Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Winter passed into spring; summer gave way to the ruin of autumn.

I had been washing clothes at the Laundry Bureau for three years.

My bean-sprout frame had gradually stretched taller, and my sallow, gaunt face had begun to show a trace of prettiness.

Little by little, I had grown into a young woman who could just about be presented in public.

Baozhu was excellent with embroidery. Over the past few years, more and more palace maids had come seeking her work.

After setting aside the silver she had to offer Matron Zhao, she had saved up a fair bit of private money.

Under the moonlight, she counted it over and over, her eyes shining with satisfaction.

“When I leave the palace, I’m going to use this money to open a wonton shop. Then I’ll keep a handsome young man, have a chubby baby, and live out my days in peace and happiness.”

Baozhu was already nineteen. According to palace rules, she could be released in another six years.

She had entered the palace six years ago. By now, she no longer knew what the world outside looked like.

I thought of Capital City, overrun with refugees, and then of that chipped porcelain bowl.

The words stumbled around in my mouth, and by the time they reached my lips, all that came out was a listless sentence. “I don’t want to leave the palace.”

In the palace, we had duties to perform, but at least we were fed and clothed.

If I were sent back out, who knew? I might end up nothing but a pile of starving bones.

Baozhu found it strange. “Don’t you miss your parents?”

Parents?

Those two words were far too foreign to me.

Even the monkey in the storyteller’s tales could call a stone his mother.

But I alone had none.

Since I was small, I had struggled to survive in the mud.

If I had to say I had any, then a steaming white bun was my father, and a fragrant bowl of meat soup was my mother.

Sadly, such immortal delicacies had only graced my mouth once, when Young Master Zhao married and his family held an open banquet.

Someone like me was destined to have no fate with parents.

For some reason, my throat felt tight. I lowered my head and stayed silent for a long while.

Then I asked her, “Sister Baozhu, is it really so bad to stay in the palace?”

Baozhu’s hand paused over the silver. She froze.

There were not many paths open to a palace maid.

If she did not want to leave the palace, there were even fewer.

Either she was lucky enough to catch the eye of some consort and be assigned to serve at her side; if that mistress lived long, then the maid might pass her days safely and smoothly along with her.

But if that mistress’s life was short, then the maid could only pray for herself.

Of course, there were better prospects too.

Like Jinxin of Chunhua Palace, who danced in the snow in the imperial garden, caught His Majesty’s eye, and was directly granted the title of Beauty.

The night breeze stirred, brushing teasingly over the heart, making it itch.

Baozhu leaned over the water vat and gazed at her reflection.

On the rippling surface appeared a lovely face.

Eyes like autumn waters, lips like cherries-it was clearly the face of a rare beauty.

But the beauty in the water faintly knitted her brows and shook her head. “Qiuguo, I don’t wish to stay in the palace.”

“That glory and wealth may look tempting, but who knows which day you might fall from the clouds?”

“Rather than fine clothes and rich food won through endless schemes, I’d rather have a life where I can sleep easy and do as I please.”

Just then, a grasshopper leaped into the water vat, startling a circle of ripples across the surface.

The beautiful face that had seemed so graceful and alluring a moment ago was already gone.

Flowers in a mirror, the moon on water-in the end, it was all an empty illusion.

But none of us expected Baozhu’s words to become a prophecy.

The very next day, something terrible happened in the palace.

Jinxin, who had only recently been granted the title of Beauty, died in her own palace.

And the silk stole tied to the beam was the very one Baozhu had made.