Chapter 15, Miscellaneous Services Hall

Chapter 15, Miscellaneous Services Hall

Chapter 15, Miscellaneous Services Hall
After Hua Changxi arrived at the Medical Bureau, she was about to enter through the main gate. The gatekeeper learned that she had to report to the errand hall and told her in a unpleasant tone that errand boys could not go through the front door and could only enter and exit the Medical Bureau through the side door.

Hua Changxi was stunned for a moment, asked about the location of the side door, walked around for a long time before entering the Medical Department, and walked for half an hour before standing outside the service hall.

This time, Hua Changxi did not see Eunuch Jia. As soon as she entered the servants' hall, she was called over by Xiao Luzi, the eunuch who sent her away yesterday.

Xiao Luzi didn't pay much attention to her and called over a young woman in her twenties.

"Xiangru, this is a new servant. Put her wherever there is a shortage of people."

Leng Xiangru looked at Hua Changxi and asked her to wait at the door.

Hua Changxi stood outside the door. Perhaps because of her practice, she found that her five senses had become much more sensitive, and the whispers in the room kept coming into her ears.

"Eunuch Lu, now is not the time to recruit menial workers. Who is this person?"

"Oh, I don't have any background. I just helped my godfather with a small favor by accident, so I shamelessly asked for a job in the Odds and Ends Hall."

"Doesn't that mean that Hua Changxi has caught the eye of Eunuch Jia?"

"Haha, what nonsense are you talking about? Is my godfather so easy to please?"

"Yes, yes, Xiangru was wrong. Eunuch Jia is a man in the palace. He has seen all kinds of important people. How could he be interested in a young lady?"

"Hua Changxi is an expert at handling medicinal herbs. If she is assigned to handle difficult herbs in the future, you should use her. If she is not useful, I will not give her to you."

"I know that Eunuch Lu loves me."

"Well, go ahead, we'll talk in the evening."

"Hate it, I'll take him away now."

Leng Xiangru came out of the room with a smile on her face. Seeing Hua Changxi standing there properly without looking around, she smiled and said, "You are an honest man. Come with me."

Hua Changxi showed no emotion on his face, but he was very uneasy in his heart.

The two people in the room just now spoke in such a disgusting tone that you could tell they had a special relationship.

"Du Ruo, come here for a moment."

Leng Xiangru led Hua Changxi to a yard with a sign saying "Sixth Bureau" and waved to a woman in her thirties.

"Butler Leng."

Du Ruo was leading a few of his men to clean a batch of medicinal herbs. When he heard Leng Xiangru's call, he immediately put down his work and trotted over.

Leng Xiangru pointed at Hua Changxi and said, "This is the new servant. He will follow you from now on. You will be responsible for training him."

Du Ruo immediately agreed: "Don't worry, Manager Leng, I will train him well."

Leng Xiangru looked around at the servants working in the yard, and seeing that no one was slacking off, she turned and left.

As soon as she left, the servants who had been working hard a moment ago couldn't help but look at Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi was also secretly looking at everything in the yard.

The yard was as big as a football field, and there were hundreds of female servants inside. Behind each servant there were at least two carts of medicinal materials waiting to be cleaned.

"how old are you?"

Hua Changxi quickly retracted his gaze and said quickly: "Thirteen."

Du Ruo took off the bib in front of him and asked, "From your accent, you are a native of Beijing, right?"

Hua Changxi nodded: "Yeah."

Du Ruo: "Can't make ends meet at home?"

Hua Changxi let out an "ah" in confusion.

Seeing her like this, Du Ruo looked strange: "If your family can't make ends meet, then why did your family let you, a young lady, come out to do odd jobs?"

Hua Changxi said vaguely: "I want to learn medicine."

Du Ruo smiled: "Learning medicine? Then you have come to the wrong place. The Servants' Hall does not teach medicine. You should go to the Apprentice Hall and the Disciple Hall."

Hua Changxi: ".Can't get in."

Du Ruo stopped talking and probably figured out the situation of his new subordinate.

His family background is ordinary and lower, otherwise, he would not have thought of coming to the Service Hall to study medicine.

Du Ruo noticed that his men were still looking over here, and couldn't help but scolded: "What are you looking at? Don't you want to sleep at night? Hurry up and work!"

After saying that, he looked at Hua Changxi and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to the Internal Affairs Department to get your things."

Hua Changxi hurried to follow.

When the two men walked out of the yard, another male servant came over pulling a cart of medicinal herbs.

When Du Ruo saw this, his face didn't look very good: "I don't know how long we will be busy tonight." As he said that, he glanced at Hua Changxi.

"You are unlucky. You entered the Oddlers' Hall at the wrong time. September and October are the busiest times of the year."

"According to the rules, new recruits have to clean and process two hundred herbs every day for the first three months after joining the errand hall, and that's considered completing their duties."

"But you can't do that in September and October. Even if you're a newbie, you still have to clean and process 500 herbs every day."

Hua Changxi asked tentatively: "What if we can't finish cleaning it?"

Du Ruo glanced at her with a half-smile and said, "No, because you can't sleep until you finish cleaning."

After that, he didn't care about Hua Changxi's reaction and continued talking as he walked.

"People outside think that the Medical Department is a government department, and that even if one comes here to do menial work, it is an honor."

"But menial work is just menial work, no different from other places. In fact, because the amount of medicinal materials used by the Medical Department is large, the work is more arduous than other places." "As long as there is news of recruitment in the Apprentice Hall and the Disciple Hall, all places in the capital will keep an eye on it. But when the Menial Work Hall recruits people, any family with a little bit of money will not even look at it."

Du Ruo glanced back at Hua Changxi and asked with a smile, "Do you still want to join the Miscellaneous Services Hall?"

Hua Changxi quickly expressed his determination: "Of course. Manager Du, don't worry, I will work hard in the errand hall."

Hearing her say this, Du Ruo raised his eyebrows, smiled, continued to walk out, and began to talk about other things in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

"The Miscellaneous Services Hall is managed by Eunuchs Jia, Sun, and Zhao who came from the palace. Each of the three eunuchs is in charge of a department, each of which is divided into ten bureaus, and each bureau has about a hundred people."

"We are in the Sixth Bureau of the Third Department under the jurisdiction of Eunuch Jia."

"The person with the highest status in the Third Office is Eunuch Jia, followed by Eunuch Fu, Eunuch Lu, and Eunuch Shou. They are the chief stewards of the Third Office."

"Of the ten bureaus of the Third Office, the first, second, and third bureaus are under the jurisdiction of Eunuch Fu; the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh bureaus are under the jurisdiction of Eunuch Lu; and the eighth, ninth, and tenth bureaus are under the jurisdiction of Eunuch Shou."

"Each bureau has a second manager, and under the second manager, there are ten third managers, and each third manager manages ten people."

"The steward Leng who handed you over to me before is the second steward under Eunuch Lu. And I am the third steward under Steward Leng."

"If you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me. If I can't handle it, go to Manager Leng. Remember, don't go to the wrong person."

Seeing that Hua Changxilu didn't say anything, Du Ruo smiled and said, "Do you understand?"

Hua Changxi nodded: "I understand, Manager Du, are the other bureaus as big as our sixth bureau?"

Du Ruo: "Some games are even bigger than our sixth game."

Hua Changxi exclaimed: "That errand hall is really huge."

There are three offices in the Miscellaneous Services Hall, each with ten divisions. Each division is at least as big as a football field. No wonder they have not left the Miscellaneous Services Hall after walking for so long.

Du Ruo smiled and said, "The only advantage of the Miscellaneous Hall is that it occupies a large area. The Apprentice Hall and the Disciple Hall combined are not as big as the Miscellaneous Hall."

Seeing that Du Ruo was easy to talk to, Hua Changxi dared to ask more questions: "Manager Du, besides cleaning the herbs, do we usually do other chores?"

Du Ruo asked back: "Why, do you still want to do his job?"

Hua Changxi smiled shyly: "I'm just asking."

Seeing that she was young, Du Ruo didn't say much: "Washing and processing medicinal herbs is not the most tiring and difficult job in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall. You just saw those people pulling the medicinal herbs."

"The people who pull carts and do odd jobs collecting herbs at medicine shops, medicine mountains, and medicine valleys are the ones who have the hardest time. They are all very physically demanding jobs."

Hua Changxi asked again: "Will we be assigned to collect herbs?"

Du Ruo glanced at her and said, "Unless you make a mistake and are punished, generally speaking, the heavy labor is done by male servants, while female servants only stay in the servants' hall to process medicinal materials."

As they were talking, the two of them finally left the service hall. After leaving the service hall, they walked for another quarter of an hour before arriving at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When the new servant reported for duty, Hua Changxi received a servant badge, two sets of servant clothes, and a set of bedding.

Du Ruo: "The front of the sixth bureau is where the medicinal materials are processed, and the row of rooms at the back are where we eat and sleep. There are ten people in one room."

Hua Changxi looked at the bedding and said, "Manager Du, do I have to live in the servants' hall?"

Du Ruo smiled: "You're not still thinking about going home to sleep, are you? You'd better be prepared, because you may have to work until midnight every day in the future."

Hua Changxi was numb, and followed Du Ruo back with the things in his arms.

When they were about to reach the gate of the Sixth Bureau, Hua Changxi saw from afar a woman who was wearing the same manager's clothes as Du Ruo, chatting and laughing with a middle-aged man, and the two were talking very intimately.

Soon, the two men noticed Hua Changxi and Du Ruo approaching and stopped talking and laughing.

"Bull manager."

Du Ruo took the initiative to greet the middle-aged man.

The man was the second in command of the fifth bureau. Although Du Ruo was not his subordinate, she still had to greet people of higher rank than her.

Before the man could speak, the woman standing next to him spoke first: "Manager Leng is really biased. He immediately gave the newcomer to you, Sister Du."

Du Ruo glanced at her and said, "Ling Xiao, if you want a new person, you can go and talk to Manager Leng. I was really short of people, so Manager Leng filled the position for me."

Ling Xiao chuckled and wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks, but when she saw Manager Niu glance at her, she could only turn her head away in displeasure and said nothing more.

Du Ruo looked at Manager Niu and said, "There are still many things to do today. I'll go get busy first."

Hua Changxi quickly followed Du Ruo. Even after walking a few meters, he could still hear Ling Xiao's cold snort coming from behind.

Du Ruo: "Manager Niu is the second manager of the fifth bureau. Ling Xiao and I are both the third managers of the sixth bureau. She and I don't get along well. If you see her in the future, stay away from her."

Hua Changxi: "I will listen to Manager Du."

Soon, Hua Changxi was taken to a room by Du Ruo.

"You will live here from now on. I will take care of the people living here. You should get along well with them."

Looking at the bunk bed for ten people in front of him, Hua Changxi, who attached great importance to privacy, felt a little overwhelmed.

"You clean up first, and come find me when you're done. Today is your first day on duty, so you only need to clean and process 200 herbs."

After Du Ruo left, Hua Changxi sat on the bed and let out a breath.

She had previously thought that the Miscellaneous Services Hall was simple, but when Manager Du told her about the structural framework of the Miscellaneous Services Hall, she had a premonition that the people and things here were definitely not simple.

As expected, on the first day, he first discovered that Eunuch Xiao Luzi and Steward Leng had an unusual relationship, and then he discovered that another third steward from the Sixth Bureau and the second steward from the Fifth Bureau had a close relationship.

What a mess!
I hope these complicated human affairs will not affect her.

(End of this chapter)