been making her act irrationally.

It was because of her irrational behavior that she had made the little fox miss angry.

Even so, even though she understood why the little fox miss was angry, Bu Lianshuang still felt terrible inside.

The little fox miss had not been gentle with her at all.

And there was one more thing that puzzled Bu Lianshuang deeply.

“Why does it feel like, when the little fox miss gets angry at me, she’s actually looking at someone else?”

She murmured to herself.

Reаԁ on KαtRеаⅾіnɡCαfe

The feeling had no clear source, and it left her thoroughly baffled.

It seemed as though what had truly angered the little fox miss was not Bu Lianshuang herself, but whoever it was she saw when she looked at her.

She could not understand it. She could not work it out.

Bu Lianshuang sighed again and again.

Still, the most important thing right now was not to keep puzzling over questions she could not answer. What mattered was doing her part properly and not making the little fox miss angry again.

“I should go find Luluo,” Bu Lianshuang murmured to herself.

Finding the human girl called Luluo was no great task for Bu Lianshuang. She had already memorized the girl’s scent from the very first time they met. As long as she followed that trail, locating her within the courtyard would be easy enough.

When Bu Lianshuang found Luluo, the maidservant was pacing anxiously in circles among the trees.

“Oh no, oh no! The eldest young lady only just handed her over to me, and I’ve already gone and lost her! How did this happen!”

“Where in the world did that girl go? She better not have stumbled into one of the enemy-trapping formation arrays. That would be a real disaster!”

“I can’t take it. If I still can’t find her, I’ll have to go tell the eldest young lady!”

Just as Luluo was on the verge of going to find Chi Xiyan, she caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of her eye, standing among the bamboo grove not far away.

“Miss Lan!” Luluo broke into a relieved run. “Thank goodness I found you! Where did you run off to just now?”

“I…” Bu Lianshuang paused for a moment, then produced the excuse she had prepared in advance. “I just arrived at the Chi Residence and I had never seen such a grand estate before. My eyes wandered on the way, and I got separated without even noticing. By the time I realized what had happened, I was already lost somewhere in the courtyard.”

Rеαⅾ οո KаtReαdіnɡСαfе

She pressed a hand to her chest, affecting a lingering fear. “I’m so relieved I was able to find you, Senior Luluo.”

Luluo’s expression softened with understanding. “It’s fine. Plenty of maidservants feel the same way the first time they come to the Chi Residence.”

“The Chi family is the wealthiest great family in all of Beihe Commandery, and the Chi Residence is the grandest estate in the entire city.”

“Getting lost is perfectly normal.”

“But…” Luluo cleared her throat and adopted a more serious tone. “You’ve only just arrived, and you haven’t had the chance to familiarize yourself with the different courtyards yet. Once you officially start serving at the Second Young Lady’s side, something like this can’t happen again.”

Luluo’s expression was grave, her tone earnest. She was genuinely trying to do the job the eldest young lady had entrusted to her.

“The Second Young Lady is different from the Eldest Young Lady. She only just arrived at the Chi Residence, and there are plenty of people watching her every move, just waiting for her to slip up and make a fool of herself.”

“At the recognition ceremony earlier, someone from a branch family had the nerve to publicly accuse the Second Young Lady of consorting with wolf demons. It nearly kept her from continuing the ceremony at all. She almost didn’t make it into the Chi family register.”

Bu Lianshuang was genuinely taken aback.

Before coming to the Chi Residence, she had only known that the little fox miss had infiltrated it with some kind of goal in mind. She did not know the details of what she was trying to accomplish.

Bu Lianshuang had anticipated that the little fox miss might run into trouble here. But she had not imagined that the incident where she had abducted the little fox miss would have caused her this much grief.

Consorting with wolf demons?

Part of Bu Lianshuang almost wished the little fox miss had actually done something to her.

As things stood, she had confessed her feelings to the little fox miss and been turned down without a moment’s hesitation.

Rеаԁ оո ΚatRеаԁіngСαfе

That aside, even with Chi Xiyan’s help, things had clearly not been smooth sailing for the little fox miss inside the Chi Residence.

Compared to what the little fox miss was dealing with, what was Bu Lianshuang’s small heartache worth?

Thinking of it that way, she pressed down the flicker of emotion still lingering in her chest and turned her attention to listening carefully.

Before arriving at the Chi Residence, she had only gathered the most basic information about the place. She did not yet know who the little fox miss’s enemies here were.

And right now, this girl Luluo standing before her could be a very useful source.

So Bu Lianshuang asked, “Miss Yu… does she have a lot of enemies here in the Chi Residence?”

“Ah!” Luluo immediately stopped in her tracks and glanced left and right. “Good, there’s no one else around. That name you just said, you can’t use it from now on, all right?”

“Why not?” Bu Lianshuang asked, confused.

She did not actually know the little fox miss’s real name. From the very first time they had met, the little fox miss had introduced herself as “Yu Lizhi,” and that was the only name Bu Lianshuang had ever known her by.

Luluo explained, “The Second Young Lady has already entered the Chi family and been recorded in the family register. From this point forward, the name Yu Lizhi is a thing of the past. Within the Chi Residence, there is only a young lady named Chi Muxue. She has only one name now. Do you understand?”

“I… I understand.” Bu Lianshuang murmured her reply. “I’ll be careful from now on.”

“You need to take this seriously and keep it in mind.” Luluo said with a firm look. “I’m not joking with you.”

“The rules inside the Chi Residence are extremely strict. The Second Young Lady may be of the Chi family’s direct bloodline, but she still has to follow every rule in this household. Let alone the rest of us maidservants.”

Luluo looked at Bu Lianshuang and spoke with earnest gravity. “The Eldest Young Lady personally asked me to take you under my wing. Clearly she intends to groom you as the Second Young Lady’s head maidservant. When the time comes, you won’t only represent yourself. You’ll represent the Second Young Lady’s face.”

Rеаd on ΚаtReаdіnɡСаfе

“Head maidservant?” Bu Lianshuang repeated quietly.

She had only known, before this, that she was coming to serve as the little fox miss’s personal maidservant and bodyguard.

Fox clan members, with the exception of the red foxes, had always been weak in combat. The little fox miss was alone in the Chi Residence and would need someone to protect her. That had been Bu Lianshuang’s reason for coming to her side in the first place.

“That’s right, head maidservant.” Luluo said. “So not only will you need to look after the Second Young Lady’s daily meals and living arrangements, but any task she needs handled will fall to you as well.”

“A head maidservant is not just an ordinary servant. She is the most important housekeeper and assistant at her young lady’s side.”

“If you carelessly stir up trouble inside the household, the Second Young Lady will be dragged into it because of you.”

“So do you understand the weight of the responsibility you’re carrying?”

Bu Lianshuang pressed her lips together slightly. She was of the wolf clan, and the intricate workings of a human noble family were entirely foreign to her.

And now, it seemed the responsibility on her shoulders was heavier than she had imagined.

Bu Lianshuang gave a small nod. “I understand. I won’t cause the Second Young Lady any trouble.”

“Good, then that’s that.” Luluo looked her up and down. “Average looks, and your hands aren’t exactly quick either. I’m not sure what the Second Young Lady saw in you.”

“But since the Eldest Young Lady has handed you over to me, I will teach you everything I know over these next few days and train you into a proper head maidservant.”

“Yes!” Bu Lianshuang nodded with conviction. “I don’t want to disappoint the Second Young Lady either.”