“Sui’er, I have heard all about it from the imperial physician. Your estrus cycle is becoming increasingly difficult to bear, and you must find a Qianyuan to form a temporary bond to alleviate it, otherwise, it will affect your future heirs.”
Jiang Sui hesitated and bit her lip: “Imperial Father, you know that this child…”
“I understand,” Jiang Shirong nodded. “Currently, among the ministers’ families in the capital, there are no Qianyuan who match you. Those who are unmarried already have concubines and housemaids, or else they simply enjoy whoring around. Naturally, such men are not worthy of my Sui’er.”
“Then what does Imperial Father mean?” Jiang Sui asked, somewhat confused.
“What do you think of Ji Kongqing, the hostage sent by the Thousand Birds Kingdom seven days ago?”
Jiang Sui was stunned. She knew of Ji Kongqing. This person was simply a good-for-nothing imperial princess of the Thousand Birds Kingdom; why would her Imperial Father push such a person onto her?
Sensing Jiang Sui’s thoughts, Jiang Shirong’s expression turned solemn: “This person is the fifth imperial princess of the Thousand Birds Kingdom. Her biological mother was a palace maid who passed away long ago.”
“I have already had people look into it. Since childhood, she has been unfavored, has no betrothal, and doesn’t even have a housemaid. She has always lived alone in a dilapidated courtyard within the royal palace, constantly bullied in the Thousand Birds Kingdom, and holds a very low status.”
“Although her level is merely a Grade B Qianyuan, she is still usable. We might as well have her enter the estate to serve you as a consort. Once Sui’er finds someone she truly loves later on, we can simply send her off with a cup of poisoned wine; it won’t have the slightest impact.”
Jiang Sui frowned, still somewhat hesitant.
Jiang Shirong sighed: “Sui’er, ever since you returned to the capital, more and more people have been keeping an eye on you. Just a few days ago, someone even sent an assassin to try and kill you. Although they didn’t succeed, I remain deeply worried.”
“It must be those younger brothers and sisters of yours who still don’t feel at ease and view you as a thorn in their side. They have also been keeping a close eye on your marriage prospects, terrified that I might betroth you to a consort with a strong background who could threaten their status.”
“Bestowing Ji Kongqing upon you as a consort is also meant to lower their guard. Do you understand my intentions?”
“This child understands,” Jiang Sui nodded with a complex expression. “I will obey all of Imperial Father’s arrangements.”
Only then was Jiang Shirong reassured. With a look of heartache, he patted Jiang Sui’s shoulder: “Sui’er has suffered. Just endure it for now and bide your time; I will prepare everything for you.”
Upon returning from the imperial palace, Jiang Shirong issued an imperial decree bestowing the marriage, which led to this very wedding.
Just as her Imperial Father had said, those restless individuals in the capital temporarily let down their guard because of this wedding. Today, even the people sent to monitor the princess’s estate were far fewer than usual.
Early the next morning, the two maidservants assigned to Jiang Sui reported for duty.
Their arrival meant that the maidservants from the Thousand Birds Kingdom could finally get lost.
Ji Kongqing no longer needed to worry about being poisoned by them. Thinking of this, she felt considerably more at ease and looked over the two young girls in front of her with a rather good mood.
The two maidservants looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old, with frail builds, sallow complexions, and heights under one hundred and sixty centimeters. At a glance, they were clearly children sent away by impoverished families.
A trace of pity welled up in Ji Kongqing. Seeing the two of them hesitating, she took the initiative to ask for their details.
“What are your names?”
The slightly taller one on the left bowed first and replied, “The matron who brought us into the estate said that upon entering, we must discard our original names and let the master bestow new names. Therefore, we ask the consort to bestow our names.”
“No matter, just tell me your original names first.” Ji Kongqing waved her hand, indicating that she didn’t care about such rules.
The one on the right took over the conversation and replied, “Replying to the consort, my original name is Li Panan, and this older sister beside me is from the same village; her name is Wang Zhaodi.”
“Both of us are farm girls from clean backgrounds. It’s just that our family was too poor and could no longer afford to eat, so our father sold us to a human trafficker. We were only bought into the princess’s estate by the managing matron a few days ago.”
Hearing this, Ji Kongqing wore a complex expression: “How old are you?”
Li Panan replied, “Sixteen. Zhaodi sister is half a year older than me.”
To think they were sixteen and yet this short! Recalling their respective names, Ji Kongqing felt a bit speechless inside.
She hadn’t expected that even in this era with six genders, the mindset of preferring boys over girls still persisted. On second thought, it was probably because Zhongyong males possessed greater physical strength, grew taller, and were better suited for physical labor, giving them higher status in an agriculture-based ancient society.
“Then from now on, you shall be called Ruyi,” Ji Kongqing pointed at Zhaodi on the left, and then pointed at Panan on the right: “And you shall be called Ping’an.”
“Thank you, Master, for bestowing our names.” Ruyi pulled Ping’an down, preparing to kneel.
Ji Kongqing waved her hand: “I don’t have those kinds of rules here. You don’t need to be kneeling around when I’m around; it’s too troublesome. If Her Highness comes over, you can just follow the etiquette taught by the guidance matron.”
“Thank you, Master,” Ruyi and Ping’an expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
“Alright, you can freely find a room to live in. This room is mine; apart from this one, you can live in any of the other rooms.”
The courtyard assigned to Ji Kongqing by Jiang Sui was located at the very western edge of the princess’s estate. The courtyard happened to connect to the back door of the estate, where delivery personnel frequently passed through during regular days.
The courtyard had five rooms: three servant rooms on the left, Ji Kongqing’s room in the middle, a small kitchen and a bathroom on the two rooms to the right, and a dilapidated outhouse at the very edge of the courtyard.
Based on the courtyard’s geographical location and related configuration, it was hard not to see Jiang Sui’s disdain for Ji Kongqing.
Ruyi and Ping’an quickly familiarized themselves with this courtyard, which could be seen through at a single glance, and promptly found the servant rooms, taking their bundles to tidy up.
Seeing the two of them go off to tidy their things, Ji Kongqing walked over to check out the small kitchen in her courtyard.
She found the small kitchen completely empty, containing only a stove, an iron wok, a cutting board, and a kitchen knife, with no firewood beside the stove.
Other than the tools, there were no ingredients or seasonings whatsoever, clearly showing that it hadn’t been used by anyone.
Fortunately, there was a water well near the kitchen area in the courtyard, making water usage relatively convenient.
Ji Kongqing sighed and walked over to the outhouse to use the restroom.
When she came out, she covered her nose with a very helpless expression.
This outhouse was similar to a rural dry latrine. Since it hadn’t been used much yet, it wasn’t too smelly, but once it was used more frequently, it would probably stink to high heaven come summer.
And the items used for wiping made her feel indescribably miserable, both painful and unhygienic.
No way, she had a clean-up obsession. Having grown up accustomed to modern, clean, and hygienic restrooms, she simply couldn’t bear this filthy environment.
She had to find an opportunity to renovate this small courtyard.
Thinking it over, there were truly many things she needed to make, but the available funds seemed rather limited. She wondered how the purchasing power of those fifty taels of silver would hold up. Ji Kongqing let out a sigh.
As soon as Ruyi and Ping’an finished tidying up their things and stepped out, they heard Ji Kongqing sighing.
Ruyi, being quick-witted, instantly understood something and piped up, “Is Master hungry? Ping’an and I will go to the main kitchen to fetch your breakfast.”
Ji Kongqing paused, remembering that she hadn’t eaten yet either. She immediately stood up, patted the dust off her clothes, and said, “Just in time, I need to head over to the accounts office anyway. You two know the way, right? Take me there.”
“I know it,” Ping’an nodded. “The guidance matron took us around to look at everything. Master, the accounts office is not far from the main kitchen.”
“Alright, let’s go together,” Ji Kongqing followed the two of them first to the accounts office.
Upon reaching the accounts office, she told the two girls to wait outside for a moment. She poked her head inside and saw a man using an abacus to calculate accounts.
Ji Kongqing knocked on the door to draw his attention before walking in.
“You are?” Li Qing, the accountant, looked at Ji Kongqing in confusion, sizing up her attire as he struggled to gauge her identity for a moment.
“I am the consort who married into the estate yesterday,” Ji Kongqing unbuckled her identity token from her waist and placed it on the table. “Her Highness said I have a monthly stipend of fifty taels, and I’m here to collect it.”
“Oh, right, right,” Li Qing stuttered slightly upon hearing Ji Kongqing’s identity.
Previously, the masters they served would always arrange for subordinate servants to collect money whenever they needed it; rarely did one come in person.
He hadn’t expected the consort to personally come collect money on the very second day of marrying into the princess’s estate, looking completely devoid of airs, which truly surprised him.
Could it really be as everyone said, that Her Highness didn’t care for this consort at all?
Li Qing suppressed the doubt in his heart, inspected the jade-carved identity token to ensure there were no issues, and handed the fifty taels of silver to Ji Kongqing.
Ji Kongqing’s eyes lit up when she saw the money, her gaze filled with fanaticism as she lifted the silver ingot.
Li Qing found it even stranger: being an imperial princess of a country, why did this consort look as though she was desperately short of money?
If Ji Kongqing knew what he was thinking, she would definitely nod and say she really was broke.
She was already an unfavored princess to begin with, and being poisoned meant she was already an abandoned chess piece of the Thousand Birds Kingdom.
The royal family of the Thousand Birds Kingdom hadn’t prepared anything for her at all, not to mention that being married off as a consort was a temporary decision made by Emperor Jiaming. Aside from the few sets of clothes she brought from the Thousand Birds Kingdom, her pockets were cleaner than her face.
Tucking the fifty taels of silver into her bosom, Ji Kongqing waited outside the accounts office for a bit until Ping’an and Ruyi returned, and the three of them headed back to the Mingyue Pavilion together.
Opening the food box, they found inside eight steamed white flour buns, a plate of salted vegetables, and three large bowls of porridge.
Ji Kongqing paused, looking somewhat surprised: “Is the princess’s estate that poor?”
“Master, watch your words,” Ruyi immediately reminded Ji Kongqing. “It’s our fault; we went late and these were all that was left. We can only wrong Master this morning. For lunch, we will go over earlier.”
Hearing Ruyi say this, Ping’an beside her had a hesitant expression, wanting to say something.
Noticing her expression, Ji Kongqing roughly figured out what was going on. It must be that the news of her not sharing a bridal chamber with Jiang Sui last night had spread, and the people in the estate were serving food based on status.
As expected, ancient times were truly troublesome. Ji Kongqing curled her lip, took the items out of the food box, gave one bowl of white porridge to herself, and one bowl each to Ping’an and Ruyi.
“Eat,” Ji Kongqing told the two of them to sit down together, shoving a large steamed bun to each of them.
Ping’an and Ruyi were somewhat flattered, exchanged fearful glances, and declined, “Master, servants are not allowed to dine together with the master; it doesn’t conform to propriety.”
“There’s no one else in the courtyard, what are you afraid of?” Ji Kongqing shook her head. “If I tell you to sit, then sit. In the future, it will just be the three of us depending on each other in this courtyard. Eat up; how can you have the strength to work if you don’t eat your fill?”
“Thank you, Master,” seeing that Ji Kongqing was insistent, Ruyi pulled Ping’an down to sit.
Ping’an took a bite of the white flour bun, her eyes instantly lighting up as she drank her porridge and ate in large mouthfuls.
Ruyi ate with great relish as well, quickly finishing her bun.
Ji Kongqing hadn’t expected them to find such bland buns so delicious, so she gave each of them another one.
Curious, she asked them, “What do servants in the princess’s estate usually eat?”
Ruyi put down her bun and began, “Servants eat communal meals. In the morning, it’s thin porridge, salted vegetables, and a coarse-flour bun. The thin porridge is cooked with brown rice, and you can have at most two bowls.”
“At noon, it’s brown rice with dishes and meat, and dinner is about the same as lunch.”
“Brown rice? Coarse flour? This diet is way too poor.” Ji Kongqing frowned. Brown rice was rice that retained most of the bran layer and germ after hulling; its texture was very rough and hard to swallow.
Coarse-flour buns were the same, very abrasive to the throat.
When she was young in her past life, she had gone to mountainous areas as a volunteer doctor and eaten the food there, which consisted of brown rice and coarse flour. After being a volunteer for a month, she lost ten pounds.
Ruyi disagreed with Ji Kongqing’s words and shook her head: “The estate’s diet is already very good, much better than what we ate at home, and we can eat our fill. Plus, the two of us are lucky to be chosen by the matron of the princess’s estate.”
Eating her bun, Ping’an nodded heavily as well: “That’s right, Her Highness is really good. After coming to the princess’s estate, we get to eat our fill every single day.”
Hearing them say this, Ji Kongqing wore a complex expression, but considering the level of ancient agricultural development, she could quite understand their words.
Based on ancient rice yields and household sizes, after deducting the mandatory public grain owed to the imperial court every year, the remaining food was simply not enough for most farming households to eat their fill.
That was why girls like the two before her, barely sixteen years old, were sold off by their own fathers to become maidservants for the upper classes.
“Did you not get enough to eat at home?” Thinking that girls of their age in modern times might still be studying in high school without a care in the world, Ji Kongqing felt a pang of heartache.
Ping’an shook her head: “At home, the eggs were for the younger brother, and the meat was also for the younger brother. We could only drink some thin porridge, and there was very little rice in the porridge. We were hungry every day.”
“In that case, eat more,” Ji Kongqing put food on their plates. “You have to eat more to grow taller.”
“Thank you, Master,” Ruyi looked at Ji Kongqing with a sense of pleasant surprise.
She realized now that their luck was truly good; they had indeed followed a good master.
Although the master wasn’t particularly favored in the estate, fortunately she had no airs and was generous. White flour buns were shared just like that, and they couldn’t even remember how long it had been since they last ate white flour. It was simply too delicious.
With chopstickful after chopstickful, the food on the table was quickly swept clean by the three of them.
When Ji Kongqing put down her chopsticks, she was about sixty percent full, having eaten roughly three buns and a bowl of porridge. She broke the remaining bun in half and gave it to the two maidservants.
Through this morning meal, she also discovered that this body could indeed eat much more than her original one, which explained why her physical strength was greater.
After eating and drinking their fill, Ping’an went to fetch water to wash the dishes, while Ruyi took the clothes Ji Kongqing had changed out of yesterday to wash them.
Ji Kongqing wanted to stop them, but the two stubbornly refused, saying that not working would get them kicked out of the estate, and their duty was to take care of the consort’s food and daily life, they couldn’t just eat without working.
Thinking of the two girls’ plight, Ji Kongqing relented.
Once they finished, the two of them began cleaning, sweeping through the entire courtyard from top to bottom.
When the two of them finally had a free moment, Ji Kongqing asked, “Do you know how many copper coins a meat bun costs outside?”