Chapter 268: Chapter-268

’SLAP!’

“You DAMN girl! What have you done to make Madam cry so terribly?!”

This slap was actually deeply personal—Heena had been wanting to hit this particular servant for days now. This was the same bitch who’d helped hide food, who’d given Maya the idea to starve Heena out.

And now Heena had the perfect excuse to vent her anger publicly without anyone questioning it.

The servant girl—her name was Meili—was completely shocked by being slapped.

She literally couldn’t believe it. Her hand went to her reddening cheek, her mouth open in outrage.

Maya herself felt choked inside, torn between her genuine grief over the fish and her shock at a lowly servant daring to strike HER personal maid.

“What are you DOING?!” Maya shouted at Heena.

Hearing that, Heena looked at Maya with wide, innocent eyes, then back at the servant girl Meili, and said urgently:

“Madam, I apologize, but I thought—because of this girl, you were crying! I thought she must have done something terrible to upset you so badly!”

She grabbed Meili by the collar and slapped her two or three more times in rapid succession.

’SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!’

“How DARE you make the Mistress cry like this! What did you do?! Confess!”

Meili was reeling from the blows, tears starting to stream down her own face now, trying to protect herself.

“I didn’t—I didn’t do anything! Stop hitting me!”

For Heena, hitting this particular servant didn’t cause any guilt or hesitation whatsoever.

This girl deserved every bit of pain and more for her role in the original story’s tragedy and for her current participation in trying to starve Heena.

Maya finally pushed Heena back forcefully and shouted, “You! How DARE you strike my personal servant without permission?!”

And Maya pushed with all her considerable strength—she was genuinely angry now, her grief over the fish mixed with outrage at this perceived insubordination.

If Heena had wanted to, she could have easily maintained her balance. Her martial training was more than sufficient to withstand a simple push from an untrained noblewoman.

But instead, she deliberately let herself fall backward dramatically.

She hit the ground hard, the impact jarring but not truly injurious, and looked up at Maya with a perfectly performed expression of hurt and confusion.

Tears filled her eyes instantly—real tears, because the impact had genuinely hurt her already-injured neck and the pain was intense.

“M-Madam…?” she said in a small, wounded voice. “I was only trying to help… I thought…”

And at that exact moment, a crowd had already gathered.

This wasn’t a coincidence.

You see, many girls and household neighbours couldn’t lift the heavy water pots by themselves. There was always someone who needed to help place the pot on the carrier’s head for the journey from the river.

And these people who work as —the lower-level servants, the day workers, the washerwomen ( some other rich houses or hotels)—they universally hated Maya.

Why? Because they couldn’t stand watching anyone live a better life than their own difficult existences.

In their eyes, Maya’s so-called “love marriage” was just an old man’s infatuation. They saw her as someone who’d abandoned her own family’s values to marry for status and money.

And they especially couldn’t understand why this woman was always wandering around the household, dressed in expensive clothes and makeup, causing their husbands and sons to become restless and distracted.

So when they heard crying and shouting from Maya’s courtyard, of course they came to see what was happening.

And what they saw was this:

Maya, the pampered Mistress, standing over a fallen servant girl who was clearly injured and crying.

Heena, the hardworking water-carrier they saw laboring every morning, lying on the ground looking hurt and confused.

Meili, Maya’s personal servant, standing there looking guilty and flustered.

The crowd’s sympathies were immediately clear.

—

An older washerwoman—Auntie Chen, who’d lived in the village for decades—spoke up first, her voice sharp with disapproval:

“Aiyo! Mistress, what are you doing?! That poor girl was only trying to help you, and you pushed her so violently?!”

Another woman chimed in, “Look at her! She’s already injured from her work—you can see the bruises on her arms! And now you’ve hurt her more?!”

A third voice, from one of the male day laborers: “The girl works harder than anyone else in this household. Every morning before dawn, carrying those heavy water pots. She never complains. And this is how you treat her?!”

Maya’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment. “You don’t understand! She struck my personal servant! She—”

“She was defending YOU!” Auntie Chen interrupted boldly. “She thought your servant had done something wrong to make you cry! She was being loyal!”

Another elderly woman—Auntie Wu—nodded vigorously. “And what were you crying about anyway? I heard it was over some FISH?! You’re crying over fish while this girl works herself half to death without enough food?!”

That comment caused murmurs of agreement through the crowd.

Someone else added, “We’ve all noticed the girl getting thinner. She’s not eating properly. And we’ve heard that you’ve been controlling all the kitchen food recently, Mistress…”

The implication was clear: Maya was deliberately starving a servant out of petty jealousy.

Maya tried to defend herself: “I’m fasting for my husband’s health! I’m being pious and—”

“Pious?!” Auntie Chen scoffed. “You’re living in luxury while making a hardworking girl starve! That’s not pious, that’s cruel!”

More voices joined in:

“The girl is always respectful, always works hard!”

“I’ve never seen her cause any trouble!”

“She even helped bury that abandoned baby girl in the mountains—I saw her do it! She’s got a kind heart!”

“And you’re treating her like this over FISH? When you are not sure yourself if she done it or not!”

Maya was no match for these village women in a verbal confrontation.

These were tough, practical women who’d lived hard lives, raised multiple children, survived famines and hardships. They had sharp tongues and no fear of speaking their minds.

Maya was just a pampered girl who’d married into wealth and had no real-world experience dealing with common people.

“I—this isn’t—you don’t understand the full situation!” Maya stammered, trying to regain control.

But Auntie Wu cut her off: “Oh, we understand perfectly, Mistress. We’ve seen this kind of thing before. A young wife gets jealous because her old husband looks at a pretty servant. So she makes the girl’s life miserable.”

“That’s not—!” Maya’s voice was getting shrill now.

“It IS true!” another woman declared. “Everyone’s noticed how the Master watches that girl. And everyone’s noticed how YOU’VE been treating her since!”

On the ground, Heena was still in her hurt, confused position, but when no one was looking directly at her face, her lips curled up in the tiniest smile of satisfaction.

This was exactly what she’d planned.

It was precisely the reason she’d come back to the household from the busy main street this morning instead of taking the quiet side path she usually used.

She’d ’wanted’ people to see this confrontation.

She’d ’wanted’ witnesses who would naturally take her side.

And it had worked perfectly.

Maya was completely surrounded now by disapproving villagers, all taking Heena’s side, all seeing Maya as a cruel mistress punishing an innocent, hardworking servant.

Auntie Chen actually helped Heena to her feet, supporting her gently.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep