Third POV
"Gosh, I could sure go for some good street-stall meat skewers right now." The green hair girl looked up at the overcast sky and sighted.
"Same here." The soft black hair girl agreed with her younger sister.
The two girls lived in a world that was at once a place of unparalleled, sparkling beauty and a noxious, suffocating cage, and foul.
"It's already been three months since then... Huifen." The green hair girl says to her older sister as Huifen walking beside her.
"Yeah, I wonder our Pa eating properly his mental health." Huifen mumbled.
One day when they was out in the forest picking medicinal herbs, and there had met three kidnappers. They were after women for the royal palace, and in a word, they offered the world's most unpleasant marriage proposal.
Now, it wasn't that Huifen and Maomao wouldn't be oaid, and with a couple years' work, there was of hope that they might even be able to come back to their hometown.
As Huifen questing herself that what did the kidnappers do with the young women they captured in the first place. Sometimes they might sold the girls to the eunuchs, putting the ptoceeds toward a night of drinking for themselves. She was very disgusted about it. But, Huifen found out herself caught up in their schemes of the reason.
Huifen and Maomao would never in their life have wished to have anything to with the hougong, the residence of the imperial women.
The palce was very thick with the odors of makeup and perfume as to trun the stomach, and more full of thei thin, forced smiles of the court women in their beautiful dresses. The stifling reek of cosmetics beautiful robes, fake smiles.
As Maomao says in her thoughts. ' The palace and the pleasure district are not all that different.'
Maomao blieved there was no toxin as a woman's smile. That one rule held true whether in the halls of the most ornate palace or the squalid chambers of the cheapest of pleasure house.
A garden of women to bear the emperor's children the inner court is seprated form the rest of the palace.
Huifen and Maomao hefted the laundry basket at their feet and headed into a nearby building. The dreary central courtyard housed flagstone-paved washing areas, where the court's servants who were neither man nor woman did laundry by the armload.
However, men are explicitly forebidden to enter. The only exceptions to the rule are the emperor himself, his blood relations and the eunuchs those who, having lost a certain treasure are no longer considered men.
They set down their basket and spotted another one sitting in the next building over. But clean laundry that had dried in the sun.
Maomao says in her thoughts. 'It just had to happend when Huifen and I'd finally become an apothecary too... Whether we're sold into servitude or sent in the place of another, we know not... But I'd hoped to live out our years never once getting involved with the inner court.'
As the two girls glanced at the wooden tag from the handle it bore an illustration of a leaf along with a number. Huifen wasn't surprising some of them had been brought here by force, after all. The rudiments of etiquette were beaten into them before they arrived, letters were not.
But, Maomao reflected, if half the girls that got snatched from the countryside turned out ot know how to read it. However, Huifen and Maomao was a serving girls, a lowly they didn't even have a offical rank yet. While Hufien carried the basket as Maomao picked up the basket with its tag depicting a plum flower and the number 17, and trunedled off as quickly as she could manage.
Huifen sighed in tiredness. ' We do need to finish this job. If not then we're both getting tired of this.'
"Psst, excuse me you two..." They both heard as servant girl and trun to her.
"Do you need help with something?" Hufien asked the servent girl.
The servent girl nodded. "Yes, this tag... can you tell me which chamber it's for?"
"...hmm." Maomao hummed as she looked at the tag depicting a different flower and the number is 9.
As Maomao pointed out at the direction and says. "It has Wisteria and a nine, so... It's that way."
The servent girl looked at Maomao's direction and smiled. "Oh, over there! You're a life saver!"
After the servent girl thank them and she walked up to the other servent girl. As the two girls stairs at the servent girl. Like the servent girl, most of the women here can't read. In prepration to work at the palace, etiquette is drilled into everyone beforehand. But, education is a whole other story. Teaching every half of these country girls to read would be quite the achievement. However, maids like Maomao and Hufien have, on rare occasions gone on to become low-ranking concubines.
Hufien noitced Maomao thinking that her possessed only ruddy, frekled skin and limbs with all the elegance of withered branches.
"Maomao, I know what you thinking inside your pretty head." Hufien says to Maomao as she looked at her older sister.
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"You been thinking about your body shaming and your looks as well. I don't think you are not ugly, you are a unique masterpiece. Yourself confidence is huge and people can see it. Not their own beauty." She explained.
Maomao says. " Thank you for the support, Hufien. Not that I'm interested or anything. You can count me out."
"However, we need to get this job done." She added as Hufien and Maomao still continue walking for heading out to the building.
Hufien says in her thoughts. ' If the servent can't reade cause there low-ranking. But, If Maomao and i can read, it just means there's more work waiting for us. When all's said and done.'
"You know i was thinking that we fine sticking with what are we're doing now. An increase in our wages would only serve to further line the pockets of our abductors, after all." Maomao explained to Hufien.
"So you're saying that if we keep our head down and doing the work. We'll be able to get out of this palace sooner or later." Hufien says.
"Yes, we're sticking to the plan for now." We kept walking as Maomao kicked a rock in her way.
As the two girls put down the basket and Maomao knocked discreetly on the door. A lady-in-waiting opened it and snapped. "Just leave it there." Within, a consort redolent of the sweetest perfume was sipping some alcohol form a cup.
The two girls traded the basket in their arms for the two sitting outside the door and went bacl to the laundry area.
Hufien kinda worried that she didn't know what was going to happen to them.
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At the maidservant of the inner court dinng hall
Hufien POV
"So do you think it really is a curse?!"
"Xiaolan, what are you talking about?" I questioned her as i eating the soup and next to Maomao. 'Many rumors spread like wild fire in the imperial court'.
Maomao sipped her soup and listened. Hundreds of serving girls were having their breakfast in the vast dining room. The meal consisted of soup and a porridge of mix grains.
As Xiaolan shouted in shocked. "You mean you havent heard?!"
I noitced that Xiaolan lean towards us as she whispered. "The heirs born in the inner court keep dying, one after the other! So far, three of the Empror's children have died soon after they were born."
"Don't you think that's odd?" Xiaolan asked.
The heirs born to the consorts and concubines. But, one died just piror to the current Emperor taking the throne and two died after. All of three died in infancy. In the present the crown prince, who is three months old and a six month old princess are still alive. It is possible it's poisoning I would be my best guess. But, could it have been some kind of sickness or blood born.
The crown prince's mother is conort Lady Lihua, who makes her residence in the biggest palace in the inner court. However, it seems the Emperor favors Lady Gyokuyo, mother to the princess.
I started to think about this situation that the Emperor doens't have an Empress, so i might say that the mother of the crown prince possesses the most power.
Xiaolan muttered. "And I heard that the doctor went and called on both consort Gyokuyo and consort Lihua's residences! It really must be a curse!"
I rose a brow at Xiaolan. 'Hmm, there no way it's a curse in our existing.'
"Do you know how the last Emperor died?" Maomao asked in curiously.
"Um... I don't know the details. But, i heard everyone grew weaker and weaker during his time. And now something similar's happening again. It seems consort Lihua condition is the more serious of the two." She explained.
"Lady Lihua herself?" I asked.
"Yes, its' mother and child both." Xiaolan added.
"So I'm told. She's been given the headache, stomach pains, and has evern been suffereing from nausea." Staisfied that she had divulged all her newest gleanings, Xiaolan busied herself with another task. By way fo thanks, Maomao gave her some tea flaover with licorice. Maomao made it with some herbs that grew in acorner of the central garden.
While I have some ideas as to what illnesses these might portend, but I'm not to sure yet. ' I think Maomao and i might just to take a peek at how they're doing'.
As Maomao and i was determined to finish our work as quickly as possible. The rear palace was in fact a vast palce, housing more than two thousand women and five hundred eunuchs on the premises. Lowly workers like us slept ten to a room, but the lower ranked consorts had their own chambers, mid ranking ones had whole building to themselves, and the highest ranking consorts virtually had their own palaces, sprawling complexes including dining halls and gardens, large enough to dwraf a small town.
We rarely left the eastern quarter where we to leave unless we was sent on some errands. After we delivered the basket of laundry as quickly as we could, and then a red lacquered building of the central area came into view.
"It's big on the inside too." Maomao says.
"Yeah, I'm guessing the palace that house the offspirng of the high ranking consorts. Individual pillars here are more elegent than those on the eastern side of the court..." As i explained to my younger sister but i trailed off that we noticed there a crowd of servent girls.
"Hmm?" Maomao hummed in confusion as we go to the crowds to see what's the situation is about to investigate.
All of the sudden, we heard a slap sound effects and see the upset woman was the most powerful person in the rear palace, the one hanging her head the next most powerful, and the fussy woman were attendants. The man interceding was the doctor i would guess.
As the gathered from the whispering we both heard and the general state of thing around us.
"THIS IS ALL YOU DOING! YOU BORE A DAUGHTER." Lady Lihua anger is a frightful thing. Her eyes as furious as a deomn's, set in a face as pale as a ghost's, were truned upon Lady Gyokuyou, who held a hadn to her cheek. There was a red mark under her finger.
"SO NOW YOU INTEND TO KILL MY SON WITH THIS VILE CURSE DON'T YOU?!"
"My Xiaoling suffers in the smae way. So suerly you know that's not true." Lady Gyokuyou answered in calmly.
I heard Maomao whispering to me. "They're at each other's throats."
I nodded in agreement as i looked back at the doctor was the reason intrecession had been needed between the two women. He had been spending all his time looking in here at the young prince, and Lady Gyokuyou was appealing in her daughter's behalf. ' Hmm, the edunch trying to get between them... is the doctor a physician?'
As I noticed that he looked caught between trying to make an excuse, and total speechlessness. As for Lady Lihua looked away from the doctor. I sloftly glared a little bit at this scene. ' How can he not yet realized it after treating them for so long? The doctor must be a fool.'
I glance at Lady Lihua and noticed that her ghostly pallor and frail appearance. ' After Xiaolan explained to us at the dinning hall about Lady Lihua illness. This is absolutely not... a curse of any kind... it might be poison.'
"Maomao, we need warn them that is poison." I muttered to Maomao as we turned away to get out of the crowds.
She nodded her head and mumbled with lifted her chin on her finger tips." I was thinking the same thing. But, if only we had something to write with..."
We're busy thinking it, in fact that i didn't noticed the dark purple long haired person passing by.
As we went to our room that we ahd to share with other girls I ripped the inside of my skirt as Maomao started writting it.
Maomao finished we went outside to ye it on some flower and put it near one of the princesses windows to make sure they get the messag that the the powder is poisoned.
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It's been less than a month after that incident. Unfortunately, the crown prince passed away. After losing Lady Lihua's son faded so musch that not even a shadow of her former beauty remains. It just goes to show how trivially a maid's warning is taken. But it appears that my efforts were in vain.
" Hmm, i would guess that Lady Lihua was the one crying so loud last night becasue of her baby death?" I said with a small smiled knowing how it fel for someone you loved even if knwoing them for a bit die.
"Yeah... She must've not read the letter." Maomao replied as her friend just ate.
I finished up my food same with them two and gte up putting away my dishes and to hang out the washing next as Maomao and her friend got to sit down. I was almost done the last hang someone spoke aloud to me and Maomao.
"Ah finally, there you two are. You two are supposed to report within the matrin fo the serving women. Immediately." The man says.
"Huh?" Maomao confusion at that.
"We're being summoned?" I asked the man.
"Yes. Please report to the domestic service director's headquarters." The man ordered as he walking away from us to see another servant girl. I looked at Maomao and back at the man and sweat drop as we got with a group of serving women there.
"Go on in." As we enter a room waiting for someone to appear.
I mumbled to Maomao. "Why do you think they summoned us?"
"I don't know but it can't be good news... or maybe they just want more workers." Maomao mumbled. We were at the very back as the servant looked at us.
"i would like to thank you all on such shrot notice."I hear a footsteps coming this way as Maomao and I look at the person.
All of the girls look at him admiring his beauty.
"And who's this arrogant women supposed to be?" Maomao says in sync but in whisper to me so they cannot hear us.
"Umm... Maomao. I think that's not a woman unfortunately." I answered back to Maomao.
"I am Jinshi the manager of the reil palace." He's introducing himself in politely.
"That's a guy?" Maomao whisper yell to me as I sweat dropped at her response.
We just watch as he started writing down something. Then he lifted the paper.
' You with the freckles and, the one with blue eyes, both remain here.'
We read the paper and my eyes widened in shocked along with Maomao. 'What... we been caught. But, how does he know it's us?!'
"That's all for today. You may return your posts." Jinshi says calmly.
' I started to realized that the message from the other day... Ah! I completely forgot that we are the only servants who can read!'
Maomao and I try to blend in with the others to leave but Jinshi puts a hand on both of out our shoulders.
"Now, now you two. I though i told you both to stay put hmm? I am Jinshi. Come along quietly, now."
I noticed Maomao just hits his hand off me as she try wipping of his touch. Then we start following Jinshi. Maomao was holding my hand reassuring me.
"How very odd. You two been taken for an illiterate this entire time." Jinshi says as Maomao glare at him.
"Yes, my older sister and I humble birth, so i think there's been some kind of mistake." Maomao says. I noitced that we enter the Jade Palace, the residence of Lady Gyokuyou.
As we enter we bow our heads down and enter swiftly and go up the stairs as we pass some doors until we stop at one and Jinshi knock on it.
"Pardon me, my Lady." Jinshi says as someone from the other side of the door calmly tells us to ' do come in'
"I have brought the maids in question." As Jinshi opens the door we see Lady Gyokukyo holding her baby.
"Thank you for taking the time to find them." Lady Gyokukyo giggling anf smiling, she was healthy again which is relief for me. I noticed the baby makes some noises and i softly smiled a little at the baby. ' I'm really glad the baby is safe...'
I stop adoring the baby face. As Maomao and i bow our head down.
Maomao sweat drop and I says closing my eyes." We have done nothing to warrant. My lady humbling herself."
"That isn't so. A bow does not even begin to convey the depth of my grattude to you. You two are the one who saved my daughter life." Lady Gyokukyo says and looks at us.
"Forgtive our impudents but I think you might have the wrong person." I says calmly.
"Prehaps there has been a misunderstanding..." Maomao tries to help me with lie to get put of this situation.
I heard Jinshi says. "Consort Gyokukyo entrusted a certain something into my care, you see." unitl he had something on his long sleeve that made me feel of embarrassed.
"Isn't this fabric served from the girls clothing." Jinshi smirks. I slowly looked up seeing the fabric that he was holding it. "Well it does look... familiar. Your skirt wouldn't happen to be missing a piece, would it?" i look away embarrassed as he chuckled. ' He smart I'll give him that. I'd best come clean.'
"Yes i am quite certan this is the kind of fabric any palace girls would recognize. Especially one like yourself who does the laundry, tell me the truth, did you rip half your skirt for some paper?"
I sigh in defeat . " Yes, I'm the one rip half skirt to warn the lady." As i galring at Jinshi still embarrassed about my confront.
"Now that we astablished that it was you two, would you two care to explain why you put that flower on the window." Jinshi asked as his smirk fell.
Maomao explained. " That day... we both defused what had killed the Emperor's heirs and sent word to both consorts. It's simple, really. Just discontinue use of that expensive face powder with the toxic ingredients." As she looks at the face powder makeup where the table at and walking towards it. "In the pleasure district, where we once lived there were many courtesans who used the same."
As Maomao opened it and I added. " Most of them, lost their lives to the posion in this stuff, which ate away at them until there was nothing left."
"Maomao and I just happened to see firsthand the fate that awaited the courtesans, who refused to stop wearing the powder. They weighted their lives equally with their beauty and for that, they lost both. I was reminded of what happened to them. We was once an apothecary, you see... What would my Lady have us do now?" I remember back then Maomao and I watch Pa helping the courtesan, who is laying on the bed with her sickness.
I went back to focuing on the baby again bringing my head back up slightly until i heard Lady Gyokuko says with a smile on her face. " Well in this case from this day forth. You two be my new lady-in-waiting!"
"Huh?..." Maomao and I just stand there sweat dropping.