Chapter 8: Peony Tears (Part 2)

  Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Qilin's enthusiasm for singing was fully exposed. After singing enough, she cleared her throat, stretched her waist, and unfortunately, she had no sleepiness at all.

  Suddenly, with the wind, a faint sobbing sound was transmitted. At first, Qilin thought she had misheard it. But after listening carefully, there really was a woman's sobbing sound. It seemed to be near the fake mountain. Qilin stepped forward, and just then a cold gust of wind blew over, making Qilin feel a chill run down her spine. This scene couldn't be the legendary ghost haunting, could it?

  Qilin took a deep breath, intending to pretend she hadn't heard it and go back to sleep. However, her body didn't listen to her commands, and instead walked to the fake mountain on its own. Standing there allowed her to hear more clearly - this was indeed a woman's sobbing voice. It couldn't be that the woman had drowned here and was coming out to haunt at night, could it?

  With a nervous heart, Qilin poked out her head. In the dim light of the candle and moonlight, she vaguely saw a figure that seemed to be at the level of a young lady. The clothes were quite luxurious, even the hair bun looked good, and the decorations on her head sparkled in the light, which was not something an ordinary maid would have.

  In the dead of night, a woman was crying here, still at the level of a young lady. Had she encountered something? Been abandoned by her lover? Or squeezed out by colleagues? Qi Lin made all sorts of assumptions. She didn't pry into other people's habits, so she didn't plan to show up and ask clearly, just wanted to go back to sleep, tomorrow there were still a lot of things to do.

  Unfortunately, just as Qilin turned around, the dog's paw stepped on a stone and made a noise. Qilin stiffened and stood still in her tracks, almost petrified.

  "Who is there?"

  As expected, she was discovered. Qilin didn't plan to hide either, and slowly walked out from behind the fake mountain. The woman who had just been crying stood up straight, with her back to the light so that her face couldn't be seen clearly, but the white peony flower in her hair gave away a hint to Qilin.

  The girls in the Drunken Flower Pavilion, except for the new one who came a year ago and is now the courtesan, all have flower names. This girl has peony flowers on her head, and should be the legendary Peony Girl who was kicked off the stage.

  "Who's there?" got no answer, although she saw someone, Peony asked again. "Who are you? What are you doing there?"

  "Uh? I'm Ah Xue, a third-class maid. I live here and couldn't sleep so I came out for a walk. I didn't mean to disturb you, Miss. Please forgive me. I'll leave immediately and won't say anything." Just as Qilin was about to slip away quietly, she was called back.

  "Ah Xue? Are you the maid who was mentioned by the other maids, the one who did something strange with the wooden bucket for washing clothes?" Mudan slowly walked closer to Qilin. Although she looked good from a distance, she had thought she would be a beauty, but unexpectedly, the red mole on her left eye was extremely noticeable, almost covering half of her face. How could this maid have such audacity?

  Qilin listened with a flushed face to Peony's evaluation of the washing machine she made, although it was wooden bucket-like, but not strange, Qilin still bowed her head and said "Yes...yes, servant."

  Peony carefully observed Qilin, seemingly nothing out of the ordinary, but instead became curious. Peony's voice softened as she spoke, "Tonight is indeed a sleepless night, since you've seen me, I don't need to hide."

  "I'm sorry, Miss Peony, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, it's just that..."

  "I know you didn't mean it. Even if you did, I was the one who disturbed you." Peony's gentle voice accompanied by the breeze sounded a bit desolate.

  Qilin looked at Peony with surprise, this peony didn't give her the impression of being as proud as she had imagined, now it seemed more like a lovely girl. Although crying, but it made her delicate and beautiful face even more touching, just relying on the weak light, Qilin already appreciated it very much, indeed, ancient beauties are numerous.

  "Miss Peony is being polite, I'm just a lowly servant, how could I possibly be a disturbance?" Qi Lin replied cautiously, afraid that one misstep would land her in the woodshed.

  Qilin slightly raised her eyes, carefully sizing up Peony. She didn't expect the saying "beautiful woman under the moon" to actually come true. Although she had never seen that legendary flower queen, she thought Peony was quite pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, crying beauties couldn't arouse Qilin's slightest sympathy. Just as Qilin was about to find an excuse to slip away, she was called back by Peony.