A Maid Dressed As A Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Role (Transmigration) - Chapter 6

There are two ways to command respect.

The first is to be well-liked, where people willingly follow you out of respect—like the kind, good-natured butler of a manor.

The second is to be strong-willed, where others obey you out of fear.

Given the original A’Zhi’s popularity and background, the first kind of respect was never an option for her.

By the time A’Zhi returned, it was already dark.

The Qi manor was different from the palace. The palace had many masters, big and small, and so many places that required service. Even at night, with the lanterns lit, it was as bright as day. As a low-ranking maid, if any master higher than herself was still awake, she couldn’t go back to her room to rest.

The Qi manor, on the other hand, had only one mistress. When she finished her evening wash and settled down to read by lamplight, she didn’t want anyone else serving her. As a result, the maids in her courtyard who weren’t on night duty could go to bed early as soon as it got dark.

With a mistress like her, even if you couldn’t become a head maid, you wouldn’t be treated poorly as long as you were well-behaved and did your job.

Unfortunately, human greed is boundless.

A faint light from an oil lamp shone from their four-person room, and the door was slightly opened. As A’Zhi got closer, she could hear the cheerful chatter of Xiao Yan and Xiao Que.

The two had been competing for the position of head maid by the little county princess’s side but weren’t willing to fight over night duty.

Lately, with the weather turning cold, night duty was a miserable, tiring job. Since the county princess didn’t allow anyone into her room to serve her at night, she wouldn’t even know who had been standing guard outside all night. Taking advantage of this, Xiao Yan and Xiao Que pushed the chore onto the other, more submissive maids like A’Zhi.

If it hadn’t been for that night duty, she wouldn’t have had the chance to “make an impression” on the county princess that morning and, by a strange twist of fate, “save” her mistress.

The door creaked open as A’Zhi pushed it from the outside.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Que were washing their feet. They glanced at A’Zhi as she entered, then promptly ignored her and went back to laughing and chatting.

As usual, A’Zhi was quiet and reserved. She walked silently to her bed. The room was small, so things like foot basins were kept under the beds and pulled out only when needed.

A’Zhi was just bending down to pull out her basin, holding onto the edge of her bed, when she heard a small voice call out her name.

“A’Zhi…”

She turned her head to see Cui Cui, the other maid in their room, who had just returned. As a meek maid, Cui Cui wasn’t privileged enough to sit at the table to wash her feet under the lamplight. Instead, she sat on a small stool by her bed, her small frame almost lost in the darkness, making her easy to overlook.

Cui Cui tried her best to make eye contact with A’Zhi, her large, round eyes darting between A’Zhi and her bed.

A’Zhi “instantly” understood. She stood up and climbed onto her bed, reaching her hand under her bedding.

The bedding that had been dry and warm when she left was now cold and damp. Her soft pillow would surely drip water if she squeezed it.

A’Zhi knelt on her bed and shook out her waterlogged pillow and comforter. She lowered her eyes, looked at the soggy bedding, and asked in a calm voice, “Who did this?”

Xiao Yan and Xiao Que glanced over from the table. Cui Cui immediately ducked her head, pretending to wash her feet diligently. Cui Cui was timid and a pushover; simply warning A’Zhi was the best she could do. After all, they hadn’t known each other for long and rarely spoke or worked together, so there was no deep bond between them.

“I don’t know,” Xiao Que said, batting her eyelashes at Xiao Yan. “Did you see who did it?”

Xiao Yan shook her head. “Nope.” She gestured casually, her tone dismissive. “It was probably Cui Cui. Maybe her hand slipped when she was drinking water and she spilled it all over your bedding.”

Just as Cui Cui had expected! She puffed out her cheeks, wanting to glare at them but not daring to. She just angrily looked down and rubbed the edge of her clothes.

Xiao Yan’s voice was sharp. “The bedding was just brought back this afternoon, and now it’s wet tonight. What does that mean? It means you don’t have the fortune to enjoy it. Look, even the blanket doesn’t want you to sleep under it. It was so humiliated that it cried itself wet.”

She burst into laughter, and Xiao Que covered her mouth with the back of her hand, giggling along.

“I’ll ask one more time,” A’Zhi said, turning to face them. “Who did it?”

Xiao Yan and Xiao Que paid her no mind. They poked and pushed each other playfully, their laughter were grating and loud.

Cui Cui felt a little sorry for A’Zhi. She whispered, “How about you squeeze in with me for the night?” Then she could take her bedding out to dry in the sun tomorrow.

Xiao Yan, who had been watching their every move, immediately called out, “What gives you the right to play the good Samaritan?” She rolled her eyes, her tone sarcastic. “Do you even know who A’Zhi is? She’s about to become the ‘head’ maid in the little county princess’s room. Who do you think you are to squeeze in with her? You might be willing, but she might not be.”

Cui Cui shrank back, not daring to speak again.

A’Zhi, who had been kneeling in the shadows by her bed, got up and walked into the lamplight, facing Xiao Yan and Xiao Que directly. “Nobody’s going to admit it, are they?”

Only Xiao Yan and Xiao Que knew that the county princess had given her the bedding. If they hadn’t been the ones to do it, they would have gleefully jumped up to tell her the moment she walked in. They wouldn’t have pretended to be so calm and unaware.

Xiao Yan looked down at her nails. Xiao Que looked everywhere but at A’Zhi. The truth was, Cui Cui had seen them do it. But Xiao Yan and Xiao Que were certain that Cui Cui was too timid and cowardly to say anything, so they were playing dumb, making A’Zhi suffer in silence.

“Fine,” A’Zhi said with a slight smile.

She turned to Cui Cui, crouched down, and asked, “Are you finished? Can I borrow your water?”

Cui Cui didn’t know what she was planning, but she immediately took her feet out of the basin, hugged her bent knees, and nodded. “Of course.”

A’Zhi picked up Cui Cui’s foot basin.

She then turned and dumped the whole basin of lukewarm water onto Xiao Yan’s and Xiao Que’s adjacent beds. The blankets and pillows were completely soaked.

Xiao Que screamed instantly. “My blanket!” She also knew how cold it would be without a blanket on a winter night.

Xiao Yan’s eyes widened. She stood up, and since her feet were still in the basin, she could only point at A’Zhi, furious and stamping her foot, splashing water everywhere. “You b1tch, what are you doing?! Have you lost your mind?!”

A’Zhi handed the basin back to Cui Cui, looking unconcerned. “Oops, my apologies. My hand slipped.” She looked at Xiao Yan and Xiao Que. “Since no one will admit it, none of us will get any sleep tonight.”

“You b1tch!” Xiao Yan couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped out of the basin with her wet feet and picked up her own foot basin, sloshing water over her shoes, and splashed it right at A’Zhi.

A’Zhi pulled Xiao Que’s blanket up to shield herself. If Xiao Que’s blanket had only been wet on the surface before, potentially still usable, Xiao Yan’s basin of water soaked it through and through.

Xiao Que’s face contorted in disbelief. She turned to Xiao Yan, her chest heaving, then clenched her fists and let out a piercing scream. “Ahhh!”

Xiao Yan, feeling a momentary pang of guilt. They had just agreed to team up today. She shouted, “It was her! This b1tch used your blanket to block the water! It’s all her fault!” To distract Xiao Que, she swung the basin at A’Zhi.

Xiao Que, wearing her sodden shoes, lunged at A’Zhi to tear at her clothes.

Cui Cui gasped, holding her basin in front of her. She was worried for A’Zhi. “You… you all shouldn’t fight!” There was no way A’Zhi could take on both of them alone! Cui Cui was panicking and couldn’t help.

“You think you’re really a head maid, daring to splash my blanket? Are you asking to die?!” Xiao Yan yelled, hurling the wooden basin at A’Zhi.

A’Zhi had never lost a “catfight” like this before. Her hands were habitually clasped in front of her stomach with her posture poised and straight. She watched Xiao Yan lunge at her with a cold eye.

When Xiao Yan swung the basin, A’Zhi took two steps back to dodge it, then raised her hand and slapped Xiao Yan across the face. Immediately after, she turned and slapped Xiao Que, who had lunged at her from the other side.

Cui Cui’s expression went from worried to shocked. Her eyes widened. The basin she had held, ready to help, was now just clutched to her chest again.

A’Zhi, it turned out, needed no help at all.

A’Zhi grabbed a handful of each girl’s hair, her voice as calm as ever. “If you have a problem with me, face me directly. Don’t resort to cowardly, sneaky tricks.”

“To be a head maid, you need the skills of a head maid,” she said, looking down at Xiao Yan and Xiao Que, who were squealing as their hair was pulled. Her voice was low and cold. “Do either of you have what it takes?”

“Let go of my hair, and I’ll choke you to death!” Xiao Yan trembled for a moment but was still defiant. She had only been caught off guard because her shoes weren’t on properly.

Cui Cui, concerned, advised, “Don’t let go.” What if she let go and lost the fight?

A’Zhi’s face was expressionless, her only reaction a slight arch of her eyebrow. She released her hands. “Alright.”

Xiao Yan and Xiao Que pulled up their shoes and lunged forward…

…only to get slapped again and have their hair yanked a second time, leaving them half-kneeling at A’Zhi’s feet, completely powerless.

A repeat performance…

“O.O!”

Cui Cui held her basin. She was shocked and wanted to applaud A’Zhi.

******

In the Xiangyang Courtyard, Chao Mu, dressed in a plain white undergarment with a coat draped over her shoulders, sat on the bed propped up against a low table, reading by lamplight. Her fair fingers rested on the page, taking a long time to turn it.

Hmm, why hadn’t she heard anything yet?

Just as she turned the page, she heard footsteps outside, followed by the voice of the night duty maid by the door.

“County Princess, it’s not good. I heard some maids are fighting in the back courtyard.”

Chao Mu slowly turned the page, not even looking up. She asked in a leisurely voice, “Did you tell Butler Qi?”

The maid replied, “Yes, I did. Butler Qi said it’s your maids’ business, and since it’s late at night, he didn’t think it was appropriate for him to go back there to deal with it. He asks that you be the one to handle it.”

Her maids were fighting, and they didn’t report it to her, the county princess, first. Instead, they told Butler Qi. It was as if this entire manor had been usurped for so long that the servants couldn’t even tell who their true master was anymore.

Chao Mu slowly closed her book and sighed softly, her little face filled with a look of distress. “I can’t even read in peace… If only I had a head maid.”

Chao Mu had been preparing to go to the back courtyard herself to find out what was going on, but just as she was tying the sash on her cloak, she heard a familiar voice at the door.

Outside, A’Zhi stood respectfully beside Chao Mu’s door, her hands folded in front of her stomach and her eyes lowered.

“County Princess, I’ve brought the disruptive maids to beg for your forgiveness.”

A smile broke out on Chao Mu’s face, her lips forming a small dimple.

What could she say? It was just so thoughtful.