"You, don't you have a bit of respect for our lady? How dare you barge in just as you wish!" Soon, Zu Yu walked inside with a sullen expression. It appeared, she had tried to stop Tian Yuan from entering disrespectfully but failed.
"This servant was sent by the Furen. I'm Young Lady's own person, why is there a need to knock?" Tian Yuan counteracted, rather arrogantly.
"You!" Zu Yu was so angry she could not even speak; she just wished she could slap Tian Yuan into silence.
However, at this point, Jiang Miao gave her a look. Zu Yu fell silent sensing the hint in Jiang Miao's look.
Tian Yuan hid a sneer thinking this young lady was so spineless. She would rather stay silent and endure than confront. She truly was a worthless person who was unable to protect her own rights. While Tian Yuan was thinking this regarding Jiang Miao, Jiang Miao was also scrutinizing the breakfast in her hands.
The content was, like always, simply laughable. Just a bowl of thin porridge. The amount lesser than a sixteen-year girl needed to sustain her body. There was no need to mention flavoring or any ingredient. It was clear that the person had randomly jumbled things together without the slightest regard for the master.
"Put it down and leave. I have yet to have my maidservants groom me." Saying this, Jiang Miao gestured Xiang Qiao to comb her hair as she claimed the chair and turned her back to Tian Yuan.
Tian Yuan was speechless. Looking anxiously at the bowl Zu Yu took away from her hands and placed over a table, she appeared rather unwilling to leave. "Young Lady, Madam Zhang instructed me to make sure you finish your breakfast."
Jiang Miao's brows knitted together. "Oh, so now Madam Zhang has a higher authority in the residence that runs by my father's allowance?"
"Our Lady doesn't wish for you to stay here, why are you not leaving?" Xiang Qiao's voice grew harsher as she glared at Xiang Qiao.
Tian Yuan failed to perceive the warning and pressed on, assuming it was the same timorous last who would yield at the slightest coercion. "It's not that this servant wants to disobey Young Lady. It's just that this servant is worried for Young Lady's sake."
"Talking back," At this Jiang Miao's smile became somewhat cold. "Zu Yu, would you mind disciplining her in my stead?"
Zu Yu was first shocked when she heard her usually reticent Young Lady speak such words. But when she looked at her lady, Jiang Miao gave a small nod of encouragement. Zu Yu didn't hesitate to raise a hand and slapped Tian Yuan squarely on the face.
From Jiang Mia's words to Zu Yu slapping, it happened so fast that Tian Yuan found it impossible to counteract. "How dare you! Have you forgotten how Madam Zhang disciplined you on breaking residence rules last time you hit a servant?!" Suddenly hit like this by someone who she deemed as beneath her, her temper flared rather exponentially.
"Aunty Yuan, " Jiang Miao spoke softly as she turned around. "Zu Yu acted on my commands. That is, I'm responsible for her action. What you have just said, that you are my own servants, I was touched and treated you as such. Now, are you going to report me to Madam Zhang for disciplining my own servant?"
Jiang Miao's biting words left Tian Yuan speechless and unable to believe that it was the same timid Young Lady who could not witness an ant being crushed.
Looking up at the Fourth Young Lady who was sitting with the appearance of a superior, the same lady whom Tian Yuan used to push over and bully as she wished to the point of forgetting who was mater and who was the servant, an unreasonable agitation gurgled in her chest.
Who did she think she was? Just a daughter of some concubine, a low-born and forgotten daughter banished to the countryside. How could she behave so impudently?!
And on top of that, after Jiang Miao did such a shameful action back at the capital, who would ever welcome her back?
Indeed, Tian Yuan has truly forgotten to distinguish between master and servant. In her heart. since long ago, she had already stopped regarding Jiang Miao as a Master.
After all, comparing their appearance alone, Tian Yuan was wearing better clothes than Jiang Miao. There was just a wooden hairpin in Jiang Miao's head while Tian Yuan's hair was adorned with jewelry gifted by Furen. There was no need to mention the utter lack of cosmetics.
Just one look and no one could believe that the one sitting was the master and the one standing was the servant.
Thinking that she still had Madam Zhang's support behind her, Tian Yuan's resolve hardened. "Young Lady has misunderstood this servant but I have been ordered by Furan to take of you. I am willing to endure your temper for the sake of taking care of Young Lady." Thus in her words, Tian Yuan had proven Jiang Miao as a bad-tempered Young Lady who was merely throwing a temper and herself, as a victim of unjust circumstances.
"Unwilling to leave?" Jiang Miao's lips arched into a subtle smile. "It seems Aunty Yuan has really put too much thought into cooking me this porridge," Jiang Miao said and took a glance at the dish Yuan Tian had put down. "Indeed, I'm certain must have woken up quite early to prepare this for me. However, on the matter of this porridge being nutritious for me, I'm rather unconvinced."
Tian Yuan almost heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the first part of Jiang Miao's speech but as Jiang Miao spoke further, she grew from uncomfortable to beet red in color with embarrassment.
"This..."