Maid Xiao Chun - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

By the time I returned to the maids’ quarters, it was already late at night. Xiao Qiu was still painstakingly embroidering patterns for the wedding dress by the dim candlelight.

Seeing my swollen cheek, she said in shock, “Did Miss hit you?”

I nodded. She immediately put down the work in her hands and rummaged around for safflower oil, rubbing it on me with aching concern, yet still chattering on as she tried to persuade me.

“A master’s reward is a reward, and a master’s punishment is also a reward. You really can’t tell good from bad. Miss wanted to give you such a respectable marriage, and you actually refused. If it were me, I would have rushed over long ago to thank her for her grace.”

“You’re just stubborn. Are you going to read again? You learn a couple of characters and think you’re a female scholar?”

I quickly flipped through the borrowed Annotations on Mountains and Seas. “I have to return it tomorrow, so I need to hurry and finish reading it today.”

“Stubborn as a mule.” Xiao Qiu poked my forehead, but then she lit another lamp and placed it in front of me, pretending to say casually, “I need to embroider patterns. I’m not lighting it for you.”

I held her hand and kept wheedling, calling her “dear sister.”

In another month, Miss would be married. She was marrying the most sought-after man of the day, Third Prince Chu Lin, and everyone in the manor was very satisfied with this marriage.

Everyone except me.

The current Emperor had only three sons. The Crown Prince was debauched beyond measure, the Second Prince was a man of middling ability, and only the Third Prince was a dragon and phoenix among men, enjoying extremely high support among the people. It was said that His Majesty was very much inclined to depose the Crown Prince.

A succession struggle meant bloodshed. It meant there would be victims.

If the Third Prince succeeded, Shangshu Manor would ascend to the heavens overnight. If he failed, from Miss above to Xiao Qiu the dowry maid below, what would become of their fates?

I did not dare think too deeply. Looking at Xiao Qiu biting off a thread under the dim yellow lamplight, a chill rose within me.

I understood this truth, the master understood it, and Miss understood it even more. Yet their eyes were all filled with a burning light, fixed on that lofty dragon throne.