Faced with the fiery enthusiasm and cute, petite maids, Serena Feng really couldn’t bring herself to be harsh.
Why should women make things hard for other women?
Just because these women made things difficult for her, she couldn’t simply turn around and do the same to them. If this cycle of vengeance never ends, when will it stop? More importantly, being hounded by women is a real headache.
Right now, her head was really aching.
One woman is like five hundred ducks—and she was surrounded by nearly ten thousand ducks.
Suddenly, Serena Feng’s eyes lit up and her lips curled into a sly smile. She raised her voice and said, "I just came from the morgue and accidentally pressed down on a 'corpse.' I haven't changed my clothes yet—who knows if I’ve picked up something dirty? Please step aside. Whatever you want, wait until I’ve changed first."
"Ah!"
"The morgue?"
"A corpse?"
"That’s so scary!"
A wave of shrieks, each louder than the last, made Serena Feng’s eardrums throb painfully.
My god! These high-pitched screams make me want to die.
Serena Feng clutched her head in agony.
Luckily, her sacrifice paid off. The maids, who had just been crowding around Serena Feng, all retreated in a flash, scattering far away from her.
In the chaos, some were pushed to the ground, their hands and feet trampled as they wailed in panic.
"Ouch, who stepped on my hand…"
"Who just yanked me…"
"My face—who’s walking on my face…"
"My shoes…"
For a moment, the front gate of Feng Manor was utter chaos. Watching the maids nearly brawl into a tangled mess, Serena Feng chuckled and calmly stepped back, heading toward the manor.
She walked on, calling out cheerfully, "When you get home, be sure to tell your young ladies that Serena Feng will definitely appear at Princess Serenity's Peach Blossom Festival banquet on the third of March. If anyone wants to watch the show, they should go find Princess Serenity..."
With that, she waved to the boy standing at the gate holding the cage of dead snakes, signaling for him to follow her inside.
The boy hesitated for a moment, but under Serena Feng’s insistence, he shouldered the snake cage and entered Feng Manor with his head lowered.
The maids who’d been crying on the ground instantly wiped away their tears when they heard this, racing home at top speed, not caring if their clothes were askew or their shoes dirty.
They hurried to urge their young ladies to secure an invitation to Princess Serenity’s flower-viewing banquet. If their mistresses were pleased, the maids could expect plenty of rewards.
Serena Feng had no idea that her single remark had forced Princess Serenity to expand her two-hundred-person banquet into a thousand-person circus.
It got so out of hand that even Princess Serenity couldn’t manage it and had to run to the Empress for help.
Meanwhile, a few level-headed maids noticed Serena Feng beckoning a ragged but handsome boy into Feng Manor. Their eyes lit up with excitement.
They dashed home as fast as they could to report this juicy tidbit to their mistresses.
Soon, another rumor about Serena Feng was making the rounds among the noble young ladies...
The Phoenix young lady, unable to attract any respectable sons of the capital, had started mingling with street riffraff.
Good news travels slow, bad news spreads like wildfire—an iron law that holds true no matter the era.
The gossip exploded across the city in no time.
Every household in the imperial capital sternly warned their sons and daughters to steer clear of Serena Feng—getting mixed up with her would ruin their reputations.
Of course, when people discussed her, they always added a few cutting remarks:
"If that were my daughter, I’d strangle her on the spot. She’s a disgrace alive..."
"General Feng is truly pitiful, to have such a shameless daughter..."
"The Empress is just too merciful—someone like her ought to be drowned in a pig cage..."
......
Serena Feng never got to hear these rumors herself, but later, whenever she left Feng Manor, she’d spot groups of young men loitering outside, flexing their muscles—though that’s a story for another time.