maidservant

Chapter 2: The Matchmaker Brought into the Shangshu Mansion

really--

The smell of sandalwood mixed with corpse oil hit Ashan in the face. He stared at the half of the green jade bracelet exposed from the other person's sleeve.

The slave supervisor handed over the cinnabar box with a flattering smile. She curled her little finger deliberately when pressing the fingerprint. She learned this by watching the accountant signing his name, and she looked very childish.

"She's quite clever." The woman wrapped her handkerchief around her wrist. "From now on, you'll be called Gan Tang. A girl born on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month."

When she stepped over the threshold of the slave post, she looked back at the lime mark at the east wall, and finally dared to let her tears fall into the snow.

The carriage curtains ahead were embroidered with peony branches, just as beautifully blossoming as the mahogany talisman pattern hidden within her tattered clothes. Perhaps her life would finally see the light at last!
"Gantang", Ah Shan repeated these two words on the tip of his tongue, as if he was chewing on the malt sugar stolen by his sister.

The scent of cosmetics wafted from the front of the carriage, mixed with the sour smell of the five maids behind it - the oldest one had a stiff back and landed on her heels first when she walked, she must have been an embroiderer; the youngest one was also six years old, she raised her head and kept rubbing the corner of her clothes with her hands.

Most of the gold painting on the stone archway of the West Market had peeled off, and it looked like a dying golden dragon in the twilight.

Gan Tang counted the shops he passed by. An apprentice at the drugstore was taking down the carved door panels, a clerk at the cloth shop was pouring water out while holding rolls of plain brocade, and the wine shop sign was covered with thick layers of cigarette ash.

After turning the third alley, she was still secretly observing the street when she heard a voice: "Be quicker!" The old woman leading the way urged, and everyone was startled and bumped into each other.

Gan Tang took the opportunity to support the six-year-old girl who was so scared that she almost fell down.

The red-painted corner door creaked open.

"Why is this batch even more clumsy than the last time?" The person who said this should be the person in charge of the inner house.

Gan Tang couldn't help but look up. Inside the two hanging flower gates, the cracks between the blue brick floors had been swept clean, without a single weed. What kind of work could she possibly do here? Gan Tang thought as she looked around, she must be of some use. She had to stay.

"Hold out your hand." The maid opened the bag and distributed the maid's clothes to her.

The new clothes were so rough that they rubbed my neck, but they were ten times warmer than the rags from the slave station.

Gan Tang imitated the others and folded the old clothes into a square. Just as she was wondering where to put them, they were taken away. The woman who collected the clothes also pulled out the straw rope from her hair, causing a few dry hairs to fall and flutter onto the moss at the edge of the well.

Gan Tang was like a piece of wood, and could only stand there blankly as she was manipulated by him. She couldn't help and didn't know how to cooperate.

"Look up." A girl came closer and touched her ear with her fingertips. "There are lice eggs."

Gan Tang stared at him cautiously, remembering what her sister had taught her: the first person to show kindness in a deep house will often use you as a stepping stone. Yes, from that moment on, she had developed the habit of paying attention to everything.

As dusk fell, a string of red lanterns was hung on the eaves of the servants' room.

Gan Tang held a coarse earthenware bowl and squatted on the doorstep, sipping millet porridge in small sips.

Gan Qing sat down next to her and shook out from his sleeve half a hard biscuit hidden behind the third pillar from the east of Room B. At that time, Gan Tang didn't know that this Gan Qing would accompany her for ten years.

The large bunk bed was as crowded as dried salted fish, with twelve bodies crammed together and emitting a foul smell.

Gan Tang curled up in a corner against the wall, counting the time by the moonlight leaking through the roof.

When the girl next door turned over and pressed on her chilblained and ulcerated toes, she bit the straw mat to swallow back her cry of pain.

My sister said that anyone who could sleep soundly on their first night in a deep house wouldn't survive more than three months. "Get up—" The sky was still dark and gloomy when the gong shattered the chill.

When Gan Tang rolled down from the bunk, he smoothed out the wrinkles on his shirt to make himself look more energetic.

Nanny Luo stood in the courtyard where the water was freezing. Icicles formed on the tips of the vines and were dripping onto the blue bricks.

"Waist!" The cane hit Gan Tang's neck, causing burning pain.

She stared at the white air she exhaled, and followed the example of the older girl in front of her, tightening her stomach and sticking out her chest.

When the morning mist cleared, a layer of ice formed on the blue brick ground. The soles of her cloth shoes were soaked with snow water, and her toes were frozen numb.

Tea serving training lasts from noon to sunset.

Gan Tang held a coarse earthenware bowl filled with hot water, his wrist shaking like a dead leaf in the autumn wind.

Nanny Luo tapped the copper pipe on the back of her hand: "Spill a drop, and you'll lick the floor tiles to quench your thirst tonight."

The back of the girl's hand, which had been punished the day before, was still swollen, and she was now kneeling in the corridor, wiping the gaps between the floor tiles.

The old well platform in the laundry room was covered with moss, and Gan Tang was kneeling in the icy water beating clothes.

The soapberry blisters had soured her fingers, and she stared at her reflection in the water and practiced smiling—showing six teeth and with the corners of her eyes slightly drooping.

A pine-colored bellyband floated in front of him, and the twin lotus flowers with gold thread edging were so dazzling that Gan Tang couldn't help but stare at it in a daze.

"This belongs to the third aunt. If I can go to work in her courtyard, I heard that the food and clothing will be very good." Gan Qing said in a low voice.

When hanging the clothes to dry, they deliberately chose a bamboo pole in the shade. Nanny Luo said that the master's underwear should not be dried in the sun.

The rain before the Waking of Insects brought with it icy chips, and Gan Tang walked across the corridor carrying dried clothes.

Spend each day carefully.

That day, after the assessment, Nanny Luo pinched her chin and said, "You're quite clever, and your age is right. Go get your summer clothes tomorrow."

On the day of receiving summer clothes, Gan Tang counted the eighteen glass lanterns hanging under the eaves in front of the warehouse.

Mrs. Zhao, the housekeeper, looked at her twice more and said, "It's neat."

She smiled with six teeth, but her back teeth were clenched tightly - her sister said that being praised for your neat appearance is not necessarily a good thing, especially for girls, but she couldn't offend anyone.

"Gan Tang, Gan Qing, Yu Shuyuan is questioning."

The chirping of cicadas tore through the midsummer noon. Gan Tang wiped the sweat that flowed into his eyes. The gold thread on his cuffs made his wrists itchy.

After passing through three moon gates, the third concubine was lying on a bamboo couch, with her embroidered shoes with pearls visible under her pomegranate skirt.

Gan Tang and Gan Qing lowered their heads. Gan Tang caught a glimpse of Gan Qing stuffing some antiperspirant mint into his mouth. Gan Tang took note of it and thought that he should also prepare some mint leaves when he went to see his master in the future.

(End of this chapter)