Concubine of the Eastern Palace (Qing Dynasty Time Travel)

The backroom was quite spacious, with five rooms across the front and three rooms deep. There were also side rooms on both the east and west sides. However, it was located two courtyards away from the Crown Prince’s residence, Chunben Hall, and only two doors separated it from the corridor where the palace staff lived, as well as the gate used for the delivery of vegetables, meat, and charcoal. It was not considered a particularly good location.

Jin Mama led her through the gate of the backroom courtyard. Apart from some rough servants, there were already four palace maids and four eunuchs kneeling in the front courtyard to greet her.

“Your servant greets the esteemed Gege. Wishing Gege long life.”

Jin Mama, with her hands on her hips, introduced them, “Rest assured, Gege, these are the ones carefully selected by the Imperial Household Department. They were personally arranged by Side Concubine Li, and only those who are clever and well-behaved were sent to serve Gege.”

“Thank you for your kind intentions, Sister Li.” Cheng Wanyun gave Jin Mama a shy smile and quietly looked around. The palace maids and eunuchs dared not lift their heads, their eyes strictly focused on the ground.

The people assigned to her by Side Concubine Li were not very old, about the same age as her, roughly fourteen or fifteen years old. Cheng Wanyun roughly gauged their ages. Instead of rushing to make her introductions, she casually chose two who appeared slightly older and more composed, asking them to give her a tour around the backroom courtyard. The others were told to go about their duties and wait for the formal summons.

Jin Mama stood by, attentively listening. Seeing that Cheng Wanyun truly intended to explore the area first, she slightly curtsied and said, “This room was tidied up last month by Side Concubine Li’s people. The furniture was all replaced with new items from the storeroom. Please feel free to see if everything is to your liking. If anything is lacking or inconvenient, just let me know… And it is getting late. You must be tired after such an early start, so I won’t keep you any longer. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Thank you for your hard work today.” Cheng Wanyun slightly turned her body to acknowledge the courtesy and handed over a small purse containing one or two silver coins, politely escorting her two steps, “Please walk carefully, Jin Mama.”

As she watched Jin Mama’s figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, Cheng Wanyun slowly turned back—her chosen palace maids and eunuchs were eagerly watching her.

“What are your names?” Cheng Wanyun asked as she walked into the courtyard, glancing around. “When did you enter the palace? Where did you serve before?”

The two quickly stepped up to follow her, standing on either side, slightly behind: “Replying to Gege, I am Cui’er. I entered the palace two years ago through the Imperial Household Department’s selection. I used to serve in the Laundry Bureau.”

“I am Tianjin, also entered the palace two years ago, originally serving in the Imperial Animal Stable taking care of birds.”

Cheng Wanyun nodded slightly but didn’t respond, instead focusing on observing her future living quarters.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, she felt a gentle breeze. The first thing that caught her attention were the several trees in the yard.

There’s an old saying: “Don’t plant mulberry trees in front, don’t plant willows behind, and don’t plant ghost cypress trees in the middle.” The palace was especially meticulous about Feng Shui. Thus, the trees in the front and back courtyards of the backroom were of two types: pomegranates for prosperity and persimmons for peace—both traditional and auspicious choices.

However, what delighted her was that under the eaves of the east side ear room, there was a golden maple tree, its branches layered and cascading beautifully, looking quite graceful.

These trees were mainly beautiful in autumn, though in spring, one could only admire the leaves, but Cheng Wanyun was already quite pleased.

Yuqing Palace had been built on the site of Ming Dynasty’s Fengci Hall, so its overall layout was narrower compared to other palaces. Yang Gege’s quarters were in the west wing of the hall that had originally been Lin Gege’s quarters, who had moved out to recuperate. It was directly across from Side Concubine Li’s quarters, consisting of a main room and two warm chambers. There, several bamboo stalks were planted under the window, but due to the shaded area, the bamboo didn’t grow well and appeared bare.

Yet Yang Gege seemed quite satisfied with her living situation. Before leaving, she gave Cheng Wanyun a meaningful glance, which Cheng Wanyun interpreted as a slight sense of pride.

Cheng Wanyun understood well the implications of Side Concubine Li’s arrangement of the living quarters. When she first heard that she and Yang Gege would enter the East Palace together, she knew that she would have to remain low-key in the future.

The Qing Dynasty placed a heavy emphasis on family background, especially during the Kangxi era. Kangxi had chosen Yang Gege, the daughter of a high-ranking official, whose family background even subtly overshadowed Side Concubine Li’s. It was clear that she was being groomed to be the future side consort. Aside from the Crown Princess, Kangxi would never select another person of prominent background to enter Yuqing Palace.

To use an analogy, it’s like a major company holding a special recruitment for its subsidiary. While they have reserve executives, they also need to hire ordinary employees. The qualifications don’t need to be too high, nor do they need a network or business connections—just someone capable of doing the work (serving others).

Therefore, someone with Cheng Wanyun’s background was very suitable for the role.

The Han Chinese Five Banners had simple backgrounds and clear family histories.

Kangxi’s intentions were clear. With Yang Gege as a shining example, Side Concubine Li didn’t pay much attention to her.

The people Side Concubine Li chose to serve her were also telling.

This suited Cheng Wanyun perfectly. The ones who stand out too much often end up getting hurt, and staying under the radar is the way to last longer. Thus, Cheng Wanyun cheerfully toured the place, and after her initial inspection, she decided to place her master bedroom in the west warm chamber, which had good lighting and was spacious. The ear room next to the west warm chamber had a perfect view of the maple tree through the lattice window. The scenery was excellent, and she could later arrange it as a reception or tea room, a good place for meeting guests and handling affairs.

The east warm chamber would serve as a study, and its connected ear room could be used for storing books or as a painting or chess room. As for the two corner rooms, she decided to use them as storage rooms for the time being.

This would be the place where she would live for over twenty years, so she naturally had to plan carefully. After all, once the Crown Prince was deposed… well, it didn’t matter much to her. She would just have to move to another place to rest.

After mentally preparing herself, she led Cui’er and Tianjin into the main hall, sitting down in the central spiral-back chair. She instructed, “Call the others in. Don’t leave out the lower-ranking maids and eunuchs. I want to meet them all while I have the chance.”

“Understood.” Tianjin quickly bowed and stepped back out, then rushed off in a flash.

Cheng Wanyun turned to Cui’er, who was standing nervously by her side, and said, “Wait by the door and have them line up—maids in front, eunuchs in the back. Two at a time, and let them come in batches. Also, bring me some paper and a pen.”

“Yes, Miss.”

She had to manage the people she would rely on in the future. The first ones to be chosen were those who were too ambitious or overly eager to stand out—those had to be weeded out. She couldn’t afford to have overly ambitious people around her. After all, with her being the big salted fish, she could only surround herself with small salted fish. Otherwise, if trouble arose, it would affect her life.

Finally feeling more energized, Cheng Wanyun took on the mindset of an HR manager and began her careful selection.

She chose two senior maids to attend to her personally, with Cui’er being one of them. The other two, who had just entered the palace this year and were too young, would be assigned to deliver messages and run errands outside.

The original names of the four maids were not uniform, so Cheng Wanyun took charge and renamed them. The two senior maids, Cui’er and another, were renamed Qingxing and Bitao, respectively. The other maids were all given names based on fruits.

She also selected two eunuchs to oversee affairs. Tianjin was one of them, and the other was chosen from the lower-ranking eunuchs. Cheng Wanyun noticed that this eunuch spoke elegantly, neither humble nor arrogant. After asking him more, she learned that he had read books before entering the palace. His family had fallen on hard times, and he had been sold by his ruthless aunt, which had led to his current fate.

A scholar’s bones are tough, and this eunuch had refused to be a sycophant or seek a sugar daddy even after nearly ten years in the palace, which was why he had been assigned to her. Cheng Wanyun was pleasantly surprised by this and decided to rename him Tianyin, assigning him to manage her private treasury.

Tianyin, who had been suddenly appointed from a janitor to the chief accountant, looked at her in shock. It took him a while to remember to kneel and kowtow in thanks, his voice hoarse.

Cheng Wanyun didn’t say anything further, nor did she pay much attention to him.

The truth was, poverty had given her the boldness to do whatever she pleased—after all, she didn’t have much money. Compared to the other maids and eunuchs who couldn’t even write their own names, Tianyin, who could do mental arithmetic and understood mathematics, was practically a senior accountant by comparison.

Cheng Wanyun also renamed the other eunuchs with the “Tian” prefix, such as Tianfu, Tianlu, and Tianshou, making sure to distribute their names evenly, while fully expressing her hopes for the future.

Once everyone had been addressed, Cheng Wanyun cleared her throat and spoke seriously, “I am straightforward and don’t like to beat around the bush. Here, I only want people who are honest and loyal. I won’t treat anyone unfairly, but if anyone has other ideas, we can part ways amicably. Let me make it clear upfront—don’t mess around. If I catch you—”

Cheng Wanyun paused, scanning the faces of everyone in the room. Then she started painting a picture of the future: “Although I am only a noble lady (Gege), I might not always remain just a noble lady. Even if I only stay in this position for my entire life, I still have ways to discipline my servants. If anyone doubts that, we can try it out.”

Qingxing quickly knelt, and Tianjin, along with the other eunuchs, kowtowed, speaking smartly, “From today onward, I, your servant, will wholeheartedly serve the noble lady!”

Cheng Wanyun made them stay kneeling for a while before calling them up with a smile. Managing this little courtyard was like running a small startup, and to lie down comfortably and peacefully, rules and systems needed to be established first.

After the warning, Cheng Wanyun switched to a more friendly tone, inquiring about each person’s family background and their experiences entering the palace. She spoke kindly to each little maid and eunuch, and by the end, she had a rough understanding of the composition of her household—aside from Tianyin, who was an exception, everyone else were inexperienced newcomers with no backgrounds.

Both she and Yang Gege were rankless noble ladies. According to palace rules, they couldn’t bring people into the palace to serve them; they had to rely on the internal ministry to assign staff. But she guessed that the staff assigned to Yang Gege’s side were probably of better quality than those assigned to her.

The people she had here, the “specialties” they had learned in the palace, were either bird-keeping, laundry, gardening, or working in the imperial tea kitchen, tending the horses in the Horse Stable, or drying books in the Wuying Hall.

A pool of talent.

Cheng Wanyun couldn’t help but laugh.

This Side Concubine must be taking bribes, right? Where else could she have found so many people who had served in every possible position, except for serving a person?

Cheng Wanyun was fortunate that she didn’t have grand ambitions. She just wanted to live a quiet, personal life. Whether they were capable or not was secondary; what mattered was their integrity. Therefore, she wasn’t angry. With a smile, she gave everyone some money and sent them on their way, leaving only the two main maids who served her closely.

Qingxing bent down and asked, “Gege, shall we serve the meal first or take a rest?”

There was no formal lunch in the palace; the meals were mostly just snacks warmed up from the tea rooms. Cheng Wanyun checked the time, and it was just about time for the evening meal. She said, “I’ll rest for a while first.”

Qingxing immediately went to set up the bed and prepare for her rest, while Bitao helped her take down her hair and changed her into silk undergarments. Cheng Wanyun then slept soundly in the exquisite bed made of carved rosewood inlaid with ivory, which had a distinctly Li family style.

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In the Eastern Side Palace, the scent of sandalwood wafted through the air. Side concubine Li was kneeling in front of a wall niche, holding a string of Buddhist beads, and chanting scriptures to comfort the soul of her deceased child.

Jin Mama stood silently by, waiting, until Side Concubine Li had finished chanting a volume of the Ksitigarbha Sutra and offered incense. Then, Jin Mama hurried over to help her up.

Chun Jiang brought water for washing hands. After Side Concubine Li finished cleansing herself, she sat down on the large kang near the window, leaning against a pillow made of red satin with intricate patterns, and closed her eyes to rest. She took a while to recover before softly asking, “How is it?”

Jin Mama glanced over and gave a subtle nod. Chun Jiang bowed respectfully, and with the two maids standing by, they all left the room.

The door quietly closed behind them. Only then did Jin Mama take the beauty mallet from the shelf, kneel at the foot of the bed, and embrace Side Concubine Li’s leg, which had grown red from kneeling. While massaging her leg, she reported what she had heard and seen from the two gege’ courtyards.