Transmigrated Female Official

Torrential rain.

Unlike the long, drizzling rain of spring, summer rain is always heavy and intense, coming and going quickly. It pounds down on the glossy glazed tiles, on the intricately carved blue bricks, and then splashes freely and unrestrainedly in all directions…

Before Chu Qingluo transmigrated, she was born in June of the Gregorian calendar, so her parents named her Lin Xia.

They said, "Rain should be poured out to its fullest extent, and you should be born as brilliantly as a summer flower."

She was radiant, but her beauty was fleeting.

……

Chu Qingluo let out a soft breath, pulling herself out of her reverie about her previous life. Before Ji Jie returned from court, she went into the inner hall, took out the drawing she had hidden under the inkstone yesterday, and made a few more revisions.

A short while later, Ji Jie arrived.

They found Chu Qingluo still sitting at the table, her light purple skirt showing signs of rain.

The rain only started this morning, so it's obvious that Chu Qingluo must have gone out. If the blueprints weren't finished, she wouldn't be so easy to talk to.

Ji Jie subtly curled the corners of her lips and asked, "Have you finished drawing all the clothes?"

Chu Qingluo stood up, turned around and bowed, respectfully replying, "They're all finished. Please take a look, sir."

"..." Ji Jie glanced at her hair twice, saying nothing. Taking the paper, she noticed that Chu Qingluo's drawing was just some rough lines. After staring at it for a while, she frowned and said, "That's it?" Her tone began to show some displeasure.

Chu Qinglu nodded, quite certain: "My lord, those forty sets of clothing presented as gifts by the Clothing Pavilion were also obtained in this way. Don't be fooled by the few strokes; they were full of painstaking effort."

Seeing her say that, Ji Jie couldn't continue to show her ignorance. Since it was made by Chu Qingluo anyway, it shouldn't be too bad. Thinking this, she could only purse her lips and say, "Then let's just send it to the tailor shop to be made like this. You can come and pick it up from me as needed." Then, remembering something, she added, "But this... I don't want so many people to know, do you understand?"

The tailoring skills of the Clothing Pavilion are absolutely top-notch in the Ji Kingdom. However, since these are private garments, female officials are required by regulations to pay for them themselves. Ji Jie doesn't want to make a fuss, probably because she doesn't want gossip suggesting that she poached people to use Chu Qingluo to satisfy her own selfish desires.

"Understood." Chu Qingluo understood this perfectly.

However, what she was thinking at that moment was that Ji Jie was different from Li Ziyou; she was a complete novice. If she were asked to draw diagrams again in the future, it wouldn't matter, since Ji Jie wouldn't understand them anyway, and she could easily handle it with a simple sketch. Fortunately, she hadn't listened to Ji Jie's suggestion to stay overnight at Guangrentang and waste her youth, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to enjoy Uncle Sihan's birthday feast!

That sweet and sour pig's trotter was absolutely delicious...

Chu Qingluo pondered to herself, then swallowed hard. She quickly measured Ji Jie's body and was about to leave with the paper pattern when she bumped into Li Yan, who was walking in with a girl who looked about eighteen or nineteen years old behind her.

The woman's head was hanging very low, making it impossible to see her face clearly.

Li Yan glanced at Chu Qingluo, ignored her, and stepped forward to say, "My lord, the newly appointed physician Yan Xi has arrived."

"Okay, come in." Ji Jie's voice drifted from behind Chu Qingluo.

Unlike female officials, medical officers could take an official examination when the Imperial Medical Academy was short-staffed, and once they passed, they would be appointed to their posts immediately.

This physician named Yan Xi must be the woman who just passed the official examination yesterday.

Chu Qingluo genuinely admires people who study medicine because there is so much to learn! Just seeing the scientific names of some herbs makes her dizzy.

……

It was pouring rain in the morning, but by noon the sun had come out, leaving only a puddle of water of varying depths and sizes.

Inside the garment workshop.

Chu Qinglu went to Shaoyao for help with making clothes. Shaoyao was also very surprised by her new hairstyle and circled around her twice to look at it.

Helpless, Chu Qingluo had no choice but to repeat herself once again, describing how she had her hair cut off by that little brat.

Anyway, sharing your unhappy experiences so everyone can have a laugh is at least a form of sharing.

"The Ninth Prince really has a variety of ways to express his love—" Peony found it amusing and expressed deep sympathy for Chu Qingluo's plight.

As for clothing making, she couldn't help. She and Li Yu had already been left in the East Pavilion to make ornaments, while all the materials needed for clothing making were in the West Pavilion, and only the people in the West Pavilion could use them to make clothes.

Just as she was struggling with this, Peony suddenly thought of something: "Why don't we ask Luo Lifei for help? She's in the West Pavilion."

Chu Qinglu frowned: "Is she capable? Won't the whole clothing workshop know that Ji Jie is making private clothes?"

Although Luo Lifei isn't bad, she doesn't seem very reliable. But Ziyan Rongsheng has become the Empress's new favorite, and they can't directly ask Li Ziyou for help…

"Then you can just not tell her whose clothes they are, wouldn't that work?" Peony still thought it was okay for Luo Lifei to give it a try.

"Are you stupid? I work for Guangrentang. Isn't it obvious that Ji Jie is making private clothes? Besides, if she really wanted Luo Lifei's help, it wouldn't be fair to lie..."

As the saying goes, "If you employ someone, don't doubt them; if you doubt someone, don't employ them."

Chu Qinglu gritted her teeth, deciding to take a gamble: "There's no other way now, so let's just ask Luo Lifei for help."

Even if the entire palace eventually finds out that Ji Jie made her make private clothes, it's not a big deal. Surely Ji Jie wouldn't convict her just like that?

Furthermore, to put it optimistically, if Luo Lifei does well and keeps her mouth shut, she will be viewed with new respect... Even if she is not a friend, at least she is not an enemy.

The two made up their minds and went to find Luo Lifei in the west wing of the clothing store...

Luo Lifei was quite surprised by Chu Qingluo's purpose: "I really didn't expect you to ask me for help?!"

Chu Qingluo naturally couldn't tell her that this was a last resort, so she asked directly, "Let's be straightforward, are you going to help or not?"

Luo Lifei glanced at her, raised her chin, and snorted coldly: "Don't worry—no one has ever dared to question my Luo Lifei Garment Factory."

Although she still looked arrogant and infuriating, her saying that meant she agreed.

"Thank you very much."

Chu Qingluo and Shaoyao exchanged a smile. Only when no one was around would Luo Lifei dare to be so arrogant. If Li Ziyou suddenly appeared, she would be scared to death!

……

Since that brat Ji Qibai stopped bothering Chu Qingluo, her life has finally become peaceful.

She entered and exited the palace with her new hairstyle, and wherever she went, she was the subject of much discussion and criticism.

Even so, Chu Qingluo's unintentional act... sparked a new hairstyle trend within just a few days. The female officials, for reasons unknown, competed to imitate her, cutting their hair short to their chins, striving to look the same as Chu Qingluo's hairstyle.

This inexplicable trend left Chu Qingluo both amused and exasperated...

Even more surprisingly, Ji Jie got her hair cut! She said it would make her look younger...

"How do I look?" Luo Lifei had received the new clothes that Ji Jie had been made for, and Ji Jie was trying them on, eagerly asking Chu Qingluo for her opinion.

Chu Qingluo designed a flowing, green pleated dress with a wide neckline and colorful floral patterns for her. Just as she requested, it revealed her curves and made her extremely sexy and charming.

It seems that Luo Lifei's professional skills are quite good.

"Your figure is graceful and stunning," Chu Qingluo replied, then couldn't help but ask, "I just wonder if Your Excellency has any good news recently?"

She was genuinely curious: why was she dressed so flamboyantly? Was it for a birthday celebration?

Ji Jie glanced at her, a sweet smile spreading across her face, unable to contain her joy: "I won't hide it from you. In a few days, I'll be wearing this new outfit to ask the Fifth Prince to let me in." After saying that, she remembered something, "Oh right, right, you should quickly help me choose some suitable jewelry." She opened the jewelry box on the wooden shelf and let Chu Qingluo choose whatever she wanted.

In Ji Jie's view, Ji Qili had no reason to refuse her, so she was confident.

This answer did not surprise Chu Qingluo, after all, Ji Jie's feelings for Ji Qili were written all over her face.

But... I have some doubts: What's wrong with this world? Did the goddess scatter a handful of seeds of love on earth? And now they've sprouted? So much so that everyone is overjoyed and busy inviting her at the door?

It is neither the spring of burgeoning life nor the winter of seeking warmth together...

It's still summer.