Chapter 490 - 322: Suspicion_2
Ran Yan was a generation older than them and logically should sit in the main seat, so she didn’t refuse. Just as she knelt down, a young woman around sixteen or seventeen said, "Aunt, why is there only one maid by your side?"
Ran Yan looked at her indifferently and replied, "These days I’ve been attending to the lady dowager, who doesn’t like to be surrounded by people, so I sent the maids away." After a pause, Ran Yan continued, "Performing filial duties should be done personally, to ensure it’s properly done. Why, niece-in-law, why do you ask?"
Clearly, this woman was looking for trouble. Ran Yan responded with a direct counter.
Ran Yan didn’t like using the maids sent by the Xiao Family, so she privately bought a few clean young girls and entrusted them to Nanny Xing for training. In the future, when Wan Lu and Ge Lan married, Ran Yan would have reliable personal maids she could trust, but for now, she was temporarily short-staffed.
However, she couldn’t be careless with how she spoke about this matter to members of the Xiao Family. Phrases like "liking quiet" and "disliking too many attendants" were considered disdainful; these noblewomen wouldn’t see it as refined, but rather as miserly and petty.
"I was just asking casually," the young woman said somewhat awkwardly as she glanced at another woman in her twenties beside her.
She must have been instigated by someone, trying to put Ran Yan in her place, but Ran Yan didn’t take it to heart, knowing very well that these people didn’t really see her as a senior. They were probably just curious about her.
Ran Yan’s cold countenance seemed to chill the atmosphere in the pavilion by a few degrees. Everyone held their breath, stealing glances at her from time to time, creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere.