The Little Bedmaid Just Wants to Get By - Chapter 9
Guan Yuan fell heavily. When her bottom touched the floor, she almost cried out in pain. Thankfully, that part was well cushioned by flesh, or she would surely have gotten a fracture.
Dou Zhao forcefully suppressed the urge to help her up. With a cold face, he said, “Have you forgotten everything after not serving me for a few days? Why are you so careless?”
Guan Yuan was overcome with the unjustness of the situation. She stood up slowly, biting her lips against the pain. Tears sprang to her eyes once more. “I’m sorry, Second Master. I was worried that you felt warm.”
She spoke in an aggrieved tone, making her seem even more delicate. To Dou Zhao, the sound of her voice was like a kitten kneading at his heart, making it itchy and uncomfortable.
Dou Zhao couldn’t bear to see her anymore. Furiously, he said, “If you want to stay, then you should know your place. You know the consequences if you dare follow in Wang Hui’s footsteps. Now begone!”
Guan Yuan was stunned.
Wang Hui? Wang Hui wants to have your babies. Since when have I ever wanted such a thing?
But anyway, that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that he had agreed to keep her.
Sigh. At least she managed to buy some time. She really had to start planning so that she could get her hands on that sum of money as soon as possible. Then she could leave this place with no worries.
Guan Yuan swiped away her tears happily, her voice filled with gratitude. “Thank you, Second Master! I will dedicate myself to serving you well for the next four years!”
Dou Zhao was distracted for the entire afternoon.
He returned so early today because something unexpected had happened in the palace.
In order to teach the Princess a lesson, he dug out the incident from half a year ago, where the Prince of Qi went on a drunken tirade about how the Emperor played favorites, and spread rumours about it throughout the city. Of course it was all within his control, and would never actually reach the Emperor’s ears. When he wanted to stop, he could make it vanish without a trace.
Since the Princess was a woman, he couldn’t target her directly, so he could only aim for the people that she cared about. She and the Prince of Qi were full siblings, and she had always respected him.
It was indeed effective to give her a taste of her own medicine. The Prince of Qi immediately knew that Dou Zhao’s attacks were directed at the Princess, so he spent an entire night negotiating with the Princess, asking her to apologise to Dou Zhao personally.
In the afternoon, after Dou Zhao had completed his lessons with the Crown Prince, the Princess arrived.
In name, Dou Zhao was the Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince, and taught the Crown Prince how to play Go. In actuality, the Crown Prince hated Go, and his skills were mediocre even after 5 years. Dou Zhao didn’t want to acknowledge him as a student, so most of the time they discussed matters such as statecraft and politics. Dou Zhao was more like the Crown Prince’s military strategist and advisor. He was both a teacher and a friend, and the Crown Prince sought his opinion before he made any decisions.
However, this Crown Prince rarely took himself seriously. He became more solemn when discussing matters of the economy and peoples’ livelihoods, but most of the time he wanted to gossip and joke around.
Dou Zhao’s cutsleeve rumor, for example, suited the Crown Prince’s tastes perfectly. He always thought that Dou Zhao’s expressionless face was boring. Now that he had finally found an opening, there was no way he would just let it go.
As such, during his daily lessons, the Crown Prince would intentionally put his arm around Dou Zhao’s shoulders, or speak in a feminine voice.
“Teacher, do you like the strong type, or the frail type? What do you think about me?”
“Ai yo yo! Teacher, you’re too fierce! I’m so afwaid!”
“My Zhaozhao, I don’t like it when you call me Your Highness. Why don’t you call me by my name? Try it: ‘my Chang Ning’.”
…
He had fun messing around everyday, but Dou Zhao didn’t respond at all. Until today, when the Princess appeared, and the Crown Prince once again put on a feminine act to tease him.
Suddenly, Dou Zhao cupped his hand around the back of the Crown Prince’s neck, hugging him as he leaned back. Gently, he said, “Although your attendant has always said that the rumor about liking men is not true, Your Highness is as charming as a woman. Your attendant can’t help but be moved.”
The Crown Prince was momentarily stunned, then he jumped three feet into the air. With eyes as big as copper bells, he pointed accusingly at Dou Zhao. “You you you you you….you you” Even after a dozen ‘you’s, he couldn’t find a way to express what he was feeling.
The Princess’s shrill shriek came from the door. “Dou Zhao! Chang Ning! What are you doing!”
The Crown Prince flew over in tears. “Royal Elder Sister! Save me! You saw it too! Teacher…he….he’s harassing me!”
Dou Zhao however, acted as if nothing was wrong. He arranged his robes, then elegantly took a sip of his tea.
The Princess shoved the Crown Prince aside, dashing in front of Dou Zhao. She jabbed a finger at his nose and asked, “You! Dou something! What on earth are you doing!”
Dou Zhao continued drinking his tea, not even bothering to look up.
The Princess was furious. She snatched away his teacup and dashed it onto the floor. “I’m speaking to you! What on earth do you want!”
At this, Dou Zhao smiled faintly. His tone was dismissive. “That’s strange, I should be asking the Princess this instead. Wasn’t it the Princess who spread the rumor that I was a cutsleeve? Now that I’m heeding the Princess’s words and giving men a try, shouldn’t the Princess be happy?”
“I’m not happy! No way! You can’t!” The Princess denied it three times in a row.
The Crown Prince became curious. “Why not, Royal Sister?”
The Princess blurted out, “Because I like him!”
Very loudly.
The Crown Prince’s eyes returned to their copper bell state. After a long pause, he rubbed his face hard and shouted, “Xiao Cong Zi. Xiao Cong Zi, come quick! Quick, tell me. Am I sleepwalking right now?”
Although Dou Zhao acted this way to disgust the Princess, this outcome was not what he wanted.
After some time, he laughed once. “That’s a pity. As the Princess can see, I like men.”
At that, he told Guan Hai to pack his things, and left without looking back.
The Princess was angry and embarrassed. She shouted after him, “Just you wait, Dou Zhao! I…I’m not done with you yet!”
The Crown Prince poked her timidly. “But Royal Sister, didn’t you say he was a cutsleeve? How can you like him?”
“That’s none of your da*n business, you vixen!”
The Princess glared at him hard, then ran off.
The Crown Prince was left behind, trembling in the wind. “Xiao Cong Zi, Xiao Cong Zi, I can’t. I’m gonna cry. Royal Sister…Royal Sister called me a vixen, wu wu wu.* None of you stop me! I’m going to complain to my Royal Father…”
On the way back, Guan Hai was quite excited. It was a good thing to be fancied by the Princess. After all, there was no unmarried woman in the world who was more noble than her. She would be a perfect match for his Young Master.
Dou Zhao glanced sideways at him. “What do you know? Pretend as if that never happened. You are not to mention this to anybody, especially at home. If any news leaks out, you can say goodbye to your tongue.”
Guan Hai didn’t understand. “Why?”
Dou Zhao laughed coldly. “She’s not worthy!”
He was already annoyed by this incident, but then he came home to witness Guan Yuan being punished, and endured a round of relentless seduction on top of that. It would be strange if he could calm down.
Therefore, when Cai Mei once again ‘accidentally’ rubbed her hands against his lower abdomen when dressing him for the night, he exploded in anger. “How impudent! Do you usually dress people this way?”
Cai Mei knelt in fear. “This servant doesn’t dare! It was an accident! I wouldn’t dare do it again. Please forgive me, Second Master.”
Dou Zhao took a deep breath. “Tell Mu Hui to serve me instead. As for you, return to the Grand Lady.”
Cai Mei grew pale as she cried, “I’m sorry, Second Master. I was wrong! I won’t do it again. Please forgive me this time!”
Dou Zhao replied coldly, “Twenty floggings if you don’t leave now.”
Cai Mei swallowed her pleas, tears streaming down her face as she went to fetch Mu Hui before packing her things and returning to the Grand Lady’s side.
Mu Hui was delighted to be called and dropped everything to go immediately, but Guan Yuan held her back. “You still want to serve him personally?”
Mu Hui replied, “It’s the Second Master’s orders, I have to go!”
Guan Yuan said, “But once you go, it will be difficult to back out again.”
Mu Hui smiled. “What’s there to be afraid of? I’m used to serving him. Unlike you, I don’t get scolded by him often. It’s better to wait on him than to be bossed around by those few. Don’t worry! When I see an opportunity, I’ll try to get the Second Master to call you back too.”
Guan Yuan hurriedly shook her hands. “Please don’t. I only asked the Second Master to keep me for another four years because I don’t have to wait on him. If I have to return to the old days, I’d rather go out and be a beggar.”
Mu Hui widened her eyes. “Look at how meek you are. Is the Second Master a leopard? Will he eat you?”
Without Mu Hui to supervise her, Guan Yuan’s days were even more leisurely.
She woke up at the Chen hours** everyday, a whole two hours later than before. After eating breakfast, she would feed the sparrows and watch them play, then clean their cages and such, and bring them on a walk. In the afternoon, she would change their water and tease them. With the remaining time, she would do her own things.
Coincidentally, she could use the remaining time to study the tea leaves her brother had given her. Specifically, how to incorporate it into tea so that the Second Master would drink it without noticing.
To be honest, she wanted to cure the Second Master’s nightmare disorder as soon as possible too. All these years, whenever it was her turn to keep watch at night, she could hear his grunts of pain whenever he jolted awake. In her heart, she felt sad for him.
Today, she was sitting on the cooling bed underneath the banana trees in the courtyard, sampling various concoctions of tea mixed with the medicinal leaves while eating a bunch of grapes.
The grapes were from the Third Young Lady’s birthday banquet, where she helped out with the tea preparation. Many of the fruits, wines, and dishes were left behind, and had been awarded to the servants who had helped with the banquet. Out of these, she only took one bunch of grapes.
These were chilled grapes. Each berry was big and round, and exploded with juice once she bit into it. It was pure bliss to eat something so sweet and cooling in the middle of summer.
Typically, when she ate grapes, she would rinse her mouth before taking a sip of tea, but these grapes were too delicious and she couldn’t stop. Without noticing, she had taken a sip of tea. An unexpected sweet flavor burst out as the grape juice in her mouth mixed together with the tea.
Guan Yuan looked at the grapes, then at the tea. Suddenly, inspiration struck, and she plucked a dark purple grape and squeezed it over the teacup. The sweet grape juice incorporated into the tea liquor.
Guan Yuan took an experimental sip…Hm. It was too mild, and slightly sour.
Once she decided to do something, she would go all the way. And so, she squeezed the juice of all the remaining grapes into the tea.
When the tea liquor turned a translucent purple, she took another sip…Ah~ The sweet, refreshing taste of the grapes mingled with the taste of the tea. It slid down the throat smoothly, bringing with it a sweet fragrance, refreshing the senses like a cool, gentle breeze on a stuffy summer day. If it was a bit colder, it would be the perfect summer drink, miles better than simple iced tea.
The extraordinary thing was that the grape juice completely covered the taste of her brother’s tea leaves. Combined with the juice, the peculiar smell was completely undetectable. If the Second Master liked this concoction, then she could complete her brother’s task easily!
Guan Yuan was ecstatic. She moved to lift up the cup, wanting to bring it to Mu Hui for a taste, but the moment she picked it up, Mu Hui came running in a hurry.
Anxiously, she pushed Guan Yuan out the door. “Hide quickly! They’re here to pick a fight with you again.”
Guan Yuan didn’t understand.” Who wants to pick a fight with me? Why do they want to fight me?”
Mu Hui humphed. “What do you mean? Wasn’t it you who said something to the Second Master? He’s been more and more stringent with them every day.”
“Did I say anything?”
“Who cares if you really said something? Right now, they’re pushing all the blame to you.”
Actually, ever since Dou Zhao decided that he should stop punishing himself, he had been changing his relatively forgiving attitude, giving the newcomers a brutal experience of what it feels like to work under someone demanding.
Take Cai Ju for example. Of course, there were strict standards for the temperature of the tea and the intensity of the color, but now she also had to separate the lotus dew collected in the morning according to the time and position of the lotus flowers or leaves. Even when she was brewing tea in front of Dou Zhao, she had to meet his standards in the way she moved as she heated the tea cups.
This was nothing surprising to Guan Yuan, but incredibly difficult for someone untrained like Cai Ju. She took two days just to perfect the way she heated tea cups, and burnt her hands raw in the process.
Even so, Dou Zhao was still unsatisfied, and told her to kneel under the sun and reflect on herself for two days.
It was the same for the others. Within a few days, they absorbed more sunlight than they ever had in their entire life, turning a whole shade darker than they were before.
Fantastic. The reason they were here in the first place was to seduce the Second Master with their beauty and boost their rank in society. Now that they were exercising and tanning under the sun every day, their skin had become tan, and their figures had become robust.
In this society where beauty was defined by the frailty of your body and the fairness of your skin, losing their light complexions and slender figures were equivalent to being disfigured.
Despite this, they couldn’t weep or lament, and didn’t dare complain. They concluded that the Second Master started changing drastically ever since Guan Yuan had a private conversation with him that day, so she must have said something behind their backs.
The more they thought about it, the angrier they got, and they intended to teach her a lesson.
Guan Yuan knew that there was no way she would be able to talk herself out of it. She said anxiously, “Shouldn’t I get the Second Master to clear my name? I can’t avoid them all the time.”
Mu Hui pushed her out of the back door. “You wish! Would the Second Master help you? You can try if you want, but just go somewhere and wait it out for now. They’re practically foaming at the mouth, I’m afraid they’ll hurt you.”
Without any other solution, Guan Yuan could only leave the courtyard in a hurry.
—
* wu: sound of crying
** Chen hours: 7-9am