Volume 2, Chapter 3: Pipe (1/2)
(I always thought he was a leisurely person.)
It seems that Jinshi – that much of a nobleman? – wasn’t leisurely. ;He’s more on the busy side actually, Maomao thought. His work wasn’t just on the Inner Palace as she initially believed, he did other things too.
Maomao was tasked with odd-jobs in Jinshi’s office throughout the morning, and then odd jobs in Jinshi’s private room in the afternoon while he was in the Imperial Court. Though it was called his private room, the size of it can be considered a building – she could clearly see the garden, where the extravagance was focused, from the display window. There was ;one more maidservant beside Maomao, a woman past her fifties. She had initially tilted her head at the lack of young women and young men, but when she thought deeply about it, it was impossible to employ those who were only there for the money. Rather, were he to employ young people, they might space out instead of work with the employer being such a looker.
Jinshi was focused on the documents with a moody expression. Maomao was in the corner of the room gathering up scrapped papers. The fine quality papers have become rubbish, worthless to look at with absurd plans written on them. No matter what kind of absurd bills there are, the scrapped papers cannot be recycled. They must be burnt.
(You can earn some pocket money if you sell them though.)
It was her work despite her bad thoughts, so she went to burn it as instructed. It was where the military training grounds and the treasury was, which was at the corner of the vast Imperial Court, coming out of Jinshi’s office. The papers will be burned in the rubbish incinerator that was there.
(The military huh.)
She honestly didn’t want to go there, but she had to. When she pushed herself to do it, understanding it was her job, something was draped over her shoulders.
“Please wear this since it’s cold outside. It’s for maidservant use.” Gaoshun said.
It was the diligent and attentive Gaoshun who draped a padded garment on Maomao. Light snow was falling outside, and she could hear the cold wintry wind. She had forgotten about it since she was in the warm room with lots of braziers, but not even a month had passed in the year. It was the coldest season of the year.
“Thank you very much,” Maomao said.
She was truly grateful. She was undeserving of what the eunuch did for her. Even though it was for maidservant use, even if it was made of crude materials, there was a substantial difference between wearing and not wearing it. As she passed her arms through the sleeves of the unbleached cotton, Jinshi was staring at her. No, not staring, glaring.
(I wonder what’s eating at him?)
Maomao tilted her head, but it seems that he was glaring at Gaoshun instead of Maomao. Gaoshun’s shoulders twitched, as if he noticed the gaze.
“…This is from Jinshi-sama. I was only passing it over to you,” Gaoshun said.
For some reason, Gaoshun was making gestures as he said it. For some reason, it sounded like he was making excuses.
(Is this what you mean by don’t take liberties?)
Gaoshun has it hard too.
“Is that so?” she said.
Maomao said her thanks to Jinshi just in case and headed to the incinerator with the basket of wastepaper.
(Dad, you should have planted them here too.)
Maomao sighed. The Inner Palace had lots of medicinal herbs planted by Ruomen, her dad. He is a carefree, worldly-wise person, but he considerably changed the vegetation of the Inner Palace as he pleased.
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The Imperial Court was several times vaster than the Inner Palace, but it didn’t have many medicinal herbs that could be used as ingredients. The only things she could find were dandelion and mugwort – plants that could be found anywhere. She also found some ;red spider lily. She liked eating its bulbs soaked in water. Only just that if she couldn’t skilfully remove the poison in the bulbs, she would immediately get a stomach ache.
(I guess that’s all there is.)
It was difficult to find them in the winter season, but still, her expectation was light. She secretly thought about even planting seeds this time.
As she was walking to the rubbish incinerator, she found a figure she recognised. It was the young military officer with a fearless face. Yes, it was Rihaku. From the colour of his belt, it seems he got promoted. He was talking about something to people who look like his subordinates nearby.
(He’s working hard.)
Apparently, he goes to the Rokushoukan every holiday and drinks tea with a ;kamurocompanion. Of course, his favourite is Pairin-neechan, but calling for her will require a commoner’s half year of annual income. Even so, she’s considerably inexpensive for a top-class courtesan, but that reason was raised by a minor point. That courtesan was a premium, her value would decrease if she has a lot of secret eating.
That pitiful man, having tasted heavenly nectar, would go to catch a glimpse of the face of the ;flower on a high peak(An unobtainable goal. Something out of reach.), even from the gap of the curtains. She heard that, even with his promotion, he was working hard to get closer to the flower. A truly diligent honeybee.
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As if her eyes of pity reached him, Rihaku came running towards Maomao with his arms swinging. He certainly is a large-breed dog. Instead of a tail, his hair that was fell out from the cloth was a tassel, swinging left and right.
“Oh, are ya a consort’s attendant or what today?” Rihaku, who didn’t know about Maomao’s dismissal, asked her about that.
“No. I have gone from working at the Inner Palace to be a certain personage’s personal maid.” It was a pain to talk about the dismissal, so she told him the abridged version.
“Personal maid? Who’s the one with that kind of taste?” Rihaku asked.
“Indeed, he has strange tastes, right,” Maomao agreed.
Though what Rihaku said for her was extremely rude, well, it was a normal response. Doing as he likes, having a girl that was like a dead tree with a face full of spots live in as a personal maid. She really didn’t intend to keep the freckle make-up now, but she had no choice but to obey what her master said. For some reason, Jinshi still had Maomao maintain her freckled face.
(Just what does he want to do, that man.)
“That sayin’, I heard a high official redeemed a courtesan from ya place recently,” Rihaku said.
“Something like that.”
(It can’t be helped even if he thinks of it that way.)
When the employment contract was settled and she went to the Imperial Court, her enthusiastic older sisters polished up her whole body, made her wear her best clothes, done up her hair and lavishly applied make-up on her. She probably looked nothing like a newcomer maidservant then. She remembered that her dad was looking at her like he was sending off a calf for some reason.
It was strange for a courtesan to enter the Imperial Court, but since Jinshi stood out even more, she was awfully uncomfortable with the attention. She had immediately changed out of her clothes, but a number of people had seen it.
(At any rate.)
Even though the actual person was right in front of him, this man was chatting on without noticing at all. As expected of the mongrel.
“By the way, you look like you’re in the middle of something, but is that alright?” she asked.
“Ah, I’m just ’bout done with it,” Rihaku said.
His subordinates came closer. The military officers, having a low salary and a drought of women, looked happy to see that there was a court lady around, but when they saw Maomao, they made a blatant look of dejection. Seriously, if the boss is like the boss, the subordinate is like the subordinate.
“I’ve absolutely no idea what the cause is. Well, not like it’s unusual in this season,” Rihaku said.
She supposed with his words that there was a small fire last night. That he investigated the cause of that. Maomao remembered her interest on something or other, and approached the warehouse of the small fire disturbance.