Consort of a Thousand Faces

Old Maidservant Liu cast a glance in the direction of the palace maids. They immediately understood, forming two lines and respectfully waiting for the imperial guards to arrive.

 

As the imperial guards walked into the Palace Side Quarters, Su Xi-er raised her head slightly to take a look and immediately caught a glimpse of Wu Ling and Eunuch Zhang.

 

The commotion this time is too massive. It’s normal that Prince Hao would interfere.

 

Old Maidservant Liu was about to pay her greetings before Wu Ling waved his hand. “Old Maidservant Liu, your leg’s condition isn’t very good. You can be excused from paying your greetings. I came here today under Prince Hao’s orders to assign maids from the Palace Side Quarters to the Laundry Service Bureau.”

 

Wu Ling looked towards Eunuch Zhang and signalled him to select the palace maids.

 

Old Maidservant Liu withdrew to one side. Eunuch Zhang walked to the palace maids and swept his gaze across each one of them, the expression in his eyes becoming strange when he saw Su Xi-er.

 

The incident in the Laundry Service Bureau occurred too suddenly to have been an accident. Could it have been Su Xi-er’s doing? Don’t tell me that this is her plan to have Ruo Yuan transferred back to the Palace Side Quarters. If anything, this will only make the situation more serious. 

 

Continuing this train of thought, Old Eunuch Zhang was startled with a sudden revelation. Among all the palace maids from the Laundry Service Bureau, only Ruo Yuan didn’t get afflicted with the red spots. She’s sick, and still lying in the Laundry Service Bureau right now.

 

The Laundry Service Bureau is currently in a state of pandemonium where no further complications can be afforded. If Ruo Yan continues to stay in the Laundry Service Bureau while running a fever, and infects the other palace maids with unclear conditions, the situation will be even more chaotic.

 

By that logic, won’t Ruo Yuan have to be transferred back to the Palace Side Quarters?

 

Eunuch Zhang’s expression was complicated. If my suspicions are correct, the culprit behind this huge uproar is Su Xi-er! 

 

Noticing that Eunuch Zhang was still not selecting the palace maids after a long time, Wu Ling couldn’t help but remind him, “Eunuch Zhang, what’s the matter with you?”

 

“This old servant will be selecting now.” Eunuch Zhang swept his gaze across the palace maids, his finger pointing to several maids, including Lian Qiao, in rapid succession.

 

At least ten palace maids from the Palace Side Quarters have to be transferred. Counting the ones that I just chose, I’m still short of one.

 

Wu Ling saw Eunuch Zhang looking in Su Xi-er’s direction again and randomly pointed at a palace maid. “Since we need to pick ten, let’s just take her. With that, we’re finished here.”

 

Wu Ling naturally had his reasons for choosing this moment to speak. Su Xi-er can only be reassigned by Prince Hao’s personal command. Others can’t transfer her as they please. Although Prince Hao hasn’t said anything yet, I can at least understand this much as his personal guard.

 

Eunuch Zhang nodded. Before he left, he instructed, “Old Maidservant Liu, please reallocate the work to the remaining palace maids accordingly since there are now fewer palace maids in the Palace Side Quarters.”

 

“Yes, Eunuch Zhang.”

 

Wu Ling and Eunuch Zhang then took the ten palace maids with them to the Laundry Service Bureau, leaving Old Maidservant Liu to reassign their work to the others.

 

Obviously, there would be more work due to the decrease in manpower. Not only did Su Xi-er have to scrub the chamber pots at night, she still had to pull weeds in the morning.

 

Until the situation in the Laundry Service Bureau stabilised, every palace maid in the Palace Side Quarters would be very busy. Seeing that there was no indication of when the situation would be resolved, each of them secretly sighed to themselves.

 

Just as all the palace maids were preparing to leave to carry out their work, two eunuchs came while carrying a rattan stretcher.

Upon taking a closer look, they realised that they all recognised that fat and round figure. It’s Ruo Yuan!