Chapter 8 : Moyun

When Yuxi arrived at the main courtyard, she saw a line of young girls standing in a small yard. There were twenty of them, with age ranged from six to ten years old.

Yuru was the first one to make her pick. She picked four servant maids with no outstanding appearance. When it was Yujing turn, she picked the good looking ones. When it was Yuxi’s turn, there weren’t many maids left for her to pick from.

Yuxi looked at them carefully and said, “Please take a step forward.”

The six remaining maids listened and immediately took a step forward. Yuxi asked about their families, and then asked them some random questions, such as what their hobbies were and who they were close with.

Yujing snorted and sneered, “Fourth Sister, are you having fun here? We are merely choosing a servant girl, not a companion for you to practice reading with. Even knowing what their hobbies are and who they are close with, are not related to their jobs.”

Yuxi did not pay attention to Yujing’s sneer, and chose three maids from the middle. The three servant girls shared two common characteristics which were having a clever mouth and a clear eyesight.

When they went back to Rose Courtyard, Mama Fang finally couldn’t help herself and asked, “Miss, why did you only choose three? There are six vacant spots in our courtyard!”

Yuxi whispered, “Mama, it’s better to have quality maids over having so many.”

The three new maids still need to learn the rules of the courtyard well, so they would not be sent to serve Yuxi yet.

To Yuxi’s surprise, Moyun returned to the residence the very next day. Moyun permanently left the residence early in her last life, so, Yuxi had no profound impression of her. After all, at that time, she was only four years old, and could not even remember anything yet!

When Yuxi saw Moyun, she was somewhat shocked. Unbeknownst to her, Moyun had a good looking appearance, with her eyebrows and eyes looking quite elegant. Although she was wearing a simple indigo-blue dress, it could not hide her graceful attitude. This was the first time for her to see such a beautiful maid. She suppressed her thought and asked with concern, “Is your mother doing okay?”

Moyun gratefully said, “My mother’s illness is already cure. Many thanks to Miss for the gifts.” Moyun was Yuxi’s personal maid, so, she naturally knew that her Master had short supply of silvers.

Yuxi responded, “That’s okay. You look so haggard though. Why don’t you go and take a rest first? ”

After Moyun withdrew from the room, Yuxi’s face suddenly turned gloomy. Although on the surface Moyun looked haggard, she could clearly see that Moyun’s hands were both smooth and clean, with neatly manicured nails. It showed that they were carefully maintained. If Moyun had to look after her sick mother day and night, when did she had time to take a good care of herself?

Yuxi thought about it for a moment, and drew Mama Fang to her side. She asked, “I remember that Moxiang has a younger sister. Do they look alike?”

Mama Fang shook her head and answered, “I haven’t seen how her sister look like.”

Yuxi said, “Mama, try to find her. If she does look like her sister, Moxiang, bring her in quietly. Don’t let anyone else know.”

Mama Fang was puzzled as she asked, “Miss, what are you planning to do?”

Yuxi told her suspicion to Mama Fang, and then explained what she had planned. “Mama, don’t let a soul know about this. You have to do it by yourself.”

Mama Fang hesitantly said, “Miss, once this matter is done and your guess is found wrong, the Old Madam will surely punish you.”

Where would Yuxi be afraid of the Old Madam’s punishment? She confidently replied, “Mama, don’t worry, I’m still young. Even if Grandmother is angry with me, the worst she would do is by confining me inside the courtyard.” The Old Madam will surely dislike her more, but she won’t resort to kill her.

Mama Fang hesitated for a long time but finally agreed.

Yuxi sighed slightly. Mama Fang was loyal, but apparently she didn’t know how to plot at all. Unlike the maids that she had trained, that were all loyal and quick-witted. This saved Yuxi the misery of spending time employing more people for her courtyard.

The relationship between servant maids were sometime close and sometime distance. For Moyun and Moxiang, their relationship was really close because they had been sharing the same room for a long period of time. Since Moyun had returned to the courtyard, it was not unusual for her to still reside in the same room.

That night, in her sleep, Moyun heard the sound of a door being opened. When she opened her eyes, she saw her bedroom door was wide open. She was so scared till her hair stood up. She clearly remembered that she had locked the door before she went to bed. So, how did it opened?

In her confusion, she saw a woman in a white dress floating to her bedside. Moyun shrank to a corner of the bed, shivering all over.

The female ghost muttered, “Why did you killed me?”

Moyun looked at the pits on the ghost’s face and wished she could faint. When the ghost climbed into bed and tried to strangle her, she knelt down and starting to beg, “Moxiang, I didn’t know there was dirt in the sachet. I didn’t mean to harm you. You let me go, please let me go. I promise, I’ll burn you a lot of paper money every year.”

“What sachet?” the ghost asked eagerly.

A sachet is a small cloth scented bag filled with herbs, potpourri, or aromatic ingredients. During the Chinese Warring States period a scented sachet was an ornament worn on the body and used to absorb sweat, repel insects and ward off evils. In the Han Dynasty both boys and girls wore sachets and in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty scented bags gradually became preferred only by women. A scented sachet became a love token in the Qing Dynasty. – Wikipedia

Moyun was about to answer when she suddenly found that something was wrong. She stared at the ghost and asked sharply, “Who are you? You actually dare to pretend to be a ghost here?!”

Yuxi was standing at the door quietly, patiently waiting for Moyun to scream for help, but now, the ‘female ghost’ had totally ruined her plan.

Mama Fang, who had run out of her patient, rushed into the room and grabbed Moyun. She asked angrily, “What sachet did you said? What dirty things did you put in the sachet?”

Moyun looked at Mama Fang and the person standing by the door. At this time, the real answer to their problem was still unclear. No matter how Mama Fang forcefully interrogated her, Moyun would immediately turn stiff and kept on saying that she was frightened and muddle-headed when she spoke those words.

Yuxi went into the room. She looked at Moyun and asked, “Are you telling the truth?”

Moyun knelt on the ground and said, “Miss, I was just frightened and confused therefore I started to talk nonsense. Miss, this servant is wronged.”

Yuxi was aware that she could not let her people got involved with this problem. She also knew that she couldn’t be the judge on this matter. So, she ordered Moyun to be tied up for now. After daybreak, she went directly to the main courtyard with Moyun bundled up like rice dumpling. The Old Madam would dislike her more over this, but Yuxi couldn’t anymore tolerate the person who had poisoned her.

As soon as the Old Madam finished washing, Feicui saw Yuxi coming into the courtyard. She whispered, “Old Madam, Fourth Miss had come with Moyun, who looked like she had being tied up. I don’t know what she had done wrong for Fourth Miss to treat her like that.” Feicui’s cousin was Moyun’s cousin, that made them somewhat related to each other. In fact, the relationship between servants in the residence was quite complex with many of them had family ties with each other.

The Old Madam frowned. Although she did not like Yuxi, she also knew that Yuxi would not have tied the maid and brought her here to her courtyard without any reason, so she just gave a simple order, “Let them in.”

When Yuxi saw the Old Madam, she immediately knelt down and said, “Grandmother, this granddaughter doesn’t mean to disturb Grandmother’s peace this morning. This matter is just too big for me to handle, so, I have came to ask for Grandmother’s help.”

The Old Madam swept a nonexistence dust at the corner of her clothes and then smoothed it out. She then asked, “What’s the problem here?”

Yuxi told her of what happened last night, and then said, “I received a beautiful sachet from Moyun two days before I became ill with smallpox.” The meaning of this statement was self-evident.

Moyun was paralyzed. She thought Yuxi would hand her over to Qiu Shi. She had prepared a lot of counter arguments last night. But when it became obvious that Yuxi had brought her to the main courtyard to look for the Old Madam, she knew she was finally done for. Qiu Shi was soft-hearted and strict, so it was impossible to punish her just based on Fourth Miss’ words. Even if she was being punished, the worst she would receive was to be sold out. However, the Old Madam was different. As long as she been accused, whether there was evidence or not, she would die without a proper burial place.

The Old Madam’s hand was close tightly, but still she calmly asked, “And then?”

Yuxi told Old Madam what she had found last night, “Last night I asked Moju about the sachet that I received from Moyun. She said, after I felt ill, Moxiang took it away.”

Instead of looking at Moyun, who was struggling to get herself free, the Old Madam continued to ask Yuxi, “Then, why are you doubting Moyun?”

Yuxi did not hide her thought and answered, “Grandmother, after I had gotten better, I felt doubtful over this matter. I hadn’t been out of Rose Courtyard and never directly met those who had been infected, so, how can I possibly gotten smallpox? When I went back to the Rose Courtyard and heard that Moxiang was also infected with it, I didn’t feel right.” After a short pause, she continue explaining.

The Old Madam looked at Yuxi with great surprise. She did not expect this girl to get enlighten just after getting well from illness. Then, she ordered, “Mama Luo, pull the maid down and ask her thoroughly.” This ‘ask thoroughly’ was not as simple as just asking questions, but also came with tortures.

Less than half an incense later, Mama Luo came back and said, “Old Madam, that maid said that both of them did it because they were quite angry with Fourth Miss. She had scolded them before because of a problem over a meal. For a revenge, they put dirty things into a sachet, then gave it to Fourth Miss and that was it.” The Old Madam only nodded her head.

A blaze of anger flashed into Yuxi. It was an obvious attempt to kill her, but the Old Madam just took it lightly? Was her life really not that important in this household?

The Old Madam glanced at the unwilling Yuxi and said slowly, “Your Mama Fang is also getting old. It’s about time to let her out.” Not to mention that Mama Fang had managed the Rose Courtyard into a mess. She even indulged Yuxi in her childish plan to play ghost in Rose Courtyard.

Yuxi was dumbfounded. Rather than punishing Concubine Rong, the culprit, her Grandmother had decided to drive away her Mama?

The Old Madam didn’t care about Yuxi’s reaction at all. She just looked at a maid beside her and said, “Hongshan, you go to Rose Courtyard with Fourth Girl.” Hongshan was a young second-class maid beside the Old Madam. Her meaning was to give Hongshan to Yuxi.

Hongshan was raised to be clean and pure. After hearing the Old Madam’s words, without any hesitation, she went over to Yuxi and bowed to her.

Yuxi was not in the mood to see Hongshan at this moment. Her mind was full of thoughts on what to do after Mama Fang was expelled from the residence. In her previous life, Mama Fang died of illness soon after she was driven out of the house. Would the same thing happen to her again in this life? No, absolutely not. She would not allow that to happen. However, she knew it was useless to beg the Old Madam. It was up to her to figure it out for herself. For the first time, Yuxi felt that she was so incompetent. In her excitement to trap Concubine Rong, she somehow implicated Mama Fang too.

The Old Madam noticed that Yuxi didn’t try to beg her on behalf of Mama Fang. She frowned. She felt that Yuxi was somewhat being unsympathetic toward Mama Fang, but when she saw that Yuxi stood unstable with a pale face, she stopped talking to her.

Mama Fang knew that the Old Madam was going to let her off. She wanted to rush into the main courtyard like a bolt of lightning and tried to plead with the Old Madam. However, Yuxi took her hand and whispered, “Mama, just go back to our courtyard first. We will talk there.” Her Grandmother was firm with her decision and nothing could change it. Nothing good will come from pleading with her now. The Old Madam will surely reprimand them if they were adamant to bother her.

Hongshan was speechless seeing Mama Fang in such bad situation, but Yuxi’s attitude over this matter totally surprised her. It seemed like Fourth Miss had changed a lot. She no longer timid and didn’t easily flinched anymore. Before, she only know how to cry when something bad happened to her, but now she had become more creative and full of ideas.

Although, it was regrettable that she could not always stay by the Old Madam. After all, being a maid beside the Old Madam was more powerful than being one of Fourth Miss’ maids. However, she didn’t think much about it. Firstly, the Old Madam had told her that she couldn’t defy this order. Secondly, Fourth Miss was only four years old. She just need to wait for five or six years beside the girl. If in the future, her mother came to ask for a favour for her, the Old Madam was willing to release her at that time.