Chapter 45

Half a month later.

On a peaceful and ordinary day, just as office workers were getting used to the rhythm of work again, "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" suddenly updated, much to the delight of readers who love February Sky.

Only the first three chapters of "Legend of the Qing Palace" have been published.

In just three chapters, the novel not only describes the female protagonist being selected by the Imperial Household Department to become a palace maid, but also thoroughly depicts her tragic life at the lowest level of the palace.

Malu was very lucky at first. She was valued by her aunt and assigned to the Yeting Bureau, which was a place specifically responsible for managing the registers of palace maids.

This place is relatively easy, and countless palace maids are eager to get in.

It's a one-size-fits-all situation, with each position having a fixed number of openings. So, Ma Lu, a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, naturally became the target of attention.

Even though she was repeatedly taught at home to be vigilant, she was still young and naive. She was tricked by someone who pushed her from behind, causing her to bump into the nobleman's sedan chair in public.

The noble lady was already in a bad mood after being reprimanded by the Empress. When a palace maid dared to come up and offend her, she immediately flew into a rage and ordered Malu to kneel by the roadside for two hours.

In the dead of winter, with snowflakes still falling from the sky, Malu knelt there from day to night.

After she had knelt for the required time, her clothes were soaked through, her knees were numb, and her face was as pale as paper. When she stood up, she was swaying precariously.

After returning home, Ma Lu fell seriously ill.

As if things weren't bad enough, before she could even recover from her illness, the opportunistic head maid, citing her offense against a noble person, transferred her to the laundry department, where she was assigned to wash clothes for the palace maids and eunuchs.

Ma Lu had no choice but to drag her ailing body to the laundry department.

The head eunuch of the laundry department treated Malu quite well.

However, he was not entirely innocent. He only treated Ma Lu well because he saw that she was young and beautiful and had developed feelings for her. When Ma Lu realized his intentions and rejected him, he immediately became angry and embarrassed.

Ma Lu became the palace maid who did the most work in the laundry department.

The head eunuch in charge of the town specifically assigned people to keep an eye on Ma Lu. Regardless of the sweltering heat or the bitter cold, she had to wash thirty basins of clothes every day before she could rest.

The work is hard enough, but the worst part is that Malu's meals are terrible every day, mostly just thin porridge and pancakes...

What angers readers even more is that while Malu is living such a miserable life, the noblewoman who punished her has been promoted to concubine and become the mistress of a palace in the past few years.

That's about all the content covered in the three chapters.

Readers who were overjoyed to see the author start a new project before reading it are now at a loss for words after finishing it.

-The female lead is so pitiful.

That head eunuch must be crazy!

-If there's nothing below, it's easy to become a pervert.

-Pfft, I was feeling really down, but then the person upstairs made me laugh out loud, hahaha.

-Why did you write such a bitter story? I read the first three chapters with a frown. I hope the female lead won't suffer like this in the later chapters. I really can't bear to read any further!

-Is there not a single good person in this palace?

- That's so cruel, especially the part where the head eunuch changed his expression, it scared me.

-Although there are only three chapters, I can already feel the cruelty of the harem. People without family background or connections will only be played to death if they enter.

......

When Xu Ying started updating her new book, the filming of the TV series "Wu Zetian" was also coming to an end.

On the day the filming wrapped up, Zhou Xingyun and Luo Ying generously took the entire crew to a restaurant for dinner, along with Lin Zhongxu.

He had worked with the director for a while after all.

Although he went back to school after the start of the semester, he would still come over to help when he didn't have classes. The crew members all liked this quiet but hardworking young man.

Zhou Xingyun knew that he was Xu Ying's younger brother, so he invited him to the dinner without hesitation.

During the meal, Lin Zhongxu sat next to Xu Ying, listening to the producer, director, and lead actors discuss the future of the drama.

Zhou Xingyun is the most outspoken.

"I'm confident that our show will be a huge hit. Look how talented our screenwriter is, how beautiful our actors are, and how stunning the director's shots are. It would be an injustice if it didn't become a hit!"

She spoke louder and louder, drawing almost all the attention of the audience.

Xu Ying gave Luo Ying a look: She's drunk.

Luo Ying raised an eyebrow helplessly, picked up a glass of water and stuffed it into Zhou Xingyun's mouth: "Thirsty, aren't you? Here, have some water."

Zhou Xingyun, held firmly by the back, was unable to move: "Glug glug... I'm not thirsty..."

Lin Zhongxu lowered his head, suppressing a laugh.

His face was practically pressed against the table, but he still managed to tilt his head and whisper to Xu Ying, "I also think it could explode."

Looking down at his face, which seemed strangely docile because of the upward gaze, Xu Ying suddenly recalled the director's comment that it would be a pity if he weren't an actor.

Tsk, that's a bit of a shame.

She looked at Lin Zhongxu's face, which was full of collagen, and couldn't help but reach out and pinch it. However, she accidentally pinched too hard and made his cheeks turn red.

Lin Zhongxu didn't react for a moment. After Xu Ying withdrew her hand, he suddenly straightened up, covered his aching cheek, and looked at Xu Ying in disbelief.

He didn't speak, he just stared wide-eyed.

But Xu Ying felt guilty, so she quickly picked up her chopsticks, put a few of his favorite dishes into his bowl as an apology: "Eat up, these are all your favorites."

Lin Zhongxu looked at her silently for a while, but in the end he did nothing and quietly ate his food.

Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief the moment he turned around, almost making him lose his temper.

Speaking of which, both Grandma Wang and Grandpa Li said that Lin Zhongxu had a bad temper, and he himself said that he often quarreled with his family. But so far, she seems to have never seen him really get angry.

*

The completion of the TV series "Wu Zetian" is just the beginning.

There are still some plot points that require special effects, and Luo Ying is in charge of communicating with the special effects company. Editing and music composition are the responsibility of the director, and Zhou Xingyun is the one who has been working hard to coordinate the screening platform.

Xu Ying couldn't help with anything else, so she could only visit the director when she had free time. If the director was willing, she would also be happy to offer her suggestions on editing and music occasionally.

Lin Zhongxu is much more diligent than her.

Since the director started editing, he has been frequently going to the editing room, as it is an excellent learning opportunity for him.

Everyone has things to do.

Xu Ying wasn't idle either. Her novel, "Legend of the Qing Dynasty," had officially begun serialization, and updating it daily was the bare minimum. She now spent every day engrossed in writing.

The novel's plot has now progressed to the point where the female protagonist, through her family, bribed a nanny to transfer her to the bathhouse.

What is the Bathing Hall? It's a place specifically responsible for the emperor's bathing. Many palace maids dream of getting close to the emperor and being favored by him, so it's not easy to get in.

The lucrative post of serving the emperor during his bath was far beyond Ma Lu's reach.

Malu's purpose was not to serve the emperor during his bath. Of course, that was her ultimate goal, but when she faced the old woman, she only said that the laundry department was too hard and she wanted to go to the bathhouse to move firewood and boil water.

The bathhouse staff isn't just about serving the emperor in front of the palace. They also need people to carry firewood, boil water, and wash bath utensils. Surely no one would want her to do those arduous tasks.

Sure enough, after she said that, the old woman accepted the money with peace of mind. A few days later, Ma Lu packed her things and left amidst the unpleasant look of the head eunuch of the laundry department.

After these past few years, Ma Lu had come to realize that the palace was a place where people fawned on the powerful and bullied the weak. She couldn't even live a peaceful life as a palace maid. In the laundry department, not only did the head eunuch bully her, but the other palace maids also disliked her because of her beauty and often ganged up to push the work onto her.

In that case, she should make good use of her beauty while she's young.

......

Xu Ying sat in front of the computer and continued typing from where she left off.

She had already conceived the subsequent plot points in her mind. The main point was that Malu would enter the bathhouse and become one of the servants who attended to the emperor's bathing, and then be successfully chosen by the emperor to become a concubine.

Of course, while that's the core storyline, she couldn't write it so straightforwardly and simply. She had to design some challenges for Malu to overcome one by one, so that readers would have climaxes and something to look forward to.

Xu Ying had also figured out the difficulties.

When Malu entered the bathhouse, she realized that even the palace maids there couldn't easily get close to the emperor.

The procession serving the emperor during his bath consisted of twenty-five people, of whom only five were palace maids, while the other twenty were eunuchs. The disparity in numbers was so stark that it was disheartening.

Not only were the number of palace maids extremely limited, but the jobs they did were also very marginal. They could only scatter flower petals, hold mirrors, and prepare bath beans... All the tasks that involved bathing, changing clothes, and serving the emperor closely were done by eunuchs.

It's clear this was to prevent palace maids from seducing the emperor.

Now that we have difficulties, we need to add some conflicts and contradictions.

When Malu first entered the Bathing Hall, the other palace maids were very wary of her because of her outstanding face.

But as a month and two months passed, she remained focused on boiling water in the woodshed, never vying for anything or even thinking about serving the emperor during his bath. Gradually, people lowered their guard against her and began to chat and laugh with her.

There was only one palace maid who always disliked her and would make trouble for her whenever she had a spare moment. She would either make her move firewood or boil more water, saying that she also needed to bathe.

Malu didn't say anything, just blinked her big eyes and let people bully her every day.

The other palace maids, seeing this, whispered behind her back that she was foolish and shouldn't be so obedient, but she just smiled and remained silent.

With difficulties and conflicts arising, it's time for the female protagonist to use her intelligence and wisdom to gradually get closer to the emperor.

This day came sooner than Malu had imagined.

The palace maid who had been bullying her was ambitious but foolish and arrogant.

Ma Lu had only stirred up a few words among the other palace maids, inducing them to argue and quarrel with her. She couldn't suppress her desire to fly away and dressed up in a flamboyant manner on the day it was her turn to be on duty.

Malu knew the time had come.

That night, the emperor was indeed furious.

This wasn't the first time the palace maid had flirted with the emperor. Usually, when the emperor was in a good mood, he wouldn't mind, but tonight she really went too far. She didn't even hold the mirror properly, just blatantly sticking her face right above it.

The emperor was furious when he saw her winking and making faces, and ordered her to be dragged out.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

The palace maid only managed to shout once before the guards who rushed in from outside the hall covered her mouth and nose and dragged her away forcefully.

The emperor remained silent inside the palace.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids knelt down, creating a terrifying atmosphere.