Chapter 1 Flattery and Vulgarity: Jiang Azhu, Yuan Dynasty, Yongchun…
The eleventh year of Yongchun in the Yuan Dynasty.
As the spring breeze caressed their faces, the Imperial Garden was already a scene of delicate red blossoms and green willows. The noble ladies admiring the scenery in the garden gently waved their round fans, smiled lightly, and moved slowly on the platform, their long skirts trailing on the ground.
Outside the walls, the palace servants walking along the palace path all lowered their eyes and looked solemn. Those who could move around in the palace had already learned the rules and had jobs, while the others who had not yet "graduated" were still in the inner palace.
These palace maids were mostly purchased from the common people. They were all quite young when they entered the palace. When learning the rules, five or six of them would live in one room, and three rooms would form a courtyard. These small, densely packed palace courtyards, which did not even have names, were located in a corner of the Imperial City's inner palace.
The palace had strict rules, and the Yeting (a type of inner palace) was always considered a "lowly place" within the palace, so it was usually dull and quiet.
But after lunch today, the South Courtyard was unusually lively – the young palace servants were gathered excitedly inside, crowding around a young palace maid dressed in blue.
"Sister Chang, I heard that people are being selected from our area to serve the nobles in the Eastern and Western Palaces. Is that true?"
"Yes, yes, I overheard a few words from the kitchen. They said that in a few days it will be the day when palace maids are released from the palace as usual."
Compared to the other excited palace maids, the slender Suhe looked rather miserable. She muttered, "I was punished with a few strokes of the cane by the nanny a few days ago. I'm afraid I won't be selected for the palace this time..."
The other palace maids had no time to comfort Suhe; they just kept pestering Chang Bi, saying, "Sister Chang, please tell us quickly!"
"Yes, Sister Chang, you are the most capable and the most favored by Granny Liao here. Dear sister, please tell us quickly."
Surrounded by people, Chang Bi covered her forehead and waved her hand, "Alright, alright, your chattering like gray sparrows is giving me a headache. If Aunt Qing sees you behaving like this, she'll punish you again."
After these words were spoken, no one in the room spoke.
Seeing the little palace maids staring at her with wide, expectant eyes, just like the little sparrows begging for food outside, Chang Bi couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Alright, I won't hide it from you anymore, it's true. I think Aunt Sun will give you a heads-up soon."
"Ah—!" A burst of joyful shouts erupted from inside the room.
"Sister Chang, do you know which palace is selecting people?"
"If only I could go to Fu Palace last year, my fellow townsman said that the Consort Shu in the main seat has a truly wonderful personality."
"To be honest, the Imperial Concubine's Huayang Palace is the best place in this palace. When it was renovated two years ago, it was quite a big event. Not to mention the carved lacquered pillars and the gold and jade inlays, the walls of the palace were specially coated with pepper."
"Sichuan peppercorns? Why would you use Sichuan peppercorns to coat a wall? The smell must be so pungent."
"What do you know? This is an imperial decree personally issued by His Majesty..."
"And then there's Kunning Palace. Last year, on the Crown Prince's birthday, Aunt Hua, who was by the Empress's side, gave the palace servants gold lucky beans as a form of celebratory money."
"......"
The young palace maids, as if unable to hold back their words, began to compete and argue.
It's no wonder they lost their composure. If it were noble ladies of high status outside, they would be preparing for the imperial selection at this age. No matter which royal family or nobleman they were betrothed to, even if they were not selected, their future would be bright and prosperous. But these slaves and maids could only be confined to a remote corner of the palace.
They were the lowest-ranking palace maids, eating and using the lowest-grade food in the palace. They looked up at the square sky and looked down at the stern and strict old women. There were endless rules to learn and endless chores to do.
They heard countless reprimands, yet saw the most extravagant wealth and supreme power in the world... What kind of master they would serve in the future would almost entirely depend on that one person, so they couldn't help but be nervous.
Everyone goes through this, so Chang Bi naturally understands these nervous and excited palace maids who have lost their composure. However, hearing their words become somewhat inappropriate, she interrupted them with a serious expression, "These days you're becoming more and more gossipy. Do you think you can just casually criticize the noble ladies in the palace?"
Seeing the palace maids lower their heads sheepishly, Chang Bi softened her tone and offered them a sweet treat, "Look at all you girls, so be it. I'll tell you which palaces need to send palace maids, and you'll be..."
"A-Zhu, what are you doing squatting here?"
The questioning voice from outside interrupted Chang Bi's words. Her expression changed slightly, and she hurriedly walked towards the door. The little palace maid's face also turned pale, and she followed her out in a hurry.
At that moment, Ah Zhu, who was using her hands and feet, twisting her waist and stretching her neck in a strange posture, pressed against the door trying to eavesdrop, turned around and glared fiercely at Green Plum, who had ruined her plans.
She listened for a long time before finally hearing the most important part—when the Crown Prince celebrates his birthday, the Empress will give the palace servants gold lucky beans, and then what?
Is this gold bean big? Is the gold pure? Will I prosper every year?
When the palace maids, who used to love to compare and gossip, started talking about these things, Ah Zhu was so anxious that she was practically tearing her hair out. She stopped talking about Jin Dou and started talking about which palace was selecting palace maids. But just as she was about to get to the important part, Green Plum suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ruined things.
A-Zhu glared at Lü-Mei, but didn't say a word. He just grabbed the washbasin from the ground and ran away, but he hadn't gone far when the door opened—
"A-Zhu, what are you doing hiding here?"
!
Hearing Chang Bi's voice behind him, A-Zhu stopped and wrinkled his face in frustration.
When she turned around, A-Zhu had a slightly fawning smile on her face: "Sister Chang."
After greeting everyone warmly, A-Zhu waved the laundry basin in her hand and said, "The nanny asked me to deliver clothes to the laundry room, and I thought I'd come and ask Sister Chang if there are any clothes to deliver."
Standing beside Chang Bi, Sui Zhu looked at A Zhu, who was acting suspiciously and had a fawning expression, with some annoyance, and immediately exposed her without any mercy.
"Liar!"
"Why are you sneaking around the door like that when you deliver clothes?"
"Tell me, were you eavesdropping on our conversation?!"
A-Zhu rolled her eyes at Sui-Zhu, still stubbornly saying, "I just wanted to ask Sister Chang if she had any clothes to give her, why are you slandering me for no reason?"
Seeing that Sui Zhu was still determined to "bite" her, A Zhu rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, raised her chin slightly, and said in a rather sarcastic tone, "Oh, Sui Zhu, why don't you tell me what you just said that can't be heard?"
"you--!"
Lan Yue stopped Sui Zhu from rushing forward.
"Don't cause trouble. Sister Chang is still here. We should listen to her."
No one jumped out to argue with A-Zhu anymore, but they all glared at her with considerable resentment—look at A-Zhu, look at her, she's so respectful to the nanny and the older, more experienced palace maids, to put it bluntly—she's shamelessly trying to curry favor with them.
But when she looked at these little palace maids, her eyes practically flew to the heavens.
Chang Bi looked at A Zhu, paying particular attention to the rouge she had applied to her face. A Zhu was dark-skinned, yet the rouge was still visible, which showed how much she had applied.
The obsequious A-Zhu also failed to win Chang Bi's favor—although A-Zhu was dark-skinned, her beauty was too striking, and she always had a kind of aggressive and alluring charm.
"Smoking and flirting, brainless and stupid, obsequious and vulgar, mercenary and mediocre..." People in the inner palace always say this about A-Zhu, gossiping that she shouldn't be serving people in the palace, but should be waving her handkerchief and flaunting herself in the Baifang Garden outside.
Yes, everyone in the Yeting Palace seemed to be able to see Azhu's restlessness. She was always flamboyant, and her ambition to rise to the top was practically etched on her forehead.
But she was adept at ingratiating herself with this nanny and that aunt, flattering them relentlessly, yet she was never caught doing anything truly serious wrong...
"Sister Chang?"
Seeing that Changbi remained silent for a long time, Azhu felt a little uneasy. She called out "Sister" again, and Changbi smiled and said to her, "It's kind of you to remember me and go to all this trouble. Alright, I don't have any clothes to send you, so you can go on your own. Otherwise, you'll waste time and annoy the nanny."
"Yes, yes, from now on, just follow Sister Chang's orders."
Seeing that Chang Bi was so easy to talk to, A Zhu smiled and agreed repeatedly. Then, she turned around and slipped away as quickly as if she had oiled her feet.
Green Plum, who had been silent until now, looked worried. She said softly, "Judging from A-Zhu's appearance, she must have been here for quite a while. I wonder what she's up to, or how much she's overheard..."
Upon hearing this, the palace maids looked at Chang Bi with some panic.
In this palace, no matter when, talking behind the master's back is a serious crime. Today, they were just carried away and lost their sense of propriety. If A-Zhu were to spread this around, they would be in big trouble.
"It's just a few words about the palace selection, nothing serious," Chang Bi said calmly. "In a few days, Granny Sun will talk about it, and then everyone will know."
Seeing that Chang Bi spoke so easily, the palace maids were relieved. But after A Zhu stirred things up, none of them had the heart to gossip anymore, and they quickly dispersed.
......
Meanwhile, Ah Zhu, having delivered the clothes, emerged from the laundry room.
After taking two steps, she turned back and spat inside.
"You're all staying in the washing room, what are you still being so arrogant about? Even Sister Chang smiled at me, and you're still putting on airs at me. Once I get the master's approval during this palace selection, I'll make you pay."
As she walked, Ah Zhu muttered to herself, pondering where else she could scheme and plot during this palace selection... Yes, Ah Zhu's thoughts were not hard to guess at all. She just wanted to be with a wealthy and good master, to have a respectable and prestigious job, where everyone would greet her with smiles and flatter her by calling her "sister."
Having endured nine years of hardship in the palace, Ah Zhu learned one thing from beginning to end—all that talk about honesty, diligence, kindness, benevolence, and morality was utter bullshit!
As long as you're willing to endure hardship, there's no end to the hardships you can endure.
The most precious thing in this world is money, and the most desirable thing is power and wealth.
As long as you have these two things, no matter what kind of despicable person you are, there will always be plenty of people flocking to flatter you to the heavens—in this palace, it has always been the case that when one person gains power, even their chickens and dogs rise to heaven, so following a good master becomes all the more important.
Happily imagining her future of wealth and power, Ah Zhu walked back to the north courtyard. Just as she was about to enter the house, she heard a strange sound:
【“Beep—”】
[“**Beauty System** detected **quantity**, **activation failure**, please complete the 'Waaah' task. Note: Completing the ***test signifies **agreement to** binding. Please complete the ****”]
"Please note that the test is complete, but unexplained interference has been detected. ***Pending."
A note from the author:
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Haha, it's great to see the little ones again! [heart emojis]
Keep updating! High five! [Clenched fist]
When I read books before, there were quite a few supporting characters like this who drove the plot. Although they usually didn't have a good ending, I felt that their character design was quite interesting. This time, I wanted to write a more unconventional protagonist... It's going to be very melodramatic, so please be gentle with the criticism and I'll try my best to update.
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The Empress's Favor - Chapter 86 of Dream of the Red Chamber: It is said that the day's prosperity returns to the hour, which is very auspicious. The Heavenly Virtue and the Monthly Virtue sit on the natal chart, which means that the Empress will be favored by the Empress.
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