Bai was summoned after his training. As he was sweating, he handed his edgeless sword to his subordinate. A delicate eunuch gave a bamboo slip and a woman's kanzashi to him. It was one of the kanzashi among the several he handed out before, a kanzashi decorated with peach-colored coral. He didn't think anyone would take it seriously, knowing that it was courtesy, but it turns out it wasn't the case. It would be wrong to embarrass her, but it was also troubling actually to go through with it.
However, it would be a loss for him if she was a beauty. He looked at the wooden slip as he thought of ways to gently reject her.
'Jade Palace Yen'
That was written there. He handed it out to only one of the palace ladies of the Jade Palace. The ultra-beauty. Mystified, Bai stroked his chin as he prepared for a change of clothes.
The inner palace is forbidden to actual men.
Bai, who didn't want to be cut down, was in the forbidden garden. He probably wouldn't be here after this, and it would be troubling if he were. Though it was such a terrifying place, if he had special permission, he could summon a palace lady from inside. This kanzashi was one of the ways of doing that — one of the many. Borrowing the office of the central gate, he waited for the person he summoned.
The room, which wasn't wide, had two persons' number of tables and chairs. The doors on both sides each had a eunuch standing there.
As a maid with a Birthmark splashed on her face appeared.
"Who the hell are you?" he said.
"I get that often." The maid, who replied with blunt indifference, covered her birthmark with her palm. A face he'd seen before appeared.
"Don't tell me you're disguised with make-up?"
"I get that often," she said. He took in the truth without a look of displeasure. He got the gist of it.
That she was that food taster maid.
"However, to still call me out like this, do you know the meaning of it?" He crossed his arms. Crossed his legs too.
"I was thinking of returning home." She said it without any strong feeling.
Bai scratched his head. "And, you want me to help?"
"That's right. If you can guarantee my identity, I heard it is possible for me to return home for a short time." She voiced something unexpected.
He wanted to ask her, "Do you know the original meaning?"
No matter, it seems this girl called Yen was using him to go home. It wasn't to catch the military official. Maybe she was bold. Maybe she was reckless. Bai snorted, hands on his chin. It could be said that his behavior was terrible, he didn't feel like correcting it. "The hell? Are you saying that I am going to be thoroughly used by a lass?"
"No, I only want to give thanks to these people." Yen placed a tied-up bundle of wooden slips on the table. They looked like letters of introduction.
"Mei, Ling, Hua"
Names of women that Bai had heard of before. No, a lot of other men besides Bai should know these names.
"You mean to see the flowers of Verdigris Hall?" That was the name of the high-class brothel that exhausts one year's worth of silver in a single night. The names just then, were the favorites called the Three Princesses.
"If you're worried, you'll understand if you see this." The girl smiled at him, only curving her lips.
"You're joking," he said.
"As you can verify."
It was something completely unbelievable. At best, it was difficult to think of that a maid of such caliber had a connection with the brothel that even high-class bureaucrats won't touch. What was this supposed to mean?
When he scratched his head again from the incomprehensibility of it, the girl suddenly sighed and stood up.
"What are you doing?"
"It doesn't look like you believe me. We're wasting time." She smoothly took out something from her bosom — two kanzashi. They were made of red crystal, and silver. "I sincerely apologise for wasting your time. I have others."
"W-wai—" He grabbed the wooden slips as to try to take them away.
Yen, expressionless, looked at. "What is it?"
He thought he lost.
"Isn't that great? Gina-sama." Hong was looking at Yen from the gap of the door. Her demeanor was better, and she was packing quickly.
"Well, it's only three days," Consort Gina said as she glanced at her daughter.
"I guess so." Yao held up the imperial princess who was using her as standing support.
"She doesn't understand."
"Yeah."
The other maids were telling "Congratulations" to Yen, but the person herself didn't seem to understand. She replied with a carefree, "I'll go buy souvenirs."
It was the day after Yen's departure when Ren, who finally became a leisurely person after finishing his work, visited the Jade Palace. Only to be crushed when he learned that Yen left.