The Second World in Ancient Times

Life in the palace was like being shrouded in a dark cloud, dull and oppressive. Every day was filled with either backbreaking labor or dealing with those cunning masters and maids. I felt like I was almost suffocating.

That day, I was assigned to prune the flowers in the Imperial Garden. It might seem like a simple job, but those flowers were the masters' most beloved treasures, and any mistake would be a grave sin. I was carefully pruning the peony bushes when I heard a startled cry.

"oops!"

I turned my head and saw a maid about my age falling to the ground. The bucket beside her had overturned, spilling water all over the floor, and the precious orchid she was holding was also shaking. I quickly put down the scissors in my hand and ran over to help.

"Are you okay?" I helped her up and took the orchid pot.

She was terrified: "It's over, it's over. If anything happens to this orchid, I'm dead."

I checked the orchid and luckily it was undamaged. I comforted her, "Don't worry, the orchid is fine. Why are you so careless?"

She patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you so much. I just tripped over a rock and was so scared."

That's how we got to know each other, and she told me her name was Wanqing.

From then on, we would occasionally run into each other in the palace and chat for a few minutes. One time, we met in the laundry room, where there was no one else around, and we talked about palace affairs.

As Wanqing rubbed the clothes, she whispered to me, "Siqing, let me tell you, this laundry job may look simple, but there are actually a lot of tricks involved. Look at this water, it can't be too cold, otherwise the stains won't be washed clean. But if it's too hot, some silk materials will be damaged."

I nodded. "Yeah, I didn't know anything when I first came here. Luckily you told me all this. By the way, do you know that Aunt Li? She's very strict. I get nervous every time I see her."

Wanqing came over and said, "Madame Li, she only appears to be fierce on the outside. As long as you do your job well and don't talk back, she won't give you any trouble. But if you run into Madame Zhang, you have to be careful. She's mean-spirited and loves to pick on us young palace maids."

"So that's how it is. I didn't know that before." I suddenly realized.

"Also, you can't run around near the imperial kitchen. Last time, I accidentally bumped into a eunuch who was delivering food and almost got punished." Wanqing continued to share her experience.

As time went on in the palace, the grievances and pressures grew. Once, I accidentally broke a tea bowl, and the maid made me kneel for an hour. My knees ached terribly, and I felt incredibly wronged.

After Wanqing found out, she came to see me during a break and handed me a small cloth bag containing some herbs to reduce swelling and relieve pain.

"Si Qing, please apply some medicine quickly, it will relieve the pain. I know you didn't break the tea bowl on purpose, don't be too sad." Wan Qing said with concern.

I took the cloth bag, my eyes welling up with emotion: "Wanqing, thank you. I feel like I always make mistakes in this palace. It's really hard."

Wanqing held my hand and said, "I understand how you feel. It's not easy for us. But you have to believe that as long as we persevere, there will always be good days. Look, you are much better than when you first came here, and you have done many things well."

"Well, it's great to have you as a friend. I don't know what I would do without you." I looked at her gratefully.

One time, we went to deliver something to the palaces together and met Cui Er on the way. Cui Er had always disliked me and always looked for opportunities to make things difficult for me.

"Hey, isn't this Si Qing and Wan Qing? What bad things are you two planning to do by getting together?" Cui'er blocked our way with a look of disdain on her face.

I frowned and said, "We didn't do anything bad. We were just delivering something. Please move aside."

"Hmph, I think you have bad intentions. Maybe you want to steal the master's things." Cui'er deliberately said loudly, trying to attract the attention of the people around her.

Wanqing stood up and said, "Cui'er, please stop slandering us. We are all law-abiding palace maids. How could we do such a thing?"

"Who knows? Maybe you say one thing in public and another behind the scenes." Cui'er persisted.

At this moment, I remembered what Wanqing had told me before: if you encounter unreasonable people like this, don't confront them head-on, but seek out someone with authority to resolve the situation. So, I winked at Wanqing and said to Cui'er, "Since you say so, let's go find Mammy to seek justice."

When Cui Er heard that they were going to find Mammy, she felt a little guilty, but she still said stubbornly, "Let's go, who's afraid of who?"

We went to the nanny and told her what had happened. After listening, the nanny scolded Cui'er: "Don't look for trouble. If you do this again, I will punish you."

Cui'er glared at us fiercely and walked away in shame.

As the days went by, Wanqing and I became more and more close. We often shared tips on how to survive in the palace.

One time, I noticed Wanqing was struggling to fold her clothes, as she couldn't fold the complicated imperial attire properly. So I taught her a quick way to organize clothes that I had learned while traveling abroad.

"Wanqing, look, folding the clothes in half like this and then rolling them up not only saves space, but also prevents the clothes from wrinkling easily." I said as I demonstrated.

Wanqing's eyes lit up: "Wow, this is a great idea, how did you come up with it?"

I smiled and said, "This is something I learned by chance outside, and it's coming in handy right now. By the way, do you have any new tricks you can teach me?"

Wanqing thought for a moment and said, "I recently discovered a good way to clean the dust in the room. You wrap a wet cloth around the broom, and when you sweep the floor, the dust won't fly everywhere."

We learned from each other, and life at each other's courts became a little easier.

On a quiet night, when most of the palace had fallen asleep, Wanqing and I were tossing and turning because of the troubles we had during the day. We secretly went to a secluded corner, looked at the moon in the sky, and talked to each other.

"Si Qing, when do you think we can get rid of this kind of life? I really miss home." Tears flashed in Wanqing's eyes.

I sighed, "I miss home too. But we have no other choice now. We can only live well in the palace and wait for the opportunity."

"You're right, but this palace is like a huge cage that traps us all." Wanqing said with a sob.

I held her hand and said, "Although it's a cage, we can work together to bring warmth inside. We must support each other, and one day we will be able to change our destiny."

Wanqing wiped her tears and nodded: "Yes, we can do it. You know? You are like a ray of light in this palace. With you around, I don't feel so scared."

"You are also my warmth, Wanqing. We must work hard together." I hugged her gently.

For a while, an epidemic broke out in the palace, and many palace maids and eunuchs were infected. The entire palace was shrouded in fear, and our work became more arduous. Not only did we have to complete our daily work, but we also had to take care of those who were sick.

Wanqing and I were assigned to a palace to take care of sick palace maids who were running high fevers and groaning in pain.

"Si Qing, we must be careful and not get infected." Wanqing said to me while wiping the patient's sweat.

"Well, we'll give them medicine according to the doctor's instructions. I hope they can get better soon." I replied.

While caring for the patient, we encountered many difficulties, such as insufficient medicinal materials and the patient's condition fluctuating. But we did not give up and encouraged each other.

"Wanqing, this palace maid's medicine is almost gone. I'll go see if I can get some more." I said and ran out.

Wanqing stayed there to continue caring for the other patients. She gently comforted each of them: "You must be strong. You will definitely get better."

Thanks to our efforts, most of the patients gradually recovered and we breathed a sigh of relief.

Rumors were always rife in the palace. One time, rumors started circulating about Wanqing and me. Some said we were spies for a certain faction, secretly passing on information within the palace.

"Si Qing, have you heard those rumors? What should we do?" Wanqing asked me in a panic.

I frowned. "We can't let these rumors affect us. We haven't done anything. As long as we continue to do our own thing, the rumors will eventually disappear on their own."

"But the way those people look at us has changed. I'm really worried." Wanqing said worriedly.

"Don't worry, we need to stay calm. If anyone comes to question us, we will answer truthfully. We are just ordinary palace maids and we don't have any secrets." I comforted her.

Sure enough, not long after, a nanny came to question us. We told her in detail about our daily work and actions. Seeing that we didn't seem to be lying, the nanny didn't pursue the matter any further.

During a palace festival, Wanqing handed me a small box mysteriously.

"Si Qing, this is a gift I prepared for you. I wish you a happy holiday." Wanqing said with a smile.

I opened the box and found an exquisite handkerchief inside. On the handkerchief was embroidered a blooming peony with delicate needlework and lifelike appearance.

"Wanqing, did you embroider this? It's so beautiful!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, it took me a long time to embroider it. I know you like peonies, so I embroidered this. I hope you will think of me every time you see it." Wanqing said a little embarrassedly.

I hugged her with great emotion: "This is the best gift I have ever received. I will definitely cherish it."

I also took out the gift I prepared for Wanqing, which was a small sachet I made myself, filled with some spices that have a calming effect.

"Wanqing, you can carry this sachet with you. It will help you sleep more soundly at night." I said.

We exchanged gifts with each other and felt a deep warmth in this cold palace.

When the palace held a large banquet, we palace maids were all very busy. Wanqing and I were assigned to be in charge of setting up the banquet venue and guiding the guests.

"Si Qing, these tables and chairs must be placed neatly and symmetrically, without any deviation." Wanqing gave the instructions seriously.

"Okay, I'm done here, let's check it again." I replied.

After the banquet begins, we must always pay attention to the needs of the guests and provide them with services in a timely manner.

"Sir, what do you need?" Wanqing asked a minister politely.

"Give me a glass of wine," said the minister.

Wanqing quickly poured a glass of wine and handed it to the minister with skillful and elegant movements.

At this moment, I noticed that a young palace maid had accidentally knocked over a plate of fruit, and the scene was a bit chaotic. I quickly ran over to help clean up, and Wanqing also came over to help deal with it.

"Don't panic, let's pick up the fruits first and then get new ones." I comforted the little palace maid.

Thanks to our joint efforts, the banquet went smoothly without any major problems.

Once, when I was delivering something to a concubine, I met a few drunk guards. When they saw me, they had evil intentions.

"Little palace maid, you are quite beautiful. Come and have a drink with us." A guard said as he walked towards me.

I was so scared that I stepped back repeatedly: "Don't mess around, I'm here to deliver something to the Imperial Concubine."

"Hmph, Imperial Concubine? We don't care." The guards refused to give in.

At this moment, Wanqing appeared. She stood in front of me and said, "You can't do this. If the Imperial Concubine finds out, you'll all be in big trouble."

"You little girl, mind your own business." The guards were angry and embarrassed.

Wanqing pulled me and I ran, the guards chasing us. We weaved through the alleys of the palace and finally managed to get away from them.

"Wanqing, thank you. If it weren't for you, I don't know what would have happened." I said with lingering fear.

"We are friends. How can I watch you being bullied? We must be more careful in the future. These guards are so hateful." Wanqing said angrily.

There are often new skills that we need to learn in the palace, such as new dances, new etiquette, etc., in preparation for use in various palace activities.

Wanqing and I took dance classes together. The dance teacher was very strict and demanded perfection in every move.

"Look, the gesture should be light like this, the steps should be steady, and the eyes should be full of spirit." The dance teacher demonstrated.

Wanqing and I studied hard, but the dance moves were difficult to master.

"Wanqing, I feel like my hands and feet are out of control." I said to Wanqing with a wry smile.

"Me too, but we can't give up. We just need to practice a few more times and we will definitely be able to learn it." Wanqing encouraged me.

So, we used the break time to practice with each other and correct each other's movements. After a period of hard work, our dancing skills improved greatly.

Once, when we were serving a meal to a master, he suddenly became furious.

"Why is this food so bad? How did you prepare it?" The master threw down his chopsticks angrily.

Wanqing and I were so frightened that we knelt down and kowtowed: "Master, please forgive us. We will go check it out right away."

We went to the imperial kitchen and asked the chef, and it turned out that a new ingredient was not handled properly. We explained the reason to the master and promised to ask the imperial kitchen to improve it.

"Hmph, if you do this again next time, you won't have an easy time." The master warned us.

When we got back to our residence, we were all a little depressed.

"Wanqing, today was so thrilling. We must pay more attention to these details in the future." I said helplessly.

"Yes, serving the master is really like walking on thin ice. However, we handled it promptly this time. I hope the master won't be too angry." Wanqing said.

Sometimes there were happy things in the palace. One time, we were rewarded by Madam for our outstanding performance, which was some beautiful ornaments.

"Wanqing, look, this hairpin is so beautiful!" I said excitedly while holding the hairpin.

"Yes, this is an affirmation of us. Our efforts during this period have not been in vain." Wanqing was also very happy.

"Let's try it on." I put the hairpin on my head and looked at myself in the mirror.

Wanqing also put on her jewelry, and we looked at each other and laughed. In this oppressive palace, such a small joy was like sunshine, warming our hearts.

As time went by, Wanqing and I experienced countless ups and downs in the palace, but our friendship became stronger and stronger. We knew that in this dangerous and indifferent palace, each other was the most reliable support.

"No matter what we encounter in the future, we must face it together and never leave each other." I said to Wanqing.

"Well, we will always be friends, and no one can separate us." Wanqing held my hand tightly, her eyes full of determination.