Let Go of that Eunuch! [Fantasy/Humor | COMPLETED]

20. Hidden Rose

A/N 1: Um, should I really be encouraging votes when it means I have to write an extra side story? 😂 Nope nope, noppity nope (jokes, hit that lil ⭐️ yo~).

~•~

It felt like months since I last saw the Director (okay, okay... in reality it was like a week or so but I swear time was going by so slowly that it felt like years). Even though I'm always complaining to Deng and the other eunuchs about not having enough time to myself, I didn't think that one day I would have all the time in the world. Um, so yeah, now that I actually had free time on my hands, I had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

Sighhhhhh...

I flop back onto the bed, feeling completely drained even though these days all I seem to do is eat, drink, sleep and take care of turtle-san. Yup, you heard right, I've disrupted turtle-san's hibernation and the Director's pet was definitely not being a cuddly bunny about it.

I hover a blade of grass near turtle-san's nostrils, causing him to flare (???) them, shake his head and sneeze rather loudly (uh, could turtles even sneeze?). In his state of disorientation, he even attempts to nip my fingers (luckily I pulled them away quickly enough or I'd be pet food).

"Even you're being mean to me huh?" I grumble, rapping my knuckles against his hard shell.

Turtle-san turns around to give me a disapproving look.

"...Tch," I chastise, "like father, like son."

(Lan Shen Yu: ...😑)

I felt listless, restless and bored. Sometimes I would even pace around the room and mutter to myself (...the first sign of craziness everyone *waves sadly* kthxbai *turns away and dabs at tear*).

I guess I was just so used to the Director ordering me around all the time that I was experiencing DWS (Director Withdrawal Syndrome). But the worst realization was that unlike me, Director Lan was doing fine and going about his daily business as usual.

In fact, when I ran into him earlier today, he was surrounded by a bunch of bald men and clearly having a ball (okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little).

"...Guard the remaining gold carefully." Lan Shen Yu orders before rolling up the paper scroll they were making googly eyes at. "At this stage, we can't afford for anything to go wrong."

A funny feeling wriggles in my stomach as I observe them from a distance.

Noooooo.... 😱

I shake my head furiously, attempting to erase all feelings of jealousy. Why the heck was I feeling... jealous (???) of a bunch of bald men being ordered about?! That's it, lock me in an asylum and throw away the key already.

A stray leaf blows past me just as the Director lifts his head and glances in my direction. The golden tassels hanging from his tall eunuch's hat sway gently in the chilly draught.

I freeze on the stone steps, way too obviously doing nothing. While all sorts of scenarios ran through my mind and I tried to look busy by tidying my garb, Lan Shen Yu merely swept his dark gaze over me as though I didn't exist.

His thin voice fades into the distance as the group walks away.

Did I honestly think that I was an exception to the Director simply because I was stuck to his side every day?

In reality, I was just another eunuch whose sole purpose was to serve him.

It was like Pokémon to the trainer: choose the right one for the battle and when it fell out of favor, just replace it with another. Or wands to wizards: if they broke or became unsuitable, simply go to Ollivanders to get a new one. 😢

I move to the dresser, toying with the lotus shaped Yan Zhi container in my hand. Finally, I  flick open the lid to reveal the creamy, rose colored contents of the container.

Eunuchs, though no longer real men, were not allowed to wear Yan Zhi, jewelry or dresses.

These days, I hardly remembered what I looked like with my hair down and what it felt like to wear a dress. This drab navy eunuch outfit had become my norm.

My eyes brighten as I remember what was hidden in the bottom of my trunk...

When I first began my life in ancient China as an "eunuch", I had secretly saved up coins for months (each month's pay was always measly thanks to Director's Lan's continual subtraction from my wages every time I made a mistake).

When I had finally saved up enough funds, I used half of it to tailor a dress and jewelry set (in case I needed to escape from the evil clutches of the Director). After all, who would be able to guess that Jin was actually not an eunuch? The other half of my savings was meant to be my travel fee. But as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, I grew busier and busier, becoming involved in all sorts of palace affairs and conveniently forgetting about my original plan...

Until now.

I place the Yan Zhi container firmly on the dresser, the metal material clinking softly against wood.

It was too bad that I would never get to use such a pretty colored blush.

Turtle-san stretches out his neck, sniffing at the Yan Zhi (I swear I could almost see him wrinkling his nose in disgust) before slowly shuffling back to his temporary residence and retracting his limbs into his shell.

My fingers travel over the raised baby blue and orange embroidery of the linen dress, pausing as they come across a small paper box. Unfolding the box, I tip out a delicate pair of silver earrings.

I pick them up gingerly, holding them against my earlobes (*looks left, looks right*).

Hmmm, no doubt about it.

I still looked like a crossdressing version of Eunuch Jin. 😂

I managed to find a little comfort in the thought that my appearance would become much less cringeworthy once I actually had the dress on.

Regardless, it was time that I left here. If I stayed any longer, I'd probably forget my true identity.

I wasn't Director Lan's Xiao Jin Zi, born and raised in ancient China thousands of years (BC) ago.

I was Jin Yuan Bao from the twenty first century, and with her help, I would leave here unnoticed.

~•~

A/N 2: I wanted to add a note here that the Director's behaviour atm is a perfect embodiment of the recently popular Chinese web phrase:

傲娇一时爽，追妻火葬场。

Meaning that the proud male lead is mistakenly enjoying his moment of glory and ignoring the female lead by being cold and unapproachable towards her. However, when he realises he's wrong and wants her back, he pretty much needs to be prepared to chase her all the way into a crematorium and pull her out of the incinerator 'cos she is already that far gone 😂 ...

Anyway, I don't know if this translation makes sense to anyone who doesn't understand Chinese but I just wanted to mention it.

Another phrase is "bu zuo si jiu bu hui si", which literally translates into "no zuo no die". Haha, I'll let you guess what that means.

Ahem, also... if you actually managed to read all the way up to here, heads up! This chappie marks 3/4 of the way to the end of the book. So if you haven't voted yet, go ahead and press that lil ⭐️ now... 😌