Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

Nevertheless, he must have been a very precious person for Xu. Even if she was crying and laughing at the same time, reminiscing about her lover drew out a different emotion from her usual snarky attitude.

Xu’s feelings must have stabilized after telling her story, because she then wiped her tears and directed her intense gaze towards Yui Mei.

“So, tell me, how can these fingers of mine move properly again?”

Yui Mei finally heard those long-awaited words from Xu herself, so she strode towards Xu, then wrapped her hands with hers.

“MIss Xu finally expressed her wish to be treated, so I’m really happy. No matter what kind of illness it is, as long as the afflicted person herself wishes to be healed, it is possible to be cured.”

Yui Mei stroked Xu’s hands. Xu’s face crumpled, then she nodded.

“I want to be cured, I want to play the lute…!”

Her voice trembled as she expressed herself, and Yui Mei couldn’t help but think that she was right.

‘She was acting that she gave up and abandoned her music, but she must’ve wanted to play the lute all this time.’

It shouldn’t be that easy for people to just casually throw something they were so passionate about.

Yui Mei was certain that Xu already liked to play the lute even before it became her reason to help her parents, or to play for her lover.

She peered into Xu’s eyes.

“Yes, you can play again. Based on my assessment, your rheumatism — feng shi — is still in the mild stages, so if you properly undergo medical treatment, you can be cured completely. First, we need to have you examined at the clinic, then buy you medicine.”

“Got it.”

Xu obediently agreed to Yui Mei’s proposal.

‘Finally, such a troublesome person you are.’

The fact that she refused treatment until she was driven into a corner like this said a lot about how twisted she had inwardly become.

The Jiaofang must’ve been worried about her, too.

They must have been suspicious too as to whether she really had rheumatism or not.

At any rate, it was an illness that frequently afflicted women who make heavy use of their fingers for work.

Xu and Yui Mei’s conversation had been settled, when —

“You have to get out of the penitentiary first if you want to be treated.”

The man who had quietly watched over them all this time suddenly spoke.

Indeed, it was the Ministry of Justice’s turn after Yui Mei was done speaking with her.

“Xu Zi, won’t you tell us the truth now?”

Xu clenched her hands, which were still held by Yui Mei.

Yui Mei also gripped her tighter as a way to cheer her, before letting her go. She then stood up and went back to Libin’s side.

“…I got it, I’ll speak.”

Xu seemed to have strengthened her resolve as she looked up with blazing eyes that still had tears in them.

She then started to talk about the affairs of Jiaofang.

“I’m sure you guys already looked into this, but yeah, the girl you captured is someone I have been looking after since the day she entered the Jiaofang.”

The captured girl she was referring to was probably the palace courtesan who was interrogated back when Yui Mei first visited the penitentiary; the person who was said to be Xu’s younger sister.

Unlike Xu, she was the daughter of a powerful family that had been exterminated due to failure. She was bought to become a palace courtesan and had been taken into the palace.

It seemed that she had been raised as a princess before that, so she was an insufferable woman that couldn’t accept her fate of becoming a courtesan.

However, she wasn’t the only one with those circumstances; the other courtesans also had pretty much the same background story before.

The Jiaofang people were worried that it would influence the other courtesans if they were to make a big fuss over her.

She became a problem child who would periodically attempt to ran away from the palace, and had become too much to handle for the other courtesans. Thus, she was assigned to be under Xu’s care since she had stayed for quite a long time in the palace already.

If she wasn’t reformed, she would be fired from being a courtesan, and would fall to become a lower-ranking servant. 

Usually, slaves would do hard labor because they were people who committed crimes, and they were at the very bottom of the caste.

Xu thought it would be a pity to increase the number of unfortunate women once again, so she decided to agree to the request.

Hi everyone, Hanazakura here, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace. If you’re interested to read advanced chaps, feel free to check our Patreon page. Ko-fi also recently launched their tier system so I’ll be working on it so that they’ll also be available there soon. ? This is not mandatory, but I’ll be forever grateful for your support! ? You can also join discord for chapter updates! ?