To Hold One’s Joy

hapter 24-2: Foul Mouth

The scandal involving Sheng Erguniang quickly spread throughout Jinsha County, resulting in the members of the Sheng Mansion rarely venturing outside. Luo Sheng remained indifferent to the impact she brought upon the Sheng Mansion. Or rather, in her opinion, it was Sheng Jialan who had caused the problem, and it would be ridiculous if they were to blame the victim (herself) instead. However, not everyone thinks so.

Hongdou stepped into the laundry courtyard with a pouch in her sleeve and heard a mouthful of discussion.

"Miss Luo is too inconsiderate to the Sheng family, making it difficult for us to hold our heads up in public—"

The sound of Hongdou's arrival made several pozi[1] who were hanging the clothes all turn their heads. Their expressions froze when they saw Hongdou's fierce face. After a moment of silence, one of the pozi mustered an awkward smile and said, "Hongdou Dajie, are you here to deliver dirty laundry?"

Hongdou scanned several pozi with a serious expression and asked somberly, "Who said that just now?" Several pozi instinctively looked at a woman with a long face. Realizing her mistake, the pozi quickly slapped herself and admitted, "Look at my foul mouth. Please don't hold it against me, Hongdou Dajie. Just ignore the foolish words of an old woman like me."

Hongdou carefully observed the pozi and slowly uttered, "It was you." The pozi was terrified upon hearing those words and continued to slap her mouth, acknowledging her fault, "Yes, it was me. Please don't remember this lowly servant's mistake. Just treat me like a fart..."

Several servants had faced the consequences for spreading rumors about Miss Luo mistreating Sheng Erguniang a few days ago. Although this incident had made the atmosphere among the servants in the Sheng Mansion tense, it was difficult to eradicate such private conversations among them entirely.

The long-faced pozi berated herself for her misfortune, realizing the grave consequences that could have befallen her and her family had Hongdou caused a scene over her words. She regretted her impulsive remarks and slapped her mouth even harder.

"Since it's you, I'll let it slide this time," Hongdou said coldly, leaving several pozi, including the long-faced pozi, stunned.

When did Miss Luo's maid become this lenient? They had heard that this Hongdou dajie even dared to beat the other Misses, let alone the lowly laundry maids like themselves.

Hongdou pulled a plain pouch from her sleeve and tossed it into the arms of the long-faced pozi, warning, "This is a reward from my Miss. Control your tongue from now on!" With that, she glared at each pozi, turned around, and left.

As the courtyard door closed, the servants' gaze fell on the pouch in the arms of the long-faced pozi. "Let's look at what Miss Luo has rewarded you."

The long-faced maid, still bewildered, instinctively opened the pouch. To their astonishment, it contained a stack of gold leaves that glistened brightly under the sunlight, dazzling their eyes. They were left dumbfounded, unable to react until the long-faced pozi swiftly tucked the pouch into her bosom.

"Gold, gold leaves! Why did Miss Luo reward you with gold leaves?" they exclaimed in disbelief.

Overwhelmed by the weight of the substantial sum of money in her arms, the long-faced pozi's legs grew weak, causing her to collapse to the ground. After being in a daze for some time, she pinched her thigh. The pain jolted her into thinking faster, and she murmured, "Perhaps... perhaps it's because I rescued Miss Luo from the lake that day..."

On that day, she happened to be passing by the lake and had pulled Miss Luo ashore after Luo Gongzi had exhausted himself. But after receiving a few words of praise from Sheng Dataitai and a modest reward of two taels of silver, she had assumed the matter had concluded. How could Miss Luo...

The long-faced pozi slapped herself once again, harder than before, and whispered, "My foul mouth, my foul mouth..." 

[1] Pozi: older married maid