Chapter 1245 Leaving the House (2)

Du Wanqing softened her voice and said, "Mom has served me for so many days, I am reluctant to let her go, but in the future, my life in this mansion will become more and more difficult. It is not enough for mom to be loyal, but also to have courage and strategy, otherwise, if you are not careful, you will lose everything. At that time, not to mention the glory and wealth I promised you, even your life will be beaten to death with the crime of aiding and abetting the tyrant. What to do, you decide for yourself!"

Mrs. Zhang was frightened, and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, saying, "I will never panic and make the young lady angry in the future. I will do whatever the young lady says. By the way, young lady, what should we do next?"

Du Wanqing sneered and said, "Help me find out where our young lady's manor is? I will find an opportunity to have someone visit her!"

"Yes!"

Mrs. Zhang has been completely conquered by her, and whatever she says is what she means. After Du Wanqing gave the order, she went out to inquire.

…

Caiwei only found out that Xiangyun had left the Duke of Liguo’s mansion a few days later, because she was busy with an important matter these days and had no time to contact Xiangyun.

What she was busy with was very meaningful, and it concerned the fate of thousands of palace maids!

In the ancient imperial palace, palace maids have always been a tragic character.

Once they were selected and entered the palace, they lost all their freedom. Most of them had poor food and clothing, simple housing, lifelong hard labor, and could not meet their parents. The cumbersome etiquette and strict hierarchy made it almost impossible for them to get ahead. In addition to completing various hard labors, they also had to read books such as "Female Training" and "Female Filial Piety Classic" under the instruction of the female eunuchs who knew books to distort their minds. If the palace maids violated the rules, they would be punished with "locking", "lifting bells" and "standing on the board".

Palace maids who fell ill had no doctors and died on their own. This dynasty stipulated: "If a palace concubine or below is sick, doctors are not allowed to enter to get medicine for the evidence." This is the case for palace concubines, let alone palace maids. When a palace maid got sick or got old, she had to rely on her own vitality to survive like a guilty person, or wait for death. After the death of a palace maid, there was no burial place, and the ashes were filled into a dry well after being burned.

Not to mention, sometimes palace maids were buried alive, so women from the people were unwilling to enter the palace, and even tried to avoid the selection. For this reason, there were even forced marriages.

Caiwei accidentally learned about these things and felt very emotional.

It is not easy for a person to live in the palace. How many young women were selected into the deep palace in the best years of their lives, and then lived a dark life, and never got a chance to get out of the dark. They had no chance to experience the love, marriage, and happiness of having children as a woman. Their youth was gradually consumed and corroded in the palace, and finally they grew old and died. After death, they did not even have a grave, and they were all turned into ashes and poured into the deep well.

If she was a palace maid, living in this deep palace, how desperate she would be! And how inhumane the system of treating maids in the palace is!

Immediately, she summoned the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and asked him about the number of maids. When she learned that there were as many as 6,000 maids in the palace, she was stunned.

It is said that there are 3,000 beauties in the harem. She always thought that there should be only 3,000 maids in the harem, but she never thought that there were as many as 6,000. Now there is only her in the harem, and she can't use so many maids at all. Instead of keeping them to increase expenses, it is better to let them go and live their own lives.

In the evening, she told this idea to Nangong Yi.

Nangong Yi looked at Caiwei thoughtfully, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the teacup in his hand, and said, "These palace maids were selected several times when the emperor was in power. There is no rule to release palace maids in this dynasty, so there are more and more palace maids. In all dynasties, when the emperor passed away, a large number of palace maids would be buried with him, and some would be sent to nunneries. Therefore, the palace has a large number of palace maids in reserve for emergencies."