Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

It was a bright day after Yui Mei moved out to the storage room.

Yui Mei was cleaning Lady Wang’s mansion as per her request.

“Let’s do some cleaning～♪”

She had special feelings toward the place, since it could be her birth home. She hummed as she vigorously cleaned the place.

‘Alright, I’m done!’

Yui Mei was satisfied with her own handiwork. She tidied her cleaning tools.

“Oi, Yui Mei.”

A male voice called her out. She turned towards the direction of the sound, and she found Libin standing in the garden with a grim expression on his face.

“Libin, what brings you here?”

The crown prince’s palace was far from Lady Wang’s residence, so it must have taken him quite some time. She wanted to ask Libin why he came to see her, when Libin wordlessly strode towards her.

“Is it true that you were bullied by your colleagues?”

He interrogated her.

‘Eh, bullied?’

Yui Mei tilted her head. She had a rough idea what Libin was pertaining to, but she wouldn’t consider that as bullying. Yui Mei thought she was fortunate that she did not have to lift a finger and yet she got her own room.

“…Is that a mistake?”

Libin realized that it was different from what he imagined, so his tightly crunched brows somewhat relaxed.

“Libin, may I know what kind of story you heard?”

“There were senior court ladies who saw you as an eyesore, so they framed you to chase you out from the lodging house.”

Libin responded frankly to Yui Mei’s question.

There must be a spy of the crown prince in the lodging house.

“Indeed. I transferred to the storage room.”

“Huh!?”

Libin’s eyes widened at Yui Mei’s affirmation.

“Really, I don’t have to be so reserved when getting my own room, after all.”

“Wait, wait. The room you’re talking about is the storage room, right?”

Libin retorted at Yui Mei’s earnest reply. It seemed like he did mind that part.

“Everyone’s so fussy about that place. If there’s nothing inside that storage room, then wouldn’t it be just an ordinary room?”

On the contrary, if things were placed inside a room meant for a person, then it would also turn into a storage room. In short, the perspective and intent were all that would matter with how a room was used.

Libin looked sullen.

“But isn’t it too narrow?”

Well, certainly it wasn’t a large room, but Yui Mei did not mind that it was narrow. It would be a different story if she were to spend the whole day there, but it was more than enough as sleeping quarters. Besides, she was grateful that she secured a space where she can relax.

“It is a narrow room for those who live inside a mansion, but it is more important to me that I have my own room, narrow as it might be. It’s easier to have privacy.”

She could stay up late since she got her own room. She was actually excited for her future life.

“But that’s the storage room, you know?”

“So what?”

After the repeated bouts of asking and answering questions, Libin confirmed that Yui Mei was really satisfied in moving out.

“Is there anything that you need?”

Libin finally asked.

“Will you give it to me? Then please, I would like to have a shelf. If it is small enough to display ornaments and other small articles, then that would be better. I looked through the stored things, but I couldn’t find one that I liked.”

Without any reserve, Yui Mei requested the thing she currently wanted to have. After Mei Na’s visit, she sneakily took some of the scraps of cloth that the court ladies didn’t need. It was her own room after all, so she wanted to decorate it. She also wanted to make a few things out of those scraps.

“In that case, then I’ll choose one for you.”

Yui Mei beamed in satisfaction when Libin said that. She thought that her remodeling project progressed one step further.

“Yui Mei, I have some snacks for you when you are done cleaning.”

Lady Wang’s voice floated from inside the residence.

“Thank you very much, it is already finished!”

Libin bowed his head beside Yui Mei when he heard her reply.

Lady Wang saw them. She was surprised.

“Oh my, isn’t it Libin from the Crown Prince’s residence? May I know why you are here?”

Apparently, Libin was not someone who normally stayed around this area.

Libin lifted his head slowly and responded to Lady Wang.

“It was due to a minor concern with the person here.”

He pointedly looked at Yui Mei. Lady Wang batted her eyes. A eunuch attending to the crown prince, and a court lady whose duty was cleaning – it was difficult to see any relation between the two.

 “Well then, since it’s a rare opportunity, would you like to eat a manju with us?”

“I am grateful for the offer.”

Libin bowed at Lady Wang.

‘So he came to eat manju.’

Yui Mei thought he was somewhat reserved, though. Her thoughts were written in her face, so Libin fiercely glared at her.

“It’s rude to refuse!”

“Is that so?”

Yui Mei genuinely thought he agreed because he was hungry, and that he thought it would be delicious.

“Well, you two look like you get along pretty well.”

Lady Wang pleasantly smiled at the sight of them whispering together in low voices.

‘We only talked around three times, though.’

As expected, was this number enough for two people to become friends? Yui Mei doubted it. That person also had a complicated expression, so he must be thinking the same thing.

“Please come in, I also prepared some tea.”

“Thank you very much.”

The two of them respectfully gave thanks to Lady Wang’s favor, when suddenly, a person came.

“Seems fun.”

A voice called out in the garden, and a man, who seemed to be forty-five years of age, walked towards them along with his attendants.

‘A lot of people came today.’

“……..!”

Libin suddenly forced Yui Mei to bow down.

“What are you doing!?”

Yui Mei hissed as she tried to resist Libin, but he pushed her head down with greater strength.

“Shut up, it’s His Majesty, the emperor!”

Libin murmured.

‘…Yes?’

————————-

T/L Thoughts: Lol at Yui Mei’s thought process. She thought Libin was the same as her, being the glutton that she was. So cute ? And now, the emperor appears! What will Yui Mei do? ?

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I sincerely wish you all happiness this 2021. Thank you for reading our novels, please take care of us this year, too! This is an extra chapter in celebration of the new year. Hope you enjoy it!

Hi everyone, Hanazakura here, thanks for reading, I’m grateful to you guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. We reached our 10th chapter milestone, hurray! Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace will now have a set schedule!  We will be releasing a chapter three times a week from now on. It will be every Mon, Wed and Fri, at 8:00 GMT. 

Please feel free to join us at our discord channel for release updates and more! Hope to see you there! We also have our Novel Updates page, if you enjoy what you are reading, feel free to leave a star rating and review, we appreciate it. I’ll be releasing an extra chapter for every 25 ratings we receive, as my token of appreciation.

I also launched my Ko-Fi page! Please do check it out if you would like to support me as I strive to provide high quality, manually translated chapters. Extra chapters will be released when Ko-fi goal is met! Thank you very much (deep bow)! I’ll continue doing my best!-