Short Story: Qiu Ci's POV

Since ancient times, a woman's soft power lay in her dressing. Her dressing could convey all sorts of meanings. Qiu Ci was in charge of managing her dressing. Her Young Miss was very clear about who she did and didn't like.

For internal banquets, with friendlies, she preferred pastel hues with an ethereal, floaty hue. For banquets with people she didn't particularly like or for allied banquets, she would wear bold, striking outfits and empirical jewellery, to create a strong a dominant feeling. The details were important too.

For allied banquets she liked to wear jewellery or outfits with the Yuan An flower and Yuan An details. When attending a dinner with someone she didn't like, she might wear the symbol of their opposing county or faction.

When going to war, or hard meetings, her young miss would wear bold red or black, with striking details as if trailing blood and death, to intimidate the other party. However, her young miss could only do this because she was a genius inventor and had the palace backing her up. In fact, Qiu Ci might dare say she had more power than some of the imperial princesses. Her young miss also treated her maidservants very well.

On average, their monthly wages would be around 6 000 taels, around the same allowance an esteemed daughter of a large noble family might get. It was a source of ire for other noble families that even maids got more compensation.

But for Qiu Ci and Qiu Le, their monthly maid wages were 12 000 taels, and she paid them a 30 000 on top of that to be her personal assistants. Qiu Ci was quite sure she and Qiu Le could retire comfortably by now but followed her out of loyalty. Qiu Ci's family also lived in a capital, in a large and furnished residence she had bought for them with her wages. She also managed to send her younger siblings to good schools, and fund their travels. She never imagined anyone could treat her better.