Jinxiu could no longer remember her name before entering the palace.

Her surname was Liu, but not the Liu of the empress, but the Liu of the fishmonger in the suburbs of Beijing.

Her mother gave birth to five daughters, and she was the second to last.

When Jinxiu was born, her father said that if her mother gave birth to another daughter, he would sell her.

——It doesn’t matter whether this “she” is the mother or the newborn.

Because on the day my sister was born, my mother took her last breath and died in childbirth with my sister.

She didn't leave a single word when she closed her eyes. When Jinxiu recalled it, she could only remember a pair of empty eyes.

In the end, their father sold all four sisters, so they didn't have to guess who he was going to sell.

I heard that he later married a widow with the money from selling her daughter, and finally gave birth to a big fat boy, and he hosted a banquet for three consecutive days.

It’s better not to mention unlucky things.

The boy got four sisters at once and wanted to sell them as a package.

Fortunately, the eldest sister was sweet-talker and sold herself to a wealthy family as a maid, and eventually became the young master's concubine.

She used money to help the other three sisters escape slavery and provided some relief from time to time. But it didn't last long. The eldest sister was infected with syphilis by the young master and died before she reached the age of 15.

The second sister had been weak since childhood and had no money to treat her illness, so she soon followed the eldest sister.

The third sister longed for a stable life, so she found a rickshaw driver and married him, but she unexpectedly faced a more difficult life. All the money she had was taken away by her mother-in-law, and the third sister did not get a penny, and had to work like a slave for her husband's family.

The third sister said to her, women are destined to be servants all their lives anyway, so you might as well become a servant of the most noble person in the world.

Jinxiu listened to the advice and used all her savings to buy a place to enter the palace.

When she entered the palace, the nanny chose two words "Jinxiu" for her from a book, which means a bright future.

She worked diligently, and after working with the nanny for a year, she passed the assessment smoothly. When another batch of concubines entered the palace, the Ministry of Internal Affairs assigned her to Wu Da Ying, making her a personal maid for the first time.

Jinxiu couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

Wu Da Ying had an ordinary family background. Her father was a seventh-rank official in the imperial court. She entered the palace because she was favored by the empress dowager. Jinxiu knew nothing about her and didn't know what kind of person she was and whether she was easy to get along with.

When being led to Lingmei Garden by the nanny, Jinxiu lowered her head, hoping to make a good impression on her new master.

Unexpectedly, the new master was even more reserved than she was.

After the nanny finished speaking, she left, and Wu Dingyu and she remained silent for a long time.

She was the first to speak tentatively: "...My lady, do you have anything to advise me?"

The new master called her over and whispered in her ear, "I never thought about entering the palace. I entered the palace not to win favor, but to escape from my family."

As he said this, Wu Da Ying kept looking around, fearing that his rebellious words would be heard by others.

"There is no future for you to follow me. If you don't want to, I will find a reason to send you away so that you won't suffer with me."

The new young lady is a good person, a bit like her third sister, Jinxiu thought.

It's a pity that good people in the palace don't live long. Jinxiu thought again.

Jinxiu knew herself well. The servants in Kunning Palace and Linhua Palace were all cunning people. If she went there, she would never be able to make a name for herself. And if she went to serve Li Guiren and Qi Changzai, she was afraid that she would offend her master and become another ghost in the palace.

Jinxiu did not look for another master, and chose to stay in Lingmeiyuan. Although Lingmeiyuan was remote, Wu promised to be approachable and it was not difficult to get along with him.

That poor and peaceful life lasted for about a year. After a long time, Jinxiu developed feelings for her master.

She silently watched everything Wu promised to do, and occasionally had some thoughts that she was not worth it.

The Wu family wrote a letter every month, emphasizing their kindness in raising him. Wu Da Ying had to save some of his meager monthly allowance to send back home. Even though his hands were covered with sores from the cold in winter, Wu Da Ying was reluctant to buy two charcoal sticks.

The former lovers got married and forgot the vows they made. The sisters who knew each other gradually drifted away and rarely spoke from heart to heart when they met.

As a result of various factors, Wu Ying's mental state became increasingly worse. She chanted sutras and prayed to Buddha all day long, trying to find spiritual sustenance.

It's funny to say that a servant would pity his master.

However, one day, Jinxiu suddenly realized that Wu Da Ying could not hold on any longer.

The night before he developed hysteria, Wu Yingda lost his appetite and only drank a mouthful of porridge the whole day.

Before going to bed, Wu Ding called her over, and an expression she had never had before appeared on her face - as if she had learned a shocking secret, and she was shocked and relieved.

Wu promised to tell Jinxiu nervously that her life was like a puppet being manipulated by others. She was tired and decided to change her way of life.

Jinxiu thought that Wu Da Ying had been chanting Buddha's name and had gone "into a state of ecstasy". She sighed, straightened the quilt for Wu Da Ying, and went back to the outer room to keep watch.

Unexpectedly, the next day, Wu Da Ying suffered from "hysteria".

She spoke out in Kunning Palace and threatened to replace the queen.

It's the same face and the same voice, but Xin seems like a different person.

…

I woke up from the dream at seven in the morning.

Jinxiu's eyelids trembled slightly, and she broke free from her memories.

She took the pocket watch Wu Qing had given her, carefully checked the position of the hands, confirmed that it was still early, and calmly got out of bed to wash up.

Concubine Ji had only one servant, so Jinxiu could live in an entire room by herself.

At first, the people in Linhua Palace did not welcome Wu Qing and her arrival, and often complained about her getting up late. But time will tell. Now when they see her, they smile and call her "Sister Jinxiu".

Jinxiu smiled back, quickly finished her breakfast, and went back to Wu Qing's room to put everything back in place.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

Wu Qing said that she would go to the Queen's place for lunch at noon today so that she wouldn't have to worry about preparing anything.

He also said that he had left a portion of seafood porridge cooked in the morning for her and told her to remember to enjoy it early.

2pm.

Jinxiu took a nap and then got up to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to get new charcoal.

During this period of time, rumors about Lady Ji's fall from favor had been circulating in the palace. The attitude of the Ministry of Internal Affairs suddenly changed, and they spoke coldly to Jinxiu, with every word they said stingingly, and even only gave her half the amount of charcoal.

The quality of the charcoal was not good, and the color was not good either. Jinxiu couldn't help but argue a little.

The servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not show any weakness, and spoke with a breath coming out of their noses, devaluing Wu Qing to the point of being worthless. Jinxiu was so angry that she almost reached out to hit him.

But Wu Qing said that servants are all poor people, they have never been educated, and their behavior will always be flawed. Wu Qing advised her to calm down and not to always get angry with villains, otherwise she would get breast cancer and harm herself.

Thinking of this, Jinxiu silently withdrew her hand, looked at the other person sympathetically, shook her head and left.

Those who are interested will take all of this into account.