Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
Chapter 123: Speak Out

“Oy, Ming, calm down first.”

“Hiii, sorry, sorry!”

He didn’t come back to his senses even if General Li called him out.

In the end, the task of getting things under control fell on Yui Mei.

‘Argh, can’t be helped, then.’

Yui Mei approached Ming. She spread her feet and planted them firmly on the ground behind him, then she took a deep breath.

“STAND UP!!!”

Yui Mei roared threateningly with a deep voice, and her yell resounded throughout the entire mansion.

“Hiii!!”

Ming reflexively stood up, his face still messy with tears and snot.

“Good.”

Yui Mei nodded, satisfied.

The head nurse’s roar that could silence anyone in just a single attempt — no matter how much of a chaos the situation was — seemed to be effective in this world, too.

“Whoa, that sounded like the warcry of a battalion commander.”

General Li was shaking his head heavily, apparently from the buzzing of ears that he got from the sudden roar.

The old woman, on the other hand, had already escaped outside. She probably sensed something would happen, as expected of the wisdom of age.

“Huh, Ah?”

Although Ming stood up, he apparently didn’t know the reason why he did, because he had a blank look on his face.

He also caught sight of Yui Mei once again, but he no longer trembled in fear like before.

All the terror must have been blown away after Yui Mei shouted.

“I’m saying this once and for all, I’m not that Hui or whatnot that you’re talking about. Don’t go around getting scared just because you mistook me for someone else, you’re being a nuisance!”

Yui Mei crossed her arms and retorted, and Ming was taken aback.

General Li, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to replace the connection between the name Hui and Yui Mei’s appearance. That was also the case when they first visited this place together.

It seemed that even if he did know about Ming’s background story, he didn’t know the specific name and appearance of the emperor’s beauty.

Well, it was understandable, given that her mother lived in the Inner Palace, and the people she met were only limited.

It was no wonder that she had never met the general.

Li Yong entered the Inner Palace by masquerading as Libin while she met Ming because he was the shadow guard of the emperor, but both of them were rare cases.

“I am just a novice low-ranking court lady and subordinate of Aunty Yang.”

“Yang’s subordinate? Different? Ah, now that you mention it, you’re young…?”

Yui Mei’s belated introduction finally reached the ears of the confused Ming. She then continued chattering nonstop in order to prevent Ming from having another panic attack.

“I heard about your situation. I heard how you escorted His Majesty the Emperor’s Beauty to the borderland nunnery no matter what. It must have been a very difficult journey, given that the road that leads to the borderland from the capital is really terrible. I know, since I am from there.”

“You came from the borderland…”

Ming was shocked but Yui Mei continued on.

“Back when I was still in the borderland, I also heard about a woman who had the same circumstances as the beauty in the story, and it was from somebody who knew that woman.”

Both Ming and even General Li were taken aback by her sudden revelation.

‘Of course, when I’m telling the story I have to use that special move — “It’s the story of my friend”!’

Thus, this story would then belong to somebody she knew.

It was definitely not Yui Mei herself who said it, so there should be no effect on her current position.

It was the same technique that Du, the Eunuch, used earlier.

Yui Mei continued on in front of the stupefied men.

“According to that acquaintance, a woman came to the nunnery and she was from a place that was far from the borderland, which was pretty unusual. She was a person of lowly background, but by a stroke of good fortune, she entered the eyes of a noble person, and she also gave birth to his child.

That happiness was more than she could imagine.

However, that happiness was short-lived, and she and her child both came to the borderland nunnery.”

“Yeah…”

Ming’s eyes dimmed while Yui Mei told the story of her mother.

He also knew that part of her story.

However, the main issue of Yui Mei’s story started from here on.

“That woman told this to the nun that she became friends with. “I don’t want to continue living like this, because I might eventually hate that person, so I want to carry this happiness within me forever”, that’s what she said. After a few days, she took her own life, so they said.”

Ming’s eyes popped out when he heard the conclusion of Yui Mei’s story.

“What, what the…!!!”

Ming moaned as if he’s straining his voice, when Yui Mei shouted “BUT!!”

“That woman is pitiful, but at the same time, I think she’s a fool. Why did she decide that she would never be happy again? Was her child, who was definitely with her at that time, not enough to bring her happiness? Maybe that child could have brought her joy that would withstand all the pain of the past, and yet.”

Yui Mei had never told anyone, not even the nuns, about her feelings of resentment towards her mother, but she did so now, in a quiet but firm voice.

“Lassie…”

General Li muttered, his eyes also widening.

Ming was thoroughly taken aback, and his jaw dropped wordlessly.