Lovely Blossoms

Jingfei stood by the door uncertain how to act. She had heard many stories about the Fourth Miss. Stories that told of a girl that never spoke. Stories that she was dumb possibly even deaf. Stories that were even stranger and hard to believe about her mothers history...

Fen Hua finished eating and set the bowl down on the table. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and took a deep breath.

"How are you doing?" She asked Jingfei hoping to start off the conversation in a friendly and welcoming way.

"How am I doing?" 'Why was she asking these things?'

"Yes, is your day going good?"

"I have had better days," Jingfei said. 'It would have been better if I didn't have to be here with you'. She thought angrily.

"Ah well that's no good." Fen Hua had expected her to say her day was going good, so her admitting it wasn't was a bit of a surprise. "Have a seat," she said pointing to the only other seat in the room.

Jingfei knew better then to disobey the Fourth Miss, no matter how unlike she was, she was still expected to be a servant. It just so happened that her ankle had been hurt earlier that day so sitting was not as unpleasant a thought as it would have been otherwise.

"Look Jingfei, I can see that you are not happy having to be here with me, but life sometimes gives us hurdles that we would rather not cross."

"Yes Miss," Jingfei said blandly. Of course she knew the truth in that. Hadn't it only been three years since she became a servant? Wasn't her family once one of the wealthier merchants in the area? If not for the death of her father, and the wickedness of his business partners she would never be here. She glanced at Fen Hua and sighed. She knew that this girl too had had a hard life. And if the rumors were true.... She decided that Fen Hua at least deserved a chance to be more then trash in her eyes.

Fen Hua noticed the change in Jingfei and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Can I ask you some questions? I don't leave my room very often so I don't have a lot of information about the outside. I would like you to tell me things about the world that we live in." She glanced down nervous that she would seem suspicious asking a question like that.

"Yes I can tell you about things, ask me what you would like to know." Jingfei had no reason to doubt Fen Hua, it was only logical that she would know little about the outside world.

"If I were to say, want to leave and start a life on my own would that be something I could do?"

Jingfei stared at her in surprise.

"If you were to leave the family home Miss, you could only do so if you married."

"But what if I just walked out of here? Is there a way for a single woman to live on her own without having to resort to ya know? Like selling herself?"

"I don't think so Miss. If there was a way to live without selling yourself then I would not be here myself."

Fen Hua realized that Jingfei thought she meant as a servant, and not as a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e. She sighed. Being a maid didn't sound great either. Living here with a bunch of people who hated her though.....

"What if I started some kind of business or something? Isn't there any way for a woman to make a living on her own? Any way at all?"

Jingfei thought about it for a while then suddenly remembered a widow who made money washing and mending clothes. But she already had a home and friends and people who were willing to help her by hiring her to do those things even though maids would have normally done it. There also was the crippled woman who lived by begging for scraps. There was the old lady who ran the small restaurant, but that was bought by her husband before he died. But there was also...

"There is one way Miss. A wealthy family allowed their daughter to create clothes, embroideries and and other things that she could sell to other wealthy families. After a while she became quite well known, her clothes were sold even by my own family's business. She began to hire other women to help with her work and eventually she became very famous."

Fen Hua was happy to hear that there was at least one path she could go down. She was skilled in all kinds of tailoring thanks to her life as Li Shen and all the odd jobs she had done to get by.

"But that business ended when she was married." Jingfei ended. "It is not very proper for a woman to make money."

Fen Hua sighed. It seemed the world she was in now gave her little to not options. She turned to look at herself in the mirror. She was far to delicate and feminine to pass as a man. So any idea of pretending to be one to get by was a big no. There had to be a way for her to get away from this family and start a new life on her own. Being poor without a family wasn't the worst thing that could happen. She had lived like that for most of her life after all.

"Miss," Jingfei asked hesitantly. " Can I ask you something?" She knew that she was overstepping the master servant relationship right now, but she also felt that Fen Hua was something in the middle. Not quite a master, but not her equal either.

"Sure," she said still thinking about a way to leave this home.

"I have heard some rumors about your mother...."

"Rumors" Fen Hua said instantly on guard. Even though she wasn't actually her mother she already felt like she loved her more than anyone she had ever loved in her life. If she was about to say something negative about her she would not let it go.

Jingfei was oblivious to the strong reaction that her statement had caused.

"Your mother, is it true that she is the daughter of the deceased outcast Prince?"