Chapter 8
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Yet life never shows the slightest mercy just because Li Shuyiao is a pitiable, innocent little kitten.
In the afternoon, Li Shuyiao was brought before Liang Jiugong by Xiao Quanzi.
Liang Jiugong did not seem intent on making things difficult for her; he simply sized her up from head to toe and asked in a tone neither warm nor cold, “You are Li Shuyiao, right?”
Li Shuyiao nodded timidly and whispered, “Yes, this is Li Shuyiao speaking to Lord Liang.”
Liang Jiugong said, “Alright, come with me.” With that, he turned around, leaving only a tall silhouette behind.
Li Shuyiao glanced sideways, seeing him stride away without any courtesy. After a brief moment of hesitation, she hurriedly followed.
She only remembered climbing many white jade steps, walking along a red carpeted path, crossing four doorways, and finally stopping in a room where the air felt slightly warm.
Lord Liang turned to her, asking, “Did you remember the way?”
Li Shuyiao looked puzzled.
Remember the way? What way?
She had only been counting steps and thresholds just now… and no one had told her to remember the way.
Her hand suddenly clenched into a fist, her heart pounding in panic, unsure how to respond.
“Didn’t remember?” Liang Jiugong raised an eyebrow, puzzled by her silence.
Li Shuyiao thought quickly, nodded a few times, and stammered, “Lord Liang, this servant’s mind is a bit dull… I… I didn’t remember.”
Liang Jiugong’s expression grew complicated. After a long pause, he spoke calmly but with an unnerving tone, “Just walk straight up the steps, enter the Qianqing Palace main gate, turn right into the Imperial Study, walk to the innermost room, pass through the anteroom, and enter the right second inner chamber — you didn’t remember all that?”
Could it be he had been sent a fool? Liang Jiugong furrowed his brow deeply, already dreading how he would discipline her next.
Li Shuyiao was nearly stopped in her tracks by his words, her heart almost skipping a beat. After a long moment of daze, she carefully dissected his instructions in her mind, comparing them to her vague memories of the path, and found that it seemed… indeed true.
Straight ahead, up the steps, through the door, turn right and walk a bit, through another door, walk a bit more, then turn right again — that was the way.
Even a fool could remember that, so what had she been thinking just now?
Her fists clenched even tighter, and then she lowered her head a few inches, looking at her toes, sincerely apologizing, “Lord Liang, I remembered it just now. I was too nervous and didn’t know how to describe it clearly, so I said it wrong. Please forgive this servant.”
She stood there like a student facing the wall in punishment.
Liang Jiugong didn’t know her usual temperament but trusted the one who recommended her wouldn’t have truly sent a fool. After a moment’s hesitation, he chose to believe her. His tightly knit brows relaxed slightly, and he waved his feather duster lightly, saying, “From today onward, you will work in the tea room. Go in.”
With that, he stepped aside.
Li Shuyiao nodded and pushed the door open, a wave of warmth greeting her.
The room was about forty square meters, with several rosewood multi-tiered tea shelves on both sides. Each shelf displayed an array of exquisite porcelain jars and tea sets. In the center stood a rosewood tea table, adorned with a tea stove, teapot, cups, scoops, and various utensils.
Upon her entrance, someone inside probably heard the noise and soon emerged from behind a tea shelf, asking, “What do you want?”
The newcomer was a palace maid of about eighteen or nineteen, dressed in a pink maid’s uniform, with flowers pinned in her hair and triple hairpins at her ears. Her face was pretty and refined, but her brows were knit tightly, lips pursed and painted bright red, clearly expressing displeasure.
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When she recognized Li Shuyiao’s face, her already mild displeasure surged to near fury, her gaze practically shooting flames. “This is the tea room, a restricted area. Who allowed you to barge in? Are you trying to lose your head? Watch out, or I’ll report you to Lord Liang and…”
“What will you do to her?” Just then, Liang Jiugong entered, standing right behind Li Shuyiao.
Sensing his approach, Li Shuyiao quickly lowered her head and moved aside, looking as obedient as possible.
She felt that she was destined to be a humble sacrificial pawn, despised wherever she went. When she was in the palace maid quarters, she was shadowed by the scheming concubine Wu Yashi ahead and the fiercely watchful nanny Jiya behind.
Other palace maids were indifferent or dismissive toward her, except for the little angel Qingyao, who treated her kindly.
Next was Wan Liuhai Yueshu, who wasn’t as good to her as Qingyao but had at least given her a bottle of medicine. Two days before Yueshu was reassigned, she tearfully came to find Li Shuyiao, saying that after much thought, she realized Li Shuyiao was right — she should not have misunderstood Qingyao without any evidence.
She even asked Li Shuyiao to help her meet Qingyao again to apologize in person.
But before Li Shuyiao could find the right opportunity, she was transferred to Qianqing Palace, and she never knew what happened with Yueshu…
Lost in her thoughts, Li Shuyiao was suddenly pulled back by the noisy scene.
Meanwhile, Liang Jiugong held his feather duster, looking extremely displeased.
The palace maid, seeing him come personally, panicked and collapsed to her knees, begging, “Lord Liang, I know I was wrong. I was only worried some random person would trespass, not that I meant to abuse your name to bully anyone.”
“You know, this place is a restricted area. If anything goes wrong and endangers the Emperor’s health, I fear I would be doomed…”
Her crying caught Li Shuyiao's attention. She blinked curiously, bewildered by such a strong reaction.
Was Liang Jiugong really that terrifying?
The question surfaced in her mind, and she fell silent.
She thought she might have asked a foolish question. If he weren’t scary, who else would have been so frightened just now to babble nonsense and act so disordered?
After all, he was Lord Liang, the chief steward of Qianqing Palace, the direct superior of all palace personnel. Without some authority, how could he command respect?
Li Shuyiao soon convinced herself and quietly lifted her head a bit. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she glanced from Liang Jiugong’s boots to the kneeling, weeping palace maid.
The maid’s pleas continued.
Liang Jiugong, growing impatient, said, “Enough. I’m not even scolding you.”
He still remembered this maid.
A month ago, she and another tea room maid had used their status as tea-serving maids to extort money from several palace workers. After being caught, they were punished by the palace matron with an hour of cane beating.
Yet she had not changed her nature. Seeing the favor given to Guo Luoluoshi, who only guarded the storeroom, she had tried to curry favor too, though she was a bit smarter than the other, who was bolder.
The other maid, after trying to seduce the Emperor unsuccessfully, was punished with gardening duty on Jingshan Hill, but this one remained in the tea room as a tea-serving maid.
Hearing no punishment from Liang Jiugong, the maid secretly breathed a sigh of relief, wiping tears from her face. She looked up pitifully and asked, “May I ask, Lord Liang, who is this?”
Liang Jiugong said, “From now on, she will work with you in the tea room.” He added, “You should guide her well. Now get up.”
The maid rose, rubbing her handkerchief, smiling ingratiatingly, and kindly asked Li Shuyiao, “What’s your name?”
Li Shuyiao lifted her head slightly and replied softly, “My name is Li Shuyiao. May I ask your name, sister?”
The maid answered, “My surname is Song, and I’m called Fuwen. Just call me Fuwen.”
“Fuwen,” Li Shuyiao repeated quietly, realizing she was also from the Han military banner.
Then she smiled brightly, “You can call me Shuyiao.”
“Alright, Shuyiao,” Song Fuwen smiled back warmly.
Liang Jiugong stood aside calmly, listening to their introduction. After a moment, he spoke gravely, “After His Majesty wakes, he will visit Cining Palace, then rest at Chengqian Palace. Prepare the tea he wants to drink upon waking, then you may extinguish the tea stove. The tea room does not need to be guarded.”
“Fuwen, you should take more care these days and teach her the rules.”
“Your servant obeys,” Song Fuwen responded obediently with a bow.
Li Shuyiao watched and quickly bent her knees in return.
Only then was Liang Jiugong satisfied and left.
After the big boss departed, both Fuwen and Li Shuyiao breathed a sigh of relief, patting their chests as if they had survived a disaster.
Li Shuyiao smiled and turned to ask Fuwen more questions but saw that the previously friendly “colleague” was now fanning herself impatiently, casting sideways glances, then snorted disdainfully before twisting her waist and walking away.
Li Shuyiao was speechless.
Was she playing the game of changing faces?
She stood there dumbfounded for a moment but still called out, “Fuwen.”
Song Fuwen ignored her, went to the tea shelves, and resumed her unfinished work. She emptied a few remaining tea leaves from several jars, tasted a few, then spat them out, picked up paper and pen, wrote a few characters, and put down the pen.
Then she emptied all the tea leaves from the jars, folding them into small paper bundles about the size of a fist, like herbal packets.
Li Shuyiao walked over and poked one of the packets with a slender, smooth finger, curious, “Fuwen, what are you doing?”
No sooner had she spoken than her finger was forcefully slapped with full strength.
Song Fuwen’s expression turned fierce again, her gaze hostile, “Don’t touch!”
Li Shuyiao gasped and withdrew her finger, clutching it carefully in her other hand, pressing gently.
It hurt!
Tears quickly welled in her eyes, her expression a mix of grievance, helplessness, and a touch of anger, like a dog trying hard to show its tiny paws. She glared at Song Fuwen and cried out, “Why did you hit me?”
…
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