The cicadas in Tingyu Pavilion were making an irritatingly loud racket. Jiang Rou violently flung the half-copied *Admonitions for Women* onto the floor. The xuan paper was blown up by the draft, its wet ink twisting into bizarre shapes in the sunlight. Qiuju walked in carrying a bronze basin, and startled by the mess all over the floor, she gave a nervous start, splashing clean water over the hem of her skirt.
"Useless trash!" Jiang Rou kicked over an embroidered stool, her iron chains rattling loudly. "You can't even carry a basin of water properly. What use is there in keeping you around?"
Qiuju dropped to her knees with a thud, her tears splashing against the green bricks. "Please spare your anger, Miss! Just now, word came from the front hall that the Marquis intends to pick someone from the mansion to take charge of the silk shop and grain store in West City..."
Chapter 80