STNS: Chapter 506 (Patreon)

Working in the Zhao estate was the hardest thing Yōuměi had ever done. The estate was so big that she kept getting lost, the head maid berated her constantly for breaking things, and there was an aura of doom and gloom over her fellow slaves.

She didn’t like it.

Zhao Xian’s estate was very different from anything she had ever seen before. Yōuměi was used to running through big estates. Big Sis Jingshu lived in a gigantic palace and she ran through that all the time, but this was different.

The main building was two-stories tall and had a flat roof with upward curving eaves. All the walls were painted in earthy tones and had murals of creatures and people Yōuměi had never seen before. The rooms were big and filled with fancy furnishings; rich tapestries, expensive art, and other such decorations. Yōuměi had broken a few pieces of artwork and was punished harshly for it. She would have fought back, but the collar around her neck prevented her from using her strength.

Yōuměi spent most of her time inside of the estate, but she sometimes was told to go outside to help maintain the gardens. Despite being in a desert, the estate was surrounded by a really pretty garden. She liked the scent. Yōuměi sometimes tried to stop and smell the garden, but the head maid always berated her when she did. It was like that women knew exactly when Yōuměi was slacking off.

At least her bed was decently comfortable. Yōuměi was so tired. She didn’t get to sleep nearly as much as she liked, so whenever she was in bed, she burrowed herself into the covers and tried to hibernate.

“Yōuměi. Wake up. Do you want to be scolded by Huo Lin again?”

Sadly, she could not sleep nearly as much as she wished. Her roommate wouldn’t let her. Cracking an eye open, Yōuměi glanced at her roommate, then turned on her side and closed her eyes again.

“Five more minutes…”

“No! Not five more minutes! Get up! Do you remember what happened last time? If you don’t get up, I’m gonna be scolded too!”

Youmei grumbled but crawled out from under her covers and stood up. The carpet beneath her feet caused her to reflexively clench her toes. Her roommate gawked at her, then squeaked and covered her eyes.

“Why are you always naked?!”

Yōuměi stretched her arms and yawned as she stumbled over to her dresser. “Because I hate clothes. I only wear them because everyone says I have to. I don’t want to wear them when I sleep.”

Up to now, Yōuměi had always slept with clothes on because her big sisters told her to, but since they weren’t here, she had decided it was okay to sleep naked. This felt more natural to her. Clothes were constricting and didn’t feel good.

“Ugh! Whatever, just hurry up and get dressed.”

“Kaaaaaay.”

All maidservants of the Zhao Estate wore the same clothing. Yōuměi put on the cream-colored gown. It had a window in the front, which showed off her chest, and the back had another gap. She didn’t understand why they had these holes. She wore them, however, since that was what everyone demanded of her. The one thing she did not put on were shoes.

“I’m ready,” Yōuměi said simply.

“Good. Then let’s get going.”

The woman Yōuměi roomed with was the same woman who had told her about Zhao Xian. Her name was Mae Mae. She was a cute woman with a small chest and thin waste. Mae Mae was still taller than Yōuměi, but not by much. Something Yōuměi had noticed about most of the women who worked in this estate was they all had similar bodies to her and Mae Mae. She wondered if there was a reason for that.

After they had been assigned their rooms, Mae Mae had told Yōuměi everything she knew about Zhao Xian. He was born a peasant who had worked his way up in the world with his brains instead of brawns. That was pretty impressive. Yōuměi understood that power meant everything in this world, and cultivators were the truest form of power, which was why they were revered. Zhao Xian was weak. According to Mae Mae, he was only at the Human Limit Realm, just strong enough to have a human form. It should not have been possible for him to be this powerful. The reason he was so strong was because of his connections and intelligence.

While that made him seem like a great man, Yōuměi knew better. Mae Mae had told her all about how disgusting Zhao Xian was. He was a perverted man who kidnapped and bought young women who matched his type, then had his way with them. There were many stories about how horribly broken many of the women enslaved by him became after he was finished with them. One of the young women who had arrived alongside Yōuměi had already been called upon by Zhao Xian. She didn’t know what happened when she visited him, but she had changed ever since then, and Yōuměi had smelled that man’s scent all over her.

There were several types of maids at this estate. There was the headmaid, or shèzhǔ, the chambermaid, known as wǔcáng, kitchen maids, which were called chúfáng mài, laundry maid (xǐyī mài), garden maids (huāyuán mài), serving maids (fúwù mài), cleaning maids (qīngjié mài), bodyguard maids (tǐwèi mài), and entertainment maids (yú lè mài). Each maid had their own purpose.

Yōuměi was a qīngjié mài. Her responsibilities was to clean the estate, including dusting, sweeping, and sanitizing communal areas. She was not very good at cleaning. Yōuměi had never done any cleaning, not a single day of her life. She spent her time sleeping, eating, playing, and fighting. Only now that she was being forced to do something that she was not used to did she understand how easy she had it.

At the moment, she and Mae Mae were cleaning a hallway. Yōuměi had gotten better at using a broom. They used to snap in half because she kept applying too much force. Her Qi might have been sealed off, but she was still a powerful cultivator. Now she could sweep the floor without breaking her broom.

As they were working, Huo Lin strode up to them. Yōuměi thought the woman would walk right past them. She did not. Yōuměi became curious when the shèzhǔ stopped before them.

“Mae Mae,” the woman began. “Dàrén Zhao Xian has requested your presence.”

Paling, Mae Mae said, “Er… is there… no way I can refuse?”

Huo Lin’s lips became a thin line as she glared. “If you refuse, you will suffer untold agony. Do you want them?”

“N-no, but…”

“Then do as you’re told. Hurry up and attend to Dàrén Zhao Xian. Now.”

“Y-yes…”

Yōuměi watched Mae Mae leave with pursed lips. She decided to ask about what happened during her meeting with Dàrén Zhao Xian when she returned.

However, Mae Mae did not return that night or the day after.

***

A new woman had replaced Mae Mae. Her name was Lingsha Han. Like Mae Mae, she had a similar build to Yōuměi. Her hair was blonde and straight, and she had bright green eyes. She seemed somewhat defiant. Yōuměi didn’t talk to her much.

It was still early in the morning and Yōuměi was walking down the halls. Several people were looking at her with pitying gazes. This made her frown. Why were they staring at her like she was someone to be pitied? Being a panther magical beast, she had sharper hearing than most, and she used that to her advantage to listen in on several of the woman’s conversations as she passed.

“I heard about her roommate…”

“Poor girl…”

“Seems she was killed trying to escape…”

“I don’t blame her though…”

“Yeah… I’d rather die than…”

Their words only made Yōuměi frown more. She knew she wasn’t very smart. However, even she could figure out that Mae Mae was dead. It sounded like she had been killed trying to escape, but why had she tried to escape? What happened to her?

Yōuměi’s task that day was cleaning the throne room. She had to dust and polish the throne to ensure all the intricate motifs and gold shone brightly as light from overhead reflected off it. She also had to sweep and mop the floor, removing any and all debris. The tapestries had to be removed and carefully washed with a special solution, and she had to dust and wipe down the walls before putting the tapestries back up. There were several lighting fixtures that she also had to clean and check. It was important to make sure they were working properly. Her final task was scenting the room with a pleasant incense.

It happened while she was wiping down the walls. She detected someone’s eyes on her. Turning around, her hackles raised, she looked around but found nothing, not even a shadow. Yōuměi frowned. Had she imagined it? No, she trusted her instincts. Someone had definitely been watching her. It had only been for a brief moment, but she had felt the disgusting presence of eyes on her, staring at her in a way she had never been stared at. Just remembering that feeling made her shiver in disgust. She felt dirty.

Whoever had been watching her was gone now, so she went back to her task. She eventually finished and left the throne room--only to run into Huo Lin.

“You there. Dàrén Zhao Xian has requested your presence. Go to him now,” she commanded.

Yōuměi froze. She did not want to see that man. She already understood enough to know that, whatever he did with the women who saw him, it was not good. That one woman who had been ordered to see him that first day had slowly gone insane, and Mae Mae had been so terrified that she was killed trying to escape. Yōuměi heard rumors that another woman who had been commanded to see him had committed suicide, though she hadn’t known that woman or seen it happen.

However…

This might be my chance.

Yōuměi hadn’t forgotten why she hadn’t tried to escape. The alchemy ingredients she needed might be somewhere in this estate. She hadn’t been able to do much exploring because her Qi was blocked, but maybe if she met with Zhao Xian, she could find out where  his alchemy ingredients were being kept. He had an alchemist on hand, and that person was supposedly very powerful.

“All right,” Yōuměi said at last.

“Good. I’ll tell you how to find his room. Go to him now, and do not try to escape. The results won’t be… pleasant.”

Yōuměi shuddered, wondering if this woman was referring to what happened with Mae Mae. Maybe Mae Mae wasn’t the only person who had tried to escape and was killed for it?

Zhao Xian’s private chamber was in a secluded wing of the estate, away from the hustle and bustle of the common areas. It was too quiet for Yōuměi’s taste. There was also a weird scent coming from it. She had smelled this scent before whenever Big Sis Jingshu and Master were naked hugging.

She stopped in front of an ornate double door with gold accents. It looked like an important room. Yōuměi didn’t understand why, but she knew powerful people liked having fancy doorways to show off how important they were. Shaking her head to ride herself of those thoughts, she knocked once.

“You may enter,” the voice on the other end warbled.

Yōuměi entered the room and a horrible smell immediately assaulted her. It was awful. She couldn’t explain or describe it, but it smelled worse than when her master and big sister were naked hugging. That smelled weird but nice. This smelled gross and made her want to vomit.

The room was big. She looked up and saw a ceiling high above her. Murals of tortoises were painted on it. Most of the room, like the walls and ceiling, were painted in earthy tones. There were more tapestries in here. All of them were either landscape paintings or tortoises.

But the most important part of this room was the bed. Yōuměi had never seen something so big. It looked large enough to fit twenty people and sat in the center of the room. The canopy was made from a super fancy silk and the bed had deep green and gold cushions.

Sitting on the bed was… a man. Yōuměi needed a moment to realize it was a person. He was fat. His face was round and he had chubby cheeks and several chins that wobbled as he moved. His clothes were green and gold like the bed. They were very loose robes that looked like they would fall off once he stood up. This man was so fat that even the loose robes seemed barely able to contain him. Yōuměi’s facial muscles twitched as she struggled against her impulses to comment on his fat rolls. He had a large and flat nose, thin lips, and a gleaming bald head.

This was Zhao Xian.