Palace of Tianqing...
The carriage stopped in front of the palace.
"All of you come out already. We don't have all day."
A man opened the door of the carriage and started yelling at the girls to come out.
All the girls came out of the carriage and stood in front of it in a proper lime.
Guo Ling came towards them and ordered, "All of you girls follow me but be in a proper line."
The girls nodded their heads except Chao Xing who wasn't interested in any of these things. Guo Ling started to walk inside followed by the girls in a straight line.
He took them straight to a garden. The garden had a boundary full of different followers. On the back there were cherry blossom trees.
Chao Xing's face lightened up seeing that beautiful garden.
In her world she would always sit under a tree and read books in a garden back then in her college days. Looking at one of the trees she suddenly remembered her senior.
He would always tease her and play with her when she was sad and feeling down. Unknowingly a smile crept upon her face remembering all the beautiful scenes of her past.
Lin Qin noticed her smile and came a little near her. She was walking behind her when she moved forward towards her, "What happened? Why are you smiling?"
"Ah. Nothing. I was just missing someone." Chao Xing moved her gaze down. She gave her a smirk and teased as she said, "Oho! Who were you missing? Might be someone special."
"No!"
Chao Xing blushed but didn't tell her anything. Lin Qin laughed at her in return teasing her more.
"Stop laughing, girls and keep walking in a straight line."
They heard a man yell from the back and they hurriedly again got in the line and started walking quietly.
Reaching in the middle of the garden Guo Ling stopped and so did all the girls following him, "Mei!" Guo Ling called out.
Soon a woman in her early thirties wearing a white narrow-sleeved upper garment which was tied on the waist with a long brown hanfu skirt on the bottom, she came along with a girl who was probably in her twenties.
Staring at all those girls, she came near Guo Ling.
"These all girls are under your care now. Teach them properly about the palace manners and rules. Do assign them their works too. I have something else to do. I will come back in the evening."
Mei Fen nodded her head respectfully at Guo Ling. He was just about to go when he turned and said last time before going away,"Get them clean first."
Mei Fen again nodded her head and he went away from there. Turning around giving the girls one more look she looked at the girl who was standing on her back.
"Fei Hong! Bring clean clothes for these girls."
That girl was wearing a blue hanfu skirt. She looked like the second head maid as she was standing behind Mei Fen listening her orders.
She nodded her head respectfully to the head maid of the palace and went away from there.
"Follow me girls!" Saying that Mei Fen started walking towards a corridor.
The girls followed her, Chao Xing looked at everything, trying to see the path, the people in her surroundings, there were some girls sitting in the garden while some were busy in their own works.
Soon they reached the bath and everyone went inside it.
"This is the bath for the servants. You all will get up in the morning and come here and after cleaning yourself you will go to Fei Hong, she will be giving you all your tasks of the day." Mei Fen explained as she opened the door of the bath.
All the girls were looking at their surroundings with excitement and when the doors of the bath got open they stepped inside and suddenly all of them got happy seeing the clean bath.
Lin Qin too looked quite happy seeing all that. She was happy that she would get to experience the life of the palace.
On the other hand Chao Xing had seen more luxurious things in her Era so she wasn't excited at all. She just wanted everything to pass soon.
Her thoughts were always on that riddle trying to think what key points she could get from it.
Soon Fei Hong came with new clothes for the girls. She gave all five girls clothes and showed them the area where they could wash.
"Girls! You have ten minutes. I want you all to wash yourself and come out soon. Then you will be going to the lobby." Mei Fen went out after ordering them.
Soon all the girls including Chao Xing started to wash themselves. One by one they went inside and came out with a towel wrapped around them.
Taking their clothes from Fei Hong they went straight to the other box-like room where they changed their clothes and then came out.
After Lin Qin, Chao Xing went on the last, getting in the she looked at every thing intesly not knowing how to take a shower with it.
There was a small wooden tub with a bowl, which was kept on the side while a wooden small chair was kept in front of her.
"They don't even have a shower in this huge palace?"
Nevertheless she picked up the soap, which felt quite hard to her. Rubbing it on her back she felt how hard the soap was.
"How do they not get rashes after using this stone?"
She had some difficulty washing herself because of all that wounds she got from the beating, when she was in that slave market.
By putting warm water on her body she tried soothing the pain. She gently washed off all the dried blood from her skin.
She kept on washing herself for some time, trying her best not to pull off her skin.