For the whole night, Lantian remained in the house of flowers till the yellow color was showing on the horizon. Then she walked out and back home with her mouth yawning nonstop.
At the front door, the male servants were wiping dirt and leaves from the ground. When they witnessed their master's daughter cross, they paused their brooms and lowered their heads respectfully with their lips expressed, "Third Miss."
In return, the young mistress just gave a small nod and said, "Um," in her throat, then she walked with her mouth yawning on the way inside the house. Last night she did not have enough sleep because she was busy having huge fun with the pretty flowers, and it made her eyes half open and her mind wish for her bed fast. But as she was strolling along the corridor, her ears were mentioned to some noise, causing her eyes to become fully open. Though her eyes were very heavy, she decided that she had to make her way following the loud voice till she reached the park in the middle of the house. In the scene, her eyes perceived Lady Mei, who was her third stepmother; her maid, Lady Mu, her fourth stepmother; and her youngest sister, Dong Mei.
"Sister, I don't take yours," Lady Mei said.
"Hss!" Lady Mu roared from the tip of her nose. "Don't act before me. There is no one around. Show your real face. Do you think I don't know you are pretending to be innocent?"
Like usual, Lady Mei stayed silent and made her face low. Because she did not have the courage to protest, this made her be harassed by Lady Mu, who was nasty and envious.
"You can fool others, but you cannot fool me. Your mind is full of evil. Don't ever think you can step on my head. Your son is the heir of Wu, so what? You are nothing. Still, you are a third wife. You are a worm, not a caterpillar. Don't expect to become a butterfly."
It was not new to Lantian to face this kind of situation. And she knew that if she did not jump in, her third stepmother would end up being a loser, but she did not enter now; she was waiting for the proper time.
"Fourth Madame, my mistress does not take it. It's really given by the master," the maid said.
"How dare you!" Dong Mei yelled. "Know your class. You are a maid, so shut your mouth. That color is my mother's favorite. Father knows it. All the time, he gives it to my mother. How can this time he give it to others? Unless someone is doing a fox's spell."
It was the right time now; Lantian walked in. "Who is daring to put a fox spell in Wu's house?"
Hearing the voice, Dong Mei popped her eyes like a frog's, and her body was trembling. In one breath, she already stood behind her mother, who was having butterfly-flapping wings in her belly as well.
At the moment, with high power, Lantian came to stand in the middle of the split groups and then questioned, "What's the matter?"
The three ladies didn't respond; only the maid dared to say, "The store brought the fabrics, and Master gave the red color to Third Madame, but Fourth Madame says they are hers."
"Well," Lantian spun to the wrong group, "it's my father's money. He can give to anyone he wants. Though he wants to take clothes from your cabinet to give to Third Mother, still, you cannot comment on it. If being the mother of the heir of Wu is nothing, it means the heir of Wu is nothing. If the heir of Wu is nothing, then what about the father of the heir? Nothing as well!"
Hands of Lady Mu shook while inside her belly was hitting. She maintained her eyes on the ground since she didn't have the courage to refuse because Lantian was the daughter of the first wife of her husband.
After teaching the unruly stepmother, Lantian went to the daughter. "You said the maid did not know the class. Do you know your class? How can you insult Third Mother? She is older than you."
Like Lady Mu, Dong Mei shook like a bunny was confronting a wolf. She held the arm of her mother and stayed behind her while her face was not daring to rise.
Seeing the stepdaughter was frightened, Lady Mei felt pity for her. "Lantian…" She wanted to beg instead of Dongmei, but her maid held her arm, whispering, "Madame," and shook her head as a sign to inform her to leave the matter to the big miss.
"Come to apologize to Third Mother," Lantian said.
Hearing that, Dong Mei was about to cry. She eyed her mother to help her, but in this state, her mother herself was in trouble too. How could she help her?
"In the last moment, you were so brave. Why do you hide now? You dare to scold, but you don't dare to apologize."
Even though the youngest female was still hiding behind her ma. Lantian knew she had to play a bad role or her little sister would not come out. She raised up her long sleeves, stressing with her mouth, "Come out by yourself, or do you want me to help you out?"
Within such a claim, Dongmei knew that she could not be a strong head anymore. If she insisted on staying late, her half-sister would capture her wrist and pull her out of her mother's back. Though she was a woman, her palm was strong and hard because she had practiced martial arts, so her wrist would be red and hurt and then become swollen. In addition, she would be punished by being unable to have new clothes for a week or maybe a month.
This had happened all the time, and when she was penalized, no one was able to speak for her, not even her mother—because Lantian was the daughter of the official wife. It made Dong Mei so upset, but she had no ability to do anything. Like this time, she had to agree to surrender by walking out from behind her mother to bow before Lady Mei. "Third mother, I apologize."
Seeing that, Lady Mei's mind became weak. She forgot all the harsh words that her stepdaughter had said to her. "It's fine," she said in a sweet voice.
In return, Dong Mei lowered her knees to thank her, then she ran back to stay behind her mother.
After dealing, Lantian said to Lady Mei, "Third mother, you go to rest." Then she turned to tell the maid, "Take Third Madame to the room."
"Yes." The maid bowed.
After that, before moving her body to her own stay, Lantian took the chance to throw her eyes to warn the two troublemakers who were standing and hugging each other.