Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 1 Playing the Scoundrels

[A clever and almost supernatural maid and a dignified and virtuous second young lady, from the Prince's mansion to the deep palace]

(The early stages are setting up the character's development, so the pace is a bit slow. Please be patient, everyone. Thank you from the young author...)

Mengjia Village, Haijin Town.

Meng Shu picked up her bamboo basket and prepared to go up the mountain when she heard the rumbling of wheels outside the courtyard. Uncle Meng Liu, who was driving the oxcart, opened the courtyard gate, and Meng Shu saw her stepmother looking at her with tears in her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.

The woman choked out "Sister Shu" and tumbled sadly off the oxcart. Before Meng Shu could react, she had already knelt down in front of her.

The villagers watching were all startled, and some nosy people started pointing and gossiping.

“Oh dear, this has disrupted the proper order of things. How can a mother do such a thing?”

"Sister-in-law Meng, what's wrong with you?"

The woman had delicate, frail features and was described as having willow-leaf eyebrows and bright eyes. She knelt on the ground in front of the villagers, clutching a handkerchief in her hand and sobbing softly with her head down.

This affected coquettishness was something her stepmother was used to doing. Meng Shu remained calm and composed, the little girl unusually so. Her father on the oxcart remained lying still, while the five or six-year-old child next to her was awakened by the crying and sat up groggily.

Looking at the carriage behind, an old woman wearing a jacket with a front opening was being helped down by the coachman, her shrewd eyes scrutinizing him from head to toe.

The woman tearfully addressed the villagers who were trying to dissuade her, saying, "My husband is coughing up blood non-stop, and it seems like he's going to die. Thank goodness for Dr. Bai at the town clinic..."

"My stepmother just returned from taking my father to the doctor, why is she kneeling before me crying like this?" Meng Shu took a step back and interrupted crisply.

The woman choked, but still looked pitiful.

“Your father’s illness requires long-term bed rest, and the doctor’s fees and medicine costs are still outstanding. How can the family afford it when we are in such a tight financial situation?”

Some astute villagers observed the accompanying carriage and the woman's demeanor, and upon seeing the beautiful young girl with bright eyes and white teeth, they couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh.

"Did my stepmother take advantage of my mother's early death and my uncle's inability to support me outside, so she decided to sell me to a slave trader for money?"

Meng Shu pursed her lips and sneered.

The other villagers only realized what was happening after hearing this, and they never expected that the Meng family had fallen to such a state. You must know that ten years ago, when Zhou Laotong married off his daughter, the dowry was carried by eight people, which was talked about for a long time in the surrounding villages.

The woman, caught red-handed, looked embarrassed. "There's nothing we can do. The clinic only gave us a three-day extension. Your father will still rely entirely on that Niuhuang Wan (a traditional Chinese medicine), and one pill costs half a string of cash..."

“Cough...cough...Shuya, don’t blame your mother. Yesterday, she went to several brokerage firms in town and spent half the night thinking before choosing a kind one. I, Meng Chengwen, have raised you for ten years, so it’s time for me to fulfill my filial duty.”

Meng Chengwen coughed and struggled to sit up. His narrow eyes were fixed on Meng Shu's small face. His tone softened, "Shu'er, your father doesn't want to die. You should obediently go with the broker."

Meng Shu sneered; she had known this day would come.

She had overheard something earlier: "My father had been planning to sell me before the New Year, and today he's found a good excuse. He figured I wouldn't give in, so he made my stepmother do this in front of the villagers."

The matchmaker stepped forward and took a good look, secretly pleased. The little girl was extremely pretty for her young age, with excellent features.

The woman wiped away her tears, fearing that her stepdaughter would say something else, and got up to take her son off the oxcart, and pressed her younger son down to kneel on the ground as well.

“Shuya, our family really has no other choice. Zhou Yapo and I have pleaded and begged to sell you to a wealthy family in town. They will provide you with good food and drink. Once your father recovers, he can use his academic degree to find a job in town and use the money to redeem you.”

Meng Shu glanced sideways at her pretentious stepmother, a surge of hatred welling up inside her.

"When Mother passed away, Father sold her dowry and brought you, a pregnant courtesan, into the family. How come he can't even afford a few doses of medicine now?"

Upon hearing this, the elders of the clan exchanged bewildered glances. To use the dowry of one's ex-wife to marry another woman of such humble origins was an absurd act that even peasant families would be ashamed to do.

There's another issue. If it were an ordinary family selling their son or daughter, they wouldn't need to act like a woman. The Meng family is different. Firstly, it's inevitable that the stepmother would be criticized for making the decision. Secondly, Meng Chengwen relies entirely on his wife's family for support, so selling Meng Shu now wouldn't stand up to outsiders.

However, there were also those who disliked Meng Shu.

"Sister Shu, you're being too harsh. Years of drought have taken their toll. No matter how wealthy a family is, they can't survive all these years. Besides, your father is seriously ill. Selling yourself for money would be a way to fulfill your filial duty."

"That's right. Your father at least has a degree of official rank. It's possible to redeem him after he recovers from his illness."

Meng Shu tilted her head and saw that the two aunts who were speaking were on good terms with her stepmother, so she said, "Aunt San Niu is absolutely right. Your family has sold two daughters in a row, and your life is obviously getting better."

Aunt San Niu spat and turned her head away.

During the four years that Meng Shu lived under her stepmother's care, she learned that her stepmother originally planned to raise her until she was fifteen years old, and then sell her to a wealthy family in town as a second wife. This time, she guessed that her stepmother had gotten a better price at the brokerage.

"Fine, I don't care about this family. I just want the three of you to kneel in front of my mother's grave and kowtow a few dozen times. Then I'll go with this old woman in front of me."

Meng Shu turned and went back into the courtyard, picked up the bundle she had packed earlier, and without even glancing at her stepmother, stared at her father on the oxcart. "Well, are you coming up the mountain with me now?"

The woman gritted her teeth and turned to look at Meng Chengwen.

"Do you really intend to do this?" Meng Chengwen stopped coughing, and his question carried a hint of gloom.

"If you don't agree, I'll just kill myself, and you can forget about getting the money from selling yourself."

Ninety percent of the residents of Mengjia Village are members of the Meng clan, and there is a cemetery on the back mountain.

Scattered mounds of earth lay scattered in the valley. Apart from a few larger graves with stone tablets, the rest of the mounds had only a stone altar placed in front of them.

There was only an inconspicuous grave mound, standing alone on the outer edge, with a wooden board in front of it bearing the crooked inscription "Tomb of the late mother, Zhou Zhen".

Meng Chengwen was already weak from being helped up the mountain by the woman, and his complexion worsened when he saw the words on the tombstone.

"Since ancient times, women have been required to conceal their names after marriage. You are simply ignorant!"

After clearing away the weeds in front of the grave and adding new soil, Meng Shu placed the fruits her mother loved on the offering table and gazed at the tombstone in silence.

Before long, a red sun slowly rose from the horizon, stretching Meng Shu's small shadow longer and longer.

She looked up at the crimson expanse, and her eyes welled up with tears.

Since her mother passed away four years ago and her uncle disappeared, she could no longer stay in this family.

Under the intrigued gazes of the villagers, Meng Chengwen clenched his fists and reluctantly knelt on the ground. Meng Shu composed herself, staring intently at the couple who had married later in life, her fingers digging into her palms as she held the bundle.

She was filled with hatred, remembering how her mother, before her death, lay emaciated in bed, while her so-called father spent vast sums of money to redeem a prostitute...

When Meng Chengwen collapsed in front of the grave, his forehead dripping with blood, the crowd rushed forward, shouting and yelling.

Meng Shu felt a surge of relief, her gaze sweeping over a patch of newly sprouted, serrated weeds near the tombstone. No one knew that this nameless little weed, over time, would drag a grown man into the abyss...

If you do the math, Meng Chengwen doesn't have much time left to live, and at that moment, Meng Shu smiled silently.

--------

This was the forty-third year of the Qian Yuan era of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the fourth year since Meng Shu lost her mother's protection. She had grown up safely to the age of ten, and her features had become increasingly bright and clear.

The third day of the third month in the Chinese calendar is an auspicious day for travel and offering sacrifices.

On this day, Meng Shu sold herself into slavery, which became the starting point for all subsequent events.