Dongfang Mo left for work while Dongfang Yu went to work with a straight face. Every day, accompanied by Uncle Liu, he would leave early and return late, as if he was very busy. Mu Ru had not seen him for the past two days.
Mu Ru, on the other hand, was the mistress of the entire Mo courtyard and household. She felt like she was holding a hot potato in her hand. On the first day of Dongfang Mei's absence, Mu Ru felt like she had already made a mess of herself, because she had not managed to get anything done.
There were a lot of servants in the household. One came up to Mu Ru to ask if they would need to cultivate a certain plot of land and plant lilies. After a while, another came up to her to ask if they needed to replenish several household items because they all ran out of stock.
She did not know what to answer the servants and how to deal with their concerns. Dongfang Mei never told her anything about the upkeep of the household. Dongfang Mei simply told her to manage the household, but she never taught Mu Ru how to go about it.
She was already overwhelmed by the number of concerns being raised to her, and Mu Xue had to add to the list of problems. After lunch, Xi Muxue ran downstairs. She had changed into fashionable clothes. When she saw Mu Ru, she shouted, "Xi Muru, hurry up and give me twenty thousand yuan. I want to celebrate my birthday!"
Mu Ru was stunned for a moment before she reacted. It was Xi Muxue's birthday, and since they were twins, it meant that it was also her birthday. It was their nineteenth birthday, but she never celebrated on that day. For Mu Ru, her own birthday was three days after Mu Xue's birthday because her parents had abandoned her three days after she was born.
"I don't have money," Mu Ru answered truthfully. "Aunt Gu only told me to manage the household. She didn't give me any money, so I didn't—"
"What?" Xi Muxue did not even wait for Mu Ru to finish talking. She frowned and said, "How is that possible? This morning, I was telling Ah Yu about my birthday. He said that on her birthday, the mistress is given twenty thousand yuan by the Dongfang family as a gift. It is one of the laws of the family. Just give it to me."
Mu Ru looked at Mu Xue helplessly and said, "But I really don't have any. I'm sorry. Wait for Aunt Gu to come back and let her make it up to you. I really can't do anything about it."
"Wait for Aunt Gu to come back?" Mu Xue said in a high-pitched, angry tone. She shouted, "Wait for Aunt Gu to come back, you mean? My birthday has already passed by then. What's the use of making up for it? You can wait for Aunt Gu to give you your money for your birthday. Anyway, your birthday is in three days. Today, however, is my birthday."
Mu Ru felt extremely sad. She and Xi Muxue were twin sisters, but they never celebrated their birthdays on the same day. Their parents never celebrated Mu Ru's birthday because everything was always about Mu Xue.
Mother Wang had always celebrated Mu Ru's birthday. Three days after they were born, when Du Xinyue gave Mu Ru to Mother Wang, that was the day she was reborn.
She had been so busy that she had forgotten about their birthday. She also kept in mind that her birthday was celebrated three days after Mu Xue's. If Xi Muxue had not made a fuss about her own birthday, Mu Ru would not have remembered her real birthday at all.
"Second Sister-in-Law, why are you arguing with First Sister-in-Law here?" Dongfang Jun asked as he walked in. His face instantly darkened when he saw Mu Xue rudely pestering Mu Ru.
"Where else am I going to argue with her?" Xi Muxue retorted impatiently. Then, she looked at Dongfang Jun and said, "It's my birthday today. I only asked her for twenty thousand yuan because Ah Yu said that it is the custom and according to the Dongfang family's rules, but she said she didn't have any money. She obviously doesn't want to give it to me."