Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 8: Midnight

Chapter 8: Midnight

Xia Heng followed Chuqing around and got familiar with all sorts of tasks, such as scenting clothes with incense.

With the proper master absent, little maids like them naturally did not have much to do.

After lunch, Xia Heng returned to her room and flopped back down on the bed.

Ah! This kind of life really wasn’t bad. She didn’t have to work nine to nine, six days a week, and it could even be considered easy. The only downside was having to get up too early.

If this were modern times, this was probably about the same treatment as a civil servant…

Her upper and lower eyelids began to fight. She simply closed her eyes and went off to meet the Sandman again.

After sleeping the whole afternoon, Xia Heng was full of energy!

Once she had filled the water vat in the small kitchen, Xia Heng felt she could even sweep the courtyard again!

Before she could pick up the broom, Chuqing hurried in so fast that the beaded flower by her ear nearly fell off.

“Slow down, slow down. What’s the rush? What happened?”

Chuqing opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her fingers twisted at the sash of her clothes, the expression on her face both unbearably sympathetic and oddly strange.

Xia Heng watched her with her heart in her throat. After a long wait, Chuqing finally managed to speak.

“Ah Heng, the general said… he wants you to go over tonight to serve him.”

Tonight!? Go over!? Serve him!???

In that instant, Xia Heng seemed to see a hundred different ways she might die…

“It’ll be all right. The general told me to prepare an extra quilt… Nothing will happen…”

Chuqing felt she had never had such difficulty getting words out. Her general did have a handsome face, but with the number of lives on his hands and his violent, unpredictable way of doing things, he was someone whose name could stop children from crying at night in the capital. If you asked all the noble young ladies in the capital to list their ideal man, her general would never make it onto the list…

Miss Ah Heng might be new, but she behaved properly.

There were already so few girls in the General’s Mansion. It had not been easy to get one who suited Chuqing’s tastes… So why did the general have to take a liking to her!

The general never allowed anyone to serve him at night. In fact, the main courtyard did not even have anyone on night watch after dark. For him to suddenly summon someone over like this-Chuqing truly did not know whether it meant what she thought it meant!

Chuqing’s fingers were about to twist her sash to shreds.

“Don’t worry. The general won’t take advantage of someone in trouble. The general isn’t that kind of person!”

Seeing that Xia Heng had lost all reaction, Chuqing felt that, no matter what, she ought to put in a good word for her own general.

She leaned closer and covered her mouth, whispering, “Let me tell you, servants from other households have even asked me before whether our general is fond of men.”

Chuqing paused. As if determined to comfort her at all costs, she went all in.

“Although I’ve never seen him with a man… I haven’t seen him with a woman either… When you go over, just serve him properly and listen to what the general says.”

“If it really comes to that… don’t worry… Our general is a respectable man. He’ll definitely take responsibility for you.”

By the time she finished speaking, Chuqing seemed to glow with the light of Buddhist detachment. She even patted Xia Heng on the shoulder in comfort.

She was like an old mother who felt a little sorry for the cabbage, yet was still more inclined toward her own pig.

Xia Heng was left stunned by Chuqing’s patting.

She had no idea whether this “respectable man” was fond of men, but she was certain he wanted to find some creative way to kill her!

When she read the original novel, she had never seen a spy get close to him and survive!

It was over. He must know everything… The Check-in System might come to an end today too…

On the verge of tears, Xia Heng patted Chuqing back and stared up at the sky, looking utterly done with life.

“Whether he takes responsibility or not isn’t important. If I can come back alive, I’ll treat you to a feast.”

Chuqing originally wanted to say something else, but then she felt there was nothing wrong with what Xia Heng had said.

In the end, she could only imitate Uncle Zhao and let out a deep sigh.

Half a day later, Xia Heng once again arrived at Cang Chuli’s bedchamber.

The sky was gradually darkening, and the lamps in the room had already been lit.

The respectable man, Cang Chuli, sat by the table with a booklet in hand, presenting a perfect picture of a handsome man reading.

Xia Heng stood at the doorway, not daring to steal more than a glance, afraid that the next day, her cause of death would be:

“Just because I looked at you one more time in the crowd!”

“Add some charcoal.”

Xia Heng hurried to obey, filling the brazier with charcoal and then opening the window a crack, propping it in place with the window brace.

Cang Chuli had already moved from the table to the bed, still holding that booklet of his. Written on its cover were two large characters: Account Book.

“You sleep on the floor.”

Xia Heng was startled when she suddenly heard Cang Chuli’s voice.
Cang Chuli looked at her pathetic state and turned his eyes away in disdain.

“Go get a set of bedding from the cabinet. Once it’s laid out, put out the lights.”

With that, he set the account book beside his ear and lay down to rest as if none of this had anything to do with him.

Keeping as quiet as possible, Xia Heng carefully took out the bedding she would use that night from the cabinet, spread it on the open space by the corner of Cang Chuli’s bed, put out the lamp, and crawled inside. She gently closed her eyes.

She had thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all, but to her surprise, she lost consciousness almost immediately.

==========

Xia Heng was woken by the sound of tables and chairs being knocked over. Still groggy, she rolled over.

Her hand found something warm-a human hand. At the same time, there seemed to be someone beside her ear, breathing with ragged, wheezing gasps.

Her eyes flew open. By the moonlight, Xia Heng saw a black-clad man collapsed right beside her.

One of his hands was clamped over his own neck, blood spreading in a pool across the floor in front of him. His other hand was currently being held in hers.

Xia Heng’s pupils dilated.

Swish.

A dagger gleaming with cold light plunged straight into the black-clad man’s heart.

Xia Heng violently flung his hand away. As she scrambled and rolled backward, she happened to see a sword fly through the air, slicing the silence as it pinned another black-clad man to the rosewood screen…

With her back pressed to the wall, Xia Heng nearly forgot how to breathe. She stared in terror as Cang Chuli removed the last black-clad man’s arm.

Removed. In the purest, most physical sense of the word…

The black-clad man screamed and cursed in agony.

“Light the lamps.”

Xia Heng heard Cang Chuli’s indifferent voice.

Her legs shaking, Xia Heng took a set of utterly uncoordinated demon steps, fumbled out a fire striker, and with trembling hands lit the lamps in the room one by one.

Warm firelight filled the room, but Xia Heng didn’t even dare lift her eyes.

After being ordered to open the door, Deputy General Zhang immediately rushed in, followed by a squad of men.

“General!”

“Take him away for interrogation. Clean this place up.”

Cang Chuli handed the black-clad man under his control over to Deputy General Zhang, then turned and climbed back into bed.

With his back to everyone, he gave a sleepy little nod and lay down again. The rise and fall of his body gradually evened out…

He didn’t spare her so much as a single glance.

He went to sleep just like that! He actually went back to sleep again!!!

Xia Heng watched wide-eyed as the squad swiftly tidied the room, even wiping the bloodstained floor clean.

From beneath the half-open window, they collected half a stick of incense that was still smoking… No wonder she had fallen asleep so quickly…

Looking at them, Xia Heng felt they seemed somewhat familiar. After carefully identifying them for a while, she realized-weren’t they the same squad that had come yesterday to deal with the pink-clad woman and her group?!

Hiss!

Xia Heng sucked in a sharp breath. Only then did it hit her: this bastard actually had his very own Body Disposal Team!!!! A Body Disposal Team!!!

A square-faced young man was pulling the black-clad corpse down from the screen. When he saw the bedding on the floor and Xia Heng standing beside it, he froze in surprise for a moment.

Then, apparently not knowing what to say, he gave her a reassuring smile.

That made it even more terrifying! Don’t smile while pulling a sword out of a corpse!!!

Xia Heng practically jumped in place, the nerves in her face frozen stiff from fright.

The Body Disposal Team, however, thought this young lady was rather brave. After seeing such a scene, she hadn’t made a sound. They immediately sped up their work.

Once the squad left, Xia Heng closed the door.

Because she had been far from the battlefield, and because the black-clad man whose hand she had grabbed had been considerate enough not to smear blood on her bedding, Xia Heng lay back down in her floor nest with a perfectly clear conscience.

She closed her eyes… Hilarious. She couldn’t sleep at all.

After midnight, Xia Heng completed that day’s check-in.

Wonderful. She had survived another day…

After a whole night of vividly demonstrating what it meant to have eyes wide as copper bells, Xia Heng saw Chuqing come in to serve Cang Chuli as he got up.

At last, Xia Heng slowly gave her a smile of someone who had narrowly escaped death.

Chuqing looked at the woman before her, dark circles hanging beneath her eyes, bloodshot red veins visible in them, her smile somewhat deranged.

She found the sight almost unbearable… and after thinking it over, she figured this was most likely inseparable from her general.

Holding the rinsing cup, Chuqing tugged the corners of her mouth at Xia Heng with a heavy heart.

After Cang Chuli finished washing up, he saw Xia Heng’s half-dead state and said nothing further. He had her sent away directly and replaced her with one of the remaining twins, Zhao Die, to serve him.