256 Chapter Fifty Six - He has his reasons (1/2)

Despite reaching the bottleneck many, many years ago, although General Ramas faced the reality of being mortal, it could not be said that he had completely given up; he would still meditate for a couple of hours after the midday meal before moving to the training grounds to temper his body. Admittedly, the mediation had not increased, but the amount of time in physical training had as the years caught up with him.

After Sun returned to school, one of his servants, a sly little man with half an eye on a more senior position than he currently held which was that of second-class, approached one of the General's most trusted men with a gift and some information.

Just to clarify, there was hierarchy amongst servants within and without houses of the wealthy and elite. For example; a servant of a merchant house cannot compare to that of a noble house, while the servant of royalty can look down on most others. Obviously this a very shallow viewpoint. While a first class servant who serves in a merchant house might have to bow down to a second class servant of a royal household, very few respect servants cleaning out latrine pots!

Those bottom of the rung servants, who did the hardest and heaviest duties such as scrubbing clean the unseen areas, transporting water and doing laundry and gardening not requiring skilful hands were generally underpaid and unsung, only mentioned in passing. But the though the work was hard, in the right household, the money was still not bad and did not require skill, looks and etiquette.

Second class servants were more skilled than the third class, might be asked to take care of certain courtyards, cook in the kitchens or sent to fetch things outside. It could not be said their work was light, but it was not generally as physically intense as that of the lowest class. Also, second class servants were at most plain of face, not allowed to be ugly.

The same could be said of first-class servants, but most likely, the maids would be pretty and the servants would look almost as noble as their masters. They were their master's hands, eyes and voice. They served the masters directly and not only were paid better than second class servants, but were more often rewarded. Thus if a second class servant could rise above their station, they certainly would attempt to catch a master's eye. That said, it generally wasn't that easy.

This came through a small pot that Sun had left behind.

As someone who had served Sun for more than half a decade, the servant knew a little about the pills and potions Sun took for cultivation; the clear spiritual pills and the Light Chi elixir for his baths. However, when he was preparing the baths this winter, he was told that the young master did not want to bathe in the Light Chi elixir, but a different bath potion instead. The smell was a little feminine for his taste, but he could only obey orders.

He bowed in greeting as Sun entered with his personal servant before vacating the room. As he was leaving, he happened to hear the young Master exclaim with a slight chuckle as he entered the waters; ”Don't wrinkle your nose! I'll have you know that this is much more comfortable than the other elixir!”

The small pot that the young master happened to leave behind was that same flowery bath potion. In fact, Sun himself hadn't realised it was missing until he reached his dorm and had to lament as Leon would be unable to make more until the summer!

The sly servant took the small pot to a first class servant of the General carefully mentioning that the young Master had used such with the heavy statement of it being better than the usual herbal bath salts, yet evading just where he'd picked up the potion, letting the other servant believe he had purchased it as a gift for the General. The first class servant was not unaccustomed to servants attempting to bribe him on behalf of the General, usually he happened to send them away, but the General had shown renewed interest and spoke enthusiastically about that grandson. So the first class servant accepted the gift, thinking the General would be interested.

The old man was indeed interested, though that rapidly waned due to the floral, feminine scent of his evening bath waters. Still, he feigned his approval, wanting to wash now and not willing to wait for clean water and began to bathe, unwittingly slipping into meditation in the hot waters. Although the cold water roused him, sometime later, he felt the urge to continue, so after dressing in bed clothes, began to meditated once more upon a bamboo couch.