Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

Ruoruo had been busy - she had immediately grabbed the first servant that walked past her after they left the corridor.

"What do you want? I'm not trading toilet duty with you." Her colleague said warningly.

"No no, it's not about that. I'm just here to warn you about Li Xue Ning's mother. She's a real piece of work!"

"Why? What did she do?"

"She made Lady Yu cry!"

"No way. You're lying right?" The other maid shook her head judgmentally. "Ruoruo, are you trying to get me in trouble so you can get a promotion? I'm not stupid!"

"Would I lie about Lady Yu?" Ruoruo protested, indignant at the very thought. "Fine, be that way, go and approach her. Hope she doesn't hit you in the face like what she did to those men. If she makes you cry so hard until your face swells up like a pufferfish, don't say I didn't warn you!"

Ruoruo then flounced away, determined to find someone else that was more willing to listen to her.

"Wait what?" The other maid paled. She did hear whispers from the kitchen that the couple was responsible for the injuries. She thought those rumours were ludicrous, but perhaps there was a kernel of truth.

She had to warn the others!

=======

"Seriously, is there no one working in this house?" Yue Niang wondered. They've been waiting for half an hour for someone to approach.

"I think we should be more proactive. It's going to be dinner soon at this rate." Tai Cheng said.

Husband and wife met eyes and stalked towards the kitchen in unison, deciding to hide around the corner until some unfortunate prey/servant crossed their path.

Lo and behold, there was a maid walking towards them! She was rapidly typing at her phone, which was why she didn't immediately scream and run in the opposite direction.

"Hi! We need some help."

The maid froze. She looked up, and her face paled as she registered who she was seeing. Nearly everyone was warned about Li Xue Ning's parents, and no one wanted to meet their eyes, whether in a dark alley or otherwise.

She immediately tried to duck away, only for Yue Niang to grab her arm.

"Please don't hurt me!" The girl whimpered, tears already forming in her cheeks. "I'm only 21! I don't have a boyfriend yet!"

Yue Niang's mouth dropped - so the mansion was already hiring women so young?  Sun Haowei was a filthy pervert! Either that, or his sons were. She glowered, and the girl shuddered in fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you if you answer me honestly," Yue Niang said, trying to be comforting. Judging by the way the girl was shaking in her hands, it wasn't working. "How long have you been working here?"

"Three years."

"So you know enough. Can you tell me where the late Mistress of the house is buried?"

"What?" The poor girl stared at her, befuddled and suspicious. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm not robbing her grave! I just want to pay my respects to the woman that gave birth to Sun Jingwei as thanks. So is there a tablet or a headstone here?" Yue Niang asked anxiously.

"Oh." The girl paused, before timidly replying. "There isn't one."

"...."

"WHAT. Are you joking?" Yue Niang demanded, her hands unknowingly tightening their grip on the poor girl's wrist.

"I won't lie about this! Madame, please let me go! You're hurting me!"

"Sorry," Yue Niang said, quickly removing her hand. "But how can there not be anything for his deceased wife?"

"I don't know Madame, it has always been like this since I started working here. Maybe some of the other older maids will know more!"  The maid said, bowing repeatedly before she ran off, her hands fisted in her skirts.

"This bastard," Yue Niang growled out, clenching her fist. If Sun Haowei wasn't hospitalised due to a heart attack, she would have sent him to the morgue directly. Come to think of it, she still could!

"Before you charge into the hospital, let's apologise to Ming Yan first. And then maybe ask her what's going on." Tai Cheng said, the voice of reason. "It's just not possible for Bi Yu to have nothing!"

=======

"I'm sorry, I was wrong to imply you couldn't do your job. And I shouldn't have judged your decisions. I do hope you'll forgive me. I'm no longer the young missy that you have to obey, but old habits die hard. Not that I'm using that as an excuse! I still had no right to scold you. Once again, I'm sorry."

Lady Yu stared dumbfounded as Yue Niang bowed her head in front of her as an apology. Marriage must really change a woman - the sister she used to work for would never have bothered apologising! She and Sun Haowei had that in common.

"...It's fine," Lady Yu said. Her face betrayed no other emotion. Her tears had long dried, and the swelling had gone down. She was back to being Lady Yu, professional housekeeper.

"Okay now that you're not mad, I have something I need to ask you."

Lady Yu twitched internally. So the apology was just a way to gather more information? Was it even sincere? She gritted her teeth, but decided to let it go. No matter what, this woman was still a guest that she had to serve.

"Where is Bi Yu's tablet? Or is that too lousy for Sun Haowei?"

"She doesn't have one."

"Okay so she has a grave instead. Where is it? I didn't see it on the grounds."

Lady Yu shook her head. "There's nothing of her on these grounds. No portraits, no photos, nothing. There's only a headstone in the cemetery."

Bi Yu truly had nothing. Yue Niang stared dumbfounded. Next to her, her husband was similarly appalled.

"So there's no ancestral tablet. No headstone either." Yue Niang repeated bleakly, as though doing so might make it make more sense. "Is Sun Haowei insane? What kind of heartless bastard is he?"

"He took it terribly when she died." Lady Yu said. It was a gross understatement. That man had sunk himself into work in grief, alienated his sons and left them with trauma of their own.