The Rebirth of Han Yuxi Chapter 8 - Moyun

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 imdiately took a step forward. Yuxi asked about their families, and then asked them so 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 rely 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 ti, she was only four years old, and could not even rember anything yet!

When Yuxi saw Moyun, she was sowhat 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 ti 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 ti to take a good care of herself?

Yuxi thought about it for a mont, and drew Mama Fang to her side. She asked, “I rember 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 punishnt? She confidently replied, “Mama, don’t worry, I’m still young. Even if Grandmother is angry with , the worst she would do is by confining 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 ti 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 ti employing more people for her courtyard.

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

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 an to harm you. You let go, please let 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 ornant 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 beca preferred only by won. A scented sachet beca a love token in the Qing Dynasty. – Wikipedia

Moyun was about to answer when she suddenly found that sothing 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 ti, the real answer to their problem was still unclear. No matter how Mama Fang forcefully interrogated her, Moyun would imdiately 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 co 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 sowhat 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 imdiately knelt down and said, “Grandmother, this granddaughter doesn’t an to disturb Grandmother’s peace this morning. This matter is just too big for to handle, so, I have ca 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 beca ill with smallpox.” The aning of this statent was self-evident.

Moyun was paralyzed. She thought Yuxi would hand her over to Qiu Shi. She had prepared a lot of counter argunts last night. But when it beca 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 t 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 ca with tortures.

Less than half an incense later, Mama Luo ca 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 al. 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 ti to let her out.” Not to ntion that Mama Fang had managed the Rose Courtyard into a ss. 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 aning 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 mont. 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 sa 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 ti, Yuxi felt that she was so incompetent. In her excitent to trap Concubine Rong, she sohow 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 sowhat 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 co 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 seed 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 sothing bad happened to her, but now she had beco 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 ca to ask for a favour for her, the Old Madam was willing to release her at that ti.