Nirvana Phoenix Girl - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next day, news reached the desolate courtyard that Nanny Xu had thrown herself against a pillar and died.

Along with the news came Nanny Chen, one of Madam Bai’s attendants.

She looked me up and down with disdain and said, “Come with me.”

I followed her in silence.

After a few steps, she turned back to look at me, her eyes utterly cold.

“The Xu woman wasted all that affection on you. She died for your sake, yet you don’t even ask a single question.”

Numbly, I raised my head and opened my mouth, but no words came out.

Nanny Chen looked surprised for a moment, then gave a soft laugh.

“So now you’re pretending to be mute. Let’s hope you can keep it up for the rest of your life.”

She led me to a wooden hut beside the stables. It was a room the manor had prepared for the horse slaves.

Nanny Chen pointed at the hut. “Although the Xu woman fought with her life to win you a way to survive, Madam truly does not wish to see you. From now on, you will serve as a horse slave in the household. As long as you don’t get any other ideas, Madam will let you keep your life.”

The stables stank terribly.

But aside from that, the food, clothing, and daily necessities were much better than what I had in the desolate courtyard.

There were several stables in the manor, and the one under my care was the smallest.

Hardly anyone came by on ordinary days, so I spent each day with a little brown foal for company.

Of course, people did still come from time to time.

There were many children and grandchildren of the household’s servants.

They often stood not far from me, watching as I silently drew water and fed the horses, then threw stones at me.

“Little Mute, can you really not talk?”

“What about crying? Can you make a sound when you cry?”

“Little Mute, cry for us. Your mother died, and your nanny died too. How come we’ve never seen you cry?”

“Oh, I know. They said this Little Mute was born cold-hearted, so she can’t cry at all.”

Later, I had no idea where they heard the gossip from.

But they grew bolder and began coming closer, making trouble around me.

If they weren’t kicking over my things, they were soaking my horse fodder.

They took pleasure in my humiliation.

Then they burst into loud laughter.

“She’s such a coward. How could she possibly be Master’s child?”

“Exactly. I’ve seen the Eldest Miss. Someone that dazzling-how could she possibly have a younger sister like this?”

“The people in the manor must be talking nonsense. She doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the Eldest Miss!”

Apart from that, life was still bearable.

Until I turned twelve.

One day, Nanny Chen suddenly knocked on my door.

She swept her gaze over me from head to toe, rolled her eyes in disgust, then turned and said, “The Eldest Miss is going to the western suburbs to race horses with the Crown Prince. Send over that little brown horse you’ve been raising.”