Eunuch Wang took his time strolling around his village. He left this village when he was first recruited by the Elder Eunuch. He was only a kid. Since then, he spent most of his time in the palace. For the past seven years, he only visited his village just for a handful of time. But when he did, he would only spent the days with his mother and sister. With his salary working as the palace’s eunuch, both his mother and sister lived a comfortable life in the village.

However, his mother’s ailing health make things difficult for his family. While they do have money to live as mere villagers, his mother  was stricken by a disease that is rare among the commoners. The cost for the medicine only could not be paid with his two months salaries. The drugs were highly expensive and was reserved just for the royalties due their rarity and limited in numbers .

Even though Eunuch Wang knew that his connection with the palace may be useful for him to get the best medical treatment for his mother, however, it was uncalled for a mere eunuch to ask for expensive drugs from the emperor. In short, there was no way, he could get his mother the proper treatment . He was at his wits end when Concubine Rong came and offered a solution for him.

The cook from Concubine Rong’s mansion was a well known chemist in the palace. She concocted a specific remedy that resemble the expensive drug that was supposedly reserved only for the emperor. As Eunuch Wang was initially sceptical about the potion, he casually accepted the offer thinking that it do no harm in trying a new medicine. It came as a surprise to him when the village doctor informed Eunuch Wang that the medicine was actually working and they needed more of them to ensure that his mother regained her health back. Since then, he knew that it was a trap set out by the concubine to get his cooperation. He was fell into the trap set by a seemingly harmless low rank concubine. But there was nothing he could do as his mother’s life was at stake at the moment.

Eunuch Wang reached his house shortly after taking the stroll. Standing in front of the door,  He was holding the packet that he received from Concubine Rong’s maid tightly . He was contemplating his action for taking the drugs from Concubine Rong.

‘Is this it? Am I going to betray the emperor for a packet of medicine?’

The sound of the door being opened startled the young eunuch. He saw his little sister’s face appeared from the gap between the two doors.

“Brother! Come in! Look at mother! She’s getting better!” his sister was excitedly pulling him into their house. In the room, their mother was sitting quietly on the bed.

“Mother. How do you feel?”

“I’m feeling much better now, thanks to the medicine” She smiled affectionately to her son.

“Brother, did you bring the new batch of the medicine? Let me broil them for mom” said the little sister while rummaging through the sack that her brother carried with him.

“It’s not in the sack. Here. Take this” he handed her the packet that he had been holding for hours since this morning.

The sister happily accepted the packet and walked to the kitchen leaving only Eunuch Wang and his mother in the room.

“It must be hard on you” his mother’s frail voice broke the silence between.

“All these years, you have been working hard for me and your sister. We can offer nothing to you” tears began to roll down her cheeks.

“It’s alright mother . I voluntarily went to become eunuch all by myself” he reassured his mother.

“Did you live a good life there?”

“Of course. The emperor is a wise man. He treated the servants with kindness”

“I’m glad then. It is good that the current emperor ascended to the throne. I heard that he is also a good politician. Unlike the former emperor….and also the former empress….”

“Mother, we don’t talk about that ‘thing’ anymore. We would get into trouble if people heard that we are talking about the previous royal family” he reprimanded her.

“Nobody’s here except for us. They were the worst. The previous emperor was a degenerate who indulge in debauchery. He care naught about the country and its people. Your father would probably still live if not for the scum emperor!” She grunted.

“Mother, don’t get mad. This is not good for your health” Eunuch Wang was trying his best to calm his mother. But deep down inside he shared the similar sentiment. His father was one of the many innocent farmers that was forced to become free labour to built military headquarters in the north province. His father and many others perished in the process, as their welfare were not taken care of by the previous emperor’s man.

“ …..And the daughter. She done nothing to the country as an empress . The only good thing that she did was marrying the current emperor!” Ignoring her son’s admonishment, she continued disparaged the previous emperor and empress.

“Mother calm down. The emperor would not want to hear people talk bad about the empress”

Fortunately, his sister appeared in the door way with a bowl of medicine in her hands. Both of them wrestled to get their mother to drink the medicine. After struggling for a while, his mother finally calmed down and was taking a nap. Mentioning about the previous royal family had always been a taboo in this family. His timid mother would get rile up whenever she heard about them. He was also curious about why she suddenly mentioned about them in their conversation.

“That’s because of she was cooped up too long in the house” his sister explained. “Once she can get back to her feet, she would forget about the pain that she had go through in the past. Thanks to you and the medicine”

In the evening, Eunuch Wang went back to the palace with a heavy heart. He did not want to betray the emperor as he was a fantastic leader to all of them. But he was also indebted to Concubine Rong for the medicinal supply.

‘Releasing a prisoner would not do any harm to the empire right?

                                                          ****

Back in Concubine Rong’s mansion, Xiao Er was accompanying sister Meng at the kitchen. Normally, no one would dare to disturb sister Meng in kitchen. The senior servant ruled the kitchen like a dictator and everyone was scared of her. However, Xiao Er find solace in her company. Sister Meng was very knowledgeable person. Xiao Er loved to listen to a lot of stories regarding the palace that a newcomer like her have no idea about.

See, there was not much senior servants in the palace. Rumors had been circulating that the emperor had executed a large sale of structural revamp on the palace servants, where he had most of them fired and chased away from the palace The oldest servant that had survived the infamous ‘Servant Purge’ incident was the Elder Eunuch who also served the previous emperor and empress. There were several other senior servants such as the Royal Chief guard and the emperor personal cook who was lucky to be able to continue working in the palace. Sister Meng was one of them. While the other senior servants were currently holding high position in the palace, Xiao Er was curious on why Sister Meng was assigned to serve a low ranking concubine.

“Sister Meng,how come you ended up here? Aren’t you one of a very few senior servant left? You should held a much higher position right now don’t you?”

Sister Meng turned away from her stove. She had finished cooking the last meal for today’s dinner. She removed her apron and hanged it on the wall. The elder woman then, proceed to occupy the empty space beside Xiao Er on the kitchen’s floor.

“I wasn’t vying for high position. This is my favourite place. The kitchen” her eyes was wandering around the kitchen. “Where I can cook food and concoct medicine as much as I like” she sat beside Xiao Er.

Xiao Er was nodding her head. Sister Meng was a very talented yet humble to the core. Probably her obscure nature was due to her scar? Even though they were just maid, it was important to always look presentable while serving the imperial family.

“How did you get your scar sister Meng?”

“This ?” Sister Meng touched the scar on her face. “I did something horrible in the past….” she had a fornlorn look on her face while talking about the scar. At this moment, Xiao Er knew that she had crossed the boundary she had no business getting into.

“I’m sorry Sister Meng, you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to” Xiao Er reassured her.

“It’s alright. I don’t mind. I did something unforgivable toward His Majesty in the past. I was lucky that he had given me a chance to redeemed myself.” she said cheerfully.

Still feeling guilty, Xiao Er decided to change the topic. “ Sister Meng, I heard that the emperor was originally not from the previous royal family, that he was actually married to the empress that ruled this country before her death. Is that why the emperor refuse to appoint a new empress? Because he was respecting the late empress? Do you know anything about that?”

“You know that we are both going to lost our heads if someone reported to the emperor that we are talking about this topic?” Sister Meng genuinely ask Xiao Er.  Young people nowadays are very bold.  Xiao Er’s hands immediately went to her neck. Covering her whole neck with both of her palm, Xiao Er was shaking her head vigorously.

“I don’t dare Sister Meng. Let’s pretend that I did not ask you anything!” She pleaded to the older woman. Sister Meng, However, bursted into laughter.

“It’s too late to back out. As I have free time in my hands, I will tell you the story about the late empress and how the emperor was appointed to succeed her” she stared at the wall in front of them without any face expression.

“No. I don’t want to. I don’t want to die young!” Xiao Er rejected the offer. She was about to get up to leave the kitchen before her wrist was grabbed by Sister Meng.

“Nope! You asked for it and I’m in the mood for lengthy conservation” she said with a huge grin on her face. She then proceed to mumble under her breath. “It’s about time anyway”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“No. Nothing. Now sit down and listen to your senior.”

Xiao Er initially did not want to continue this risky conversation. But the temptation of knowing the elusive past of the royal family was too strong for her too resist. Hence , she remained seated on the floor.

“The previous Tang emperor was an infamous figure. When he was a crown prince, he shown a tremendous potential to be a charismatic and efficient emperor. It was the dream for all ministers to see him driving this country to its fullest potential.” Sister Meng let out a heavy sigh. She reached for her liquor jar. Drinking alcohol while reminiscing the past was basically her favourite past time.

“That was it…..till the power was completely transfer into the previous emperor’s hand, and the dream to see this country soar higher was crushed. He, turned out to be an inept emperor. He indulged so much in booze and women to the point that he neglected his responsibility to govern the country. He had 300 women in the inner palace alone” she picked up her liquor jar and slugged it straight away.

“300 women?! how did he divided his time with all of them!” Xiao Er exclaimed.  That was almost impossible!

“Huh…he hardly spent any time with them. Some of them were visited by him only once. He wasted the country’s resources just to bear the cost of having large numbers of concubines that he hardly visit! Not only that, he often sneaked out of the palace to go to the brothel too. Three hundred women in inner palace were not enough for him” Sister Meng snorted. Thinking about the previous emperor made her skin crawl.

“disgusting…” Xiao Er muttered slowly  under her breath.

“He was….” Sister Meng was nodding her head, concurring Xiao Er’s opinion.

“In fact , he had so many children born out of his relationships inside and outside of the palace” she mischievously whispered the sentence under her breath.

“Ha? Then, how come the late empress was the one who inherited the throne? Was the empress his favourite daughter? Didn’t he had sons? Why did the emperor was the one who ascended the throne after her death?”

“ Favourite? Ahahahahhahah!! he barely knew the late empress’ existence. She was one of his many daughters born from one of the low ranking concubines who he impregnated after spending one night with her”. Once again, she guzzled up the liquor all at once.

“ The late empress, was neglected even more after her mother passed away when she was young. It was a wonder she managed to survive the inner palace’s cruelty without her mother to support her. She only had two servant with her. A guard and a maid.” Her voice had became slurry due to the alcohol’s influence.

“Nevertheless!” Sister Meng was suddenly jolted, adjusting her sitting position. Her voice also was one octave higher than the previous one.

“At the age of 15, she met the emperor. Well,he was not entirely an outsider. He was originally from a fallen aristocrat family. They were the distant relatives of the previous royal family. They resided and helped the emperor to govern the Shen province. Despite coming from great pedigree and holding quite an important position, the emperor’s family was one of the infamously impoverished aristocrats almost thirty years ago.”  Sister Meng stopped to take a breath for a minute.

“How did they met?” Xiao Er was curious. This story was puzzling and did not add up. How can a mere concubine;s daughter became a ruling empress? How did a son-in-law from a fallen aristocrat family inherited the throne after the ruling empress passed away?

“How should I know” Sister Meng replied nonchalantly. “ I was just a maid at that time” she resumed gulping a huge volume of liquor from the jar.

“ One thing for sure, the pair probably had the heaven on their sides. The royal sons were dying one by one and the current emperor’s younger brother happened to be married to a woman from a powerful family. That’s how the empress came into power almost 13 years ago”

“Ahhh…that explains a lot” Xiao Er chimed in. “ What a luck!! But , she passed away at such a young age! How did the late empress passed away?”

“That was…” before Sister Meng got to resume the story, a voice from outside of the kitchen interrupted the conversation.

“Xiao Er!! The mistress is calling for you!” A young maid was looking for her.

“Ouh I forgot ! It’s the mistress’ bath time! I’m coming!” Xiao Er shouted back at the young maid. “Sister Meng, let’s continue later. I’m thrilled to know more about the late empress”

Xiao Er rushed toward the young maid and both of them walked together to the mistress’ quarters. Sister Meng finished the last drop of the liquor and threw the jar away.

*‘Just a little bit’  *