Mingxia reached the capital a few hours later. The horse carriage was relatively peaceful, and nobody tried to talk to her, so she just stared out the window in a daze, wondering when she'd be able to go back. Just about never, knowing this place.
At the outside of the establishment in which she would be living for the next few years at best, there was a man, smiling what was surely a fake smile, and repeating, "Welcome to Tai Palace, the home of Zhao Jingfeng." So this Jingfeng guy must be who she was serving. She didn't have a clue who he was. All she hoped was that he would be nicer than the government official sitting at the front of the carriage right now.
Soon enough, the carriage skid to a halt. A man, clad in a simple but high quality changpao opened the door for Mingxia. He must've been a servant, but his clothing was still better in both design and quality than hers was. Compared to all of the nobility and their servants, Mingxia looked like a cockroach. She was way out of her league. Because of this, she felt a lot of wary gazes on her as she walked down the maze of corridors behind one of the servant men, on the way to see her master. Now that she thought of it, she was never told what exactly she'd be doing here. Knowing that the person who was meant to receive this position got a 96 on the test however, did not inspire her with confidence. All she hoped was that it wouldn't require her to learn to read and write. Such a task seemed incredibly daunting, as it would for anyone.
"We have arrived milady."
The man bowed down at Mingxia, who really didn't deserve to be here. She took a step inside. The smell of soft woods and floral tones filled the air. These people must've been incredibly rich if they were able to afford such expensive incense to burn regularly. The furnishings in this room were more fancy than anything Mingxia had ever seen. She felt like moss in a room filled with flowers. Undesirable.
"Is this the new concubine?" The voice that said these words was not dripping with honey like some other voices that Mingxia had heard, nor was it sharp enough to cut steel. It was a balance of the two, commanding but soft-spoken.
"Yes, Master Zhao. Is she fitting for you?"
"She will do."
Mingxia felt somewhat annoyed, as given that she was meant to have gotten a 96 on the exam, just about as desirable as you can get, he was most likely judging her looks at the present time. Although she didn't want to be here, and it would've been more convenient if she was deemed unfitting, it was still irritating to be called plain right before your eyes.
"I see. I shall escort her to her chambers. Where is she being put?" The manservant asked
"In Zuanshi Pavilion. Once she gets there, please provide a change of clothes and a bath. Then, bring her back to see me."
Mingxia was then escorted to a grand set of buildings, each with ornate pillars, then designs on which were so delicate that it felt as if one touch would break the whole thing. It appeared that this was where she was to be living.
"H-here you are milady. The ladies in waiting have prepared a change of clothes and a bath. I suggest you also dispose of what you are wearing right now. It'll make a bad impression on Master Zhao if you keep it around."
Mingxia looked behind her and saw a few girls, most likely 18 years old, standing next to the bed where her clothing was waiting, neatly folded up. The girls looked nice enough, but since Mingxia intended to get herself out of this palace as soon as they realised that she was not the girl that they were looking for, she really couldn't care less.
The clothing was red, with pink and purple patterns across it. The patterns followed the trend of most of the things she'd seen today. So delicate that a touch would crumble it. Atop the fancy changpao was a silver ornament, seemingly for her hair, and a crown. It did strike her as odd that they didn't use gold for these ornaments, but maybe Zhao Jingfeng was not financially stable?
Mingxia's thought was interrupted by one of the ladies in waiting. She cleared her throat and said, "Perhaps we may be so kind to introduce ourselves. We are your permanent ladies in waiting. I am Jingxiao, the girl on the left is Qianzhi and the one on the right is Shuye."
The three collectively bowed, and Mingxia replied with her best fake smile and a 'pleased to meet you' after which Mingxia was showed to the bath.
"Wow. This bath is more fancy than anything I've seen in my hometown," Mingxia reflected. The baths back in town always had some sort of debris in them, whether it was fallen leaves or some other unwelcome material. She took of her old changpao and placed the new one beside it, and got into the bath. It seems that when there aren't a bunch of dead flies in there, it's much more pleasant. Who knew.
Mingxia rinsed her oily hair and applied some soap that smelt like jasmine. Then, after relaxing for a bit, she got out of the bath. She wrung out her hair and moved on to the clothing. She put on her undergarments and put the changpao on top, tying a sash around her waist. Nothing out of the ordinary, just better quality than she was used to. The hair ornaments however, were a different problem. She could not figure out how to put on the crown, and the intricate hair clip made her ponytail seem heavy. She put them on though, most likely incredibly wrong, and made her way out. The manservant was waiting outside almost creepily. He appeared a bit flustered when Mingxia walked out but managed to say, "Master Zhao is waiting in the parlour."
He brought her downstairs. Mingxia was pretty sure that without his help, she would get lost in what was meant to be her own chambers. Sure enough, he was there. She hadn't gotten a proper look at him last time, but inspecting him now, he did seem rather desirable for a man. What many of the girls from town wouldn't give to be here. Mingxia recalled that a lot of them enjoyed talking about who was getting married to who, who they liked… things like that. Mingxia wasn't the sort of person who enjoyed that. She and Xiaoli were always more absorbed by drawing in the dirt to care.
Despite this, the man in front of her was handsome, even to her. But looks did not mean much to her. Whenever one of the gossip girls managed to get a hold of Mingxia, they'd always ask who her ideal man would be, and every time she said that all she cared about was a good personality, they groaned. To Mingxia, as long as the guy was nice and not ugly per se, she would be fine. Really, she never intended to get married at all. She was an orphan, so no political marriages could be set up. This left her free to do whatever she wanted.
"Hello?" The familiar voice called her back to reality. It was the same clear and soft voice from earlier.
"Y-yes, Master Zhao."
"No need to address me so politely. You could drop the honourifics altogether. Just Jingfeng will do. And if you're really not comfortable with that, you can call me Master Jingfeng, I suppose." He tilted his head to the side at the end of his statement, his slate blue hair falling to cover part of his eyes, with a smile that would make all the girls from town jealous if it got out that Mingxia had seen it in person.
"O-okay Master Jingfeng. What is it that you want from me?"
"Oh nothing much. Might I just say that you look very nice in that outfit."
"U-uh thank you." This conversation was becoming awkward quickly.
Jingfeng frowned playfully. "You appear to be rather on edge. Is something bothering you? You needn't be worried. I've accepted you already."
"U-um okay…" Nothing he said was helping. It was only weirding her out more.
"I see. Nothing's really helping is it? I can see it on your face. Well then, to become more comfortable with each other, why don't you spend the night with me?' He gave a playful wink that made shivers run down Mingxia's spine. What she really wanted was to leave this room as soon as possible.
Wait… a night?