Yet life would never show the slightest mercy just because Li Shutiao was a pitiful, innocent kitten.
In the afternoon, Li Shutiao was brought before Liang Jiugong by Xiao Quanzi.
Liang Jiugong didn’t intend to make things difficult for her. He merely looked her up and down with an indifferent tone and asked, “You’re Li Shutiao, correct?”
Li Shutiao nodded nervously, replying in a small voice, “Yes, answering Eunuch Liang.”
Liang Jiugong: “Alright, follow me.”With that, he turned around, leaving only his tall silhouette for Li Shutiao.”
Watching from the corner of her eye as he strode away without ceremony, Li Shutiao stood frozen for two breaths before hastily scurrying after him.
She only remembered climbing numerous White Jade Steps, walking along a path paved with Red Carpet, crossing four thresholds, before finally stopping in a slightly warm room.
Eunuch Liang turned to look at her: “Did you memorize the route?”
Li Shutiao: “?”
Memorize the route? What route?
She had only been counting steps and thresholds earlier… and no one had told her she needed to memorize the way.
Li Shutiao’s hands suddenly clenched into fists, her heart filled with panic, momentarily unsure how to respond.
“Didn’t remember?” Liang Jiugong raised an eyebrow at her silence, questioning with confusion.
Li Shutiao’s mind raced, then she quickly nodded several times, her voice trembling as she said, “Answering Eunuch Liang, this servant’s mind is rather dull, I… I didn’t remember…”
Liang Jiugong: “…”
His expression instantly turned complicated. After a long pause, he finally spoke calmly, though his voice carried an inexplicable intimidation: “Just walk straight up the steps, enter the main gate of Qianqing Palace, turn right into the Imperial Study, walk to the very end, pass through the Shaojian, and enter the second room on the right. You couldn’t even remember that?”
Did that person actually send a fool over? Liang Jiugong deeply furrowed his brows, already headache over how to train her next.
Meanwhile, Li Shutiao was nearly scared into cardiac arrest by his words. She stood stunned for a long while before finally processing his instructions in her mind, then comparing them with her vague memory of the walk. She realized that… it was indeed correct.
Walk straight, climb the steps, enter the door, turn right and walk a stretch, enter another door and walk further, finally turn right again, and you’ve arrived.
It was a route even a fool could remember – so what had she been thinking earlier?
Li Shutiao’s fists clenched even tighter. Then she lowered her head another few inches, staring at her own toes as she sincerely admitted her mistake: “Answering Eunuch Liang, this servant remembers now. I was just too nervous earlier and didn’t know how to describe it, that’s why I misspoke. Please forgive this servant, Eunuch.”
She stood in place like a elementary student being punished to face the wall in reflection.
Liang Jiugong didn’t know her usual temperament, but considering that person’s judgment was never wrong – they couldn’t have actually sent a fool – he hesitated for a moment before temporarily believing Li Shutiao’s words. His tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly as he waved his horsetail whisk and said, “From today onward, you’ll be working in the Tea Room. Go on in.”
Having said this, he stepped aside.
Li Shutiao nodded, stepped forward and pushed the door open, greeted by a wave of warmth.
This was a room of approximately forty square meters, with several red sandalwood display tea shelves standing on both sides. Each shelf was adorned with a dazzling array of porcelain jars, tea caddies, and tea sets. In the center stood a red sandalwood tea table, upon which were arranged various utensils and tools such as a tea stove, tea pot, tea cups, tea spoon, and tea containers.
After Li Shutiao entered, someone inside, likely hearing the commotion, quickly emerged from behind the tea shelves. “What do you want?” she demanded.
The newcomer was a young palace maid of about eighteen or nineteen, dressed in a pink palace maid uniform, with hairpins and flowers adorning her hair and three earrings dangling from her ears. Her features were delicate and pretty, yet her expression was tense—her willow-like eyebrows furrowed, and her lips, painted with bright red lip color, were pressed tightly together in a downward curve, exuding displeasure from every angle.
Upon recognizing Li Shutiao’s face, her initial three parts of displeasure instantly escalated to eight, her eyes blazing as if they could spit fire. “This is the restricted area of the Tea Room! Who gave you permission to barge in here? Do you have a death wish? Watch out, or I’ll report to Liang Gonggong and have you—”
“Have her what?” Just then, Liang Jiugong also entered, standing right behind Li Shutiao.
Sensing his approach, Li Shutiao quickly lowered her head and stepped aside, appearing utterly docile.
She felt she might be destined to be a lowly cannon fodder—unwelcome wherever she went. Back in the Palace Maidens Quarters, she had to contend with the green tea protagonist Wuya Shi in front and the watchful Jiya Momo behind.
As for the other palace maids, whether out of some inexplicable mindset, they habitually kept their distance from her or treated her with indifference. Only the little angel Qingyao was genuinely kind to her.
Next was Wanliuha Yueshu, who, though not as good to her as Qingyao, had at least given her a bottle of medicine. Two days before being transferred, Yueshu had tearfully run to find her, saying that after returning that day, she had tossed and turned, thinking it over, and realized Li Shutiao had made a valid point. She shouldn’t have misunderstood Qingyao without any verification.
She also asked, if possible, for Li Shutiao to do her a favor and take her to see Qingyao next time, so she could apologize to Qingyao in person.
However, before Li Shutiao could find a suitable opportunity, she was transferred to the Qianqing Palace. She had no idea how Yueshu was doing now…
Li Shutiao sank into her own thoughts.
On the other side, Liang Jiugong, holding a horsetail whisk, looked highly displeased.
The palace maid, seeing him arrive in person, was instantly terrified and flustered. Her knees weakened, and she knelt down, pleading pitifully: “L-Liang Gonggong, this humble maid knows she was wrong. I—I was only worried that someone might have barged in recklessly. I never meant to use your name to bully anyone!”
“Gonggong, you know well that this—this is the restricted area of the Tea Room. If anything goes wrong here and endangers the Emperor’s sacred health, this humble maid would deserve death ten thousand times over…”
The crying snapped Li Shutiao out of her thoughts. She blinked curiously, utterly baffled by the maid’s extreme reaction.
Was Liang Jiugong really that terrifying?
The moment this question surfaced in her mind, Li Shutiao fell silent.
She felt she had asked herself a foolish question. If Liang Jiugong weren’t terrifying, then who was the one just scared into babbling nonsense and replying incoherently?
After all, this was Liang Gonggong, the chief steward of the Qianqing Palace, the top supervisor of all the palace servants. How could he not have some deterrent power?
Li Shutiao quickly convinced herself and cautiously raised her head just a little, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as her gaze swept back and forth between Liang Jiugong’s boots and the maid kneeling on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
The maid’s pleas continued.
Liang Jiugong, however, was growing impatient. “Enough. I haven’t accused you of anything.”
He still remembered this maid.
A month ago, she and another maid from the Tea Room had used their status as Tea-Serving Maids to extort silver from several peripheral palace workers. When the incident came to light, they were punished by the palace matron with an hour of rod-and-tongs discipline. 【1】
Yet, it seemed she hadn’t learned her lesson. Seeing that Guo Luoluo Shi, who merely guarded the Warehouse, had gained the emperor’s favor, she too developed ambitions of climbing the ranks—though she was cleverer and less audacious than the other.
The other maid, after failing in her deliberate attempt to seduce the emperor, was sent to Jingshan to pull weeds as punishment. This one, however, remained safely in the Tea Room, continuing her duties as a Tea-Serving Maid.
Hearing that Liang Jiugong had no intention of punishing her, the maid secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She wiped the tears from her face and looked up pitifully from her kneeling position. “May I ask, Eunuch Liang, who is this?”
Liang Jiugong replied, “From now on, she will work with you in the Tea Room.” After a pause, he added, “Show her the ropes. You may rise.”
Only then did the maid stand up. Clutching her handkerchief, she wore an ingratiating smile and asked Li Shutiao amiably, “What’s your name?”
Li Shutiao raised her head slightly and replied softly, “My name is Li Shutiao. May I ask your name, sister?”
The maid answered, “My surname is Song, and my given name is Fuwen. You can just call me Fuwen.”
“Fuwen,” Li Shutiao repeated quietly. It seemed she was also from the Han Banners.
She then flashed a bright smile. “Then you may call me Shutiao.”
“Alright, Shutiao,” Song Fuwen replied with a smile.
Liang Jiugong stood by calmly, listening as they exchanged names. After a moment, he said gravely, “After His Majesty the Long Live Lord awakens, he will visit the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility and then rest at Chengqian Palace. Your task is to prepare the tea for after His Majesty wakes, then extinguish the Tea Stove. No one needs to remain on duty in the Tea Room.”
“For the next few days, Fuwen, you will take charge and teach her the rules.”
“This maid obeys,” Song Fuwen replied smoothly, performing a respectful bow.
Li Shutiao, watching from the side, hastily bent her knees in imitation.
Only then did Liang Jiugong leave, satisfied.
Once the top boss had departed, not only Fuwen but even Li Shutiao breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest with the demeanor of one who had narrowly escaped disaster.
Li Shutiao turned back with a smile, intending to ask Fuwen a few more questions, only to find that her previously friendly and kind “colleague” was now fanning herself with her handkerchief, shooting her a sidelong glance, and letting out an annoyed “hmph” through her nose before swaying her hips and walking away without another word.
Li Shutiao: “…”
She was stunned once again!
Was this some kind of face-changing act?
Li Shutiao stood frozen for a moment before hurrying after her. “Fuwen.”
Song Fuwen ignored her completely. She walked over to the tea shelf and resumed her unfinished task—pouring out a few leftover tea leaves from several tea canisters, tasting them in her mouth, then spitting them out with a “ptui, ptui.” She picked up a brush and paper, jotted down a few characters, and set the brush down again.
Then she poured all the tea leaves from the tea canister and folded them into small paper packets the size of fists, just like wrapping Chinese herbal medicine.
Li Shutiao walked over and poked the paper packets with a fair, satin-like finger, curiously asking, “Fuwen, what are you doing?”
As soon as she finished speaking, her finger was slapped hard with full force.
Song Fuwen had already reverted to his previous fierce expression, looking at Li Shutiao with unfriendly eyes. “Don’t touch!”
Li Shutiao hissed in pain, withdrawing her finger and wrapping it in her other hand, carefully kneading it a couple of times.
So painful!
Tears quickly welled up in her eyes, her expression pitiful, helpless, and somewhat angry. Like a puppy trying to show its tiny claws, she glared dryly at Song Fuwen and shouted, “Why did you hit me!”
…