Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Palace Maid Eight Days
Shen Qingqing and Dong'er put down their bags and rushed to Du Baolin. Shanhu made the bed and laid Du Baolin down. The nanny lowered her eyes slightly and focused her gaze on Du Baolin.
Now there are only four palace maids left by Du Baolin's side, Shanhu, Chaolu, Shen Qingqing and Dong'er.
Chaolu is still missing, perhaps he was delayed by something.
The main house of Siguozhai had not been occupied for a long time, and there was a musty smell inside. When Shanhu saw them coming, she ordered, "You two, fetch some water and clean the house, then go back to sleep. Come to Du Baolin tomorrow morning and wait for orders."
The two said yes and started looking for tools to clean.
Shanhu asked Nanny: "The master has been in a coma, why don't we call the imperial physician to take a look?"
The nanny frowned. It was more troublesome to find a doctor at night than during the day. Du Baolin had just been demoted, so he should be quiet. Moreover, she saw that Du Baolin was just asleep and there was nothing serious. She said firmly: "If Baolin is still like this tomorrow, it won't be too late to find a doctor."
Coral said yes, she was exhausted both physically and mentally, and did not argue with the nanny about this matter.
Although she had a glorious position as Du Baolin's maid in the past, her say now is definitely not as high as that of the nanny Shenchi who was granted to Baolin by His Majesty. Maybe in the future Siguozhai will be the nanny's forum.
Shanhu asked, "Madam, would you like these two maids to clean up your place?"
The main house where the master lives is so dilapidated, not to mention the place where the servants live. Wensizhai, the predecessor of Siguozhai, was a place for discarded books. Some books would be cleaned out regularly from the library in the palace. These books could not be thrown away directly, so they were placed in Wensizhai, which was the closest to the library and had never been occupied.
Siguozhai was also the place farthest from the emperor's residence in the center of the imperial palace.
If the concubines are compared to court officials, this is no different from exile.
Coral's question was also intended to ask when Nanny would go to bed.
Mammy didn't even look at Shanhu: "No need, I'll clean it tomorrow. I'll take care of Baolin tonight."
In this situation, Coral naturally has to stay by his master's side. If the master wakes up in the middle of the night and finds that there is no familiar person around to keep watch, Coral dare not even think about the consequences.
After Shen Qingqing and Dong'er finished cleaning, they naturally heard Shanhu and Nanny talking, and when they saw that there were no more instructions, they left and closed the door.
The two returned to their residence and cleaned the place again. There were many rooms in Siguozhai, but they were small and could only accommodate two people.
Although the space was reduced, they were still satisfied living with two people.
When I blew out the lights and prepared to go to sleep, the door next door creaked, and candles were lit again, and the candlelight sprinkled through the door and windows onto the stone slabs outside.
Shen Qingqing said: "It's Chaolu who's back."
Dong Er said suddenly, "You came back so late, I'm afraid you want to leave Du Baolin and think of a way."
After a chaotic night, everyone probably wants to leave. It is unknown whether Chaolu will leave, but Shen Qingqing can hear Dong'er's intention.
Shen Qingqing's voice was full of sleepiness: "Let's go to sleep first."
Let’s talk about tomorrow’s matters tomorrow. If you want to leave, you need a way. It’s not easy to dispatch palace maids.
The next day.
Shen Qingqing and Dong'er went out and happened to meet Chaolu from next door, so they went to Baolin together.
Shen Qingqing's impression of Chaolu has always been that she is sweet-mouthed, smiling and good at dealing with things. Daimao is often pleased by her words and likes her very much. But today, Chaolu is very quiet, even low-key.
Shen Qingqing looked at Chaolu, and Chaolu noticed her gaze and smiled at her.
How to put it, this smile is very classy, the curve of the lips is very natural, and the brown pupils are filled with the light of the morning light which is not very strong, so that later when she thought of the morning dew, she would think of this smile.
When the three entered the main house, the house looked like it had been looted. Everything that could fall over was overturned, and everything that could be broken was broken. The nanny, who had not slept all night, had a scratch on her hand from her fingernail. Du Baolin always valued her nails, and he kept them long and dyed them with nail polish.
Shanhu looked tired, but she was fine. Nanny's face became more serious. She never expected that she would fail against a little Baolin. She reflected that it might be because she had not been out for a long time and had become a Buddhist.
Since the emperor trusts her, she must correct Du Baolin's character.
The maid's surname was Fang. After Du Baolin woke up, she was the first to introduce herself to the emperor. Unfortunately, Du Baolin didn't take her seriously at all. He lifted the quilt and was about to get out of bed and leave, returning to her Zhiyun Palace to find the emperor.
Nanny Fang naturally tried to stop him. Du Baolin raised his hand to hit her, but Nanny Fang stopped him.
After discovering the difference in strength between the two, Du Baolin, who was frustrated, began to lose his temper, and this happened as Shen Qingqing saw.
Shanhu was not in a position to speak between Du Baolin and Nanny Fang. When she saw the three of them coming in, she ordered, "Pack these up."
So Shen Qingqing started working again.
This is the treatment of a low-ranking maid in the palace. They are ordered around here and there. If they are promoted to a second-rank maid, they will be assigned specific tasks and have much less time. If they become a senior maid, they will only have to stay with their master. They will have more time to be lazy during the day, will be loved and rewarded more by their master, have more opportunities to go out with their master, be called "girl" by the flattering palace maids, and have some small power of administration.
The amount of exercise a senior palace maid gets is probably just a little more than that of her master.
Generally, the concubines in the palace had nothing to do in a day. They had breakfast, lunch and dinner, a nap at noon, and an early bedtime. In the morning and afternoon, they would either stroll around the garden or practice their skills. That was it for the whole day.
Moreover, the concubines are accompanied by two senior palace maids. When they go out and there is no need to bring two people, one of them can be fine. When the concubines are in their own palace, there are few times when they need two senior palace maids to be present at the same time, so one of them can leave temporarily.
The queen can have four head maids, but she has to manage the harem. Although the number of head maids has increased, they may be busier.
But what does it matter? Everyone wants to be the queen's maid of honor, which brings glory and power.
Generally speaking, the higher the rank of the concubine, the more comfortable the palace maid will be.
Shen Qingqing's goal is to become the senior palace maid.
But now the master has become Baolin, and Baolin can only have three palace maids and one eunuch according to his rank. Although there are fewer palace maids, the master's needs have not changed. The head palace maid will have to do more things than before.
Shen Qingqing cleaned up the place with familiarity. Du Baolin had lost his temper in Zhiyun Hall before, leaving broken porcelain all over the floor. However, by the time Shen Qingqing and the others were cleaning up, Shanhu and Daimao had already calmed down Du Baolin and took her away from the scene full of broken porcelain.
But now Siguozhai is a small place and there is really no place to move. Shanhu may be for this reason and still let Du Baolin stay in bed.
While Shen Qingqing was cleaning, she heard Nanny Fang's stern voice lecturing Du Baolin from beside his bed.
The first thing he said was: "The palace rules say... the palace rules stipulate..."
Du Baolin was described as a little woman who didn't know any rules.
Not only did Du Baolin's eyes become dazed after listening, Shen Qingqing also felt her scalp tingling. Who needs to know what the palace rules specifically say?
There are more than 3,000 palace rules, and only those who can remember them all accurately are ruthless people.
After entering the palace, Shen Qingqing was trained by the aunts in the palace. She knew what etiquette to follow and what to say when meeting different people. She had a general understanding of what she could do and what she could not do. After practicing the postures of being still and moving, she became a qualified palace maid.
As if he felt that he had met the Emperor Wu Wu, or perhaps he was driven crazy by Nanny Fang, Du Baolin became calm instead.
[Palace rules, palace rules, sooner or later one day...]
The thoughts behind were too chaotic and Shen Qingqing could not hear them clearly, but when she was working, because Du Baolin was not far away from her, she could hear the thoughts.
But a person's inner voice is often disorganized and intermittent, and it will not form a complete sentence unless he has a strong thought or subconsciously organizes his language before speaking.
During the cleaning process, Chaolu cut her hand on broken porcelain. Shanhu's whole heart was on Du Baolin and she didn't notice it. Shen Qingqing did notice it, but because Chaolu just tied it up with a handkerchief and didn't want to say anything, she didn't say anything either.
Maybe Shen Qingqing was too affectionate, or maybe she paid too much attention to Chaolu today. To cover up this abnormality, she whispered, "Sister Chaolu, just wipe the dust off the utensils. I'll do the work of cleaning up the broken porcelain pieces."
Chaolu accepted it with pleasure.
In the morning, the Siguozhai was kept in a desolate and quiet atmosphere. Apart from Du Baolin copying the palace rules, Nanny Fang's voice was heard without any ups and downs.
In the afternoon, someone from the Shanggong Bureau came to find Du Baolin and asked him to take away the extra palace maids.
Because Nanny Fang was in Siguozhai, the people in the Shanggong Bureau had an ambiguous attitude. They were not sure whether Nanny Fang should take up the palace maid quota, and whether three palace maids or two palace maids should be left for Du Baolin.
Only one eunuch was needed to stay. Liu Shun's master, the eunuch in charge of Zhiyun Hall, could not wait to find Du Baolin to resign. Of the remaining two eunuchs, one also wanted to leave, but the other felt that he could not get a good place if he left Siguozhai, so he chose to stay. The one who stayed was called Xiao Dingzi, he had a round face, was dull, and loved to sleep.
If Chaolu really wanted to leave, someone from the Shanggong Bureau would go to Du Baolin to resign. Her reason was justified. Her hand was injured and she was afraid that she could not serve Baolin with her full strength.
Dong'er found Shen Qingqing and asked, "Are you leaving?"
Shen Qingqing was unsure. The normal process of dispatching palace maids was to return to the Shanggong Bureau, and then be assigned to each palace and bureau by the Shanggong Bureau. There were six bureaus and twenty-four departments in the palace. The palace had six bureaus and twenty-four departments. The palace maids could be promoted to female officials step by step. The female officials would assist the queen in managing the harem. Now that the queen's position was vacant, the Shanggong Bureau, Shangyi Bureau, and Shangqin Bureau were managed by Concubine Xian, and the Shangfu Bureau, Shangshi Bureau, and Shanggong Bureau were managed by Concubine De. Now that the queen mother had left the palace to worship Buddha, the two concubines were the two most powerful people in the harem.
Apart from this, the dispatch of palace maids was unconventional. They were either through connections or if a high-ranking concubine took a fancy to them, they would be directly brought into their palace, thus achieving a quick promotion.
Shen Qingqing would have followed the normal process to leave, but now she had the ability to hear Du Baolin's thoughts, which made her hesitate.
Her ability only works on Du Baolin, and Du Baolin is her nominal master. Does that mean this ability only works on her direct superior?
If this is true, Du Baolin is not the only one, and she needs to follow a promising concubine to maximize the power of this golden finger. If Du Baolin is the only one, she will just become an ordinary palace maid in the future, which will not do her any harm.
Shen Qingqing wanted to choose a concubine, and she had to follow the normal process to enter the Shanggong Bureau, bribe the people in the Shanggong Bureau, and enter the palace of the concubine she liked. But the problem was that Shen Qingqing had no money to bribe, and even if she sold her remaining jewelry at a low price, it would not be enough. By then, she could not go wherever she wanted.
Shen Qingqing finally said in a conflicted tone: "I won't leave." She would stay to grow up, save money, and then find someone to send her to the palace of the concubines she had inspected.
She wanted to bet that this golden finger would not only work on Du Baolin.
Dong'er was quite surprised, but after hearing the reason for her embarrassment - she had no money, she nodded in understanding. Compared to Shen Qingqing's empty moon, she still had a lot of money saved.
Since Dong'er decided to leave, Shen Qingqing gave the ointment to Dong'er and told her not to forget to apply it twice a day. Only two days had passed since that day, and her face had not changed much.
Because Dong'er had already paid the corresponding compensation for this box of ointment, she accepted it without hesitation.
As expected, with so many people resigning one after another, Du Baolin got very angry again, but this time there was no porcelain to be thrown at her, as the broken porcelain in Siguozhai had not been replaced in the palace yet.
The name of the Shanggong Bureau was legitimate, and the palace lady was determined to leave, so Du Baolin could not change the outcome.
So the only people left in Siguozhai Palace were Shanhu, Shen Qingqing, Xiao Dingzi, and Nanny Fang, who was not a staff member of Siguozhai.
Du Baolin looked at Shen Qingqing and Xiao Dingzi with a serious look, and finally decided to promote her to the second-class palace maid.
Everything has changed, but Shen Qingqing still got the position of second-class palace maid, and her monthly salary also increased.
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