The imperial palace eunuch

Chou Lian for the nth time drew some water from the Well near by with the small bucket that a servant gave her as a form of mercy. Having never wash her own clothes, as all the clothes would be cleaned by the robots back when she was on Earth, or be cleaned with a cleaning gadget when she used to be on the battlefield; on her first try she tore three of her robes, as she ended up using too much force. However, Chou Lian reasons that those robes tore as they were already worn out; who knows who she was trying to lie to. But over time she somewhat got a hang of it, and now was washing her clothes carefully in a wooden tub.

She had her hairs in a bun which is complete different from the usual hairstyles that the women in this dynasty wore. The women in this dynasty believed having their hair flowing without tying them up, and having a lot hair pins adorning their hair, made them look more elegant and beautiful. All the women be it from the noble households or a common household paid a lot of attention to their attire and hairstyles, as has been the case always. For Chou Lian dressing up or doing hairstyles, or trying to be presentable, was something she never fancied or gave attention to. If girls having long hair was not given so much importance in this dynasty she would have already cut all her hairs just like what she did back on Earth. Right now she wore plain white skirt over which a simple worn out pink robe was draped, while she kept on diligently washing her clothes.

The main house as usual did not pay attention to her, and kept her treating the same. One good thing about not attracting any attention was that no one from the prime minister's family came to pick on her really harshly. Though the only thing that annoyed Chou Lian and made her hate the Shen family was the fact she received so little food, that too was plain congee and mantou without nothing in it. For which Chou Lian had to almost always sneak into the kitchen at night to steal food like a thief. If her 'Mo' family ancestors knew that that their predecessor was stealing food they might be vomiting blood, or turning in their graves out of anger.

Honestly she had planned to leave this godforsaken place, but the fact that she had little to no knowledge about this kingdom and this place in general was a fact. This was no way Earth, and who knows what the condition of living as there were no internet or technology she could extract information from. She had not given up on the idea, but she just wanted to plan out everything perfectly before taking the step.

Also living in this courtyard was actually really peaceful. Though it was comparatively a lot smaller, and lacked anything that a prime minister's daughter should possess, but for her it was perfect. Being the courtyard small it was easier for her to clean the place if she wanted, she could bask in the sun as much as she wanted, and practice martial arts in her leisure time. This was possible because almost everyone treated her as if she did not exist. Also if some servants of the prime minister's wife did come to rebuke her she would listen nonchalantly, and once they were tired of rebuking for long then they would leave even more angrily.

When she was done washing the clothes, she then twisted the clothes to get rid of the excess water from the clothes, after that she hung all the clothes on a pole nearby to dry them up. Once she was done with the task she dried her hands with a small cloth and then went to her small courtyard to take a rest cause she felt tired. Well, she was actually feeling lethargic after doing a task and just wanted to sleep. After coming to this world she is really enjoying her life on her own pace, and it really felt great. Sigh. She really did not miss her previous life. Actually she is kinda glad that she was killed which gave her a second chance to live a life in her own terms. Though she still is not clear about what she is going to do in near future.

She decided to change the clothes she was in to her night gown to rest more comfortably. This is because her sleeves were completely wet and the edges of her robe had dirt on it. She did not want to dirty her bed by going to sleep in this state.

Yes, the sun was still up but Chou Lian didn't care. As she was looking for her night gown she heard loud banging of the door. She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath in as she guessed any  maid of main wife might have come to harass her again. Honestly Chou Lian would prefer that the main wife beat her up rather than sending these maids who could only bark but not bite. It was simply too mentally draining.

She took strides to reach the door and then slowly opened it, but soon two maids caught her by each side and started to drag her while yelling, "First lady your presence is required! You need to really move fast!"

It's not like Chou Lian did not possess the power to move away before those hands could catch her, but it's just she did not think she would suddenly be dragged out of the blue. Chou Lian without using even a little of her martial power threw those maids of her.

"Even if you guys don't treat me like a lady from a noble family do you think you guys have any right to drag me somewhere without even telling me the reason? Are you guys taking me to mother? Then it's fine I can walk there myself. No need for you guys to drag me there.", Chou Lian said coldly as she crossed her hands in front of her chest.

" Lady it's not master's wife who has summoned you, rather it's an eunuch from the imperial palace who said they have an edict to pass onto the lady! That's why you need to hurry to the entrance of the mansion.", the servants said as they stood up from the ground and, forgetting about their aching waists, again urged Chou Lian to walk faster.

Chou frowned but did not bother with the servants anymore as she speeded up the to the front of the mansion. Her small courtyard was furthest away from the entrance thus, she had to almost run their. Chou Lian wouldn't have cared if it was any other party. However, in this dynasty the emperor was treated as the son of heaven, like the ancient China, and possessed the highest authority and power. Though she wasn't sure if all this had to do something with the emperor or not, but as the edict came from the imperial palace she had to give importance to it.

When she reached the entrance she could see the palace eunuch standing on the street all mightily with servants behind, and a carriage with imperial sign near him. The main wife was presently kneeling with several servants in front of the eunuch clearly waiting for her. While people on the street stood curiously nearby to know why the imperial eunuch suddenly came to the prime minister's manor. Chou Lian, though wasn't tired at all and also didn't break into any sweat, pretended to pant and gasp for air as she too kneeled in front of the eunuch.

"Shen Shi Lian, First Lady of Shen family, has come under the imperial palace eunuch's grace.", said Chou Lian as she cupped her hands in front of the eunuch respectfully.

The eunuch glanced at her once nonchalantly then opened the edict to read out loud.