The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three novel · Chapter 7 of 24
Chapter 7: The Lotus Court
The Lotus Court smelled of jasmine and too many servants.
Eight maids stood in two lines along the wall, all smiling, all with the same soft, empty look in their eyes.
They moved when the Holy Maiden shifted in her chair.
They moved before she asked.
"Please sit," Bai Xueling said.
She had been waiting at the garden table with her hands folded.
She stood up as Zhiyao came in.
"Thank you for coming," she said. "I didn't know if you would."
"Your note said please."
"I didn't know what else to write."
The Maiden poured tea with a hand that shook.
A maid stepped forward to do it for her.
"No, thank you," said Xueling.
The maid took the pot anyway, smiling, and poured.
Xueling closed her eyes.
"You see?" she said quietly. "I say no, and they do it anyway."
She rubbed her eyes.
"Yesterday I told the cook I wanted plain rice. He cried, and he sent up forty dishes."
"That's a lot of rice."
"Everyone loves me." The girl's mouth twisted. "Everyone. I've been here three days, and I don't think anyone has told me the truth once."
Zhiyao picked up the cup.
She sipped, put it down, and said, "This tea is far too sweet."
Eight smiling maids did not flinch.
Xueling's eyes flew open.
"It's cloying," Zhiyao said. "It's like drinking a candle. Also, you're sitting with a terrible posture. You look like a hairpin."
There was a long pause.
Then the Holy Maiden put her hand over her mouth and laughed.
It was a loud, ugly, helpless laugh, nothing like the tinkling of the book, and she bent double with it.
"Nobody has said that to me," she gasped. "Not ever."
"Tea's still too sweet."
"I know! I hate it! I've been drinking it for three days!"
They laughed together until a maid brought a cloth to wipe the Maiden's eyes.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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