Shen Ruyi was abruptly awakened by an urgent need to urinate.
Still groggy, she got up to go to the restroom. The room was pitch dark, and in her drowsiness, she instinctively tried to step off the bed.
But instead of touching the edge of the bed, her hand brushed against a warm body. Shocked in the darkness, she let out a sharp, “Ah—!”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Several voices called out at once in the night.
“It’s Ruyi! Ruyi’s awake!” the little maid she had touched exclaimed excitedly.
“Ah, Ruyi’s awake? That’s wonderful!”
“Really? Ruyi, you’re awake? Are you still feeling unwell anywhere?”
…
In the darkness, several warm, concerned voices rang out at once. But Shen Ruyi’s heart went cold; a shiver ran down her spine.
She… she… where was she?
Fragments of memories that weren’t hers flooded her mind, making her head ache. She wasn’t sure, but a thought emerged: Could it be… I’ve transmigrated?
Dazed, Shen Ruyi sat up on the bed, her mind reeling with disbelief.
“Ruyi, are you okay? Are you still feeling uncomfortable anywhere?” A small maid beside her gently touched her.
“Ah? Oh, I’m fine, just a little dizzy. It’s still some time before dawn. You all should sleep. I’ll go use the latrine.”
After saying this, Shen Ruyi carefully moved to the foot of the bed, got off, put on her shoes, and stepped out of the room.
No matter how chaotic her mind was, she had to relieve herself first—otherwise, she feared she might embarrass herself.
The low-ranking maidservants lived deep in the backyard. The rooms were too cramped to hold chamber pots.
So, in the corner of the courtyard, a small room had been set up with several pots, which the maidservants themselves cleaned and emptied daily.
As soon as Shen Ruyi approached, a foul odor hit her, comparable to a rustic rural outhouse.
But nature calls are urgent. No matter how unpleasant the smell, Shen Ruyi endured it and took care of her needs.
Feeling relieved, she found a spot along the corridor to sit and carefully sort through the memories in her head.
The original owner of the body was also called Ruyi. Now, she was a low-ranking maidservant in the Third Young Master’s courtyard of the Wu’an Marquis residence.
Why “now”? Because originally she wasn’t—she had only been transferred less than half a year ago.
Her original name had been Er Ya (Second Girl).
Er Ya was a daughter of a poor peasant family in the ancestral village of the Wu’an Marquis, Xiangcheng.
She had an older brother and was the second child at home. In the village, there were many “Second Girls,” so she was simply called Er Ya.
When the old Marquis passed away, the Old Madam of Wu’an Marquis accompanied her children to the ancestral home to observe mourning.
After completing the funeral, the Old Madam fell ill with a strange disease.
The exact nature of the illness was unknown to outsiders.
At that time, the famous monk Master Liaokong happened to travel to Xiangcheng, and the Marquis invited him to examine the Old Madam.
Whether Master Liaokong did anything else, Er Ya didn’t know.
All she knew was that he told the Old Madam: to cure this strange illness, twelve young maids born under the Tiger zodiac must be raised in the Marquis’s residence.
Er Ya herself was born in May, under the Tiger zodiac.
This part of Er Ya’s memory was particularly vivid.
Back then, her parents had planned to sell her so that her elder brother could attend a private school. Originally, they intended to sell her to a brothel, which offered the highest price.
Though she had grown up in the village with little knowledge of the world, she knew that brothels were no good.
So she knelt on the ground, pleading bitterly with her parents not to sell her to the brothel. In response, her father kicked her over.
He had intended to slap her face, but her mother stopped him, saying if her face was ruined, she wouldn’t fetch a good price. So her father relented, using only his foot to kick her.
Just as despondent Er Ya was about to be dragged to the brothel by the matchmaker, a matron from the Wu’an Marquis residence arrived, seeking a small maid born in May under the Tiger zodiac.
The usually obedient Er Ya acted bravely for the first time in her life, breaking free from the matchmaker’s grasp and kneeling before the Marquis’s matron with a “thud.”
“Matron, I was born in May. I am a Tiger.”
Er Ya was lucky. Maids from other months had already been chosen; only those born in May were hard to find.
Many villages nearby considered children born in May unlucky. Boys were often abandoned, let alone girls. Many either died young or were abandoned, making May-born Tiger girls particularly rare.
Thus, Er Ya smoothly entered the Wu’an Marquis residence as a young maidservant.
Perhaps because she learned that she survived due to her May birth, her parents didn’t stop requesting her monthly wages even after she joined the Marquis’s household. Naïve Er Ya gave them some each time.
Over time, it escalated. Every month on pay day, her mother came to demand all her wages, leaving her with nothing.
The twelve Tiger girls initially spent their days learning proper conduct or kneeling outside the ancestral hall, praying for the Old Madam for an hour each day.
Whether it was truly Master Liaokong’s blessing or coincidence, after a year, the Old Madam’s illness was cured.
The Old Madam became even more convinced that these twelve young maids had to be kept in the residence.
Now, why did Er Ya—later named Ruyi—end up in such a miserable position?
Several of the girls remained in the Old Madam’s quarters and were now second-rank maids. Others in different courtyards were at worst third-rank maids. Only Er Ya, now Ruyi, was sent to the Third Young Master’s courtyard as a low-ranking servant—considered a punishment.
The reason was her parents.
Er Ya spent three years under their control, having all her wages taken.
During these three years, the other eleven young maids had advanced within the Marquis residence.
Three years later, the Old Madam brought the twelve young maids back to the capital.
Just when Er Ya thought she was free from misery, her parents still demanded her wages through servants who traveled back to the ancestral home each year.
Er Ya herself was helpless. Sold at eight, she was now fourteen. She had saved nothing for herself, giving all her monthly wages to her parents.
Well, there was some exception: the wages from April this year remained with her.
As Shen Ruyi reviewed these memories, she thought: if Er Ya hadn’t had a special role in the Marquis residence, she would likely have been exploited entirely, or even sold off.
Finally, why was being sent to the Third Young Master’s courtyard considered a “banishment” by the other maids?