62

She had deliberately chosen this hour to come here, naturally intending to find fault.

Yet she never expected that Meng Qingyue would actually keep the latrine in such pristine order. Even the wooden paper and sticks used after relieving oneself were neatly arranged, and she had somehow managed to find a few osmanthus flowers, whose faint fragrance seemed to dilute the foul odor of the latrine to a certain extent.

Such a conscientious work ethic left her entirely unable to pick a single flaw.

Seeing Meng Qingyue looking exhausted, the latter slightly bent her knees, hoisted two large night-stools onto her shoulders, and stumbled outward.

The nun’s eyes rolled, and the young nun following behind immediately caught her drift, stepping forward briskly with a sudden "bang"—

With a "bang," filth splattered everywhere. Meng Qingyue turned her head with great effort, only to see the latrine she had spent the entire morning meticulously cleaning now dotted with the traces of urine and excrement.

A whole morning, two full hours—she had squatted on the ground, leaving no single corner untouched, finally completing the arduous task.

Only to be plunged back into mire and filth once more.

The night-stool kicked away by the young nun was launched with vicious accuracy, slamming heavily against the wall before bouncing onto the floor. As a result, the filth within splattered across the walls and ground, even staining their garments.

The senior nun stepped back, disdainfully flicking the hem of her skirt, and then surveyed the ensuing chaos with the corners of her mouth twitching upward in a slight smile.

Filthy as it was now, getting it clean again would take at least another few hours of hard labor.

She was finally satisfied.

Turning her head, she issued imperious commands, "Are you blind? Where is this place cleaned properly? Meng Qingyue, I see you simply wanted to slack off on purpose!"

"Clean it all over again for me! You are not allowed to eat lunch until you finish, and I will come back later to inspect..."

Before her voice faded away, a series of muffled clatters resounded—the rumbling of wooden buckets rolling across the floor, followed by the sharp gasp of the young nun—abruptly cutting off the words the senior nun had yet to finish.

The latrine plunged into an instantaneous silence.

When the senior nun finally reacted, her expression shifted drastically. She whipped around, staring at Meng Qingyue in sheer disbelief, her lips trembling with rage, yet unable to utter a single word for the longest time.

Meng Qingyue, how dare she!

As a fallen daughter cast out by her own parents, the very fact that the Qingyun Taoist Temple spared her a bite to eat meant they were her ultimate benefactors!

Never mind feeling the slightest bit of gratitude, she was actually baring her claws here and dared to kick over all four night-stools!

Who gave her such audacity?

The senior nun trembled all over with fury. Seeing Meng Qingyue standing coldly and steadily in place, she raised her hand high, preparing to deliver a swift, vicious slap across her face. "You wretched hussy, I suppose you have no idea what I am capable of..."

Meng Qingyue firmly intercepted her wrist.

Then, under the senior nun’s incredulous gaze, she offered a cold, mocking smile. "What capability does the nun have that I am unaware of? I only know that the Abbess sent someone just a quarter of an hour ago to summon me to the main hall to see her old ladyship tomorrow."

"Even if I shouldn't be idle upon coming to Qingyun Temple, such chores ought to be assigned by the Abbess and the Abbess-in-charge. I wonder what exalted personage the senior nun fancies herself to be, putting on such a grand display of majesty here?"

"When I see the Abbess tomorrow and she asks what I did today, how would the nun prefer me to reply to her? There's no need for the nun to glare at me like that—you need only look at this filth-covered latrine to realize that hurrying up to clean it yourself is the most pressing matter at hand! After all, this was your chore to begin with, and if anyone discovers you shirking your duties like this, the Abbess is bound to scold you!"

Long after Meng Qingyue had walked far away, the senior nun was still standing in place with her chest heaving violently in rage, her voice trembling as she spoke. "Good, very good, Meng Qingyue! Is she threatening me? A wretched spawn unloved by her father and mother—how dare she threaten me...?"

The young nun beside her glanced at the overturned night-stools with filth splattered everywhere; cleaning it all up would undoubtedly require a tremendous amount of effort.

Timidly stepping forward, she tugged at the hem of the senior nun's robe. "Nun Changqiu, Sister Meng clearly isn't coming back to clean. We had better hurry and scrub the latrine... Otherwise, if the Abbess finds out our chores aren't finished, she's certain to reprimand us..."

The nun called Changqiu forced herself to catch her breath over and over again, feeling as though she had never suffered such stifling humiliation in her life.

She had originally intended to give Meng Qingyue a harsh reality check, never imagining that the supposedly submissive second young lady of the Meng family—whom the eldest Miss Meng had spoken of—would refute her with arguments so airtight she had no room for rebuttal!

Under the circumstances, there was truly nothing she could do to deal with Meng Qingyue right now!

Turning back to face the young nun's timid expression, she let out a long sigh. "Fine, fine, I know! You start cleaning first, I'll be there after I rest a moment!"

The young nun lowered her gaze submissively, knowing that Nun Changqiu merely wanted to slip away under false pretenses, and thus had no choice but to speak up once more. "But Nun, all these night-stools have been knocked over, and the temple will be sending another batch of night-stools by evening. If I'm left here alone, I'm afraid I won't finish cleaning even by midnight..."

...

She cautiously peeked at Nun Changqiu's gradually darkening, ashen complexion, and mustered her courage to say, "Nun... if the Abbess finds out..."

At the mere mention of the Abbess, Nun Changqiu completely lost her nerve.

No matter how unwilling, reluctant, or resentful she felt, she had no choice but to resign herself to fate and pick up the broom.

The young nun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

On the other side, Meng Qingyue worried that if she returned to her room, that nun would soon find another excuse to boss her around.

So she simply shouldered her basket and headed to the back mountain to gather firewood.

This chore was no lightweight task either, but compared to enduring the overwhelming stench inside the latrine, it was still far better.

As dusk deepened step by step, when she trudged back into Qingyun Temple, she deliberately cast a glance inside the latrine as she passed by.

Nun Changqiu was no longer there; only the young nun she had seen that morning remained, cleaning all by herself while panting for breath.

She paused in thought, then walked straight past.

This was also the first time Meng Qingyue had reined in her own compassion, no longer constantly thinking of and considering others.

The times were harsh, survival was difficult, and at the slightest misstep, one was left at the mercy of bullies.

Self-preservation was the highest strategy.

She huffed and puffed as she carried the basket of firewood on her back, struggling to dump it into the woodpile in the back room until her back felt too stiff to straighten properly.

Having been busy all day, she no longer even had the appetite to eat; she only wished to return to her room and rest as quickly as possible.

Dragging her weary legs, she pushed open the door, only to find Cuier, who had returned earlier, standing by the bed and weeping softly.

Perplexed, she asked, "Cuier, what's wrong?"

Turning around and seeing that it was Meng Qingyue, Cuier finally let out a sob, walked over hesitatingly, and spoke with an expression full of grievance, "Miss, our bedding has been drenched; it's sopping wet and completely unfit to sleep in..."