The Head Maid
CHAPTER 1
1
“A lady's body, a maid's fate.”
That's what Li Mama always said to me when I made a mistake, and I never understood it.
A lady is born a lady, and a maid is born a maid. It's all decided at birth.
I was just six years old when I was sold to the General’s Mansion by a human trafficker. That day, my father, for the first time ever, bought me a string of candied hawthorn at the market. Just for me, not for my older brother or my younger brother.
That morning, my mother made me a big bowl of noodles with two eggs. My younger brother was so envious he wanted to snatch the chopsticks.
My mother glared at him and scolded, “That's only for your sister.”
My younger brother, usually showered with affection, was stunned and speechless after being scolded for the first time.
“Here you go.” I picked up one of the eggs and gave it to my younger brother. Mother wanted to stop me, but I said, “I eat little, this is too much.”
Mother stared at me, then touched my head and said, “Good child.”
I am the second daughter in the family. I have an older brother who is studying, and a younger brother who is two years younger than me.
Even though we're all just children, we're always forced to be sensible.
This was something said by our neighbor, Sister Wang Pandi. She’s the second oldest in her family, with two younger sisters. But ever since their baby brother was born this year, all four sisters have become middle children.
Wang Pandi sat on a small stool in front of the house, weaving a bamboo basket, watching me and the fourth sister, Niandi, play cat's cradle. “My older sister is getting married this year, finally leaving this home,” she said.
I asked, “Will things get better when we leave home?”
Wang Pandi thought carefully for a moment and said, “The man you marry must have a good heart, and you must give birth to a son for it to be good.”
Even though I was only four years old when my brother was born, my mother's painful screams and the blood that was brought out still make me shudder. “Then I won't leave home,” I said.
“Then Little Apple will be an old maid who can't get married, and the neighbors will gossip,” Wang Pandi laughed with her fourth sister, making me laugh along with them.
At that time, no one could have imagined that I would be the first to leave, not as a bride carried away under a red veil, but sold as a maid to a wealthy family for two taels of silver.
2
Five coins = one dou of rice.
One thousand coins = one tael of silver.
I couldn't figure it out, counting on my fingers, how much rice I could be exchanged for.
The human trafficker was a short, stout woman with a stern face. Seeing that I wasn't crying or making a fuss about being sold, her expression softened somewhat. “The harvest was poor this year, so don't blame your parents. If you don't go with me, your whole family will starve and freeze.”
I looked up at her and asked, “Wouldn't it be enough if I ate less?”
Before the fat woman could answer my question, a girl in the room suddenly burst into tears. “I want to go home, I want Mother…”
The other girls started crying too, which startled me. I didn't know if I should cry along with them.
The fat woman shouted angrily, “Stop crying! If you cry again, I'll sell you to a brothel!”
The girls were frightened and stopped crying, only daring to sob quietly.
My reactions have always been a little slow, so I suddenly asked, “If they don't want us anymore, why do we have to go back?”
The fat woman showed a satisfied expression and nodded at me. “You're surprisingly perceptive for your age. It's the same for all of you; the sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll be free. I, Fat Auntie, don't make money ruining girls' reputations. You're all going to work as maids for wealthy families. If you're quick and clever, you'll have a good life later on.”
I've lived a hard life since I was born, so I can't imagine how good the good life Fat Auntie is talking about is.
Fat Auntie paced back and forth in the room, carefully examining each girl's appearance. She pulled the pretty ones out and lined them up. When she got to me, she only glanced at me briefly. “The pretty ones, when they reach the right age, will become concubines for the young masters in the mansion. That's the best life you can make for yourselves.”
“So it seems I don't have that kind of luck,” I thought to myself, looking at my reflection in the water—a face that would be lost in a crowd.
My stomach growled with hunger. I wondered if the poached egg hidden under the bowl of noodles I left behind had been discovered by anyone. If my parents saw it, would they remember me, their sensible but unnecessary second daughter, even for a moment?
3
Five or six of us girls stood in a row. Fat Auntie flattered a middle-aged man, introducing us: “This one is the prettiest, this one can read, this one is good at needlework, this one is strong.”
When it was my turn, Fat Auntie paused for a few seconds before saying, “This one is the smartest.”
A merchant's words are like a ghost's lies.
A richly dressed young miss, about ten years old, suddenly entered through a side door. “Butler Li, are you choosing maids for me?”
“Yes, Miss,” Butler Li quickly bowed, then shouted at us, “Don't you know how to greet the young miss?”
Greet her? How do you greet her? I'm a country girl; I've never learned how to do that!
An idea flashed through my mind, and I suddenly understood. With a ‘thump,’ I knelt down and shouted, “First bow to Heaven and Earth!” (T/N: OMG, hahahaha! 😂)
My shrill cry startled Butler Li.
Seeing me kneel, the other inexperienced girls knelt down too, making the young miss giggle.
Seeing the young miss's reaction, I thought I hadn't disgraced Fat Auntie's praise of my intelligence. I quickly shouted, “Second bow to parents!”
All the little girls followed me and bowed to the young miss.
Fat Auntie's face turned red. “These little girls were just brought here and haven't been taught yet. We've made a fool of ourselves in front of the young miss.”
The young miss laughed so hard she gasped for air, pulling an older woman nearby to rub her stomach. Pointing at me, she said, “I want the one who said ‘First bow to Heaven and Earth!’”
Because of this incident, the young miss named me Xi'er (Joy).
From then on, there was no longer a country girl named Lu Zhi Ping, nor would anyone close to her call her Little Apple.
There was only Xi'er, the little shadow following the young miss of the General's Mansion.
4
Some people sneer at us servants who follow the nobles around, calling us sycophants. Well, I consider myself a qualified sycophant.
If the young miss is slacking off, I'm on lookout. If she's scaling a wall, I'm holding the ladder. If she's beating someone, I'm handing her a stool.
Li Mama says I'm not proactive in my work but the first to get into trouble.
I tried to diligently sweep the courtyard; the broom is taller than I am, and I still haven't managed to tame it.
While helping the young miss get ready for her bath, my short legs tripped me on the threshold, and I splashed her completely.
I diligently learned to apply makeup—a messy bun, pale face, and bright red lips—anyone who saw it thought they'd seen a ghost.
The reason I'm still safely in the mansion is entirely due to the young miss's favor. Whenever Li Mama wants to punish me, she protects me: “She's just a child; how can she do these things?”
So, besides keeping the young miss entertained, I don't have much else to do. For example, right now, I'm plucking leaves from Master's precious orchids to make a grasshopper toy for the young miss.
The young miss was practicing calligraphy by the window. I approached her with the finished grasshopper toy. Looking at her elegant handwriting, I pointed to a character and said, “I recognize this character, Miss. It's the ‘ping’ in apple (píngguǒ).”
The young miss shook her head and wrote another character next to it: “This is the ‘ping’ in apple. That one is the ‘ping’ in ‘萍水相逢’ (píngshuǐxiāngféng), meaning a chance encounter.”
I asked, “What does ‘萍水相逢’ mean?”
The young miss patiently explained, “It means a chance encounter between strangers.”
I placed the grasshopper toy next to the young miss's inkstone: “The young miss and I also had a chance encounter.”
The young miss laughed, “That's the meaning, but we had a chance encounter, and yet you bowed to me as if we were getting married.”
My face burned with embarrassment as my silly action was brought up. I mumbled, “I was very young then; I didn't understand anything.”
The young miss put down her brush and patted my head. “You're still a child.”
I retorted, “I'm already eight years old!”
But then I remembered that the young miss had passed her twelfth birthday and now wore various exquisite hairpins in her neatly arranged hair. Compared to her, I was indeed still a child.
“Come on, I'll take you to the market,” the young miss said, casually gathering the things on the table.
“Ah? Are we going over the wall again?” I recalled the last time the young miss and I snuck out and were spanked by Li Mama. I could still feel the sting.
The young miss patted my bottom. “We won't get beaten this time. I'll ask my big brother to take us out.”
My eyes lit up, and I quickly followed the young miss, matching her pace.
5
“Big Brother, please take me out!” the young miss tugged at her older brother's sleeve, acting cute. “Am I not your most, most, most favorite little sister?”
“You're the only girl in the family... there's no one to compare you to,” the young general replied. He had just returned from the martial arts field and was sitting in the front hall, pouring himself a cup of tea.
Their father, who had just returned from court, spoke up, “Just take your sister out for a stroll. It'll save her from wreaking havoc on things in the house.”
“But she'll wreak havoc on other people's things too, and we'll have to pay for it,” the young general said, rubbing his temples as he looked at his sister's sparkling eyes. Finally, he gave in. “Before I change my mind, let's go!”
The young miss was overjoyed and quickly followed her brother, then turned back to take my hand. “Hurry, hurry! Time is money, and money can't buy happiness!”
The young miss had always been cheerful and adorable, much loved by her father. Every time her mother punished her, her father would interfere, resulting in the young miss becoming even more mischievous.
It's thanks to Li Mama's strict training that the young miss can barely maintain the demeanor of a noble young lady in public.
But privately, she rides horses, practices martial arts, teases cats and dogs, and even hides behind her older brother to whistle at pretty young women.
Of course, I, her mischievous advisor, am behind all these schemes.
Li Mama often says to me, “You only come up with useless ideas.”
I always bow my head and apologize. “I'm wrong, but I'll do it again next time.”
The young miss, however, disagrees with Li Mama. “It's not bad to be a little clever. How many people in this world possess great wisdom?”
I nod repeatedly in agreement. If a little maid like me really possessed the grand strategies for governing the country that Master always talks about, that would be the real joke.
6
“Brother Shen, you're surrounded by beauties. You're so lucky!” Several of the young general's friends walked by, teasing him.
The young general, holding the young miss in his left hand and me, clutching my meat bun, in his right, glared coldly. “I'll give you this luck. Do you want it?”
With the youngest sister who was 6 years younger than him and tiny me trailing behind, even the young general, with his handsome features and budding air of a military man, looked slightly comical.
The gentlemen laughed together. One of them invited, “I hear a new teahouse opened up ahead. Shall we go take a look?”
The young general was about to refuse, but the young miss gently tugged at his sleeve, her eyes wide and lashes fluttering. “Brother, I want to go.”
I heard the gentlemen gasp as they were charmed by her cuteness.
“No wonder Brother Shen rushes home every time he finishes school. I wish my little sister was as adorable as yours,” one of the gentlemen couldn't help but pinch the young miss's cheek.
My heart leaped. I didn't know about proper etiquette, but the young miss hated people touching her face, even the Master.
With a ‘slap,’ the young miss swatted the gentleman's hand away, her face displeased as she coldly snorted.
Before I could react, the young general put a hand on her shoulder. “Zhilàn, forget it.”
I quickly knelt down, pretending to adjust the young miss's skirt. She looked up at her brother, unhappy. “Didn't you say a new teahouse opened up ahead?”
The gentlemen quickly agreed. “Yes, yes, yes! If we don't hurry, the private rooms will be all booked.”
I heard someone whispering to the gentleman whose hand was red from the slap, “I think you've lost your mind. If Brother Shen hadn't intervened today, even if the young miss from the General's mansion had broken your arm, you'd have had to accept your fate.”
The young miss is always kind to me. Even if I make a mistake, she'll easily let it go. Because of this, I forgot that she is a true noble young lady from a prominent family in the capital. Even when she smiles, her chin is slightly raised, arrogance and aloofness forever etched into her bones.
At that moment, I suddenly understood why I could call the kind Sister Pàndì in the village by her name and the informal ‘I’ while talking to her. But I had to use the formal ‘núbǐ’ (this servant girl) when speaking to the young miss, despite her kindness.
We were born into completely different worlds; how can they be compared?
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