Yao Yupan always felt that she was really useless.
She was a peasant girl from outside Chang'an City. She depended on the weather for food, so it was inevitable that she would not have enough to eat or wear warm clothes sometimes, but she was always free and did not have to live under the influence of others. Life in the palace was not so easy. If she could have a meal outside, who would be willing to enter the palace to serve others
However, A Niang was seriously ill. The clinic didn't charge much for the consultation, but the medicines it prescribed were more expensive. If you wanted to treat her, you had to pay money; if you didn't treat her, you would have to watch A Niang die.
It happened to be the beginning of spring, the time when young palace maids entered the palace. Yao Yupan thought of her mother on her sickbed, and then thought of her brothers and sisters waiting for dinner at home, so she made up her mind and sneaked in. She looked decent and obedient, so she was not screened out, and she took the silver home. After entering the palace, she never saw her family again.
She couldn't help much at home, and the same was true in the palace. Yao Yupan also wanted to climb up, hiding in her quilt at night, thinking that if she could become a female official, she could send more money back home, but she was born in a peasant family after all, and she had spent the first ten years in the fields. She was good at working quietly, but when it came to interacting with people, she couldn't say a word.
Only then did she realize that life in the palace was really difficult. Others were “getting through it” but she was “enduring it”.
However, by chance, she met the Seventh Prince of Qingsi Palace, a beautiful woman with a cold and beautiful appearance, who looked like a jade sculpture when she didn't smile. When Yao Yupan took the jade pendant from him, she was trembling all over, as if she was touching something that she had never dared to ask for in her life.
She didn't like the Seventh Prince. She knew that she was born in a peasant family and was just a little palace maid, so she was not worthy of him. But she also had a secret thought in her heart. She wanted to see the Seventh Prince again and talk to him, even just one sentence.
But she didn't dare. Yao Yupan only dared to recall in the quilt, chewing the only joy in the palace, but at the same time, Xie Wangzhi was open and didn't care. He said he would make porridge and he made porridge without discussing it with them. He sent the porridge out directly.
Yao Yupan thought that she was a little jealous of Xie Wangzhi. But it was not Xie Wangzhi's fault, but her own fault. She was afraid that she could not control herself and become a person like Shi Manqing, so when Concubine Xiao delivered the message, she suppressed her fear and agreed to move out of the Shangshi Bureau.
Hanxiang Hall is different from Shangshi Bureau. Concubine Xiao is exquisite and graceful, and so is Hanxiang Hall. Everyone seems to be very nice to Yao Yupan, but the smile is not real, like a makeup on the face that can't be removed. Tonight, Concubine Xiao went to accompany the emperor as usual. Hanxiang Hall was not strictly managed. Yao Yupan secretly ran back to Shangshi Bureau and huddled in the room. Only then did she feel that she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
She didn't dare to light the lamp, and huddled on the couch, secretly watching the palace servants coming and going outside through the window. Then, she accidentally saw Xie Wangzhi and the young man beside her.
The young man was dressed in the green robes of a young eunuch, with long hair and thin braids around his shoulders, trembling slightly in front of his shoulders. The Seventh Prince of Qingsi Palace followed Xie Wangzhi all the way with his hands behind his back, and bent slightly when talking to her, almost close to her ear.
On New Year's Eve, the entire palace was hung with lanterns. The boy and the girl walked along the bright red palace walls, with the warm yellow light falling on them, like a silhouette.
The first word that popped into Yao Yupan's mind was "well-matched". She trembled all over. After Xie Wangzhi entered the room, she couldn't help but ask: "Wangzhi, I just saw someone coming back with you. Who is he?"
Xie Wangzhi had no idea why Yao Yupan asked this, so he answered honestly, "It was a eunuch I met in the palace. He was the one who told me that Concubine Xiao loved to eat flower glutinous rice cakes."
"… Eunuch?"
"Yeah." Xie Wangzhi was puzzled. "What's wrong?"
“…Nothing.” The whole thing suddenly came together, and Yao Yupan felt sad.
It turned out that the Seventh Prince and Xie Wangzhi had known each other for a long time. The cold and beautiful boy who looked like a jade sculpture was even willing to act as a little eunuch in front of Xie Wangzhi. The reward silver in the red envelope and the silver charcoal that was unexpectedly allocated were not because the Seventh Prince pitied her. It was just because Xie Wangzhi lived with her that she could get this little bit of happiness.
She closed her eyes and held back her tears. "Wangzhi, I... I have something I want to ask you for help with."
"Why are you so unfamiliar? Just tell me directly." Xie Wangzhi didn't notice at all and said with a smile, "I will definitely help if I can."
"It's Chinese New Year, I want to send some money home, maybe to buy some meat for my father, brother and sister." Yao Yupan touched the small cloth bag in her hand, "But the monthly allowance hasn't been issued yet, I only have some rewards from Concubine Xiao..."
Xie Wangzhi understood. It was natural for palace servants to send money home. They could just use the monthly allowance they saved. Naturally, eunuchs who went out of the palace to run errands would send money home. Of course, they had to give something as a token of appreciation. But the palace also had to spend money. In fact, they couldn't save much from the monthly allowance, so they mostly had to rely on rewards.
If it was silver, they would just enter it in the book and mail it out; the trouble was that for bracelets and jade pendants, they had to ask someone to exchange them for silver before sending them home. The price of jade was not fixed, it all depended on the eunuchs' words, and some people might secretly take some of it. If they were unlucky, they would run into someone who was brave enough to say that the bracelet was only worth one penny of silver, and they would have to swallow their anger, otherwise they would forget about sending money home.
Yao Yupan was soft-hearted and not very good at dealing with people. She had never done this before, so Xie Wangzhi guessed that she was afraid. It was nothing more than a trip to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and she could also find Changsheng by the way. She agreed: "Okay, I'll help you. But how much the reward can be exchanged for depends on what they mean, I can't say."
"It doesn't matter, any amount is fine." Yao Yupan handed over the cloth bag, "Inside is a jade bracelet, a pair of silver hairpins, and a pair of pearl earrings."
Concubine Xiao was quite generous. Xie Wangzhi opened the cloth bag and took a look. It was indeed these things. She tied the cloth bag as it was, carefully put it in the cabinet beside the couch and locked it. She turned around and asked Yao Yupan: "What are your plans in Hanxiang Palace?"
Yao Yupan hadn't thought about it, and pursed her lips: "... Let's do this for now. The Imperial Concubine is a good person, and she is generous with her gifts. I am lucky if I can save some money to send back home. I have several younger sisters, and I can't let them become palace maids too."
Xie Wangzhi said "hmm", not knowing how to respond.
Yao Yupan was speechless, and after a while, he stood up and said, "Then I'll leave now..."
"Hanyue hasn't come back yet." Xie Wangzhi was stunned, "How about waiting a little longer? I'll make you a bowl of sweet soup."
Seeing that she was really going to the small kitchen, Yao Yupan quickly stopped her: "… No need. I sneaked out and don't know the rules there. I'd better go back first. Just tell Hanyue."
Xie Wangzhi was indeed unfamiliar with Hanxiang Palace. He always felt that Yao Yupan was a little strange, but he couldn't find out what was wrong. He could only nod and say, "Okay, then be careful on the road."
Yao Yupan nodded randomly and pushed the door open in a hurry.
Watching her running away, Xie Wangzhi was stunned for a moment, unable to think of anything. He could only scratch his face and sit back on his couch.
**
One cannot delay fulfilling a promise, so the next day Xie Wangzhi took Lou Hanyue's small cloth bag, made another basket of snacks, and went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
She was lucky, the person in charge today was a young supervisor whom she had met before. This young supervisor was not a bad person, nor was he greedy. He was always smiling and looked very kind, but he was talkative. He could say a lot in the time it took to record the accounts.
"Oh, this bracelet is nice, this pendant is also nice, where did they come from?" The eunuch looked at them one by one in the light and wrote them down in his book, "Let me calculate, the total is ten taels of silver, do you think it's okay?"
Xie Wangzhi didn't know the price of the jade, but she trusted the young supervisor, so she nodded, took out a red envelope from her sleeve, and handed it over across the table: "Okay, thank you for your hard work. This is your hard-earned money."
The young eunuch didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw such a red envelope. It was normal for him to get some hard-earned money in his position and in this line of work, but it was not so obvious. The girl behind the stage still had an innocent face and a pair of clear and bright eyes, as if she didn't realize that she was doing something private and just thought it was a rule.
The eunuch sighed in his heart, thinking it was a good deed, and pushed the red envelope back: "Alright, it's not yours. Who in the palace doesn't work for others? I'm giving you a favor today. It's New Year's Day, so keep it and buy yourself some candy."
"My face is not that valuable, right?" Fortunately, there was still a basket of cakes. Xie Wangzhi put the food box on it and opened the lid. "Then this is for you to eat."
There were several snacks in the food box, two or three pieces each, sweet and salty, even sugar crisps, which were made very delicately, with a unique aroma of pastries, and the young supervisor was very hungry just by looking at them. Collecting money is one thing, and collecting pastries is another. Even if someone came to him, the young supervisor could choke back with a sentence "Sister feels sorry for you, so I sent them to satisfy your craving."
"Okay, I'll take this then." He was not polite. After collecting the things, he picked up a piece of candy and tasted it. "It tastes good."
"I make dim sum at the Shangshi Bureau."
"No wonder." The young supervisor nodded, "Then next time you come, just bring me this."
It was just a basket of dim sum, which didn't take much time. Xie Wangzhi responded and thought for a moment, "By the way, can I ask you one more thing?"
"Sure, just ask."
"Does the Ministry of Internal Affairs have a list of eunuchs?" The three provinces and six ministries all have one. Xie Wangzhi is not sure if it is the same in the inner palace, so he asked tentatively, "I have a friend who is a eunuch, but he forgot to tell me where he works, and I can't usually find him. I want to ask."
"… Yes, there are." The eunuch thought for a moment, "but the names of the eunuchs below are easy to change, so they may not match. It is also possible that when the list is looked up, there are more than ten people with the same name."
"It's okay. Can you help me find it?"
Flipping through the book, the young supervisor nodded: "Tell me, what's his name?"
"Changsheng." Xie Wangyi was delighted and said quickly, "His name is Changsheng."
As soon as she finished speaking, the young supervisor behind the stage paused, as if he had been pricked by a needle. After a while, he slowly raised his head and said, "... I'll tell you the truth. Sister, you must have been deceived, right?"