Chapter 15: The Servants' Hall
After arriving at the Medical Department, Hua Changxi intended to enter through the main gate. However, the gatekeeper, upon learning that she was there to report to the Miscellaneous Duties Hall, brusquely informed her that miscellaneous staff were not allowed to enter through the main entrance and could only use the side door.
Hua Changxi was momentarily taken aback and inquired about the location of the side entrance. After a long detour, she finally entered the Medical Department and, after walking for half an hour, stood outside the door of the Miscellaneous Duties Hall.
This time, Hua Changxi did not see Eunuch Jia. Upon entering, she was immediately summoned by Xiao Luzi, the eunuch who had escorted her out the previous day. Xiao Luzi paid her little attention and called over a young woman in her twenties.
“Xiang Ru, this is the newly recruited miscellaneous staff. Assign her wherever there’s a vacancy.”
Cold Xiang Ru sized up Hua Changxi and then told her to wait by the door. Standing outside, Hua Changxi noticed that her senses had sharpened significantly, perhaps due to her cultivation. The hushed whispers inside the room filtered clearly into her ears.
“Eunuch Lu, this isn’t the usual time to recruit miscellaneous staff. Who is this girl?”
“Heh, no special background. She just happened to do me a small favor, so she shamelessly begged for a position in the Miscellaneous Duties Hall.”
“So that means this young lady has caught Eunuch Jia’s eye?”
“Hehe, nonsense. It’s not that easy to get into Eunuch Jia’s favor.”
“Yes, yes, it’s my fault. Eunuch Jia is a palace official and has seen all sorts of important people.”
“But Hua Changxi is skilled at handling medicinal herbs. If she’s assigned to deal with difficult herbs in the future, use her. If she were useless, I wouldn’t have given her to you.”
“I knew Eunuch Lu cared about me.”
“Mm, go ahead. We’ll have a proper talk tonight.”
“Annoying, then I’ll take her now.”
Cold Xiang Ru emerged from the room with a smile in her eyes. Seeing Hua Changxi standing properly without looking around, she smiled, “She’s honest. Come with me.”
Hua Changxi showed no emotion outwardly, but inside she was uneasy. The tone between the two inside was overly familiar, clearly indicating a special relationship.
“Du Ruo, come here.”
Cold Xiang Ru led Hua Changxi to a courtyard marked as the Sixth Bureau and summoned a woman in her thirties.
“Supervisor Leng.”
Du Ruo was leading several subordinates in cleaning a batch of medicinal herbs. Hearing her name, she immediately put down her work and ran over.
Supervisor Leng pointed to Hua Changxi. “This is the new miscellaneous staff. She’ll be under your charge from now on. You’re responsible for training her.”
Du Ruo promptly replied, “Don’t worry, Supervisor Leng. I’ll train her well.”
Leng glanced around at the miscellaneous workers cleaning herbs in the courtyard. Seeing no one slacking off, she turned and left.
As soon as she left, the diligent workers who had been focused moments before began scrutinizing Hua Changxi.
Hua Changxi quietly observed the courtyard as well. It was about the size of a football field, housing over a hundred female miscellaneous workers. Each had at least two carts of herbs waiting to be cleaned.
“How old are you?”
Hua Changxi responded quickly, “Thirteen.”
Du Ruo took off her apron and asked, “From your accent, you’re a local from the capital?”
Hua Changxi nodded. “Yes.”
Du Ruo asked, “Is your family unable to support you?”
Hua Changxi was puzzled and merely uttered “Ah.”
Seeing this, Du Ruo’s expression turned strange. “If it’s not that your family can’t manage, why would they send a young girl like you out to work as miscellaneous staff?”
Hua Changxi answered vaguely, “I want to learn medicine.”
Du Ruo laughed. “Learn medicine? You’re in the wrong place. The Miscellaneous Duties Hall doesn’t teach medicine. You should go to the Apprentices or Disciples Hall.”
Hua Changxi said, “I can’t get in.”
Du Ruo fell silent, having roughly understood the situation of her new subordinate. She came from a humble background; otherwise, she wouldn’t have thought to come to the Miscellaneous Duties Hall to learn medicine.
Du Ruo noticed some of her subordinates glancing over and scolded sharply, “What are you looking at? Don’t want to sleep tonight? Get back to work!”
Then she looked at Hua Changxi. “Come on, I’ll take you to the Internal Affairs Courtyard to collect your supplies.”
Hua Changxi hurried after her. As they left the courtyard, some male miscellaneous workers arrived pushing carts of herbs.
Du Ruo’s expression darkened. “Don’t know how late we’ll be busy tonight.” She glanced at Hua Changxi. “Your luck’s bad; you came at the wrong time. September and October are the busiest months in the Miscellaneous Duties Hall.”
“By rule, newcomers must clean and process two hundred herb bundles daily for the first three months to complete their duties.”
“But in September and October, even newcomers must clean and process five hundred bundles daily.”
Hua Changxi cautiously asked, “What if I can’t finish?”
Du Ruo gave her a half-smile. “You won’t be able to sleep if you don’t finish.”
Ignoring Hua Changxi’s reaction, she continued walking and speaking.
“Outsiders think the Medical Department is a government office and believe even working as miscellaneous staff is an honor.”
“But miscellaneous staff are just miscellaneous staff, no different from elsewhere. In fact, because the Medical Department uses a large volume of herbs, the work is even more strenuous.”
“Whenever the Apprentices or Disciples Hall recruit, everyone in the capital watches closely. But when the Miscellaneous Duties Hall recruits, respectable families don’t even glance at it.”
Du Ruo looked back at Hua Changxi and asked with a smile, “Do you still want to join the Miscellaneous Duties Hall?”
Hua Changxi looked at her firmly. “Of course. Supervisor Du, don’t worry, I’ll work hard here.”
Du Ruo raised her eyebrows and smiled before continuing to explain more about the hall.
“The Miscellaneous Duties Hall is overseen by Eunuch Jia, Eunuch Sun, and Eunuch Zhao, each managing a division. Each division is divided into ten bureaus, each with over a hundred people.”
“We’re in the Sixth Bureau of the Third Division, under Eunuch Jia’s jurisdiction.”
“The highest authority in the Third Division is Eunuch Jia, followed by Eunuchs Fu, Lu, and Shou, who are the chief managers.”
“The ten bureaus in the Third Division are divided as follows: Bureaus 1, 2, and 3 under Eunuch Fu; Bureaus 4, 5, 6, and 7 under Eunuch Lu; and Bureaus 8, 9, and 10 under Eunuch Shou.”
“Each bureau has a secondary manager, under whom are ten tertiary managers, each supervising ten people.”
“The Supervisor Leng I gave you is a secondary manager under Eunuch Lu. I’m a tertiary manager under Supervisor Leng.”
“If you encounter difficulties, come to me. If I can’t solve it, then go to Supervisor Leng. Remember, don’t approach the wrong person.”
Seeing Hua Changxi silent, Du Ruo smiled, “Do you understand?”
Hua Changxi nodded. “Yes, Supervisor Du. Are other bureaus the same size as ours?”
Du Ruo replied, “Some bureaus are even larger.”
Hua Changxi exclaimed, “The Miscellaneous Duties Hall is really huge.”
With three divisions, each having ten bureaus the size of a football field, no wonder it took so long to traverse the hall.
Du Ruo laughed. “That’s the only advantage the Miscellaneous Duties Hall has. The Apprentices and Disciples Hall combined are only as large as the Miscellaneous Duties Hall.”
Finding Du Ruo approachable, Hua Changxi dared to ask more questions. “Supervisor Du, besides cleaning herbs, do we do other tasks?”
Du Ruo asked in return, “You want to do other tasks?”
Hua Changxi smiled shyly, “Just asking.”
Du Ruo, seeing her youth, didn’t say much. “Cleaning herbs isn’t the most tiring or hardest job here. You just saw those pulling carts.”
“The ones pulling carts and picking herbs from the stores, mountains, and valleys do the toughest physical work.”
Hua Changxi asked again, “Will we be sent to gather herbs?”
Du Ruo glanced at her. “Only if you make a mistake and are punished. Generally, heavy labor is done by male miscellaneous staff. Female staff stay in the hall processing herbs.”
Hua Changxi quickly thanked her for the advice.
By then, they had finally left the Miscellaneous Duties Hall. After another fifteen minutes, they arrived at the Internal Affairs Courtyard.
As a new recruit, Hua Changxi received a miscellaneous staff badge, two sets of uniforms, and a set of bedding.
Du Ruo explained, “The front of the Sixth Bureau is where we process herbs. The back building is where we eat and sleep, ten people per room.”
Looking at the bedding, Hua Changxi asked, “Supervisor Du, do I have to live in the Miscellaneous Duties Hall?”
Du Ruo smiled. “You don’t still expect to go home to sleep, do you? You better prepare yourself; some nights you might work until midnight before resting.”
Hua Changxi felt overwhelmed, clutching her belongings as she followed Du Ruo back.
Near the entrance of the Sixth Bureau courtyard, Hua Changxi spotted a woman dressed like a supervisor chatting closely with a middle-aged man. Both noticed Hua Changxi and Du Ruo and stopped laughing.
“Supervisor Niu,” Du Ruo greeted the man.
He was the secondary manager of the Fifth Bureau. Though Du Ruo was not his subordinate, she still showed respect to someone of higher rank.
Before the man spoke, the woman beside him said, “Supervisor Leng is really favored. A newcomer arrives and is immediately assigned to Sister Du.”
Du Ruo glanced at her. “Ling Xiao, if you want a newcomer, talk to Supervisor Leng. I only got this one because I was short-handed.”
Ling Xiao chuckled, but after a look from Supervisor Niu, she turned her head away in displeasure and said no more.
Du Ruo looked at Supervisor Niu. “There’s still a lot of work today. I’ll get back to it.”
Hua Changxi quickly followed Du Ruo, but a few paces away, she could still hear Ling Xiao’s cold snort behind them.
Du Ruo said, “Supervisor Niu is the secondary manager of the Fifth Bureau. Ling Xiao and I are both tertiary managers in the Sixth Bureau. She and I don’t get along well; stay away if you meet her.”
Hua Changxi replied, “I’ll listen to you, Supervisor Du.”
Soon, Du Ruo brought Hua Changxi to a room.
“This will be your place.”
Looking at the ten-person dormitory, Hua Changxi, who valued privacy, felt a bit crushed.
“Unpack first. When you’re ready, come find me. It’s your first day, so cleaning and processing two hundred herb bundles will suffice.”
After Du Ruo left, Hua Changxi sat on the bed and exhaled.
She had underestimated the Miscellaneous Duties Hall. After Supervisor Du explained its structure, she sensed the complex human relationships inside.
Sure enough, on her very first day, she discovered the unusual relationship between Eunuch Lu and Supervisor Leng, and then the close ties between the Sixth Bureau’s tertiary manager and the Fifth Bureau’s secondary manager.
It was a tangled web!
She hoped these complicated politics wouldn’t affect her.