Laundry and the Detective

Entering the Yang Villa as an official maid was a different experience that Yujia wasn't used to. After A'Yan brought them into the villa, another female servant took over, taking them to various places and showing them around the villa. 

Once the entire villa was toured, they were brought back to the South Courtyard where she, as the Fourth Miss, used to reside. That was when Yujia discovered that her old room had been converted into another maid's room. 

There was space for six maids, but it seemed like only her and the other new maids would be living in this newly set up room. There was a sense of familiarity as she was brought into her old room. 

The female servant gave the three of them two sets of maid robes, then left them alone to let them get dressed. When they were done, they were expected to go across the courtyard to take care of laundry. 

Yujia changed her clothes quickly. Neither of the two maids beside her wanted to talk, so she kept quiet as well, no longer attempting to start up a conversation like she did before. Once they were settled, they went over to the place were laundry was kept. The maid who led them before gave the three of them large and deep buckets filled with clothes that needed to be washed, each bucket topped with various soaps, wooden washing paddles, and lengthy wooden beams almost as tall as Yujia herself. The bucket was a tad bit heavy, but it wasn't anything that Yujia couldn't carry. She was luckier than Yufeng, who was given a long, rectangular wooden box, filled to the brim with clothes.

With everyone holding supplies, the maid gestured for them to follow her. She took them out of the villa, through a long walk along the streets, and soon enough, Yujia found herself standing at the banks of a river. 

She gulped.

The river cut through the capital, with many canals extending out from it. She passed by it a few times in the past, wandering around in the city, but after that incident, she never tried to get near any large body of water.

Clearly, none of the three people around her were the slightest bit aware of the deep fear embedded within Yujia's mind. They didn't notice her clear hesitation. And though Yujia was very aware of her inner turmoil, she quickly masked over all of it with a few deep breaths.

Especially when beginning an important mission like this, ruining it because of her apparent fear was pathetic. She had to think about it logically, instead of letting fear control her mind. The water she would be interacting with was shallow water. She wouldn't be falling into it or drowning. Rationally thinking, her chances of drowning in the riverbanks were close to none. It wasn't like she was waddling to the center of it, or like before, where she had fallen inside, standing on a ledge that hung over deep water.

With a few more deep breaths, Yujia found the pace of her heart calming down considerably more. There was still a bit of sweat beading her palms, but she could near the water without erupting into full-out panic. She tried to summon back that mindset of tranquility she had practiced so many times in Lingxin, allowing her mind to slowly separate itself from the fear that was threatening to build up.

Somehow, when she focused back to the scene in front of her, she was already standing at the very edge of the river, water almost lapping at her feet.

Yujia had never washed clothes at a river like this before, in the past. She hadn't even watched people do it, but she quickly looked at Yufeng and Xin'er to see what they were doing. They moved quickly, familiar with the act of washing clothes. First, they picked a few robes to place inside the wooden box which Yufeng had carried, using the bucket they brought to fill the box with river water after they placed the clothes into it. Then, with the long wooden beams, they began to strike the robes to beat the dirt and soil out of them. It looked like a manual version of a washing machine.

The maid who brought them here— likely a head servant— immediately snapped at Yujia, seeing that she hadn't done anything yet. "How about you stop staring and start working?" she declared with a glare, "We don't have all day. Have you never seen clothes being washed before?"

Not willing to get on this servant's bad side, Yujia hastily muttered a sorry and went to gather the clothes in her basket. There still seemed to be some space left in the box that Yufeng and Xin'er were washing at, so she went over and tried to place her robes in there.

The moment Yufeng noticed her movements, she stuck out a hand, raising it in front of Yujia. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

"Trying to wash these clothes…?" Yujia replied, raising her eyebrows.

The expression on Yufeng's face twisted into a scowl. "Look carefully. The robes we have here are for servants. Your robes are silk. Do you think that these two kinds can mix so easily? And do you think that silk robes should be washed in the same way?" 

Yujia backed away a step. 

Out of everything that she prepared for, she hadn't readied herself for the details of washing laundry. Zixu did have her scrub a few things, but those were all small fabrics, nothing near the scale of the clothes she was washing now.

She felt her cheeks getting flushed, but apologizing was the best solution for now. Yuija muttered quickly, "Apologies."

She backed away some more, staring at the pile of robes in her hand. She didn't have a box like that. What was she supposed to do now? Place the clothes in the bucket and beat at them there? This seemed to be what they were supposed to do. But was she supposed to use the soap? Was she supposed to wash them one by one, or all together? Or?

Yufeng, who had her beady eyes fixed right onto Yujia, saw Yuija's clear doubt. She groaned, set the beam in her hand down, and walked over, crossing her arms. "Shen Yuling, you've really never washed a single set of robes in your life?"

Exhaling, Yujia kept her expression plain. She decided to be honest. "No."

A high-pitched laugh came from Yufeng. She looked back at Xin'er and the other head maid, then at Yujia, shaking her head. "What did I say before? You're nowhere near suited being a maid. Tell me, how mighty was that aristocratic family you used to be a young miss in, before your father decided to sell you? You must've never even touched a pair of robes with hands like that."

Yujia could hear a snicker coming from the head maid, who appeared to be paying attention to their conversation.

She thought of quite a few retorts, but still, again, she decided to keep her cool. She was just a maid. A timid, fearful maid, who would never try to give a comeback. Besides, Xie Yufeng seemed to be saying these things with her harsh tone to get a rise from Yujia. Giving a heated response was only delivering what Yufeng wanted to see to her. There was no point in doing that.

"You tell the truth. So, will Sister Yufeng teach me how to wash these clothes properly?" Yujia asked, keeping her tone polite.

Yufeng stared for a moment, but then, she bent down, grabbing one of the silk robes. "Watch carefully," she declared. Yujia listened. Yufeng placed the silk on a smooth-surfaced rock, half-submerged in the chill river water. She lathered a bit of soap onto it, took a small wooden paddle from the basket, and began to beat at the clothes. She hit it with enough force so that it was cleaned, but she kept her force controlled enough so that it wouldn't tear or damage the delicate fabric.

A few more beats later, she took the silk and dipped it into the water, washing the soap all off. She rinsed it a few more times, then wrung it dry and placed it into a separate bucket. 

"Get it now?" she questioned.

Yujia nodded. "Yes." She reached forward to take the wooden paddle from Yufeng.

At the very least, Yujia was a quick learner.

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Yujia passed the morning like that, washing those silk robes. Xie Yufeng and Xin'er washed their designated robes too, and the head maid simply watched over them like a hawk. If she saw Yujia pausing for the slightest moment or any small mistake, she didn't hesitate to call her out. 

While she washed, Yujia practically forgot about her mission of being a detective. She was just too focused on getting the clothes washed correctly.

Once the morning had passed, the robes were finally finished, Now, they were about to carry all of them back to the villa to hang and dry. 

Yujia stood up, her lower back aching a bit from the long period of time which she squatted and bent over to wash the clothes. As she stretched out a little bit, she saw the other maids beginning to take off, so she picked up her own basket of clothes and hurried to follow. 

Yet before she could get too far, the head maid declared, "One of you three need to go fetch two buckets of water from the city's well, instead of bringing the laundry back. You look strong enough, so how about you do it?" she pointed at Yufeng.

Yufeng frowned. Yujia was thankful that it wasn't her who was doing it— carrying two buckets filled with water from the city's well to the Yang Villa would be a decent distance, and she didn't think that she was strong enough to do it.

However, Yufeng turned to Yujia. "Shen Yuling, you do it. Xin'er and I washed all those servant robes, and you only washed a few silk ones. It's only fair that you go fetch the water."