Chapter 3

The next morning, I got up early.

A palace maid’s meals were simple: all the thin rice porridge and steamed buns you wanted.

Anything better was out of the question.

Even so, the maids and eunuchs slurped their food with obvious relish.

A little round-faced maid noticed me staring and smiled shyly.

“Our home flooded. We went hungry. It’s so hard to get enough to eat…”

I ate my dry bun, looking as miserable as the meal.

The imperial kitchens supplied them all. Steamed at dawn and distributed among the palaces, they had long since gone cold.

Everything here depended on the Emperor’s favor.

Only favored consorts could establish private kitchens and eat separately.

Positions in the imperial kitchens were hereditary, passed down among imperial relatives. They had grown increasingly careless over the years, and even the Emperor could hardly object.

Skimping and misconduct were commonplace. Unfavored consorts could only grit their teeth and endure it.

My mistress came from a family of generals. Her father guarded the frontier and held considerable regional power.

So even without favor, she had been raised to Noble Consort.

Her rank was exalted; her treatment was still mediocre.

His Majesty worked diligently and seldom visited the inner palace.

When he did, some other “vixen” usually lured him away.

The matron ground her teeth. “That new Beauty Zhu learned some low trick somewhere and sang our master away! And Her Ladyship had prepared a whole table of good dishes!”

“Then Consort Li waited on His Majesty’s route into the palace and performed a shameless dance. He meant to come here, but she coaxed him away!”

“And Consort Rong… hmph! She thought herself clever, snatching a bolt of scented silk from our mistress and making a dress. A waste of effort. His Majesty doesn’t care for those gaudy colors at all!”

Matron Zhang raged through the “glorious achievements” of every consort.

I slurped my watery porridge while she exhorted us to help our mistress win favor.

I wanted to laugh.

She made the Emperor sound like a perfect gentleman. In reality, wasn’t he simply lustful?

A taste for beautiful women? That I could work with!

In my previous life, I had been a fashion blogger.

But I didn’t style myself. I styled other people.

I wasn’t especially pretty, nor did I have a great figure, but I was surrounded by beautiful women.

None of them cared to dress up.

One deliberately made herself look drab because her husband preferred a dutiful wife and mother.

Another was devoted to research and neglected her appearance, only to have the “Daji” in her team steal her results.

Worse still, a man on a blind date mocked one of them as “a floor-sweeping palace maid from the last century.”

I didn’t get it.

Those long legs, slender waists, swanlike necks, and smooth, fair skin!

How were they less presentable than those acne-covered “gentlemen” who stank of smoke, grime, and sweat?

So when I began filming, I recruited these beauties for makeover videos.

Naturally, the results were… fantastic!

I became a popular streamer, then died suddenly after staying up late writing video scripts.

Now, among the palace’s eunuchs and maids, I still had dark circles under my eyes.

Had I known I would travel to ancient times on the night seven celestial bodies aligned, I would definitely have gone to bed at ten!

Regrets were useless now.

In an age when human lives counted for nothing, all I wanted was to live a little better.

The woman beside me had snored last night. I’d barely slept.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I considered ways to survive.

However I worked it out, I could only return to my old profession: “Extreme Makeover: the Forbidden City’s Favorite Consort!”

I’d transformed so many beauties before. Why couldn’t I transform a consort now?

If she won favor, we maids would rise with her.

If she was pleased, wouldn’t my own conditions improve?

My career ambition stirred at once.

If dawn hadn’t still been hours away, I’d have gone looking for “tourmaline” immediately!

At last daylight came. Matron Zhang lectured us junior maids.

I listened anxiously until she finally left.

I was about to slip off to find the stone when another maid stopped me.

“Yuan’er, it’s your turn to clean today.”

I was a hairdressing maid. Since when did I clean courtyards?

I started to object, then looked up, recognized the resemblance between her face and Matron Zhang’s, and fell silent.

Fine. Cleaning it was. It shouldn’t take long.

Even a minor palace servant who made it this far was shrewd.

Matron Zhang had been born into the Noble Consort’s household and accompanied her from home. She was infinitely more valued than servants assigned by the palace.

Her daughter Jinzhi shared that special status.

I would endure it. I had to!

But I had underestimated a maid’s workload yet again.

Feudal employers didn’t treat workers as people. We had to be oxen and horses, chickens and ducks.

One moment, we bent over our work like old plow oxen; the next, we were chased around the courtyard like poultry.

Cleaning meant sweeping and raising a feather duster to remove every speck.

Even the moss between the paving stones had to be scraped out.

As I knelt scraping, Jinzhi swayed past and gave a haughty snort.

“Clean it properly! No slacking!”

I kept my head down, too dispirited to argue.

She was only seventeen or eighteen. Why be so overbearing?

Why make life harder for another fellow drudge?

At last she left. I finished scraping and stood, then caught something in a crack from the corner of my eye.

…Was I seeing things?

Why was something sparkling there?

I narrowed my eyes and bent down for a closer look.

Found without even searching!

I beamed.

A tourmaline stone was lodged in the paving! Thick moss and neglect had concealed it; now the tiny speck shone in the sunlight.

A rare treasure indeed.

I carefully pried it loose, cupped it in my palm, and blew on it.

My life was saved!