The pantry is full of palace maids, living in a separate courtyard, and at the moment the doors are closed, but there is light coming through from inside.
Song Yin watched carefully for a while and nodded his head.
Sun Qi led him to the pantry again.
The pantry was not far from the imperial study, and as the emperor would spend most of his time in the imperial study, the pantry was located over here.
The Emperor had not been in the imperial study for several days. There was no light in the imperial study, and no light in the pantry either.
Song Yin silently memorised these two places.
Early the next morning, he led two men to patrol there.
The door to the courtyard where the palace maids lived opened and two palace maids came out from inside, seeing them standing still.
Song Yin walked to a distance of a ten feet from the two and also stood still, “What is your name?”
Asked once a day, the palace maids had long since gotten used to it, and the palace maid on the left answered first, “Slave servant Green Luo.”
“Slave servant Red Ying.” The palace maid on the right followed suit.
Song Yin’s gaze skimmed over her face and signalled for one of the forbidden guards to come forward and disinfect the two.
After disinfecting them, the two blessed themselves and walked towards the pantry.
Song Yin continued his patrol with his men.
Today is the third day, and the court will resume tomorrow.
The emperor was also “in the mood” and came to the imperial study to read the imperial documents.
Red Ying came in with tea and gingerly went to the Emperor’s side and set it down, then stepped aside and stood respectfully.
His Majesty finished reading one book, then picked up the tea and took two sips and put it down before continuing to read other documents.
Red Ying gingerly went forward and brought this tea down and replaced it with a new one.
Although serving tea to the emperor was very dignified in front of the other court members, it was also dangerous. If the tea is hot, the emperor will punish; if the tea is cold, the emperor will also punish, lightly beaten with a board, serious cane death. If the emperor had any displeasure, they would be implicated as well.
If they did not have a strong mind, they could not do it at all.
Hong Ying has been doing this for three years and has never made a mistake or been punished, even Eunuch Huang appreciates her.
After reviewing a few books, His Majesty put down his pen and picked up his tea, drinking it as he ordered Eunuch Huang, “Go and proclaim the Imperial Doctor here!”
Eunuch Huang went out quickly and soon proclaimed Huang Yuan to come over.
Huang Yuan knelt down and bowed, “Greetings, Your Majesty.”
His Majesty put down his tea and rubbed his aching forehead, “How is the Fourth Prince’s side?”
“Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince’s high fever has not yet completely subsided, but it is no longer life-threatening.”
The emperor’s face was gloomy for a moment, Huang Yuan didn’t see it while kneeling, but Hong Ying noticed it and even held her breath.
“All the eunuch doctors in the Imperial Hospital are no match for one Song Wan Yue, what use do I have in keeping you?”
The cold sweat on Huang Yuan’s face came down with a swish.
“Get lost!”
Huang Yuan retreated as if he had been pardoned.
The emperor picked up the tea again, opened the lid only to see that there was no tea left inside, thumped the tea on the table, “All waste!”
Hong Ying’s heart tightened and she hurriedly knelt down.
The emperor didn’t even look at her, he got up and left the imperial study, and Eunuch Huang hurriedly followed him.
Only when their footsteps disappeared did Hong Ying dare to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead, stand up and put the empty tealight into a silver tray, exit through the side door and go back to the pantry.
Seeing that her steps were weak, Luo Luo went forward to take the silver tray and put it away, helped her to sit down, and asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “Is the Emperor angry again?”
Hong Ying nodded her head feebly.
“Did he punish you?”
“No.”
Green relaxed, “Rest in peace for a while, I’ll go to ……”
“The emperor has left the imperial study.”
Green Luo let out a sigh of relief, the emperor in his rage was the time when they were most likely to be punished, and she did not want to go.
An hour later, someone came to change shifts and the two left the pantry and headed back to the courtyard where they lived, stopping at the gate to wait for the Praetorian Guard to disinfect them.
The same Praetorian from the morning slipped a slip of paper into Hong Ying’s hand as he disinfected her. Hong Ying clutched it with a self-conscious expression and when she had finished disinfecting and entered the courtyard, she said to Luo Luo, “You go in first, I’ll go to the latrine.”
When she got inside, she opened the note and quickly read its contents, then crumpled it into a ball and swallowed it. And then she came out of the latrine and went back inside the house.
There were four maids in charge of the tea, working in shifts of two, once every two hours.
Red Ying went to her wardrobe and opened it. She felt a handkerchief in one corner and opened it, taking out a pill inside and clutching it in her hand. When the pill had dissolved, she handed it to her, “Have a sip of water, I don’t know if His Majesty will still be in the imperial study this afternoon.”
They were not allowed to go to the toilet when they were on duty, so they had to come back and drink more water. Green Luo had already drunk a glass earlier, but when Hong Ying handed it to her, she took it and drank it too.
When she finished, she gave the cup to Hong Ying and slumped down on the big bunk, “I don’t know when this damned smallpox will pass?”
When she finished, she remembered something and sat up again, “Hong Ying, do you think there are still people alive in Concubine Rong’s palace?”
The palaces were sealed off for the past few days and they couldn’t hear any news of the follow-up. It was in Concubine Rong’s palace that the people who had smallpox were found, that was what they knew, and they also knew that everyone in Concubine Rong’s palace had been sealed inside whether they had smallpox or not.
The pity flashed in Hong Ying’s eyes, but her words carried a warning, “Luo Luo, you can only talk about this in front of me, don’t say it in front of others.”
“I know, I’m just curious if there’s anyone left alive.”
“There won’t be, with the palace sealed, even if they aren’t infected with smallpox, they will still starve to death.”
Green Louboutin sighed and lay back down, “We people’s lives are not really lives, they are not even better than grass.”
Yes, they were worse than grass and mustard.
Hong Ying closed her eyes, her mind flashed back to when she had just entered the palace, she had almost been killed because she had been a step too slow to avoid Consort Shu.
“Aigoo.”
Green Luo covered her stomach and got up and jumped off the bed, “I can’t, I have to go to the thatch.”
By the time they were on duty, Green Loh had run to the latrine four times, not so much that her legs were weak, but she didn’t dare to go and serve the Emperor.
Hong Ying prepared a warm water bag for him and boiled a pot of hot water and placed it within reach of her along with a cup, “Drink more hot water, I’ll go over first and let Lan Cao take your place.”
This was the only way to go,” she said, nodding helplessly, thinking that she hadn’t eaten anything, so why did she have diarrhoea?
Hong Ying covered her with the blanket and went out into the courtyard.
The same forbidden soldier gave her a pill, whispered the usage and finally said, “It’s not safe to keep the pill on you, I’ll give you one every day when I disinfect it from now on.”