Know your Enemy

Duke Shenxiu's residence, the next day.

Deming Stepped in as Nie Shaoqing was getting dressed, he was about to speak when his eyes fell on Xiuyi and the two other maids that attended to his young master.

He shut his mouth and walked to stand beside Nie Shaoqing, Xiuyi and the other maid gave him slight nods. He was surprisingly absent when they arrived to serve their sixth young master.

Nie Shaoqing dismissed the maids when he was fully dressed, he waited until they had all left before walking to his reading table.

He glanced at Deming, "You left very early, did you find any clues?"

"Yes, young master. Just as you predicted, there was a spy sending messages out of the residence".

Now Shaoqing smiled, " Did you see who it was?"

"Yes, it is Cuifan that serves under Sister Xiao."

"I suspected it would be a higher-ranked servant... That would explain how your young master got poisoned. I need to find out who is behind all this, keep an eye on her.'

"Yes, Young master.... about the rumours. With the imperial examination on the way, should we stop"

"No!" He narrowed his eyes at him, "not until I am sure that whoever is behind the poisoning is taken care of."

"But_ Young master this could affect your future. The only reason his grace paid our young master any attention was because he was smart.

"He wanted him to rank high and challenge the Zhao family. I fear that doing this might put you at a disadvantage", he sight and moved his weight from each leg.

Nie Shaoqing chuckled and titled his head to the side, "If I don't keep up the act, I might not even live long enough to take the examination. It is only for a few months".

Deming frowned, although he understood his young master's reasoning. He did not like how helpless he felt, "Why did we have to be so weak".

Nie Shaoqing smiled, "are we truly weak? Sometimes you pretend to be weak to fool the enemy. In war, you must know your enemy. That is the only way you can win".

********

Banxi Pavilion, The laundry room.

Liqiu sighed as she squeezed the last dirty blouse in her basket. After nearly three weeks, she had slowly gotten accustomed to her duties.

The first week had been tough because of how frequently she made mistakes.

Each mistake earned her more beating from Mrs Yang who had grown to dislike her. After weeks of constant practice, she no longer made mistakes.

Although she wasn't as good as the other maids. She wasn't as bad as when she first joined the pavilion.

Liqiu stood and stretched her body before picking up the bucket of dirty water and carrying it to the drainage at the fastest end of the compound.

She walked slowly, careful not to spill the water. She jumped at the sound of the heavy wooden bucket hitting the ground.

She looked to her side where the noise came from, the bucket of one of the maids had slipped from her hand.

The water and clothes in the bucket spilt all over, the maid bend over and picked up the clothes.

Liqiu looked down at the ground and the water had spilt to where she stood, she tightened her hand on the handle of the bucket and walked forward.

Her feet caught on a stone as she tried to avoid the small pool of water ahead, she was already down to her last uniform and did not want to stain this set.

It happened so fast, one moment she was trying to avoid stepping into a small crater of dirty water. The next minute, the bucket slipped from her hand as she fell forward.

She tried to grab onto anything to wedge her fall, she initially grasped at air until she felt something touch the back of her arm.

She immediately grabbed it tightly but whatever that was did not stop her from falling.

Her eyes flew up as she held a loud screech, she gasped and immediately let go of the strings of Manlin's blouse as she met the older girl's glare

However, it was too late, Manlin's balance was already disrupted when she drew the strings of the older girl's blouse.

Manlin fell on top of Liqiu, there was a tearing sound as the girl fell forward.

Liqiu's eyes widened as she heard that, "I_ I".

Manlin sat up immediately and slapped her before she could complete her words, "you clumsy little fool!"

Although Liqiu had limited interactions with Manlin, she knew enough to know that things were not going to end well.

Manlin was very popular among the maids because of how nasty her methods were.

She was the eldest daughter of Mrs Yang, a fact that Manlin capitalised on often.

Manlin was only a few years older than Liqiu and supervised the servants when her mother was out.

Although she was a maid like them, she was fond of ordering the other maids.

Liqiu's hand immediately went to her cheeks, as Manlin pulled away. Manlin did not hold back with her slap. Her cheek stung, it felt warm to touch.

Liqiu pulled back wanting to put some distance between them. One of the maids closest to Manlin named Xu Miao rushed forward and helped her up.

"Manlin! are you hurt anywhere, I heard something rip_" Xu Miao gasped, eyes wide as her eyes fell on Manlin's ripped blouse.

She covered her mouth with her palm, "Manlin, your new blouse tore", the girl gave Liqiu an apologetic gaze.

The girl's gaze was very foretelling of what was about to come. Manlin creamed as she saw the rip in her new blouse, she glared at Liqiu.

Her breathing rate increased seconds before she rushed and Kicked Liqiu on her side.

"You little_" Manlin sighed and pointed at Liqiu with a frown, "don't worry, I will handle you".

Manlin glanced around, she smirked as her eyes fell on the pilled-up baskets of fresh high-quality silk clothes belonging to the most favoured madams.

Manlin glanced at the two maids closest to baskets, "Hey! bring those baskets over_" she stopped as She got another idea, "bring all the baskets of dirty clothes over".

She glanced down at Liqiu, "She will handle all the washing for today", she lifted the blouse and continued, "I just had this outfit made, you will pay for ripping it".

"Manlin, this_", Xu Miao was interrupted by Manlin before she could continue.

"What are you standing around for? GET ALL THOSE BASKETS OVER HERE!"

The Maids quickly carried the basket over and dropped it at Liqiu's workstation. Manlin glanced at the baskets and smiled. She glared down at Liqiu, "They better not be a single stain in any of the clothes".