Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When the mistress of the house suddenly sent someone to summon me, I was afraid she had found out about how I had offended the guest that day. My heart was in my throat, dreading that she had decided to settle accounts after the fact.

Who would have thought her attitude toward me would be exceedingly kind? She even rewarded me with two taels of silver, praising me because the Fish Playing Amid Lotuses I made had pleased the honored guest. Then she asked how I was getting on in the household and whether I lacked anything.

“This servant thanks Madam for her gracious reward. Everyone in the household treats me very well. It is only that I have been away from home for many years, and I miss my family.” I decided to test the waters in advance and see whether there was any chance I could redeem myself from servitude.

“Where is your home? If it is in the capital, I will grant you a few days’ leave so you may go back and visit your kin.”

“This servant is not so blessed. It is not in the capital.” I figured my chances of buying my freedom were probably slim. The things I made had pleased an honored guest, and I had been given such a generous reward. There was no way they would let me go easily.

If I kept tending the fires in the tea room, I could save for ten years and still not have enough money to redeem myself. If I wanted to earn more, I had no choice but to work hard and make a name for myself so the household would value me.

But servants valued by their masters were precisely the ones who would never be allowed to buy their freedom easily. It was a vicious cycle. From the moment I was brought into this mansion, my fate had no longer been my own.

It was just that I had still harbored fantasies before. I had thought I had a choice. I had thought that with my own cleverness and ability, I could obtain what I wanted.

Now that the other shoe had dropped, I felt neither sorrow nor joy. Even if I could not control my own fate, I would still do everything I could to live better inside this cage.

I continued working in the young ladies’ small kitchen, but these past few days had been rather strange. Every time Third Miss specifically asked for something, before long, a maid from Second Young Lady’s side would come with a message requesting a dish as well.

I was not the only cook in the small kitchen. There were four people responsible for making pastries alone.

I was only a newcomer. I did not know that many varieties, and my skills were certainly not comparable to those of the older matrons. Even if the young ladies liked trying something new, surely their orders would not collide at every single meal.

“Well, well. So now even the young lady can’t order you around? It was only one serving of pastries, yet we’ve waited an entire hour and still haven’t seen it delivered. The young lady sent me to hurry you along, and I couldn’t even find you.” I had just delivered pastries to Third Miss’s quarters and returned to the kitchen when I ran into Cuixi, the maid serving Second Young Lady, standing with her hands on her hips and scolding people.

“I truly am sorry. I had already accepted Third Miss’s errand first. I will prepare Second Young Lady’s order right away.” Cuixi had previously said that Second Young Lady wanted thousand-layer lotus pastries, but I had just taken on Third Miss’s task. There had to be some order of arrival.

Besides, it had not been an entire hour at all. It had not even been half an hour. She was deliberately making things difficult for me.

Three young ladies lived in this small courtyard. Only Second Young Lady was Madam’s biological daughter, so her status was a little more esteemed. The young lady herself seemed kind, but Cuixi, who served beside her, truly had an unpleasant way of speaking.

“Pah! You lowly thing. You slack off and play tricks, and now you dare drag a young mistress into it? Where did you get the nerve?” Cuixi rushed forward in one stride, grabbed me by the hair, and raised her hand to slap me across the face.

I was stunned by the blow. Before I even had time to speak, she slapped me again.

This was not the first time I had been beaten. In the hands of the human trafficker, I had suffered far worse. But it was the first time since entering the Duke’s Mansion, and it was the first time I had been targeted and beaten when I had done nothing wrong.

When something was this abnormal, there had to be a reason. In the past, Cuixi had only jabbed at me with a few sharp words. Today, she was being utterly unreasonable and had even resorted to violence. Was it only because she disliked me and wanted to pick a fight on purpose?

I did not fight back. I practically let Cuixi hit and curse me as she pleased, afraid that if I so much as raised a hand, the matter would change from “Cuixi bullied Xiaoman from the kitchen by relying on her status” into “Cuixi and Xiaoman brawled in the kitchen.”

Cuixi smashed up the kitchen for a while before several matrons finally pulled her out. By then, there were several obvious bloody handprints on my cheeks. She had hit and pinched me all over, and my hair had been yanked loose. I looked utterly wretched.

I wrapped my arms around my chest and crouched in the corner of the kitchen, trembling. Tears welled in my eyes as I sobbed quietly, looking every bit as if I had been wronged but did not dare cry out loud.

After the matrons sent Cuixi away, they saw my pitiful state and could not help feeling sorry for me. Everyone worked in the kitchen together. No matter how precious the maids serving beside the young ladies were, they still could not bully people like this.

“Go back and rest for today. I’ll ask someone to buy some ointment for bruises and injuries from outside. You don’t need to come in for the next few days. If the young ladies ask, I’ll explain for you.”

“Thank you, Mama Li. I don’t know how much medicine costs either. This is all I have on me right now.” With some difficulty, I took the purse from inside my clothes and handed it to the kindhearted Mama Li who had spoken up for me. She had also been the first to step in and stop Cuixi just now.

“You poor child. Who knows what deity you offended today? When you have the chance, remember to go to the temple and pray. Ask the Bodhisattvas and Immortals to protect you.”

“Mama Li, is it because the Second Young Lady thinks I didn’t serve well enough, so…”

“Don’t you dare say such nonsense.” Another mama hurriedly cut me off. “We servants mustn’t make wild comments about the young ladies’ affairs.”

“That’s right, that’s right. The Second Young Lady is the kindest of all. How could she possibly have the maids at her side lay hands on you? In my opinion, that Cuixi is just too full of herself and took her anger out on you.”

“Cuixi may be a first-rank maid serving the young ladies, but no matter how favored she is, she’s still a maid. I say we should go complain to the Second Young Lady. Otherwise, won’t they be free to bully us however they like from now on?”

“Yes, yes, let’s go complain to the Second Young Lady…”

The mamas sent me back to my room, then stormed off to lodge a complaint. I lay on the bed, perfectly clearheaded.

My injuries were not serious. They were all superficial wounds. I had only made them seem worse to emphasize that Cuixi had been bullying me one-sidedly.

I could sense that Cuixi had not merely wanted to beat me today. More than that, she had been trying to provoke me, to goad me into striking back.

The moment I fought with Cuixi, I might very well be beaten with the plank and then expelled from the mansion. Although I hoped to gain my freedom, I absolutely did not want to be beaten and thrown out.

If it really came to that, I might even be beaten to death on the spot.

But why would a maid by the Second Young Lady’s side try to drive me away in such a roundabout manner?

I carefully went over the recent events and the information I had.

The honored guest who had prompted Madam to summon me personally and reward me could not have been an ordinary person. The current Empress had come from the Duke’s Mansion. If the Empress had children, they would certainly be close to the household.

That young manservant’s voice had been high and thin, not quite like an ordinary man’s. If he was a eunuch, then the honored guest who had spoken to me that day…

Even if he was not the Crown Prince, he had to be a prince!

Was the Second Young Lady jealous that a noble person had spoken to me, so she ordered her maid to torment me and drive me out?

That made sense. The Second Young Lady was the legitimate daughter of the main branch. If the Duke’s Mansion wanted to produce another Empress, the only possible candidate would be the Second Young Lady, who had the highest status.

My thoughts were a tangled mess, and I even began to regret scheming my way into the inner courtyard. If I had honestly stayed in the outer courtyard kitchen, I could have lived well enough. How would I have ended up in such a dilemma, unable to advance or retreat?

While I was worrying, someone knocked on the door. I thought it was one of the kind mamas bringing me medicine, but the people who pushed the door open and came in were Cuixi and a young lady with an air of elegance from head to toe.

“Lie back down quickly. I have heard about what happened today. This maid of mine was too quick-tempered. I have already punished her and had her struck twenty times on the palms.”

“How could this servant dare trouble you, Young Lady? It was this servant who delayed the work.”

“You are a good maid. You work efficiently. Even Cousin Crown Prince has praised you. I know that. Since you suffered this calamity today, I have sent someone to invite an imperial physician from the palace to take a look at you.”

“How could this servant dare trouble an imperial physician from the palace?”

“It’s nothing. The imperial physicians often come to take pulses. This is merely having him take a look at you as well. In the end, it was someone at my side who caused you to lose face in the kitchen. I imagine you no longer wish to return there. Once your injuries heal, come serve by my side. You will be a first-rank maid, the same as Cuixi and the others.”

“Thank you, Young Lady, thank you, Young Lady. I… this servant…” I was so moved that my eyes brimmed with tears, and I could hardly speak through my sobs.

“All right. Rest for now. Once your injuries are healed, come serve in my room.” The young lady’s smile was like a pool of spring water, especially with Cuixi’s ugly expression setting it off. She seemed almost like an immortal descended to earth.

Any servant who suffered a grievance, then received such care and favor from their master-not to mention a promotion and a raise-would have their loyalty maxed out on the spot.

But I was not someone who could be tamed with a slap followed by a sweet date. I hated being manipulated, and I hated people who took me for a fool.

If the Second Young Lady were truly kind and benevolent, how could she indulge her subordinates in bullying the weak, then make me work alongside the very person who had bullied me?

As for why she went through all these twists and turns to win me over… Cousin Crown Prince… Heh.