Chapter 6: cleaning the house

Even though she felt guilt suspecting her stepmom and sister, it can't be helped, better safe than sorry. Other than her father who died, everyone else was a suspect. She can't let her guard down until she figures it out. It doesn't mean that she needs to be a paranoid freak, but at least she can't let her emotions blind her like in the past. After all, she already suffered from that many times, 'that damn ex,' she ground her teeth, It's time she learned her lesson. And It looks like she needs to be careful to protect her privacy in many ways, otherwise, she might play right in the palm of their hands.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it, she won't be able to find an answer anyway. The urgent thing right now was to get rid of these cameras. She has to do it even if she alarmed the perpetrator. She would need to change in her room, if she avoided the camera, she would alarm him anyway. And she wants to relax in her room, it won't do with the feeling of someone constantly watching her.

Her phone suddenly rang, she took the call after checking it was her stepmom, "Hello, auntie."

"Hello Lanru, it's time for lunch, we're waiting for you."

"Ok auntie, I'm gonna hung up,"

They were all sitting around the other end of the table, Meili looked at her, "Did you find anything lacking in your room."

Lanru found it hard to bring it herself, It was a good opportunity to get rid of those lamps. "Auntie, I love it, I couldn't ask for anything better, but…"

Everyone looked at her subtly, her father's brows furrowed a bit, while her brother, Chinji, smirked. Her stepmom smiled, "speak your mind,"

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to make some minor changes, my personal touch."

Chinji shook his head, and along with her father started eating.

"Of course, I was intending to bring you out for shopping anyway."

"Yeah, let's go, I will help you, sister," her sister chimed in.

"And I want to add a lock in my room," In the past, even though she wasn't comfortable with it, she didn't dare ask for this. As expected, everyone looked at her again, but even if she had to offend them she can't be careless in this matter.

She looked and roamed her eyes between them trying to catch anyone suspicious, but as expected, she wasn't a psychologist. She couldn't inferrer any clue. All she could infer was, none of them was pleased with her demand.

Her father was especially dissatisfied, "why do you need a new lock for?" his impression of his daughter got lower and lower. It was indeed good to be opinionated, but she was too impatient, she just came, and she already picked on a maid, had many demands, and what does she mean she wants to put a lock?

Meili was confused as well, she said with low spirits, "Lanru, do you really need a lock?"

Should she tell her about the cameras,' she shook her head, 'that's so stupid,' how about her sister, she knew the latter had a lock. No, that won't do either, she didn't want to start these petty games, her eyes focused after a while, "Aunty, actually… I'm not used to a big house, and there are a lot of servants inside, I'd feel more at ease with a lock."

"Ah, you're right, I didn't think about this, I'd arrange for it later," Meili's smile reappeared.

"Thank you, auntie."

"Ok, let's eat now, I let them prepare the traditional dishes, for now, you can try other cuisines later and see what suits your taste."

After lunch, Meili got serious, she said to one of the attending maids, "Fuami, call Fanjie over," it was the one who carried Lanru's luggage. She bowed and left hurriedly.

Meili looked at Lanru, "actually, I thought about it carefully, and decided to deal with it in front of everyone."

"Auntie, it's not necessary, that's not what I really wanted."

"It's something we must do, now you have a special status as the miss of the Ning family, you have to keep it in mind when dealing with people," Meili insisted.

Chinji smirked, 'it's not what you wanted, you're obviously scared after you made up some lies,' he thought she was trying to scare the maids to affirm her position in the house. He crossed his arms for a good show.

Fanjie came not long after, with other maids, her chest heaving and her magnified eyes even bigger. "Madam, I heard you are looking for me," from what she heard, it was trouble, she was second in line, guaranteed to replace the old head maid. She really couldn't imagine losing this chance now.

"Fanjie, I heard you disrespected Lanru?"

"Madam, that's not true, who said that?" she shook her head and felt relieved when she knew it was about this. She knew the father didn't like Lanru, as for the stepmom, it was the reason she dared to be a busybody, she wanted to make some points to help her with the promotion. As if wronged, she looked at Lanru, "miss, did I disrespect you," she was trying to intimidate Lanru, by confusing her in front of everyone.

"You insulted me, to be precise."

"I never did such a thing? how did I offend you, miss, maybe it was just a misunderstanding?" Fanjie tried to put pressure on her again thinking Lanru won't be able to repeat her words.

"I wasn't gonna make a big deal out of it, but since you're implying I'm a liar it can't be helped. Can you then tell me who was the shameless bitc*, who shouldn't have come here that you were talking about when I just come to this house?"

Everyone looked at her with widened eyes, her father, Shuji, was especially displeased, but she didn't care, in fact, as bad as it was to say it, as much as it would be troublesome for Fanjie.

Fanjie didn't expect her exact same words would be brought to light, her eyes almost fell from their sockets, "I never said such vulgar things, miss, how did I ever wrong you, why are you trying to make trouble for me," she shamelessly pretended to be wronged, "Madam, you can even ask Fuami she was with us, and even Mr. Lang," Fuami was just a new housemaid under her, she was sure she would take her side.

Everyone was looking at Fuami, and the latter forehead started sweating. She didn't want to get on Fanjie's bad side, but offending the new Miss wasn't good either, and she didn't like to lie. Fanjie was staring daggers at her, but before she could make up her mind Lanru interrupted her thoughts, "you're obviously her senior, you've almost burnt a hole in her head, let's not use power and force someone to lie."

Fuami felt like a big weight was lifted off her shoulder, she looked at Lanru gratefully. Lanru nodded at her with a smile. On the other hand, Fanjie was filled with hate, things weren't going the way she expected, she said before it's too late, "you.. you're just afraid she's gonna expose your lie."

Lanru wasn't going to let her breath yet, "you said, how did you ever wrong me, right?"

Fanjie didn't understand, so she couldn't affirm it, seeing everyone looking at her, though, she could only nod her head, "yes, miss, why are you targeting me? I worked here for many years, and no one has anything bad to say about me, you can ask any maid..."

Lanru rolled her eyes, did Fanjie think she gonna let her lead the conversation astray, "well, thank you, that's exactly my point, why would I single you out from all the other people for no reason," she ignored the other part of her argument, this was actually the reason she went after Fanjie so soon. She just came, she shouldn't have any reason to target her unless she did something in that short time.

Fanjie felt like someone was tightening a rope around her neck, "I... how do I know how people like you think."

Lanru smiled at her, "Which kind of people is that, don't you know who I am? A Miss of this house, Ning Shuji's daughter," she was enjoying how the latter was cornering herself.

Fanjie looked at Shujie and his expression wasn't good, she blurted at Lanru, "I didn't mean that... I meant young people. Like I said, I worked here..."

Lanru sighted, "I really didn't want to go this far, I hoped you would admit it yourself, but it's unfortunate," she shook her head, "there's actually an audio recording."

Fanjie started to lose her mind, "that is impossible, it must be fake!"

"Don't worry, it's not, we were in front of the car when that happened, the car camera must have caught everything," she wasn't sure whether the camera has audio recording, or could clearly record Fanjie voice, all she wanted was to show them her confidence, and Fanjie reaction that was a sight to behold, she was shivering and changing colors like a chameleon.

"Miss, I wasn't talking about you," her stuttering voice was like a song in Lanru's ear, this was her first revenge.

"That could have worked earlier, what was it, 'I never said such things,' you say."

"Miss, it really wasn't about you, I swear on my parents' honor, It wasn't…"

Her father couldn't take it any longer, he looked at Lanru intently for a moment before he stood up, "pack your things and leave this house, we don't need servants who don't know their own place." he was leaving when Fanjie hurried on her knees and hugged his legs, "Master, please, I have children, I won't do it again." he jerked his legs forcefully from her hands, and left leaving her laying on the floor, he looked at the other maids, "help her out."

Two maids came over, and dragged her out, "Madaaam, Madaaam, Miiiiss…" she was crying uncontrollably, her limbs flailing around.

Lanru didn't feel any sympathy for her, had she come clean and apologized, she could have forgiven her for the sake of her children, but she chose the hard way.

Chinji has his mouth open slightly, lost for a while looking at Lanru, this is not what he expected. Wasn't his sister supposed to be dumb and vulgar? According to his father, she fought regularly, cause trouble in school, and her school result wasn't good. The vulgar part was true, but why does it seem she's not dumb at all. He smiled at her briefly before he stood up and left.

Looking at his back, Lanru wasn't feeling good about this, this was the first time her brother smiled at her. She hoped it doesn't mean anything, and the underlying meaning behind it won't make a significant change. A feeling of urgency swept her, she really needs a way to spy on her brother.

She looked at the remaining maids, they all avoided her eyes as she looked at them one by one. It looks like with this, the house was clean for a while. This vicious virus won't corrupt the household and turn the others against her, but there was an even more dangerous threat lurking in the shadow, that she needs to lure out.