As the first wife, the Second Miss naturally could not be like those concubines who shamelessly seduced her husband. She had to cultivate such a person to win over and manipulate her husband.
The Third Madam immediately deliberated, "This year, the Pei family has bought many servant girls with death contracts. However, at that time, the third household was not short of people, so they all entered the second household. The old lady's courtyard also brought in a few third-rank servant girls with death contracts."
The Second Miss frowned. "It's not good for us to interfere in this matter. The old lady is kind and her courtyard... I've specially checked it out on the day of the reward. I didn't see any outstanding maidservants."
There were one or two head maidservants, but they were people who were close to the old lady and were used to serving her for many years. No matter how much the old lady doted on her, she would not give her personal maidservants, not to mention that those maidservants were not bound to her by a death contract.
The second-rank servant girls did not stand out.
"Do you have a third-rank maid? There are many people that day and I'm afraid that some of the young maidservants will not be able to show their faces in front of their master."
The Third Madam said, "I didn't notice that. I'll send someone to investigate. It's fine if there's no one. If there is, and they're not willing to go, we can't force the old lady. After all, she doesn't belong to our courtyard."
The Second Miss laughed coldly. "As a maidservant, whatever the master says, what's there to be willing or not? Moreover, there are many young maidservants who are looking up to me. If I'm willing to help them, I'm afraid they'll be grateful."
The Second Miss wanted to pick a third-rank servant girl the most. This kind of servant girl had the lowest status and had no foundation in the manor, so it was easy to manipulate her.
The Third Madam felt that her daughter's words were reasonable and immediately sent someone to old lady's courtyard to take a look at the situation.
She had sent the closest Mother Fang to take a look, so there was no need to alarm the old lady. She went to the courtyard and said that she had dropped something, and asked the third-ranked servant girls to help look for it.
It didn't take much effort for her to find out the information her masters wanted.
Granny Fang quickly brought the news back to the third household.
"Replying to Madam, Second Miss, among the third-rank servant maids in the old lady's courtyard, there is really a beautiful and neat servant girl. Now she looks young and has not yet reached 15 years of age. Her appearance has not fully developed but one can already see the beauty of a celestial being."
"Really?" The Second Miss stood up in surprise.
The Third Madam also became happy and asked, "What's the other party's name? How old is she? What's her family background? Did she sign a life or death contract?"
*
"What did that Granny Fang mean by that? She gathered us sisters together for no reason, saying that she dropped something and asked us to help her look for it. In the end, after looking for a long time, she just said 'maybe she remembered it wrong' and sent us away," Hai Xia complained.
Qu Fulan's focus wasn't on this. She only felt that it was a little strange.
It was reasonable to say that a person who lost something should have an anxious look on their face, especially when it was an important thing. That Granny Fang said that she had lost an important bracelet, but she didn't have any anxious expression.
Other than that, when that Granny Fang was helping the servant girls look for something, she did not follow them. Instead, she kept staring at the servant girls, as if she was staring at goods, as if she was weighing something.
Qu Fulan didn't like this feeling. She knew that being a servant didn't have any status, but this was the first time she was being examined like a commodity. Naturally, she felt extremely disgusted.
"Which household is that Granny Fang from? Why would she drop something in the old lady's courtyard?" Qu Fulan asked Hai Xia.
"She's Third Madam's personal nanny," Hai Xia said. "I think she went to Fushou Hall for something and accidentally left something behind."
Sometimes, the maidservant would run errands for the master.
However, Qu Fulan felt that things were not that simple. She was someone who had experienced great ups and downs in the modern world. She could not judge people and things too simply. She only felt that this matter was strange.
However, she couldn't think of any clues in a short time.
It was still because he had too little information.
However, Qu Fulan did not panic. No matter what happened, it would not affect her for the next two months.
This old lady's medicine was in her hands. Something that could not be carelessly done was irreplaceable.
But she had to find a way to figure out what it was, so that she could plan in advance if something bad happened.
On the third branch's side, Granny Fang was eloquently describing the process of her beautiful work.
"When this servant arrived, the maidservants were all doing their own things and scattered in all directions, so it was not appropriate for this servant to go over one by one to check. After thinking for a moment, an idea came to my mind."
"This servant called them all over and said that a bracelet had fallen off, but it was a gift from Madam and was very important, so I asked the maidservants to help find it. During this time, this servant saw everyone clearly."
"Among all the maidservants, only one of them made this servant's eyes light up. That maidservant was born with red lips and white teeth. Her skin was white with a hint of red and her large almond-shaped eyes seemed to be watery. With just one look, one would not be able to move their eyes away."
"Later, when they were looking for the bracelet, this servant sized up the other party. That figure, tsk, tsk, tsk, compared to the other maidservants, she can't be compared. I don't know which family's young lady she is, she..."
Granny Fang wanted to continue but was interrupted by Second Miss impatiently.
"Just say that she's good-looking, what's the point of saying so much? The most important thing is for you to answer all the questions that Mother asked."
Granny Fang didn't dare to speak any more nonsense. She was about to answer, but after searching her mind for a long time, she couldn't think of a sentence that could answer the Third Madam. Only then did she realize that she had been so focused on looking at the person just now that she had forgotten to ask a few more questions.
"This... This servant... Why don't this servant go and ask again? I already know her name."
The Second Miss's expression was not good. If this was the nanny by her side, she really wanted to give her a slap. She was really old and muddled, not even able to do things nimbly.
Should she ask when she got back? Was she afraid that others wouldn't know that she wasn't in a good situation in her husband's family, and that she would only be happy if the entire residence was in an uproar?
The Third Madam saw her daughter's ugly expression and guessed that this was not appropriate. She said, "Since it is not convenient to go to the old lady's courtyard to ask, why not call the person over? We can also take a closer look. Whether it is good or not, we will only know after we have seen her."
"Find an excuse to call her over for me to take a look, but remember not to let it slip," the Second Miss said.
Qu Fulan didn't even go out of the house before she was called away by Granny Fang.
She said something about asking her for help.
In the end, she stood in the courtyard of the third household for a long time, and no one paid her any attention. After a quarter of an hour, Granny Fang appeared and said that she didn't need any help. She gave her a purse and sent her away.
After Qu Fulan left, the Third Madam and Second Miss came out from behind the curtain.
"Are you satisfied with this girl's appearance?" the Third Madam asked.
It turned out that the two of them had been sizing up Qu Fulan from behind the curtain.
"She's even more beautiful than that vixen," the Second Miss said. "If we bring her back and train her well, she'll definitely look good."