Typer’s room: Hello guys. NOT Sorry for the delay since I still have 10 minutes on my clock here!
Close call, but here I managed to update it still within what is considered the magnanimous THORsday. Barely. Anyway, here we see my pitiful attempt at making some background politics works. Will it be bad? Will it be horrible? Who knows!
As I said before, this is VASTLY a work in progress, and wasn’t made to be posted initially, so there might be some inconsistencies. If so, please do tell me, as I want to make it an enjoyable read ^^
May your reading be enjoyable.
----
To say that I felt confused was an understatement. At first, I thought that the sole reason why I was brought here was so that I could do my job as I had been instructed by Ping. However, the moment that master Bo and the others sat down, they told me to go and play around? I couldn’t help but feel confused at the sudden change in act towards me.
Although I questioned around, it seemed that neither of the parents were about to change their ideas, and when I asked the reason for the sudden change of heart, the answer was a bit surprising.
“Well, let’s just say that we decided that we might be requesting a bit too much from a girl like you…” Bo said while heaving a sigh. “So, take this chance to rest a bit and go enjoy yourself… Just don’t take it too far, we do have a reputation to keep, after all….”
I looked at the man for a moment before nodding heavily. Tian decided to stay at the table for the time being, so I might as well go and look around for things to do.
Well, to be honest, I kind of came to this place with gathering information and spread rumors, not to simply enjoy myself, so I didn’t have much idea on what should I do meanwhile.
Seeing that I had nothing else to do, I finally nodded and walked away so that I could take a look at the party and maybe find something interesting. The first thing I did was to take a quick look around so that I could have a better idea of where I could go.
With a glance, I could tell that the great hall had a certain division to it. In one side of the room were the most extravagant dressed, sitting around near the bountiful tables while talking to each other as they exchanged fake pleasantries. There were some people who were using the servant black robes amidst them, but the colorful clothes of the noble easily overshadowed them.
On the other side, in a slightly more discreet place, the coloration was a lot less diverse, as all the servants that weren’t tending to their masters gathered so that they could talk without bothering with being polite and such. At first I thought that this felt a bit elitist, but if I stopped to think about it, it served as a break area for the servants.
Since walking amidst the nobles by myself might be seen as disrespectful, I decided that I might as well start on the servant tables, so after one last gaze at Tian’s family table I turned towards the servant area and made my way there.
I could feel as diverse kind of gazes befell upon me. Some of them were from nobles who looked slightly surprised, but the majority were from servants, who seemed slightly shocked at my age. They probably thought that I was too young, and sincerely? I don’t blame them. It’s not every day you see a four years old walking around in Aide’s clothing.
This also led me to an important question. To be honest, I had no plan on slacking on the mission that Ping gave me, even if the masters told me there was no need. Of course, I wouldn’t actively seek information, but I’m sure that a couple of things would get to me. This led me to deciding what kind of attitude I should take while relating to other aides. I could simply go and act normal with them, probably surprising them with how mature I can actually be, but this would be like showing my trump card immediately, so I decided against it.
On the other hand, I could try and act just like I did with the Song family, possibly making them drop their guard against a seemingly innocent girl. Since this had little to no drawbacks, I decided that it was the best course of action.
Nodding inwardly to myself, I approached the aide’s area, seeing how all of a sudden I became the main attraction. Looking at the aide’s with a fake confused face, I ignored them after some time while approaching one of the tables. It wasn’t as fancy as the ones reserved for nobles, but after snatching what looked like a piece of meat from the table, I decided that it was only the appearance that was a bit more lax, as the taste was excellent.
While I “distractedly” kept eating the snacks, I kept an ear out to what the other servants were speaking.
“Isn’t she a bit young?” “She’s so cute!” “To go straight to the food, so inexperienced...” “At least her manners are good, right?” “Why would the Lon-Ying bring such a young girl?” “I heard that she is really skillful...”
So, it seems like opinions about me are varied in both directions, some positive, some negative, but all of them seem to take me as too young and naive, so I guess I could say that things are going the way I planned.
Kind of…
It didn’t take much longer after I started snacking on the things I found on the table before someone finally approached me. As usual, it was a woman, as male aides are extremely rare, and she crouched down so that she could look at me into the eyes while giving me a gentle and kind smile.
“Hello there, little girl.” She said to me as I stopped eating and looked at her. I quickly put the snack away for the moment before turning to her and bowed.
“Hello. My name is Lia Liu Wang, I’m an aide in training at the L-Lon-Ying household.” I said with a fake stutter. While raising my head I quickly took notice of the marking on her face.
She was from a higher ranking noble family that lived a bit far away, if I remember correct, they rule over a small town by themselves, compared to Lon-Yings who were submissive to the village elder…
Better be extra polite to her.
“My my, aren’t you one polite little thing?” She asked with a slightly surprised face. “Well, where are my manners? My name is Yun Huang. I’m the head aide working at the Sol family.”
Hmm? I may not remember everything about the families and their aides, but I’m pretty sure the head aide from the Sol wasn’t called Yun. While making this mental note, I put on a surprised face and said.
“Heeh! You work for THAT Sol family?” The one I only learned about the day before yesterday?
“Fu fu, that’s right!” She said with a short and proud laugh before looking back at me. “Now, what does a young girl like you is doing here?” I blinked at her words and stopped to think for a brief moment. So, she is actually probing for information instead of simply being kind.
“Me?” I asked while tilting my head before smiling widely. “Master Bo let me play around a bit after saying that I worked hard!” I said with a smile before putting a childish serious face. “I’ve been training a whole lotta lot! But it’s fun, so I don’t mind!”
She widened her eyes for a brief moment before smiling and gently rubbing my head. I ended up closing my eyes in pleasure for a moment before she finally stopped. I couldn’t help but pout a little. Yun lifted herself once again before walking and making a sign for me to follow her. I hesitated for a moment, but decided that it shouldn't hurt to comply for now.
“Then, what have you been thinking about your training up to now?” She asked me.
“It’s fun!” I said again while putting up a smile. “But Miss Ping won’t teach me how to cook… And I’m too small to help with other things...” I said in a gloomy tone.
“Well, you can’t be too hasty, can you?” She said and I nodded. “So, I heard that Young Lady Tian is a Spiritualist… Is that true?”
“Hmm. She is! She even spend the morning training!” I told her in a cheerful tone. Since this was already something that was made public, I found no need to try and hide it. “She spends ALL her morning with Master Roshi, so she is training a lot!”
“Hee...” Yun said with a tone of surprise. “I’ve always wondered how a spiritualist training is, you know?” She said in a mischievous smile.
I simply frowned at her words and tilted my head. My reaction seemed to surprise her, as she blinked while looking at me.
Is Tian’s training stage also something known by the others? This is something I couldn’t say quite for sure, so it would be better for me to not reveal anything too important. Also, could it be that she is also looking for information about me?
“Lia…?” She called me confused. I raised my head towards her and gave a slightly confused look.
“Neh, Big sis Yun.” I said while pulling the hem of her robe. I saw as shock ran through her face for a moment due to my sudden closeness. “What kind of training is it when they sit in front of each other?”
She blinked surprised for some time before looking away with a slightly embarrassed face.
“I wonder...” She replied.
I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning behind her words. Either she had no idea or she didn’t think it would be a good idea to speak it out loud. While I thought about that, I also decided that it would be a good chance to get a counter probe.
“Neh, Big sis. Is being a head aide difficult?” I asked her and saw as she widened her eyes briefly before smiling bitterly for a moment.
“Usually, it’s not that bad.” She said. “But when there’s something important going on, it can get a bit tiresome.” Should I take it that their household is preparing for something large from the way she is saying it? Or is she just stating something common? Guuh, this is a lot more annoying than I thought.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
As we approached another table, Yun took a large jug of something as well as a simple wooden cup. She quickly poured a bit of the red drink on the cup and gave it to me. Maybe she isn’t all that mean after all?
“Thank you, big sis!” I said while taking the cup and giving it a quick sip. Only a simple fruit juice. Couldn’t say which fruit it was, but it was sweet, so I quite liked it.
While I drank the juice cheerfully to myself, Yun took me and showed me to some other aides from important households. It seemed to me that even the older looking ones seemed to take up on my young appearance with a pleasant smile, and with the occasional stutter to make me look inexperienced, I had the advantage that I was too young to be taken serious, so I didn’t need to worry about affecting the household’s name too much.
...
“Heeh, so you can already wash your clothes?”
“Hmm. But I’m still not as good as miss Ping.” I replied with a sullen tone, which made the aides smile kindly.
“And what’s your robe made of? It looks so pretty!” Another one said.
“I don’t know?” I replied while tilting my head. “Lady Tian gave it to me when I started!”
“And you said that you are Young Lady Tian’s personal aide?”
“Hmm.” I nodded. “She is really nice to me, so I want to be nice to her too!” At least when she doesn’t have that predatory look… Or in the bath… “Are your masters nice too?” I asked with an innocent look.
Some of the aides blinked, some put on wry smiles while others simply nodded. It looked like the treatment varied between them, huh?
“So, why did you decide to become an aide?”
“It seemed fun!” And I had to pay for the tuition fee. “And father wouldn’t teach me how to smith...”
“Heh?” “You want to be a smithy?” “That’s surprising...” This received varied reactions from the girls, so I wondered if I shouldn’t have said it;
While I was wondering what I should do, we heard footsteps approaching us, so almost all of the aides turned to see who was approaching, and what we saw was the head aide of the Song family, the butler-looking old men.
“Greetings, ladies.” He said while giving a short bow, and the aides quickly replied in kind. After a while he quickly turned to me and gave a brief smile. “Would you mind lending me this young aide for a moment?” He asked.
I blinked surprised for a moment, not really expecting him to come and call for me directly. Seeing that there wasn’t any real need for me to worry, I jumped down from the chair I was while being questioned and approached him.
“How can I help you, mister?” I asked while looking up to him.
Damn, he is tall!
“Call me Hou.” He replied with a smile before nodding to the other girls. “Now, would you like to follow me to the kitchen and help me with something?”
I tilted my head confused for a moment before nodding. It’s not like I was doing anything too important at the moment, and I would have more than enough time to try and gather information from the aides later. Turning back, I followed the large man down the hall and through a door that had previously been closed.
Seeing that in this path were only the two of us, I thought that it might have been a bad idea, but true to his words, he took us to what looked like a kitchen.
In there, he took me near to a small cabinet that was barely as tall as myself.
“Would you mind looking for a large silver plate in these for me? As you can see, I’m a bit too big to look myself.” He said with a kind yet unreadable smile before turning back and looking at some suspended cabinets. I blinked surprised before nodding.
Opening the cabinet’s door, I kept watching him with my senses just to be sure. After a bit of searching around, I didn’t find anything, so I closed it and went to the next one. While we were both searching, a silence befell upon the room that was separated enough from the main party that not even the sound of conversations reached us.
“I’m interested in whatever information about the Sol family.” He said suddenly. For a brief moment I stopped and turned to him.
“What do you mean, mister?” I asked innocently. He turned to me and gave a triumphant smile.
“Little girl, I have more than a few grandaughters. I know when you are just acting.” He said. “You are a lot more capable than you let on, am I correct?” I simply looked at him in a fake confusion, but this didn’t seem to bother him too much. “Of course, I won’t take it for free.”
As he turned towards the cabinets once again, I also started to search around for the plate while thinking on his proposition.
“Then, what would mister pay me for it?” Well, since the cat is out of the bag…Somehow I could almost feel as he smiled satisfied.
“One, I won’t tell anyone about your fake innocence.” He said, going straight to the heart of the matter. “Not even for my master, if this is what you wish. Second, I would like for us to make an… Agreement, of information exchange.”
I stopped once again and turned to him, not even trying to hide the frown on my face this time.
“Why me?” I asked.
“Well, since you are still young, there is good chance that you might get some information I don’t have, as people tend to lower their guards against young children.”
“Doesn’t that mean that I will have more information than you? What would I exchange it for?” I asked him.
“Well, you are still inexperienced, and you probably don’t have a network in place yet, am I right?” He asked me, and I grimaced, knowing that he was spot on in that place. I still have trouble defining what’s just rumors and what is just ramblings. “I can have access to some information that you probably wouldn’t get in parties like these, so it can be a mutually beneficial relationship.”
I grimaced while thinking over it. It was indeed a fairly good proposal, yet I couldn’t help but feel that he was trying to pull me into his pace. After some moment of thought, I sighed and gave up.
“Okay, although I know I’m being played at here, I probably won’t get a good proposition like this anytime soon.” I said with a sigh and felt as he stopped and turned to me for a moment. “My only request is that we don’t trade information about our own families, okay?”
“Aren’t you a smart one?” He said with an amused tone. “Fair enough. I can accept that.”
“Okay...” I said with a sigh before blinking. “Oh, found it.” I said while taking a beautiful silver plate with some flowers etchings on its border. “Is it this one?”
“Why yes!” He said with a genuinely surprised tone. “Thank you very much, young Lia.” He said gently while taking the plate from my hand. “Just need a bit of cleaning. It’s been a long time since we last used it, after all...”
I nodded in agreement. As pretty and expensive looking the plate was, it was still dusty and needed some good washing before being useable. It was also fairly large, so it was probably more so that you would serve food with it rather than eating.
Hou took the plate to a nearby water basin and started to wash it thoroughly. I took this time to go and start with the agreed exchange.
“I think that the Sol family are preparing for something large.” I said while sitting in a small bench besides him. “From what Yun said, she exchanged the head aide just some time ago, as she was sent somewhere else, and from what she said, it seems that work has been a bit hectic recently, which means a lot of movement in the household.”
As I said that, Hou listened intently while nodding to himself in agreement.
“Hmm, as I thought. It matches with my other sources...” He said in a serious and grave tone. “Is there anything else you managed to get?” He asked, and I stopped to think for a moment.
“I’m… Not exactly sure, but it seems that their vassal household have also been having some movement with incoming deliveries piling in their depots.” I said with a thought.
“Any idea of their sources?” He asked me, but I shook my head. “I see, it’s good enough for now. So, what do you want to know in exchange?”
I stopped to think for a moment. I have no idea what I should ask him about. There were more than a couple of things I could ask, but most of them had a chance that Bo already knew somehow. From what I could gather, Ping was surprisingly good when it came to gathering information.
“Oh, I heard that a new market opened between our households.” I said, deciding to change the question to something a bit different from direct politics. “Who is the owner of that market, and who is he affiliated to?”
Hou blinked surprised before turning to me and watching me in confusion for some time. After a few seconds passed he widened his eyes and made a nod.
“I see… I see...” He said while nodding. “I didn’t pay much mind to it before, but setting a market there might… I can’t give you an answer right now, but I’ll look into it as soon as possible.” He said with a nod, and I nodded in exchange.
After he finished cleaning the silver plate, he took a towel to dry it before nodding satisfied. Since our matters here had already finished, we both turned back to the main hall and separated there, with him saying that he had to go to the other kitchen so he could get the food to serve.
I blinked surprised, but nodded nonetheless. Maybe they had a larger kitchen for large festivities like this one? That last one was fairly empty when I think about it.
I didn’t worry too much about it and turned towards Tian’s table thinking that it might be better to report my findings.