Su Xi-er immediately decided to target the imperial guard nearest to her. In the same manner that she had used to deal with Pei Qianhao last time, she nimbly knocked the imperial guard out. The closer of the other two guards quickly rushed order, allowing Su Xi-er to use the same method of striking the neck to knock him out.
Finally, she watched the last imperial guard attentively from her hiding spot.
“Who exactly is it? Come out!” The imperial guard hollered in Su Xi-er’s direction.
A smile appeared on Su Xi-er’s face. If I come out, you will become an eyewitness to be used against me.
She then smacked a tree trunk directly beside her, alerting the guard with a crisp sound and causing him to run in her direction. However, upon arrival, all he found was his two companions lying on the ground. This won’t do. I have to immediately go back and report to Commander Wu.
Just as he turned around to leave, he spotted a figure appearing behind. Before he could turn around to get a clear look however, a numbness spread from his neck and his eyes rolled back in his head as he fainted.
Three imperial guards were knocked down by Su Xi-er in a moment.
Finally, Su Xi-er patted her sleeves and walked towards the Laundry Service Bureau.
There were more people in the Laundry Service Bureau compared to yesterday. Two to three palace maids were chattering.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with Old Maidservant Li today. She has shut herself in, and even her meals are delivered to her room. Is she sick?”
“How would I know? All I’ve heard is that the imperial physician came early this morning to treat that maid from the Palace Side Quarters. Isn’t she just someone who carries out manual labour? Unless she has a relationship with someone higher up, how could she invite the imperial physician?”
“That’s probably the case, but if she really has such connections, why would she still be transferred to the Laundry Service Bureau? Besides, she is so fat and ugly. Who would take a fancy to her?”
Su Xi-er listened from her hiding spot, immediately following them when they began to walk towards the backyard after talking for a while.
“No one has washed themselves yet today, right? The water vat is still full.”
“With so many clothes we had to wash today, many people’s bodies stink and they have to wash themselves. I will go and boil the water later.” The palace maids entered the room in front of them and prepared to take the pots to boil water.
Su Xi-er came out from her hiding location, quickly sprinkling an appropriate amount of itching powder so that it would cause red spots and itching, but not enough to induce inflammation. This kind of stuff can’t be used in large quantities. She had already been aware of that a very long time ago.
Once everything was handled appropriately, she swiftly darted back to a covert area and watched the palace maids scoop the water in the tank out.
The deed has been done. I’ll just have to wait for tomorrow. Su Xi-er tied the grey cloth wrapped with the itching powder before placing it into the fragrance sachet at her waist and tracing her steps to leave
That night, many palace maids from the Laundry Service Bureau washed themselves one after another. Although Old Maidservant Li didn’t have to seeing as how she didn’t work and thus not really dirty, she still washed herself to try to relax her frayed nerves.
Ruo Yuan was the only one who didn’t wash in the whole Laundry Service Bureau due to being bedridden from a fever caused by her beating from the cudgel.
~~~
The next day, right after Su Xi-er freshened up, she heard Hong Li making a big fuss right. In the past, Hong Li had at least had the discretion to be a bit quieter. Situations like this were rare.
Furthermore, after Hong Li’s red spots faded, she had caught a cold after washing in the middle of the night, causing her voice to sound a bit strange. Even though she rested for the whole of yesterday, she still hadn’t completely recovered, so her nose was still blocked when she talked.
“Su Xi-er, something bad has happened in the Laundry Service Bureau!”