5 Then...Where am I?

Bai Ling was lead to one of the many rooms that the maids shared. When she arrived at the room, six of the eight girls who lived there were present. The girls turned to the door to see Bai Ling being escorted in.

Seeing the prying eyes turn to her, Bai Ling became self-conscious. She didn't like the attention. To the girls, however, Bai Ling was acting coy, and they disliked her. The guard by the door introduced them to Bai Ling.

"This is Bai Ling; she is a new maid under General Zheng's manor." With that, the guard left the living quarters.

"Hmph! Bai Ling? Pretty distinguished name for such a lowly person." Laughter followed the statement, and Bai Ling felt the disdain from the girls.

They hated her and wanted to exclude her. She knew that much. Bai Ling timidly walked past the group of girls and went to the empty corner.

"That spot is taken." A plump girl with rosy cheeks rudely told Bai Ling. Bai Ling moved to another area, and the same statement followed. It wasn't until she reached the dirtiest corner that they left her alone.

Little did they know, Bai Ling was used to living in a small, filthy place. Since the inside of her house back home had a dirt floor, it was fairly hard to keep it clean. This room was already an improvement to her living conditions.

Bai Ling cleaned her section up and arranged the supplies given to her. The girls who were talking kept glancing at her from the corner of their eye. Seeing her rearrange her area so well, they became jealous.

The turned their nose up at her and went back to chatting. Bai Lind tuned their conversation out and settled in on her bed. The adrenaline from the recent events wore off, and Bai Ling was exhausted.

Too tired to think of anything else, she dozed off.

One of the maids nudged a girl next to her then pointed in Bai Ling's direction.

"How lucky, some people can sleep so peacefully despite it being her first day."

This drew everyone's attention to Bai Ling, unlike earlier, Bai Ling was out cold and could not respond even if she wanted to.

The next day, Bai Ling was aggressively woken up. Springing up, Bai Ling rubbed her eyes.

"Cheif Maid Chen is calling for you! Don't make her wait!" Hearing the stern voice instead of her grandmother's, Bai Ling sobers up. She wasn't home but in a strange land.

Bai Ling sluggishly dragged her sore feet out of the room and towards Maid Chen's room. When Bai Ling came before Cheif Maid Chen, the latter had what looked like the uniform for the maids before her.

"This is for you." Cheif Maid Chen handed the clothing to Bai Ling after speaking. "Wen Lin is outside waiting for you, and she will show you around. Last night you couldn't take a bath since it was not time but you will today."

After speaking, a maid entered the room while bowing her head. "Lady Chen." She gestured towards the door with her hands, and Bai Ling took it as the signal to go forward.

When they were no longer in the room, Wen Ling became more relaxed. She saw Bai Ling the previous night, but it was from a distance. Now that Bai Ling stood close to her, she saw how beautiful she actually was.

"My name is Wen Lin, what is your name? "Wen Lin already knew her name since this morning. Bai Ling's roommates spared no time in slandering Bai Ling amongst her work peers. Although this was the case, Wen Lin wanted her to introduce herself.

"My name is Bai Ling." Wen Lin smiled at her then walked ahead of Bai Ling.

"Since you are new here, I will be showing you around. You must already know that General Zheng's manor. He is one of the four great Generals in the kingdom."

Bai Ling was taken back by what Wen Lin said. "Kingdom? Don't you mean country?" It was not like China had a king.

"What are you talking about? We live in the Long Kingdom, located in the South of the continent." Bai Ling's steps faltered at this new information. She lived north of the Capitol in China. Thought she was a villager, she was not clueless about her country. She knew they had no such thing as four great generals.

They were not the Long Kingdom but China. This gave way to a singular question in her mind.

If I am not even in China, then, where am I?