Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In Green Bamboo Courtyard, Liufang’s night in the Heir’s bed was like a stone cast into water, sending ripples spreading outward.

The Heir had always been upright and steady, a man who rarely smiled or joked. But ever since the day of the bath, a different warmth had entered his eyes. He began to tease Liufang now and then, and whenever there was anything good to eat or play with, he made sure to save a share for her.

The Heir’s attitude seemed to make Liufang forget that she was still only a maid. She began, openly and otherwise, to throw her weight around with the mamas and matrons, pointing fingers at us first- and second-rank maids. Toward the little maids, she was even more high-and-mighty, beating and scolding them at the slightest provocation.

Mama Liu was not only the Heir’s wet nurse, but also a distant relative of the Princess Consort, and she had no small amount of dignity in the household. After being snapped at by Liufang several times, she was so furious she cursed, “You haven’t even earned yourself the position of concubine yet, and you’re already this frivolous.”

When the maids in the courtyard saw that Liufang had attended the Heir’s bed, every one of them grew restless. They dressed more flamboyantly than the next, spending all their thoughts on adorning themselves and on creating chance encounters with the Heir.

The courtyard went unswept. The birds went unfed. Even the stove was left cold. Day by day, the maids’ clothes grew more eye-catching and flimsy, until several of them caught colds.

Mama Cui and Mama Liu scolded them several times, but the trend could not be stopped. Beneath the surface, the undercurrents still surged.

One day, I noticed something off about the lunch a little maid brought me.

Without letting anything show, I carried the meal into my room, picked out some of the food, and dumped it into the spittoon. Then I secretly ate a few pastries to fill my stomach.

That afternoon, Liufang began running to the latrine again and again. After several bouts of diarrhea, her face had turned deathly pale. I also pretended to have stomach pains and returned to my room.

That night, the Heir came back from a social engagement. Two second-rank maids, Qingshuang and Qingxue, dressed in thin, revealing clothes, sidled up to him and offered him a cup of tea.

Before the cup could reach his lips, Mama Cui and Mama Liu led people in and pinned them down. An aphrodisiac had been put in the Heir’s teacup.

After what had happened that afternoon, I was not the only one who found it suspicious. Mama Cui and Mama Liu, with all their years in the household, had seen at once that something was wrong. In Mama Cui’s words, “Sooner or later, these restless little wretches will bring disaster down on all of us!”

The Old Madam flew into a rage. She had Qingshuang and Qingxue beaten with twenty strokes of the board, then sold out of the household.

When the beating was carried out, everyone who served in Green Bamboo Courtyard was made to watch.

At first, the two of them could still cry out. After ten strokes, they were barely breathing.

Liufang, who had been left weak from diarrhea, was also ordered out by the Old Madam. Two sturdy servants dragged her over and held her in the very front row to watch.

This act of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys had an astonishing effect.

The whole roomful of maids was frightened into trembling silence.