I'm already a concubine, who wants to fight with you?

Chapter 27 Concubine
Xie Fei had never met anyone from Anyuan Marquis' Mansion, so he didn't know what their relationship was like with the Pei Mansion.

However, it was heard that Pei Yuan favored Miao very much, and in recent days he seldom went out to look for other women, and mostly stayed in the house with Miao.

The Miao family was in the limelight at the time, and Pei Yuan protected them for the first time in his history, so even Xiao Shirong couldn't give her any face.

"Speaking of which, Sister Xie has only met the master once since she entered the mansion, right?" Miao said excitedly while eating melon seeds, "Although my sister is not very beautiful, she is of noble status after all. You should be more in front of the master, otherwise the master will forget about you."

Everyone in the mansion knew that Pei Yuan disliked Xie Fei's ugly appearance and was unwilling to even meet him.

When the other concubines heard the sarcasm in Miao's words, they looked at each other and dared not say anything.

They all came from poor families and were somewhat in awe of Xie Fei, the daughter of an official.

Miao's family was once wealthy, but she became a concubine only after her family fell into poverty.

As a daughter of an official family and favored by her master, Miao naturally did not need to take Xie Fei seriously.

Xie Fei was not annoyed, and said slowly: "I know I am disgusting, why should I go to the master to make myself look bad? On the contrary, my sisters are favored by the master, and it is time to have a child while you are young and healthy. This is the serious matter."

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent again.

Fang Qinrou pretended that Xie Fei didn't know and whispered, "Sister Xie, the eldest lady doesn't allow us to have children."

Xie Fei pretended to be confused, "Oh, why is that?"

Fang Qinrou bit her lip and refused to speak, while Miao asked curiously, "Yes, why doesn't the eldest lady allow us to have children?"

Xiang Xiaoniang and others smiled bitterly.

In the room full of people, Xie Fei had not yet consummated her marriage with Pei Yuan, so Xiao Shirong didn't need to feed her safflower soup.

Since Miao entered the family, she has been spoiled by Pei Yuan, and they have been together all day long and inseparable.

Xiao Shirong would not force anyone to drink safflower soup in front of Pei Yuan.

Looking at the people in the room, Miao snorted coldly and said, "The Madam comes from a distinguished family, so she is naturally not a narrow-minded person. You are all gossiping here, aren't you afraid that the Madam will find out and pull out your tongues!"

Another concubine disliked Xiao Shirong very much and couldn't help asking, "How much contact have you had with the eldest lady? What do you know?"

Miao said, "Madam Xiao is the legitimate daughter of the Fanyang Xiao family, who was properly trained. Her demeanor and bearing, can you compare with them? Could it be that you are all jealous of Madam Xiao's background and are conspiring to frame her?"

The concubines rolled their eyes and were too lazy to even talk to Miao.

Seeing that the atmosphere was not harmonious, Xiang Xiaoniang came out with a smile to smooth things over.

"By the way, Master, are you going to bring Sister Miao to the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet tonight?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a concubine snorted, "Even people from Anyuan Marquis's Mansion are coming tonight. How can a concubine like her show off at the banquet?"

Miao laughed instead, and proudly touched the gold bracelet on her hand, "You are not favored by the master, so naturally you can't go. But the master has already said that he would take me with him to see the world!"

The concubines were instantly jealous.

Miao started boasting again, saying that Pei Yuan had even sent her clothes for the evening.

She used the most fashionable Qingyun satin in the capital, a piece of which was worth several gold coins. She also had gold hairpins, jade bracelets, and jadeite hairpins, all of which were taken from the government treasury for her to enjoy.

Such blatant favoritism naturally aroused the jealousy of the concubines and inevitably led to conflicts.

Xie Fei was so annoyed by their boring chatter that he wanted to kick them out.

Just when she was trying to find an excuse to get rid of these people, an old lady from Huiming Hall came over and asked Xie Fei to prepare the dinner and to attend tonight.

Xie Fei jumped up. "I'm going? I'm just a concubine, and the mistress is still here. You want me to prepare the feast?"

The old lady replied, "The old lady said that Miss Xie is a concubine and a lady from a wealthy family, so she should come forward to help the eldest lady. Besides, the people who came tonight are all women from the various rooms of the Marquis' Mansion, so it won't be a problem."

Xie Fei couldn't refuse, so he had to agree.

As soon as the old mother left, Miao gritted her teeth and glared at Xie Fei fiercely.

Miao had just mocked that everyone else was a concubine and only she could go to the front hall, but she didn't expect to be slapped in the face right after.

Xiao Shirong is a noble lady from an aristocratic family and a respectable lady, so it is okay for her to ride on everyone's heads.

Why is it that Xie Fei, a concubine who has no favor from her master and is ugly, can go out and show off?

The more Miao thought about it, the angrier she became. She coldly flicked her sleeves and walked away.

Because Xie Fei still had to go prepare the banquet, everyone else left one after another. Only Xiang Xiaoniang stayed behind and congratulated them with a smile.

"Sister, you went to the front hall today, so you should see more of the world for us. When you come back, tell me what the family banquet was like."

Xie Fei nodded slightly and sent Xiang Xiaoniang away.

Everyone had left and she was pacing back and forth in the room alone.

The old lady asked her to go to the front hall? What does that mean?
Could it be that he thought that since she came from an official family and had the ability to be a housekeeper, she could suppress the frivolous Xiao Shirong?
But she is ugly, Pei Yuan will not favor her, and she will not give birth to a child to really threaten Xiao Shirong, which will only force Xiao Shirong to restrain her temper?

Anyway, you are an unlucky chess piece.

Looking at the falling ginkgo leaves in the yard, Xie Fei felt very annoyed.

If there were no Mid-Autumn Festival, she would be picking tung fruits in the mountains, piling them up in the woodshed, and then pressing tung oil.

In the afternoon, the old lady and Xiao Shirong came back from the palace and sent Xie Fei to reply.

In Huiming Hall, the old lady drank tea and asked expressionlessly, "How is the banquet preparation going?"

Xie Fei knelt respectfully, lowered his head, took the teacup, and placed it on the tray held by the old lady next to him.

"Madam, I am stupid and shallow. Although I am loved by you, I am not worthy of being appointed. This Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet concerns the reputation of the family. I am not worthy of such a big responsibility."

The old lady stared at her from head to toe and sneered, "Can you handle this important task? You saved the dying man on the farm and recruited the servants to serve you. Isn't that impressive?"

These words were like a sudden thunder in winter, causing Xie Fei's heart to jump suddenly, as if a secret that should not be known to others had been discovered, and the blood in his body suddenly rushed to his head.

But over the years, she had encountered many twists and turns, so she immediately calmed down and thought quickly in her mind.

Discovered?

Did someone in the village inform on her, or did the old lady already have spies?

The old lady brought this up suddenly because she thought she had ulterior motives and was taking the opportunity to pressure her?

The most important question at the moment is, what does the old lady know and how much does she understand?

Did you just hear the general outline of what happened, or do you know the whole truth?

Xie Fei closed his eyes and said again: "Old Madam, please understand. The matter of the farm was indeed because I knew a little about medicine and accidentally saved a man who was torn by a wild beast. I saved him because there is a saying in Buddhism that saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. It was not done to win people's hearts."

(End of this chapter)