Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The matron in charge picked and chose among us.

The pretty girls with quick wits and sweet tongues were all assigned to serve in the Eastern and Western Six Palaces.

As for the rest-the dull, shabby ones like me-we were sent to the Laundry Bureau.

Winter was nearly upon us. The well water was bone-chilling, and the clothes in the wooden tubs were piled up like little mountains.

Naturally, a lowly girl like me would never be allowed to wash the garments of the noble masters and mistresses.

The heaps stacked around me were all eunuchs’ clothes, reeking of sour sweat so badly they made me want to vomit.

But I still had to wash them.

Numb from head to toe, I washed from dawn until dark. By the time I finished, all ten of my fingers had swollen up like radishes.

Dinner was long gone.

Even the vegetable broth at the bottom of the bowls had been wiped clean with bread. There wasn’t so much as a single grain of rice left on the table.

I had thought being a beggar was hard. I had not expected being a palace maid to be even harder.

Moonlight fell over me like a robe of snow.

The cold spread from my fingertips to the crown of my head, then seeped into my heart, and finally curled back into my stomach.

I did not even have the strength to cry.

The palace maids of the Laundry Bureau all slept on one long communal bed.

One glance down the row showed everyone lined up neat and proper.

I found an empty spot beneath a quilt, curled up, and crawled in. I had barely drifted toward sleep when a bamboo switch struck me across the backside.

“Third rule of the palace: palace maids must sleep on their sides. Legs splayed open like that-what do you think you look like?”

Half of Matron Zhao’s body was hidden in the dark, making her look like a demon from hell.

Only then did I realize that all the other maids were indeed lying on their sides.

So, trembling, I clutched my stinging backside and obediently turned onto my side.

Matron Zhao gave a cold snort. After patrolling for a while longer, she finally left.

But sleeping on one’s side had its own difficulties.

When I had been lying on my back, the hunger had not seemed quite so obvious. The moment I turned sideways, my empty belly caved in and pressed against itself, rumbling like an old ox.

The sliver of moon visible through the window crack looked more and more like a piece of white jade cake.

The little bird perched on the treetop would surely smell wonderful if roasted.

I lay there in a daze with my eyes open, like a starving wolf whose eyes shone green.

Until the next instant, something was shoved into my mouth-cool, hard, and sweet.

My jaws clamped down. I bit off a piece.

Ah! It was a cold steamed bun.

The girl beside me looked at me helplessly, her voice fainter than a cicada’s chirp. “Eat it and hurry up and sleep! Stop drooling all over my side!”

I turned my head and saw that the pillow towel was wrinkled and damp, looking like a bed someone had peed on.

A little shame rose in my heart, but at least my stomach was no longer empty.

That girl’s name was Baozhu. Her job was to deliver and collect clothes for the palace maids of the Eastern and Western Six Palaces.

Baozhu had been in the palace for a long time, and even before Matron Zhao, she had some standing.

Seeing that I could never finish washing all the clothes each day, at first she merely saved me some leftovers.

Later, she could no longer bear to watch. She went to Matron Zhao’s room.

When she came back out, there was a faint smugness in her expression. “I spoke with Matron Zhao. From now on, you don’t have to wash the eunuchs’ clothes anymore. You only need to wash the palace maids’ clothes.”

When she said this, Baozhu’s tone was perfectly flat, as if she were talking about some utterly ordinary matter.

But I clearly saw that the pair of pearl earrings at her ears was gone.

Washing palace maids’ clothes was wonderful.

They were cleaner and far less troublesome.

Unlike those eunuchs’ garments, which had to be washed three times and rinsed three times more.

My days became much easier.

I could make it to meals every day too.

There were many rules in the palace and many chores as well, but when it came to food, the palace was extremely generous.

Eight palace maids shared each table, with two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and all the rice one could eat.

Compared to begging outside the palace, this was practically life among the immortals.

Every meal, I ate until my belly was round.

At first, Baozhu kept urging me to eat more. Later, when she sensed something was not right and feared I would make myself sick, she only allowed me four steamed buns and two bowls of vegetables per meal.

Aside from washing clothes, Matron Zhao also began allowing me to help with other errands.

For example, delivering clothes to the Eastern and Western Six Palaces together with Baozhu.

The imperial palace was enormous. The beauties and consorts of each palace all lived in those resplendent halls of gold and jade.

People of our status were not allowed inside.

We could only wait at the second gate for Jinxin, a second-rank palace maid from the outer courtyard, to come collect the clothes.

Jinxin looked extremely pleased to see us.

Her delicate hands rummaged through the folded clothes. Only after she felt something hidden inside did she smile in satisfaction.

“That’s right. This is it.”

She untied her purse and took out a small piece of broken silver for Baozhu.

“You handle errands very well. If my sisters need anything in the future, I’ll come find you again.”

Baozhu pinched the silver between her fingers and watched Jinxin leave with a smile.

“What was inside those clothes?” I asked, rather curious.

Baozhu turned her head and looked around warily. Only then did she lean close to my ear, all mysterious.

“It was a pibo.”

“When I have nothing to do, I make a few embroidered pieces to earn extra money. Half a month ago, Jinxin asked me for one of those.”

I knew what a pibo was.

Back when I begged on the main street, I had seen the top courtesan of Spring Breeze House dance. That loose, trailing strip of fabric draped at her waist, fluttering in the wind-that was a pibo.

But Jinxin was a second-rank palace maid. Though she had some dignity, she still had to serve her mistress in daily life. A pibo was beautiful but useless. What did she want it for?

I grew even more curious.

Baozhu tucked the silver into her purse and turned to glance at me.

Her gaze seemed both pitying and relieved. “In this palace, there are some things you’re better off not understanding.”

The palace road stretched long ahead.

Baozhu walked in front, as sure-footed as an old horse that knew the way.

I chased after her with the clothes in my arms.

For the first time in my life, I learned to keep my mouth shut.