4 The Lentil Maid

Xiao Ying sat, leaning back in his chair, eyes narrowed and head resting in his hands, wondering when he would be intervening with the events of the story that he had made.

He watched with suspicious eyes as the little boy, Ming Cheng, was rescued by the lentil carrying maid.

Originally, she hadn't been given a name at all, considering that this would be her only appearance in his story, and Xiao Ying had begun to regret that. His story had suffered for his neglect of his characters, considering that he had placed all the focus on the protagonist, without really developing any of the side characters, or even the love interest.

He had always envisioned the lentil carrying maid to show up around the palace, specifically in certain scenes where there was a large gathering of servants, especially in the ambassador arc.

She was supposed to play a pivotal role when an ambassador, from a neighbouring kingdom, had visited amid high political tensions in the middle of the war. She had been the one, at that point promoted from a simple helper into a proper cook, to whip up meals without any ingredients which could be seen as poisonous or insulting, following the traditions of cuisine from where the ambassador hailed from, expressly against the wishes of the emperor's chief minister, who had demanded that the kingdom display their uniqueness and traditions to the ambassador to emphasise their wealth and solidarity, key qualities of worthy allies.

The little boy was supposed to come to her rescue, delivering a grand speech on the value of their work, cooperating with their allies, and that she had shown a willingness to display an olive branch outwards to the ambassador, instead of trying to isolate him and make him feel uncomfortable.

The lentil maid was supposed to feel extremely indebted to the little boy, and his debt to her would have been repaid, as well as endearing him to the rest of the kitchen staff, ending a small subplot where the little boy wasn't seen as an equal to the rest of the cook's children, all a little older than him and more well versed in doing chores, happy to bully the little boy rather than help.

Now, Xiao Ying was concocting up potential names for her, considering that it really wasn't well done of him for depriving her of a name, despite everything that she had been put through by his hands.

He watched her place down all her lentil filled baskets, onto the floor, and march over to the old woman, repeatedly hitting the little boy with the end of her broom.

Furiously, with a single twist of her hand, she grabbed the broom, and snapped it into two, right in front of the little boy's eyes.

Xiao Ying watched little Ming Cheng's eyes glimmer in both hope and fear, ready to scarper off, away from the scene, now that he was free to run without his legs being hit. That little body curled up into a ball, and launched itself away from the old woman, long, matted hair trailing behind, only to be stopped by a gentle hand on the shoulder.

The little boy looked upwards at the maid, who had saved him, almost startling when he saw her captivating smile that seemed to freeze his body into place. The maid who had saved him brought her hand away from his shoulder and patted him once, then twice on the head, almost as if she was telling him that if he stayed put, then he would be safe.

She turned away from him and back to the old woman who had been cruelly beating him with her broom, and rolled up her sleeves, lips thinning and her eyes forming daggers. The maid stared down the woman, and grabbed the broken end of the broom, yanking it out of the old bitch's hands, swirling it around to point right at the evil crone who had thought that lashing out at a child for begging was the right way to behave.

She uttered but a single word, loudly with all her might, declaring war itself, through the little boy's eyes, on injustice, "Apologise!"

The old woman stumbled back a few steps, eyes wide open and mouth gaping.

"Apologise? Apologise to who? You should respect your elders, young lady! And you need to compensate me for the broom that you just broke!" the old woman cried back incredulously.

The old man behind her waved his fists in support, jeering at the maid for her forceful and unladylike behaviour.

The lentil maid gritted her teeth and she swung the end of the broom to face upwards, rather than the couple.

"Well, grandmother," she called out mockingly, lowering herself into a bow," maybe we should fetch the local magistrate. He might be able to enlighten us about the laws of this illustrious city, considering the last time I checked, beating persons, especially children, mind you, without undue reason was illegal!"

Her speech ended with a scream, and she clasped the little boy's hands tightly within her own, as she moved back to retrieve her baskets of lentils. She dropped the broken end of the broom onto the ground, uncaring of the small crowd that had gathered around to survey the scene that she had caused with her screaming, vowing to never take this shortcut ever again.

She picked up all her belongings, not letting go of the little boy's hand, and she began walking him to the palace, walking through the keenly observing people, without giving them any attention.

As soon as she got to the palace, the boy would be thrown into one of the ponds, and she would scrub him down to try and get rid of all the dirt and grime on his body, without resorting to having to cut his hair.

...

...

...

Xiao Ying winced at the scene, remembering his awkward phase where he consumed nothing but anime with female characters who just beat the shit out of everybody around them.

He had written the maid's introduction based off of those tropes and clichés, thinking that was the only way to write strong female characters, violent archangels who upheld the laws, before quickly putting her in a kitchen to stay for the rest of the book.

He groaned into his hands and wanted to die from embarrassment.

Lan Chang was a respectable name, right?!