Looking at the three who endured their pain as they knelt and thanked her, Qu Qing Ju raised her cup and took a sip, "A lot of people here are likely very confused as to why I punished you."

The heavy sound of flesh under blunt force rang in the ears of the three kneeling. They didn't dare wipe the sweat on their foreheads as they kowtowed and said they didn't dare.

"I'm a reasonable person, but it is just that you, as part of the kitchen, has become intolerable. I cannot do anything other than punish you." Setting down the cup in her hand, Qu Qing Ju's voice seemed slightly helpless.

Even if wang fei didn't hold the favor of wang ye, she was still the wang fei that the Emperor had personally decreed marriage on. Did a kitchen dare act intolerably to her? Even though everyone present felt something wrong, nobody dared argue. Didn't they see the person who had just been yelling slander was still getting a beating?

"Who in this wang fu doesn't know that I'm ill, the taiyi[35] had previously ordered what I shouldn't be eating. But look at what you have served every day?" Qu Qing Ju gave a small sigh, her face full of sadness, almost as though she was a bullied stalk of little cabbage.[36] "I know you are cannot be bothered to treat an ill wang fei. I felt the same too, death was an end. But since I've recovered, I want to have a good life. You purposefully deliver oily foods, is it in hopes that I would get ill and die earlier?" After finishing, she sighed in woe. If it wasn't that somebody was still enduring a beating, her look would have made others feel pity.

The three servants started to kowtowing again, wanting to explain but didn't dare to. They were afraid wang fei would say "disobedience against their zhuzi" and continue their beating.

Seeing that the kowtowing had gone on long enough, Qu Qing Ju waved her hand weakly as though she had been severely wounded emotionally, "That's fine, you can stop now and all leave." Finishing, she turned to Rui Xiang who was right behind her, "Give some ointment to them. These people must be essential in this fu, we can't let them not attend to their vital duties."

The four kneeling felt despair rise. Since wang fei said they were important and held vital duties, then tomorrow, even if they had to crawl, they had to be doing their jobs, unless they wanted to be thrown out of the fu. But they were servants that had signed a death contract, what good outcome would await them if they were thrown out?

Finished ordering everything, Qu Qing Ju slowly stood and turned to look at the ce fei and shiqie that had arrived at some unknown time. Her face made a surprised expression, "When did you all arrive? Since you are here now, then come in."

Done speaking, she didn't care to what their faces showed, she took Shu Kui's hand and walked into her rooms.

[1]端王府: 端王 is Duan Wang. Duan (端) means straight, upright; proper if it is used as an adjective. As a noun, it primarily means the beginning, end, or the limit. 王 can mean both a prince or a king. However, the highest power belongs to the emperor, not a 王. 府 is a compound, house or mansion. Fu (府) can only be labelled and called as such if it is bestowed as part of a position or inherited in the aristocracy. Families can be referred to using their actual surname or the name of their fu so it becomes the House of —–, similar to Western royalty. 端王府 is therefore the household and the mansion that was bestowed to Prince Duan when he received his title.

[2]婆子: literally old woman. There are three primary meanings: baggage - a despicable/pitiful woman, a wife, or an old female servant. Only the last meaning is relevant in this case. Po zi are usually lower ranked servants, used for common-labor or other tasks.

[3]内院: The "inner courtyard" where the women reside. It also refers to the interactions and social spaces of women. See more in the glossary on the fu.

[4] 丫鬟: servant girl, can also be called yatou (丫头). Equivalent to maids.

[5] 夹袄: lined jacket. Wide sleeves and a length to the waist. This style was common during the Ming and especially the Qing dynasties.

[6] 正院: The main building or the primary building. The residence of the wife. See more in the glossary on the fu.

[7] 王妃: the wife of a 王or prince. 妃, on its own, is one of the highest ranks of imperial concubine under the Empress.

[8] 姑娘: young lady, or young girl.

[9] 红帐子: the red canopy refers to both the decorations for the wedding, and also the bedroom canopy that covers the bed.

[10] 王爷: the pronoun to refer to a wang in normal conversation.

[11] 侧妃: ce(侧) means side. Ce fei refers to a "secondary wife".

[12] 鸡血玉镯: the literal translation would be chicken blood (鸡血) jade bracelet/bangle(玉镯)but phoenix blood is another name for the type of stone.

[13] 罗裙: luo qun, silk dress.

[14] 蜀绣: the style of embroidery originated from Sichuan so it is also called chuan-style. It is one of the four primary styles of embroidery in China.

[15] 络子: laozi, it's an ornament that's usually made through knotting, such as the classic Chinese knot, to create various shapes.

[16] 飞仙髻: flying(飞)immortal(仙) knot/braid(髻)

[17]鸾鸟:mythical bird related to the phoenix

[18] 步摇:dangling hair ornament or literally step shake

[19] 请安: literally ask/request (请) safety/comfort(安). It is performed in the morning by all females of the family in the household to the eldest female, the mother of the highest ranking male member of the family, or in the absence of that, his wife. This includes daughters, concubines, sisters and if the family has not separated and the brothers live together, their wives would also go.

[20] 后院: back(后) courtyard(院). Another way of referring to the neiyuan, the main difference is that houyuan is more commonly used to refer specifically to the women who were concubines of assorted rank and social status.

[21] 妾侍 (qieshi): general term referring to all concubines

[22] 本王妃: this(本) wangfei(王妃). Ben (本) is used by a speaker to refer to themselves in the third person (illeism). This form of speaking is used for more formal occasions, usually when the speaker is part of a conversation among equals or as the highest ranking person in the room.

[23] 侍妾: shiqie. Lower in rank than ce fei but not the lowest in terms of rank among concubines.

[24] 大丫鬟: da for big(大) or first-rank. These are the highest ranked yahuan who have the most experience and spent the most time with the female they serve. According, they receive better treatment than other yahuan.

[25] 西园: literally the Western Park. It would be a set of rooms on the western side of the compound.

[26] 妾: qie.Shortened and very general name for concubine

[27] 宠爱: chong(宠) is to pamper/spoil/love. Ai(爱) is love. Chongai is a very different concept than love. It usually refers to the amount often a man has sexual congress with one of his concubines. The more nights they have, the more chong the concubines is said to have. Favor and affection are terms that are very similar to the concept of chongai.

[28]氏: shi means clan name. Women, upon marriage, are identified by their surname and it is very rare that their personal name is recorded. This is the case even for princesses. They would then be referred to as --shi, to identify the family they came from.

[29] 昌德公府: Chang De(昌德) is the name associated with the title, meaning flourishing/prosperous (昌) virtue(德). Gong(公) means that it is a dukedom. 公府 is therefore the ducal compound.

[30] 太监: eunuchs, who were men that were castrated, are not the same as taijian as taijian refers to specific positions in the Imperial palace and government which were occupied by men that were castrated.

[31] 殿中省: department under the Chancellery, responsible for all aspects of the Emperor's life.

[32] 奴才: literally meaning slave. It's the illeism used by servants to refer to themselves when talking to those in rank above them.

[33] 嬷嬷: while it is pronounced mama, it refers to old female servants, and is used similarly to pozi.

[34] 小高子: xiao(小) is small, gaozi(高子) means tall.

[35] 太医 (taiyi): imperial physician. It is an official position.

[36] 小白菜: it means little cabbage. There is a song lyric where it is "little cabbage, from childhood, there was no dad or mom". It is also the nickname of a woman in one of the major murder cases in 1872, nicknamed so as she wore a white shirt and green pants. She was childhood friends with a man who grew up to participate in the government exams and became a government official. However, she was a childhood bride and therefore had to marry into another family. When the two grew up, the man was accused of adultery with Little Cabbage and murdering her husband due to machinations of another official in revenge. After various ordeals and torture, the truth was revealed. However, the man's body was ruined by the torture and couldn't return to his position. He quickly died after and Little Cabbage became a nun.