Western features

April 18, 1620

Maomao raked her fingers through her soapy hair, massaging her scalp and washing her delicate body. She found herself wrapping a towel around her chest, walking over to her quarters where she gets ready.

(Today, I was ordered by master jinshi to investigate the concubines quarters... what a pain in the ass)

.🪷.

Maomao is seen walking around the outer court, exiting and entering the inner palace, where all the concubines are.

(Nothings changed since I've left... actually, I quite miss the delicate feminine aura this place has. Surrounded by women, maids, working for Gyokyou... should I pay a visit to xiolan? It's been a whi-)

Her thoughts were cut off when her head bounced off something, it wasn't the wall, it was soft yet firm. When Maomao finally gained back her composure, she looked up only to make eye contact which none other than Jinshi, who was already staring back at her. It seems like she walked right into his chest.

"You should watch where you're going, yknow?"

*Maomao is quick to bring her arms up and bow*

"Right, my apologies, Master jinshi"

(Actually, if I bumped into him, that means he also wasn't watching where he was going, this guy...)

Jinshi stared at her for a few more seconds before lowering himself to her level, whispering in her ear.

"Are you headed towards the late Concubine's quarters?"

(No, Jinshi, I'm walking around the inner palace to find a secret portal that leads to the most sacred mysteries of the world...OF COURSE IM WALKING OVER TO THE CONCUBINES QUARTERS)

"Mhm, yes, I'm headed there just now"

Maomao says while taking a few steps back, to which Jinshi widens his eyes in surprise, no girl, or even a man, has ever backed away from him. It didn't upset him, it did the opposite actually.

"Well then, I'll let you head on your way"

Maomao bows and walks off, towards the quarters. As she walks off, she can feel his lingering gaze watching her walk away, sending shivers down her spine.

At her arrival, She's introduced to the rest of the cleaning crew, all typical maids that seems about MaoMao's age, all with a face that reads they don't wanna be there. The subtle murmurs between the maids made the environment feel more tense. No one would speak up to Maomao, since...she was seen as the ugly one, a bag of bones. In the palace, it's a bad look to be seen with unattractive girls, which is why they avoided her. Also, they've noticed how Jinshi's tone and demeanor change around her, which they found jealousy in. She didn't mind, she brushed it off.

They're all given a wristband with colors that represent a different room. Green:restroom, Red:common room, blue:hallways, orange:kitchen, and lastly, purple:bedroom/quarters.

Each of the cleaning crew maids are assigned a room, in teams. Maomao observes as one of the Eunuch's ties a different colored ribbon around the maids left, many of them getting the same color, but when he got to Maomao, he grabbed a different colored ribbon, which was away in his pocket. Maomao held out her wrist waiting for the Eunuch to tie it around her.

"Before I put this around your wrist, I feel like you should know that someone of high command has assigned you this room*

He tied around her wrist a blue ribbon which indicated she had to clean the hallways. Her eyes narrowed as the eunuch tightly tied the ribbon around her wrist. She stood there confused, since she was supposed to clean the bedroom, but was assigned else where. Was it Jinshi? A  misunderstanding? Or perhaps...someone sabotaged the order? But who could it have been?

"Apologies, but I believe this is a misunderstanding, I was ordered to clean the late concubines quarters by-"

"Enough! That's your assigned room and it will stay like that"

She sighed.

(If only he'd let me talk! Maybe if he heard that Jinshi was the one who ordered me to clean her room he would've let me!) she thought to herself angrily

She stood there as he walked off to the other maids, assigning them different rooms. She looked around to see that none of the other maids were assigned a purple ribbon to which she was relieved. This meant the quarters would've been untouched and no one would be able to toy with it, since there would be many eunuchs on guard. But how was she gonna explain this to Jinshi.

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard a loud whistle, which meant it was time to get moving.

She looked around and saw the maids forming into teams based on their assigned room. She found her team, which was team blue, hallways.

She studied the members before approaching them.

(Great...new people...let's see who I'm gonna be working with these few days)

She studied the group she was in, which consists of 4 other members besides her, making her team a 5 member crew.

"Hi! My name is Lianhua! I love the color pink and I love love, love strawberries!! And...blah...blah...blah"

Maomaos hearing blurs as she starts to focus on a...specific part of her anotomy. Hey eyes stared hard at her chest area, when Lianhua noticed.

"...is there something on my outfit?"

Maomao quickly shakes off her thoughts.

"Bad habit...my name is Maomao"

MaoMao's first impression:

(very talkative, easy going and easy to make friends. With a larger bust...not that it matters! just habits. She has long, light pink hair, styled in two low buns, decorated with braids and hair pins. She has contrasting blue eyes, and smells like a fruity fragrance.)

"My name is Meifen, it's very nice to meet you Maomao, I hope we can get to know eachother very well"

Maomao nodded at her in greeting. Meifen has blonde hair which styled in a half up half down bun. Her eyes were green and were almond shaped.. her features suggested she was western, which is kind of suspicious since at the time, western features were the standards and with someone as pretty as Meifen, it was uncommon to see someone like that as a maid.

She seemed very calm, almost as if she knows what to say and when to say it. Maomao noticed she'd constantly smooth out her sleeves.

(Probably a habit)

her eyes would set an eerie gaze, it creeped out maomao.

She turned to a brown haired girl, that had brown eyes. Her hair was styled in a high bun, she had a subtle crease between her eyebrows, suggesting that she furrows them a lot. She also bite her lips a lot.

"My name is xioling, nice to meet you- DONT TOUCH THAT LIANHUA! YOU MIGHT BREAK IT!"

She shouts as Maomao turns her head to see Lianhua reaching for a very expensive vase.(She seems to worry a lot...)

Finally her head turns to the last member, a very quiet one which had black hair that was tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were a soft brown and her skin fair.

"My name is Yue..."

Maomao narrowed her eyes. She spoke very softly, almost whispering, which was one of Maomaos pet peeves.

(She's quiet...introverted and timid)

She set off a vibe that Maomao didn't like, her quietness and timidness annoyed Maomao a bit, but she still nodded in greeting.

"Well then, let's get to cleaning before the guard gets mad at us!!" Said Lianhua.

Maomao and the rest started to move onto hallway one. The concubines room was on the other side of the palace, it worried Maomao, but she trusted that Palace guards to keep intruders out.

The blue team was given cleaning equipment and off they went.

Meifen, xioling, and Yue were cleaning the right side of the hall while Lianhua stuck to Maomaos side. Maomao didn't mind, just that Lianhua is very talkative and Maomao not so much, but maybe she'll warm up to her?

Maomao started sweeping the floor while Lianhua dusted the tables and window frames.

"The late concubine...she seemed very happy and innocent, don't you think Maomao? I wasn't there myself but I heard, based on rumors, that she was harming herself...how sad, you never know what people are going through"

(Her voice dropped...she seems sad, I don't know her well, but I can tell that is unusual for her)

"It wasn't a suicide..."

Meifen quickly shoots a gaze at Maomao to which Maomao notices, but Meinfen quickly shifts her gaze at Yue.

"Yue, you have a stain on your collar"

"Really? Oh uh, thanks for letting me know"

Maomao notices it since her gaze felt cold and creepy, only lasted a second but felt like forever.

Maomao narrowed her eyes and started to trail off in thoughts, before Lianhua spoke up again.

"What?! How can you be so sure?!"

"Many physical evidence said otherwise...I'm afraid I can say too much though"

Lianhua looked down in disappointment but brushed it off, since she understood how strict the palace orders can be, and if Maomao was ordered to not say to much about the topic, she wouldn't push it any further. Instead, she continued cleaning with Maomao, talking every now and then.

The more hallways they cleaned, the closer they got to the other side of the palace, but the shift ended since it got dark out.

Lianhua wiped sweat around her forehead as she sighed.

"Finally! Shift is over! I can go home and relax and...blah...blah..."

Maomaos hearing started to blur again as Lianhua continues talking.

(The shift ended already...I wasn't able to reach the late concubines quarters. I could try sneaking in but, if they catch me...) Chills ran down her spine at the thought of the punishment she might receive. (I should tell Jinshi...) Chills ran down her spine again, but this time for a different reason.

"Maomao? Is something wrong, your zoning off..?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm okay, just thinking. I should get going."

"Wha?!?!? Already? I thought maybe we could've had a snack after shift" Lianhua said sheepishly.

"Maybe next time"

Lianhua sighed and started to pack up along with Maomao, getting ready to leave.

(The other are already gone) Maomao noted that Meifen, Yue, and Xioling have already left without saying anything.

Maomao and Lianhua both exited the concubines palace and started to walk together, that is before Lianhua had to walk a different path to her quarters.

"See you tomorrow Maomao!"

Maomao nods in agreement before walking over to her quarters. Turning around the corner, she is met face to face with palace guards.

"Are you Maomao?" Said one of the guards.

"Of course she is, it's not that hard to tell her apart from the other girls, short, flat, scrawny"

(Mind your buisness...)

Maomao narrowed his eyes at the guard, but she was used to being pointed out like that. She brushed off his audacity and nodded. She had another problem.

Why were the guards looking for her?

"Yes I'm Maomao...wha-"

"You're coming with us."

Without another word, one of the guards slung her around his shoulder like a sack of rice.

Maomao didn't resist. She knew better. The palace punished disobedience severely, and she was already pushing her luck.

Someone had summoned her, she just hoped it was under Jinshi's order...