Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

Chapter 22: The Crown Prince’s Confidant and the Women of the Inner Palace

Ming Xian was reading memorials in the study. Even though the ministers were responsible in doing government affairs, the final decision was still handed over to him. The emperor and crown prince were supposedly sharing the burden, but recently, the emperor lost his motivation, so Ming Xians workload increased.

Ming Xians work revolved around reading the memorials and stamping them.

Your Highness Ming Xian, this one has returned.

The subordinate called out while knocking on the door of the study room.

Come in.

Li Yong entered once he obtained permission to do so. He was Ming Xians foster brother, and the man that he trusted the most. He was currently one of the Imperial Guards, and to ensure the crown princes safety, he also went as far as fabricating his personal documents to work as a eunuch by his side. He was called Libin when disguised as a eunuch, posing as the twin brother of Li Yong.

He was deployed to investigate the rumors currently circulating around.

You are all dismissed.

Ming Xian declared to the ministers, and they wordlessly left the room. After making sure they were already far away, Li Yong closed the door.

How was it?

Li Yong faced Ming Xian and replied.

Yes. Yui Mei was indeed harassed by the senior court ladies.

Indeed, the rumors regarding Yui Mei became widespread, to the point that it also reached the crown princes palace. Those rumors were proactively spread by the eunuchs who did not help Yu Xiu, along with those senior court ladies who bore ill intentions towards Yui Mei.

The crown prince could not turn a blind eye against the incident, so he had Li Yong investigate directly.

It was also true that she was driven out to live in the storage room.

Ming Xian furrowed his brows as he listened to Li Yongs words.

The palace was currently experiencing shortage of manpower, so it was not the time to bully the novices. If they did not have any connections, then their actions would surely affect their promotion. Apparently, those senior court ladies did not come from well-connected families. 

The true villainess living in the Inner Palace would achieve her goals without lifting a finger herself. The rumors this time revealed the perpetrators; their methodology was inept. They were extremely stupid.

There are also women like that here in the Crown Princes palace, though. They were just born in the capital of Kyou, yet they were so full of themselves, thinking they were better than anyone else.

With regards to being a court lady, they would indeed be in a higher position if they were given allowances from their own home. However, being a concubine was a different matter altogether. Concubines were chosen based on strict standards.

The court ladies would be selected based on the assessment of their lifestyle and work; their physical appearance would not have that much bearing. Rather than that, it was imperative that they were healthy. As for the reason, it was because all the women in the palace had the possibility of bearing the emperors child. The most important criterion was whether they would be able to give birth to a healthy child.

On the other hand, it was a different story for the maids accompanying the women who were sent to the palace as concubines. If something happened to their master, they would be candidates to replace the concubine. Therefore, it was necessary to exercise vigilance against the women attending to the concubines . It was precisely due to this reason that Yu Xiu suffered from illness.

The circumstances of those women should be set aside for now. As for Yui Mei

 So, what is Yui Mei doing now?

He did not believe Yang, the court ladies manager, was someone who would tolerate outrageous demands such as driving one to live in the storage room.

Li Yong surprisingly made a complicated expression at Ming Xians question.

She was ecstatic about moving out to the storage room, saying that she obtained her own room.

Ming Xian blanked out for a moment after hearing that.

Wouldnt one normally get mad, or else complain in tears when in that outrageous situation?

The truth was, he sent Li Yong in order to intervene. He thought Yui Mei could become a maid, instead.

What a peculiar girl.

I also thought the same.

Li Yong also agreed after he finally expressed his impression.

I tried to glean the details while I asked whether she was dissatisfied, but our conversation was cut short because Lady Wang arrived.

Apparently, Yui Mei was summoned to clean Lady Wangs residence, and was offered manju after her work was done. Lady Wang must be pleased with her, since she even prepared snacks for a court lady with low status.

I was also invited to join them since we were together, but His Majesty came, and they accidentally met.

So his father sneaked out of the study, and went to his favored woman. Its no wonder the amount of memorials suddenly increased.

How was it?

What reaction did Yui Mei have in front of the emperor?

Ming Xian leaned forward on his desk. Li Yong solemnly replied.

Apparently, she thought manju was more important than His Majesty.

Although she was initially shocked at meeting the emperor, she did not show any extraordinary reaction. She was even concerned at the manjus outcome, because the emperor came.

For her, the emperors priority was way below the manju she got after working.

What a peculiar girl.

Ming Xian repeated, and Li Yong once again agreed.

T/L Corner:

We have a triple release for today, since we reached our goals! Our ko-fi goal was achieved again thanks to our very generous supporter, I.M. Gibbon. ? Thanks to all of you for the 25 ratings in NU! Though this is not mandatory, I nevertheless feel happy that readers enjoy the novel, and it pumps me up! ?

Thoughts:

*I cant bring myself to include (sama), its been an ongoing internal debate, really. Having the Japanese honorifics retained would make it a lot easier to express reverence, but on the other hand, the setting of the story is China, so that would be totally weird.

Technically, it would be: Ming Xian sama, I have returned. But I feel its weird, considering he was addressing the crown prince after all, and Ancient China placed great importance on distinction of status. 

And so, instead of saying I directly, I resorted to using this one, this servant this humble one etc. since those were commonly terms used in chinese web novels I read ? Ah, but when they were alone, Li Yong naturally used I, though his tone was definitely formal compared to how he addressed Yui Mei.

What do you guys think? ? 

Hi everyone, Hanazakura here, thanks for reading, Im grateful to you guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. We reached our 10th chapter milestone, hurray! Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace will now have a set schedule!  We will be releasing a chapter three times a week from now on. It will be every Mon, Wed and Fri, at 8:00 GMT. 

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I also launched my Ko-Fi page! Please do check it out if you would like to support me as I strive to provide high quality, manually translated chapters. Extra chapters will be released when Ko-fi goal is met! Thank you very much (deep bow)! Ill continue doing my best!