The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 13: The Embroiderer

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》Yanxi Gonglue

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 13: The Embroiderer

   Pop!”

   “Ouch!” A young maid rolled off the bed in pain.

   Two of the Grand palace maids were holding candlesticks, the light of which shone brightly and dimly on Fang Gugu's face, like a demon or a ghost and she kept waving the ruler in her hand and beating the little palace maid on the ground, saying angrily: “I told you to make a sound, I told you to make a sound!”

   “Stop hitting, Gugu, stop hitting, it hurts! Stop it!” The maid held her head in her hands and cried out, “I don't want to but I can't control the snoring! Ouch, Ouch!”

   When she struck, the rest of the palace maids were lying on their sides on the bed, each afraid to move and two of the Grand palace maids with rulers hovered in front of the bed, looking as if they were selecting lambs for the slaughter.

   “It is a rule in the palace that you are not allowed to make a sound in your sleep. If you make a sound during Zhuzi's night, not only will you be beaten to death but I will also suffer!” The ruler in Fang Gugu's hand fell unmercifully on the young palace maid, saying, “If you can't change, you'll be beaten until you can change!”

   Fang Gugu whipped her again for a long time, perhaps she was tired of whipping, then she stopped her hand and when she had caught her breath, she crossed her waist with one hand and said coldly to the court ladies: “Get up, let's go to work!”

   The crowd looked out of the window in disbelief at the sky, so dark that it seemed like a puddle of ink; put your hand out and you were guaranteed to drown in the ink, you couldn't even see how many fingers there were.

   “Gu-, Gugu, it's only three o'clock.” A little maid couldn't resist saying, “The door to the Embroidery Workshop isn't even open ...”

   But as soon as Fang Gugu caught her eye, she dared not say another word and hurriedly rolled off the bed, stumbling as she did so.

   All at once there was a rustling of clothes in the palace house and the crowd, fearing that if they moved a little slower they would get a good beating in return, climbed up as fast as they could.

   “Gugu, I'm ready.” Jinxiu is always first in everything and this time she was the first to get dressed, then she trotted up to Fang Gugu and said, “Are we going to the Embroidery Workshop now?”

   “The door to the Embroidery Workshop is still open, what are you doing there?” Fang Gugu said coldly.

   Jinxiu said at that, “Then we ...”

   “The Embroidery Workshop's work is work and so is doing work for me.” Fang Gugu looked around and said, “Who is Wei Yingluo?”

   The crowd looked at Wei Yingluo in unison.

   “It's me...” Wei Yingluo, without changing her face, crossed the crowd.

   Fang Gugu winked at the two the Grand maids she had brought with her and one of the Grand maids immediately stepped forward and slipped a pile of garments into her arms.

   “I heard from Zhang Momo, you are the best at embroidery; embroider all the collars, sleeves and hems of the skirts and give them to me at dawn!” When Fang Gugu had finished her instructions, she raised her hand and pointed to the rest of the palace maids and ordered them one by one, “Seven of you, divide into two shifts; you, you, you, three of you go and boil hot water and prepare pancreases and hand towels, for I want to bathe in the morning. The rest of you go and clean the courtyard and make sure that every tile shines. Go on!”

   Jixiang was assigned to serve Fang Gugu, which was a good job, easier than cleaning the yard and she could talk to Gugu who was in charge of them, so Jinxiu, who was also assigned to this job, was smiling from ear to ear.

   But Jixiang could not laugh, for in her eyes Fang Gugu was no different from a tiger or a beast and to serve her a bath was like pulling a tiger's teeth.

   “Don't pull a face.” Wei Yingluo's voice suddenly rang softly in her ear, softly saying, “Take a cue from Jinxiu and smile more, you look lovely when you smile.”

   “I can't learn from her.” Jixiang bristled, then looked at Wei Yingluo with an admiring face and said, “Sister Yingluo, you are so good, how did you know Gugu would come back?”

   If Wei Yingluo hadn't reminded her, she would have been the one to get a slap on the wrist.

   Jixiang, who also has a snoring problem, was not caught by Fang Gugu because after hearing Wei Yingluo, she was too frightened to sleep and was awake until Fang Gugu came back again.

   Wei Yingluo laughed and said: “The new official has three fires in his office, even if no one snores, she will find some other reason to beat people so that we will be afraid of her and dare not disobey her from now on ... Well, go on, don't keep Gugu waiting.”

   Witnessing Jixiang's hasty departure, Wei Yingluo smiled and shook her head, then looked down at the clothes in her hands.

   The dress is just the right length for Fang Gugu to wear. At a glance, it is clear that she has asked the little maid under her to modify her own self service for her.

   In this respect, there was no great difference between the Grand ladies and the little ladies and the dresses in their hands were the same, pale and plain in color, with no pattern to be found.

   “Women love to be pretty and so do the women who have entered the palace.” Wei Yingluo thought to herself, “No, in a place like this where it's all women, it's even more important for women to climb with women.”

   Wei Yingluo embroidered a string of wisteria flowers on the neckline and hemline of the dress, the wisteria folding and twining, with the calm elegance of an older woman, instantly elevating the ordinary maid's dress in her hands to a higher level and fitting Fang Gugu's status, without being overly demure and graceful like the peony and peony. It's also very appropriate for Fang Gugu's status, not being too glamorous and graceful like peony and peony and accidentally stealing the limelight from the Zhuzi.

   She embroidered it so thoughtfully that even someone as fussy as Fang Gugu couldn't pick out a fault.

   But Fang Gu turned the garment over and over in her hands for a while and finally her eyes fell on the wisteria flowers on the cuffs and she was overwhelmed with love, stroking them with her hands for half a day but her mouth still said indifferently: “The embroidery is not bad.

   “Yes, Gugu.” Wei Yingluo responded obediently, “Is it embroidered now?”

   Fang Gugu looked at the sky, she would like Wei Yingluo to embroider for her now but there is a limit to what she can do under false pretenses, so she had to shake her head regretfully and say, “Go and eat, afterwards go to the Embroidery Workshop and work.”

   Wei Yingluo said with a pursed smile, “Yes.”

   Fang Gugu left with her wisteria embroidered dress, which she looked so impatient to change into and show off at her sisters.

   “Look at her, she's got another golden leg.” Secretly, Jinxiu was chewing on the other little court ladies again, saying, “What a good natural slave, we all have to follow her example if we want to live well.”

   Jixiang couldn't bear to hear this and was about to argue with her when Wei Yingluo pulled her back.

   “Sister Yingluo, aren't you even angry when she talks about you like that?” Jixiang huffed.

   Wei Yingluo smiles, her time is precious, how can she waste it on a mere Jinxiu?”

   “Jixiang, can you do me a favor?” Wei Yingluo asked.

   “You say...” Jixiang didn't even ask what kind of favor it was, she just agreed to it.

   “I won't go for breakfast, you bring me a steamed bun.” Wei Yingluo said, “I have something to do, I'm going to the Embroidery Workshop first.”

   At this point, the Embroidery Workshop is like a sleeping man, sleeping extremely peacefully and without a sound at all.

   Wei Yingluo was not idle either, shaking the broom in her hand and slowly returning the fallen flowers to one place in front of the Embroidery Workshop, where the wisteria bloomed in front of the door, the deep and light purple petals of which tinged the broom with a hint of floral fragrance.

   “Why are you here so early?” A voice sounded behind her.

   Stopping the broom in her hand, Wei Yingluo turned back with a smile and said, “Good morning Zhang Momo.”

   This was a premeditated meeting.

   Zhang Momo works at the Embroidery Workshop, she is the first one to come and the last one to leave every day, so if she saves time for breakfast and waits at the entrance of the Embroidery Workshop, she will be able to wait for Zhang Momo.

   But that's not what she said, laughs Wei Yingluo: “It's my first day at the Embroidery Workshop and I'm afraid I'll be late, so I'm here early.”

   Old people like children who follow the rules and Zhang Momo was no exception and a rare smile appeared on her serious, almost impersonal face as she said: “You are a child who knows the rules.”

   Wei Yingluo knows the rules since.

   For the next half month, she woke up early to embroider Fang Gugu's dresses, wisteria and orchids, carp and birds and never repeated her patterns.

   There were people who tried to follow her example but they couldn't hold on after four or five days.

   “She was born to be a slave.” This person was Jinxiu, who said to bystanders, “I can't learn from her.”

   She can't learn and won't learn because there is no benefit to be seen in the flesh.

   Although Wei Yingluo did private work for Fang Gugu every day, she was also beaten by Fang Gugu and although she went to the Embroidery Workshop every day at dawn to sweep the door, Zhang Momo did not show any favoritism to her. But Zhang Momo didn't show any favoritism to her and she was given as much work as anyone else and sometimes more.

   Many people are secretly laughing at Wei Yingluo: why bother when you can't get what you want?”

   Wei Yingluo, however, did not care what people said about her but she kept on living this way. Momo, who even sought her out for a family chat in her spare time.

   Wei Yingluo always listens quietly, occasionally making a comment or two and asking one or two irrelevant questions, which Zhang Momo answers in passing for she is such a good girl.

   “Momo, would red or green be better for this place?”

   “Go with red, red is festive.”

   “Momo, would it be better to embroider koi or orchids for Noble Lady Yu's hankies?”

   “Koi bar, good omen.”

   “Momo, which is better, my embroidery or Wei Yingning's?”

   “Yingning is better.” Zhang Momo replied back out of habit, only to stare at the Wei Yingluo in front of her with a slight frown after her answer.

   Wei Yingluo looked back at her with a smile.

   A month of every meeting, every seemingly unrelated question and answer, all for the same purpose--to get Zhang Momo to subconsciously answer her next question.

   Zhang Momo stared at Wei Yingluo for a long time and said slowly: “I misheard you, I don't know Wei Yingning.”

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS