The Princess's Deadly Daily Life

The villa was some distance away from Luoyang Palace, but since she was disguised as a commoner, she could not carry a lot of valuables, let alone hire a carriage for travel.

But the journey was long and it would be impossible to reach the destination by walking. Just then, an old man riding a donkey cart was about to enter the city.

The donkey cart was full of goods that needed to be sold in the city, so she begged for mercy, gave a few copper coins and took a ride on the donkey cart.

The old man was happy to help her, but since she was a lonely young lady, he was unwilling to take any money from her.

After getting in the car, the breeze blew on her face, and the surrounding scenery gradually faded away in the fleeting light, leaving her in a trance for a while.

Soon she arrived at a recruitment location outside Luoyang Palace.

It was a stall set up outside the Luoyang Palace, not far from the imperial city, so that people passing by could see it.

Li Xiying looked at the display and found it really shabby.

The rituals and music of the palace had long been in disarray, so such a request was not surprising.

The donkey cart gradually stopped. She got off, thanked the old man, and walked towards the stall.

The number of people who come to respond to the recruitment has gradually reached saturation, so not many people come. After all, the families of those who were bought here have received betrothal money, but not much; and the orphans who just want to enter the palace to beg for food have all come, so there are not many either.

"Excuse me, are you recruiting maids?"

Li Xiying spoke in dialect, standing opposite the table, slightly raising her eyes, acting a little cautious and reserved, as if she had never seen the world.

She was the only young lady in the empty stall, and she quickly became the center of attention.

Even though this kind of scene is not worth a glimpse at all, it is currently the only reliable way to enter the palace. Learning to act as a commoner properly is the most important step.

The eunuch who was recruited raised his eyes and glanced at her vaguely, then dipped his pen in ink without thinking and started to write it down in the book, then looked at her and asked, "What's your name, young lady? Where are you from?"

"Li Qing..." She turned her eyes away without changing her expression, "From Muyan Village."

The eunuch paused for a long time without writing anything, so he asked his accomplice beside him, "Which territory does Muyan Village belong to?"

They all didn't know, so they turned the question to her.

She also looked confused, lowered her head and said, "I... don't know either."

There is no such thing as household registration for refugees like her. They can accept her if they want to, or not at all. Besides, even if they want to check, they can't find anything, so they won't waste manpower to check.

Therefore, she was just testing them. If they did not accept the refugees, she would have other excuses to answer.

Someone beside him lowered his voice and said, "Then just write Muyan Village. It must be in the suburbs. Who cares where it is from? There are many maids who come to Luoyang Palace now without accurate household registration bases, so we will accept them anyway."

Then he lowered his voice even lower: "I'm not here to become an official, and I can't retrieve my household registration information. I'm just recording it casually."

After recording these, without asking any other questions, he took her and the maids purchased that day into the Luoyang Palace.

It was still light in the sky, and the palace gates were not locked yet. Li Xi was entering the Luoyang Palace gate with the crowd, and the guards only looked at the official documents produced by the eunuchs and allowed the maids to enter.

Li Xiying looked through the crowd toward the palace in the distance, and a feeling of unreality overwhelmed all her senses.

I thought it would be easy to enter the palace, but I didn't expect it to be so easy.

It is true that the chaos caused by the relocation of the capital caused the loss of many maids in the palace, especially the low-level maids who did menial work, so that there were too many vacancies that needed to be filled urgently, and more good women from common families had to be recruited.

But there are not so many good girls from common families willing to enter the palace. Entering the palace during turbulent times may not bring good luck, and the palace people are also afraid of public resentment during critical periods, so even if they are stateless vagrants, as long as they look good, they will be recruited into the palace.

Looking at the girls from ordinary families, all of them were thin, tired and weak, as if they would fall down with a gust of wind. It was obvious that they all came from poor families.

Li Xiying, like all the maids recruited from the public, simply checked her bag to see if she was carrying anything that was not allowed before entering the palace. Except for dangerous items, even money and treasures could be brought in. However, if there was money, she would not come to be a maid. It would probably be difficult to find even a few copper coins. It was just a formality.

When Li Xiying was examined, it was discovered that she had not brought any food, clothing or daily necessities with her. She only brought a bottle of isinglass, which was the same dry food that most people brought and were allowed to bring into the palace.

On the first day, the new maids were arranged by the old palace maids to go to the mixed hall to wash their whole bodies, put on clean clothes provided by the palace, and then receive simple discipline.

Li Xiying had just put on her clothes in the mixed hall when she saw an experienced old palace maid walk in from outside the door.

For a moment, everyone in the hall was silent.

Others call her Dianzheng.

Dian Zheng glanced at them and said, "From today on, you will officially become maids. You are all from the common people, and most of you cannot read, so word of mouth is essential. I will teach you the etiquette and rules you should follow in a while, and you must remember them all!"

"Yes." All the maids said in unison in confusion.

After Dian Zheng finished explaining the rules, he looked around at the crowd and asked, "Who among you can read? Come over here first."

Among the hundreds of people, only four or five stood up, including Li Xiying.

Most of them were taught to read by their fathers who were educated. Some of them were even taught to read because their fathers were scholars but lost their parents for some reason and had to find ways to make a living. They never expected that being a maid in the palace could be useful.

When asked why Li Xiqie could read, she gave the same reason as them to fool them.

"Okay, those of you who can read, take a copy of the palace rules from me and urge everyone to memorize and recite them every day. Everyone should remind each other that if you are assigned to take care of concubines or even saints in the future, you will be responsible for the consequences if something goes wrong or you violate the rules."

Dian Zheng's rough and old voice was kind as he slowly explained the palace rules. After he finished explaining them, he left.

Li Xixuan understood this reason well.

There was a powerful system of female officials during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, but before that, the system declined and a large number of female officials were laid off. Even before the capital was moved, except for the low-level maids, only the palace maids around the emperor and concubines had a few ranks.

Therefore, given the shortage of manpower, it is possible that among all the maids, if there is someone with a clever mind, she might be arranged to fill the vacancy.

Most of the maids were led by older palace maids, and all the maids who had just entered the palace listened to the older ones. Without the huge six bureaus and twenty-four departments, the number of palace people had been reduced a lot, so there was no one to remind them of the rules all the time, and they had to keep them in mind.

After completing the above steps, we will see what abilities each woman has or what she wants to do.

Originally, it was basically difficult for women from the common people to be promoted to female officials as maids. Now that the system has declined, it is even more unlikely. After all, the many difficulties to be overcome are no different from climbing over a chasm.

But the eunuch said that there was a shortage of maids in the Luoyang Palace, and even more so, capable female officials.

Therefore, even women from the common people would consider their future arrangements based on their own abilities, and it was not impossible for them to be promoted to female officials of high rank.

A maid with such ability is almost one in a million, so it is just a pie in the sky and can only be regarded as a joke.

But the eunuch explained the general meaning of the superiors and relaxed the conditions appropriately so that everyone would be mentally prepared and have the fighting spirit to climb up, thus preventing the palace people from becoming lazy and inert.

Some said they could do fine work, such as embroidery, weaving, and raising flowers and plants; some said they could do rough work, such as washing clothes, sweeping, etc., but most people didn't know what they could do, so they could only follow the arrangements.

Although rough work and fine work are two major categories and are not difficult jobs, it is not easy to master the skills in them. No matter what stage they are in, they are given the right to choose what to do.

Therefore, we should first do the missing tasks, and then observe and make arrangements.

It is an indisputable fact that the rites and music in the palace are in ruins nowadays, and there are no strict rules to follow as in the heyday. In short, most people from top to bottom are in a tired attitude, and it is enough to just do it.

Those who knew how to do it and those who didn't were gradually divided into two groups under the arrangement of the eunuchs. Those who knew how to do it would be examined intensively, while those who didn't would be selected as rough or fine maids according to their physical condition.

These tasks require people to do them. Some imperial concubines and princesses have very detailed and high requirements, so they naturally cannot be passive and negligent.

Some of the recruited maids were good-looking. After all, they had to serve the empress and even the emperor. Even if they were just cleaning or just a quick glance, they could not shock anyone.