The Little Bedmaid Just Wants to Get By - Chapter 5

Once, Wang Hui was one of the four high-ranked maids of this court. She was also the eldest and the most beautiful. With an egg-shaped face, phoenix eyes, and a slender yet curvaceous figure, there was no-one in the Dou manor who could hold a candle to her. 

Unfortunately, she took advantage of the fact that the Old Lady had sent her over, and spent all her effort making herself look seductive to ensnare the Second Master. After that incident where she crawled into his bed, Dou Zhao had finally reached the end of his patience, and he sent her back to the Old Lady after a sound paddling. Following that, he banned the maids in Chang Zhi court from having improper intentions towards him, and also forbade them from applying makeup or dressing up. 

So to say that the maids of Chang Zhi court were “hags” was inaccurate. They, too, were beautiful once, but after spending such a long time in an environment where appearances were overlooked, they had become rough around the edges. 

Guan Yuan wasn’t concerned about this, though. She had another pressing matter on her mind which she couldn’t figure out. 

Seeing that she looked distracted, Mu Hui waved a hand in front of her face. “Hey. Why are you zoning out?” 

Guan Yuan turned around dumbly. “What?” 

Mu Hui wanted to give her a chestnut, but her hand stopped in mid-air as she stared at her face. 

“My dear, since when did you become so beautiful!” Mu Hui acted like she had discovered new land. She cradled Guan Yuan’s face in her hands and started to study it closely. 

“This nose…these eyes…this little mouth.You…you’ve gotten fairer, Guan Yuan! This tender white skin, how can it be so nice? Did you use some sort of witchcraft?” 

Guan Yuan was lost. “What? Witchcraft?”

“Your face” Mu Hui touched her own face. “Look at me, I became whiter too, but the difference isn’t that drastic. Why does it look like you never got tan in the first place? You look much better than before.”

It was important to note that two years ago, the fourteen-year old Guan Yuan had gotten tan when she had just started to bloom. Now that she had gotten fairer again, it was like seeing the truly blossomed Guan Yuan. It was truly…”Let me think of how to describe it.” 

Mu Hui wracked her brains, finally coming up with three words. “It looks delicious!” 

“It looks delicious?” Guan Yuan didn’t understand. 

“Yes, it looks like it would be so delicious if you take a bite.” Mu Hui replied seriously. 

Guan Yuan burst into laughter. “Don’t say something random just because you can’t describe it. How can someone look delicious?” 

Mu Hui shook her head. “It’s over, you look even better when you smile. It’s a pity I’m not a man. Do you think Second Master…that’s right.” She seemed to think of something. “After Wang Hui was thrown out, Second Master didn’t ban us from dressing up immediately, right?” 

Guan Yuan gave her a look. “I see you’re not ashamed to bring this up. I remember that day clearly. You said I had to learn to dress up since I was already fourteen, then gave me double spiral buns and applied makeup, and got me scolded by the Second Master. He said Wang Hui influenced us to be obsessed with dressing up, then banned us from using makeup and having any hairstyle other than double buns. He even made us run and eat more.”

Mu Hui clapped her hands together. “That’s right! I finally know why he did that.” 

“Why?” 

“Because he…” Mu Hui paused, looking left and right to make sure there was no one else, then continued in a hushed voice, “He was unhappy after he realized that you had grown into a beautiful woman, so he was making things difficult on purpose.” 

“Is that so?” Guan Yuan kind of really didn’t believe her. 

Mu Hui nodded forcefully, and gave her conclusion. “Our Second Master could really be a cutsleeve! Which normal man doesn’t love beautiful women? Yet he wants us to become ugly!” 

Huh. That seems to make sense. 

“But, “ Mu Hui continued rambling, “He’s been quite good to these newly arrived beauties. He usually has such high standards for us. Especially your tea. If it doesn’t match his standards in the slightest, he would scold you so harshly. Now that it’s Xiang Xin doing the serving, he doesn’t seem to be saying much.” 

Thinking of this, Guan Yuan felt incredibly wronged. 

When she was serving him in the past, putting aside how he would find fault with her daily and spank her hands, the worst incident was when she had mistaken well water for spring water and brewed it into tea. He only had a sip before ordering someone to bring in a big bucket of well water, and commanded her to drink it all within five minutes so that she would remember the flavour well. He even threatened to cut off her hands if she made the same mistake again. 

Goodness gracious, that bucket of water nearly caused Guan Yuan’s stomach to explode. At the end, she was crying as she threw up, only giving up when she couldn’t move any more. 

That trick worked, though. From then on,  the careless Guan Yuan never made a mistake regarding tea again. 

That being said, she didn’t excel at anything she learned over the years. Being able to master the art of tea to this degree was all thanks to that heartless Second Master. 

Guan Yuan could only sigh. “I guess I’m just a slow learner. What can I do if they managed to learn it all the moment they arrived?” 

Mu Hui patted her shoulder comfortingly. “He’s a cutsleeve anyway. They won’t become our masters no matter how capable they are, so don’t worry.” 

Guan Yuan shook her head.”I’m not worried even if they become our masters. I just need to get through four years and I can leave, anyway. I’m just lamenting the fact that I’m too stupid.” 

As the two of them gossiped in private, on the other hand, Dou Zhao had reached the limits of his patience. 

He knew the rumours were the handiwork of Princess Yi Qing. 

For the past few months, he visited the Eastern Palace daily to teach the Crown Prince how to play chess . Every day, the princess would run over and ask him all sorts of questions. That day, he couldn’t hold back his irritation and snapped at her. The rumours started after that. 

It didn’t actually matter to him what they said about him outside. Even the Emperor was only taking the chance to poke fun at his father when he questioned him about it, giving him a taste of revenge for not letting him renovate the imperial mausoleum last year. It was nothing serious. 

It was just hard on him, to suddenly have to keep a few ignorant maids in his court challenging his meagre patience daily. 

Thinking about it, what was the big deal about taking in a few maids? Whenever he had this careless thought, he thought of how his mother ended up. He didn’t want the person he loved in the future to experience the same suffering as his mother. 

In the end, he had to marry someone properly, but who? The young lady of the Zhou Family? The precious daughter of the Wang Family? Who amongst them was worthy of his attention? 

Dou Zhao returned from the Eastern palace in a foul mood. The moment he entered the courtyard, he saw Guan Yuan and Mu Hui whispering conspiratorially in the corridor. 

Taking out his anger elsewhere, he yelled, “Guan Yuan, bring me a cup of tea!”

Guan Yuan jumped, only remembering to reply when he had already entered the room. “Yes, my lord.”

Mu Hui nudged her excitedly. “See that? Second master still likes your tea the best. Hurry up!” 

Guan Yuan replied unhappily, “Didn’t Bi Xin Jiejie tell us to stay away from the Second Master?” 

“Who cares about her? This is a personal order from the Second Master, would she dare stop you?” 

Ironically, Xiang Xin stopped her after she finished preparing the tea. 

“What are you doing?” 

Xiang Xin glanced at the tea in her hands. It was a cup of Songxi Baimudan* in a plain glazed teacup. A subtle, elegant fragrance drifted from the clear, faintly amber liquid in the translucent glazed cup. Even without drinking a sip, it was obvious that the tea would be fragrant and flavourful. 

Guan Yuan was about to relay that the Second Master told her to prepare tea, but the envious Xiang Xin snapped angrily, cutting off her reply. “Didn’t we tell you that third-class maids are not allowed near the Second master?” 

Guan Yuan replied innocently, “I wasn’t intending to…”

“What do you mean you weren’t intending to? Everyday, I see you sneakily looking for opportunities to appear in front of him. Don’t think that I don’t know your little tricks. You must think that you have a chance since you have a face that seduces men. Wake up! The Second Master won’t even glance at a lowly fox like you.”

She reached out her hand. “Give me the tea!” 

Guan Yuan was stunned by her reprimand. Dazed, she handed over the tea tray. 

As Xiang Xin received the tray, she didn’t forget to spit out another insult. “Ptui. Don’t you know you should cover your body when it looks like that? Disgusting!” 

After she entered the room, Guan Yuan went back to Mu Hui and asked unhappily. “Why did she call me a fox? And she scolded me for not covering my body when it looks like this. What’s wrong with my body?” 

Mu Hui was bemused. “Ignore them. It’s just that you’re a bit bigger than them here and there. Although people say that it’s dowdy, I think it’s better than being a bamboo pole like them.”

Guan Yuan lowered her head to look, then compared it to Mu Hui’s. Indeed, it was a bit perkier, but she didn’t feel that it should be a problem. After all, everybody looked different. There were big eyes and small eyes, high nose bridges and low nose bridges. Even arms and legs could be short or long, so why was it a big deal for those places to be big or small? 

Mu Hui scooted over. “Actually, my mother always told me that wide hips are good for childbearing. Although men always say that they don’t like it, they actually really like it.” 

Guan Yuan was a bit shy, but also a bit curious. She had followed Dou Zhao since she was six. Regarding female biology, she could only learn from the sisters and older ladies around her. She was completely ignorant when it came to matters of men and women. 

Therefore, she asked. “So how do men and women have babies?” 

Seeing her guilelessly ask such an explicit question, Mu Hui’s face turned beet red. “Shut your mouth! How could you casually ask such a question?” 

But Guan Yuan really wanted to know. She pulled at Mu Hui’s arm like a spoiled child. “Just tell me!” 

Mu Hui couldn’t help but stammer a reply, her face red. “It’s just…just some bodily contact. Hugging, kissing, things like that. After being intimate, then…then you can have a baby.” 

Guan Yuan was enlightened. “No wonder Wang Hui lay on the bed to seduce the Second Master. She wanted to have his child!” 

“Not exactly,” Mu Hui wanted to refute, but after some thought, it seemed right…kind of?

Elsewhere, Xiang Xin carried the tea in excitedly, her voice sweet as honey. “The tea is here, Second Master. Hurry and take a sip.”

Dou Zhao nodded distractedly. 

After putting down the tea, Xiang Xin added, “I specially prepared Baimudan for you today, my lord. It’s very fragrant.” 

At this, Dou Zhao paused, noticing the cup of tea on the table. Amber liquid glistening in a glazed cup. It was indeed the Baimudan that he had longed for. But other than Guan Yuan, nobody else could make this tea. 

He calmly looked towards Xiang Xin. “Did you prepare this tea?” 

Xiang Xian froze for a fraction of a second, then stiffly nodded her head, changing the topic. “Try it, Second Master!” 

“I said, did you prepare this tea?” Dou Zhao’s eyes grew noticeably colder. 

Xiang Xin knew her own capabilities, and didn’t dare to lie. She hurriedly said, “It wasn’t me, Guan Yuan prepared it. I ran into her, so I brought this tea in for her instead.” 

“You like to serve tea to others?” 

Xiang Xin started to stammer. “Ser…serving tea to Second Master is…is this servant’s duty.” 

Dou Zhao smiled faintly, then retracted his gaze. “Since you like serving tea so much, I shall do you a favor. From tomorrow onwards, Cai Ju shall be in charge of preparing my tea. You shall stand by the second gate daily and prepare tea for all the servants in the manor. Come back after a month.”

Five thunderbolts!**

Xiang Xin’s legs grew weak. “Second Master…”

“Another word, and I’ll add a month.” 

Xiang Xin didn’t dare to beg. She bit her lip and held back tears as she retreated. 

Dou Zhao finally lifted up the teacup. First, he took some time to appreciate the color of the liquor. Then, he inhaled its fragrance. Finally, he took a small sip. At once, his entire body relaxed.

Indeed, only the tea that that girl prepared could be enjoyed. 

Regaining his comfort, Dou Zhou suddenly came to a realization. Since when was he the type to worry about the future? So what if it affects the Crown Prince? Even if the Prince of Qi*** became the emperor, he could just drag him down. Why was he punishing himself? 

As for the princess, it was time to teach her a lesson.

—

* A type of white tea

** 五雷轰顶: used to describe a situation where something very shocking has happened, as if being struck by thunderbolts

*** 祁王: Prince who got awarded the name “Qi”. Qi is not the name of another country