Qiu Yun, however, was quite at ease. Her current job at least came with clear, measurable targets, and with the help of all sorts of high-tech cleaning tools, the work was practically effortless.
It was nothing like when she first entered the young lady’s courtyard at the age of twelve or thirteen. In those days, the master’s requirements were never made clear to servants like her, leaving her to spend her days in anxious observation, trying to guess what was expected.
“You, cough ... did a good job,” Fang Jie couldn’t help but glance at the girl again.
Her hair was simply pinned up at the back of her head with a short wooden chopstick. Her uniform was neat and tidy. She stood with an elegant, composed posture, her eyes slightly lowered, neither humble nor arrogant—as if she had just closed some major deal, not finished cleaning.
“Let’s go,” Fang Jie said, leading the person out of the young lady’s room. “The young lady will be back soon.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After wiping the dust off the two potted plants by the door and mixing spring water at the right temperature for the young lady, Qiu Yun was free to take her dinner back to her room and rest.
Looking at the meal box—two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, plus fruit and soup—she couldn’t help but marvel at how good the working conditions were here!
Not only did each person have their own private room with an attached bathroom, the food was also several levels better than anything she’d had before.
Back when she had first entered the mansion as a little maid in the laundry room, a dinner of a steamed bun with pickled vegetables was considered a rare treat.
She chewed slowly and savored every bite of her work meal. It wasn’t as delicious as the culinary delicacies she later enjoyed while serving the lady of the house, but it had plenty of meat and rich flavor—quite a rare luxury.
Before long, voices drifted in from outside—a little girl’s voice, a young woman’s voice, and a middle-aged woman’s voice.
Qiu Yun knew it was the young lady and Assistant Steward Chen returning.
The unfamiliar voice, she couldn’t place.
Chen Fang was the assistant steward of Bright Moon Tower, the young lady’s life manager responsible for every detail of her clothing, food, living, and travel—essentially acting as a surrogate mother.
In the terms of the old Ducal Mansion, she would have been a combination of a wet nurse and a personal maidservant aunt. She held the most power in Bright Moon Tower after the young lady herself. In fact, given that the seventh young lady was only ten years old, Chen was entirely capable of influencing her decisions.
Qiu Yun searched for memories, but the original owner had only briefly met Assistant Steward Chen once on the first day at Bright Moon Tower. Since then, Chen had always accompanied the young lady in and out, leaving no further chance for an encounter.
She packed up the meal box and tossed it into the trash, then could not help but ponder what kind of person Assistant Steward Chen might truly be, based on that single, fleeting meeting.
Having spent many years maneuvering through life in the inner quarters, Qiu Yun knew perfectly well how vital a supervisor’s personality was to a junior maid’s hope for a better life.
Half past eleven.
Just as Qiu Yun was drifting off to sleep in a haze, there was a knock at the door.
But she was used to keeping vigil by her mistress’s bedside at night, so even a light sleep made her awake instantly.
“Who is it?”
A woman’s voice came from outside. “It’s me, Yuan Jie. The young lady is asleep. It’s time for us to clean the living room.”
“...” The original owner hadn’t bothered to memorize the work schedule at all.
Qiu Yun immediately got up, changed clothes, and opened the door. “I’m sorry, Yuan Jie. I overslept. It won’t happen again.”
Yuan Jie had softer facial features and spoke in a gentle, hushed tone. “No worries. There’s plenty of time tonight; we’re not in a rush.”
Still, she didn’t take Qiu Yun’s “won’t happen again” seriously.
There were only three cleaning maids in Bright Moon Tower: Fang Jie, Yuan Jie, and the newcomer Qiu Yun. They handled routine daily cleaning.
The estate had a professional team that rotated each month to do major cleaning for the gentlemen, ladies, young masters, and young ladies—taking down curtains for washing, dusting ceiling lights, polishing marble floors, and so on.
Qiu Yun looked at the vacuum cleaner in front of her, rubbed her fingers, and then stepped forward to pick it up.
It was true she had inherited all the original owner’s memories, but the feeling of those memories was very different from actually handling things in reality.
Qiu Yun gave a self-deprecating smile. She felt like a country bumpkin who had just stumbled into a grand garden. Everything amazed her, and she had to learn everything anew.
The vacuum cleaner made little noise, but its suction was strong. After finishing with the floor, Qiu Yun switched to a brush nozzle attachment and began cleaning the sofa and throw pillows.
Meanwhile, Yuan Jie put on white gloves and carefully wiped down everything on the coffee table the young lady had used, returning each item to its original spot.
By the time the entire living and dining area was restored to spotless, pristine condition, it was already half past midnight.
Yuan Jie turned on the fresh air system and the air purifier. When the young lady woke up the next morning and came downstairs, the air would be filled with a faint floral scent, fresh and pleasant.
With that, Qiu Yun’s day’s work as a cleaner was complete.
The newcomer hadn’t been lazy or slacked off today, but had done her work earnestly. Yuan Jie didn’t say anything, but she was quite satisfied in her heart. She took the initiative to bring over a midnight snack for Qiu Yun.
Of course, such a work perk was something the original owner had never enjoyed before.
Qiu Yun looked at the unidentified food-stuff. “Thank you, Yuan Jie.”
She knew this thing was called cake. It was something like the pastries in her old days, but the original owner had never eaten such high-calorie things because she was trying to lose weight.
Yuan Jie gave a slight smile. “You’re welcome. Go get some rest now.”
On her way back to her room carrying the small cake, the sweet and rich aroma wafted straight up Qiu Yun’s nose. Although she hadn’t really been hungry, now her mouth began to water a little.
She closed the door, placed the box on the dressing table, went to the bathroom to wash her hands, and then sat down in front of the vanity mirror. Looking at the lovely pink-and-white cake, her mouth involuntarily began to salivate.
She opened the packaging, picked up the spoon, and gently scooped a bite. The soft, fluffy texture won her over instantly! As soon as it entered her mouth, it melted on her tongue, leaving a rich, lingering fragrance!
Qiu Yun’s eyes lit up. She couldn’t wait to take a second bite!
The creamy richness of the frosting, the tangy sweetness of the jam, the soft fluffiness of the cake, the refreshing bits of fruit mixed in to add texture, and those little transparent spheres—whatever they were—burst when she bit into them.
One spoonful after another, until the entire little cake had disappeared into her stomach. She even licked the spoon, still wanting more.
How had the original owner managed to resist something this delicious every single time?
Impressive.
After finishing her midnight snack, Qiu Yun brushed her teeth, rinsed her mouth, and lay back down in bed, feeling a little too awake to sleep.
She reached over, picked up her phone from the nightstand, and opened a well-known secondhand marketplace website to check how her listings were doing.
Unsurprisingly, no one had expressed interest.
Qiu Yun sighed. Just as she was about to close the page, someone sent a private message asking: “Seriously, are they fake?”
“...” She scoffed, sat up, and replied to the message: “Have you ever seen anyone selling the real thing as a fake?”
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then the response came: “I actually have seen it happen.”
“...”
Qiu Yun twitched the corner of her mouth. “If you want to buy it as a real one, I don’t mind. Go ahead and purchase it; I’ll change the price for you.”
The other person quickly replied: “No need. Just hoping for a steal. Purely curious. Bye.”
Ha.
Typical—broke and dreaming of every bargain.
Qiu Yun decided not to reply, but then another private message came in: “Selling this kind of stuff at that price, everyone who knows, knows. People only buy fake luxury goods on the secondhand market. If you write ‘A-grade replica’ in the title, they’ll never have that sort of order popping up in their listing history.”
