Chapter 25: Priorities 1
Banxi Pavilion
Her new friend Xiaolian fell into step with her on the third roll behind the older woman.
Liqiu gave her a side glance and as expected the other girl had a tiny smile on her face. in a few days,
she had known Xiaolian, she had observed that the other girl never lacked a friendly smile.
A fact that always amazed Liqiu who could hardly bring herself to smile these last few days.
She nearly walked into the back of the girl in front of her. Which would have caused a mess but Xiaolian quickly held her back.
Liqiu held her chest as her heartbeat quickened, she glanced at Xiaolian and whispered, "Thanks".
"it is alright", she smiled and helped Liqiu up.
Liqiu immediately looked toward the matron and luckily the older woman was conversing with a servant and had missed her little mistake.
Liqiu quickly straightened out her clothes and stood straight.
Matron Wang turned around a few seconds later and separated them in pairs. While separating them she enquired about their capabilities.
The older woman stepped forward and asked "Who here is Proficient in sewing?"
The girls exchanged looks among themselves before four young girls raised their hands among those girls was Liqiu.
"Come forward", Matron Wang said, looking closely at each of them.
She was impressed when she discovered that a few looked neat and presentable. She glanced at the slight plump senior maid that had stepped out from the door.
"The four of you will work at the clothing and laundry department, Mrs Yang is in charge of that department", she nodded at the plump woman standing beside her as she spoke.
Mrs Yang glared at them as she stepped forward, "I haven't got time to spare, Come with me", she turned around without sparing them a glance and kept walking down the hallway.
Liqiu nearly tripped over her foot as they rushed after the woman, Mrs Yang walked briskly as she led them to the laundry room just behind the building.
Due to the nature of the activities done, the laundry room was usually located far from the main building.
Preferably closest to the water supply which in this case was a well dug beside the washing area.
Mrs pushed the wooden door leading to the laundry room open and stepped aside for them.
She shut the door when the last girl stepped in, Liqiu's nose twitched as the smell of dirty clothes rushed into her nose.
'Surely she doesn't intend for us to_', before she could complete the thought, Mrs Yang led them to the baskets of the used bedcovers and clothes from the brothel and ordered them to was them all.
Liqiu's heart dropped as her gaze swept through the three baskets full of dirty clothes, she was lost for words and could only turn to Mrs Yang.
As if reading her mind, Mrs Yang pulled out a wooden ruler from beside the trees.
"Madam Liu spent a lot of coins buying your slave contracts, don't try acting stubborn or I will discipline you. The laundry room is no place for sheltered young Mistresses, you are here to work so Get STARTED!"
Liqiu Jumped and stepped back, the rest of the girls barely Wasted any time. They quickly scrambled forward, her eyes widened when she did not see any of the girls standing next to her.
She rushed forward as she met Mrs Yang's glare, she had no idea what was supposed to do so she just followed the other girls' lead and grabbed some clothes.
Xiaolian who was her only friend wasn't among them so she glanced around hoping to ask one of the girls but none of them spared her a glance. Four painful strokes of the ruler and a loud scold from Mrs Yang later.
Liqiu knelt by the wide basin and mixed the water with the spices before soaking the clothes in. Mrs Yang stood behind her with the ruler, she brought the ruler down on her back every time she made a mistake.
Mrs Yang kept hitting her until she stopped making mistakes, which did not take much time since Liqiu was a fast learner.
By the end of the day, her back was swollen and her entire body ached, she barely made it to the maid's room.
They other maids had all eaten dinner and were preparing to go to bed when she walked into the general room.
Although she had finally gotten the hang of washing clothes, she was slower than the other girls and had received double her potion because of her earlier mistakes. Which resulted in her missing dinner.
Liqiu and the other new maids were all placed in the second maids' room.
They were each assigned a narrow single bed together with a blanket, two sets of sleepwear and six sets of uniforms.
The uniforms were all designed for the various types of weather in the capital. It was hotter in the summer so the maids currently wore lighter summer uniforms.
The other maids glanced at Liqiu and whispered among themselves as she walked into the room.
The laundry room maids spent a large amount of their time in the laundry room, unlike the other maids so they were all accomplished gossips.
They began to spread tales about Liqiu as soon as they arrived at the dining room. Liqiu felt uncomfortable as shame walked in, she could feel every single eye on her.
She heard a few of their whispered mocking statements but bravely kept walking, she had no idea which of the beds belong to hers so she looked around the room silently.
"Over here, Liqiu!" Xiaolian called out from a slightly hidden corner of the room. Liqiu searched until her eyes fell on the Xiaolian, she sighed and walked toward her.
Xiaolian ran up to her and led her to the single bed beside hers, "I got this one for you, your blanket and clothes are on the bed".
"Thanks", Liqiu glanced at the folded clothes beside the pillow. She carefully sat on the side of the stiff bed, Xiaolian's eyebrow twitched when she heard her friend's low hiss.
She rushed to the other end of the room and picked up the wash bow. She fetched a bowl of water and carried it into the room.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
MITCHIEWilliams
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