Didn't Love You Enough
/ Didn't Love You Enough Chapter 6
Published at 8th of June 2022 04:44:11 AM
Chapter 6 – Entering the Palace
Lin Jia Bao ate the vegetable and minced pork congee. It was very delicious, and unconsciously he sped up his speed of swallowing.
“It's steamed buns made from white flour, so delicious! I have never eaten such a delicious steamed bun,” one of the children in Lin Jia Bao's group said as he took big bites out of the steamed bun.
“Yeah, it's delicious, it's delicious.” A few of the other children also echoed this sentiment.
“Tut! It's just a few white buns,” a delicate-looking child said scornfully.
Lin Jia Bao looked at the white steamed bun in his hand. His family very rarely ate white steamed buns. Because there were so many people in the family, they usually ate corn noodles together.
Lin Jia Bao took a bite of the steamed bun and chewed slowly. There was a slight sweetness to the bread, which was really tasty.
Everyone ate a lot for lunch today. Lin Jia Bao ate two steamed buns and a bowl of congee. Lin Jia Bao felt his own belly. It was the most filling meal he's had in the past two weeks.
In the afternoon, the managing eunuch in charge came to lead them to a large bathhouse, and had them wash themselves clean.
Then they had to go into a room one by one, and let two old momos* inspect them while naked.
[*T/N: momo 嬷嬷 translates to elderly lady or wet nurse (or even Catholic nun), but in this setting it means an older female servant in the palace]
Lin Jia Bao stood stiffly and turned around in accordance to the old momo's instructions. Then he went to lie on a small couch and let the old momo inspect the lower part of his body.
One of momos saw that his appearance was good and touched him all over. “Such smooth skin.”
Lin Jia Bao's little face turned red from shame, and he did not dare to move or speak.
After the inspection, the old momo had him get up. One of them dipped a brush into a porcelain bowl of shou gong zhu sha* on the table, and then painted a dot on the inside of Lin Jia Bao's arm*.
[*T/N: shou gong zhu sha 守宫朱砂 – some of you may be familiar with this trope. A red dot on the inside of a (usually female) person's arm signifies that they are a virgin. When they lose their virginity that mark is supposed to disappear. The application method of the mark and the ingredient(s) used vary from story to story.]
After that, they did not make things difficult for Lin Jia Bao, and they had him get dressed and exit the room.
Lin Jia Bao left the room and came to a large courtyard. The people who have been inspected were already waiting on one side of the yard. Lin Jia Bao walked over and stood with them.
Lin Jia Bao was fascinated by the bright red dot on his arm. This was the symbol of chastity, the shou gong zhu sha mark.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise from the other side of the courtyard. From another room, a girl was being dragged out. “Momo spare me, momo spare me, ah! Spare my life!” The girl cried and screamed.
Several strong eunuchs held the girl on the ground and hit the girl with a long and thick wooden stick.
“What kind of place do you think the palace is? You think the dirty and the filthy can come in here? You dare to come here to commit adultery? One word: death.” An old momo said loudly to the courtyard of people.
The girl's cries rose and fell. Eventually she stopped screaming, leaving only the sound of a stick hitting flesh.
Blood splattered along the stick, and the girl's lower body was already badly mangled and mutilated.
The people all around were scared to death, and they did not dare to speak. A few of the more faint-hearted ones almost fainted.
Lin Jia Bao did not dare to look at the scene again. His face was sheet white.
After a while, it was confirmed that the girl was no longer breathing, and was towed away, leaving a large pool of blood on the ground.
This was the first time that Lin Jia Bao has seen a dead person, and it was the first time that he understood the cruelty of the palace. He secretly told himself not to make any mistakes. Everyone in the family was waiting for him. He had to safely make it out of the palace.
When their group of ger children was all inspected, it was time for dinner again.
They all went to go eat dinner. The evening meal was the same as the noon meal: minced meat congee and steamed buns.
After going through the trying afternoon, everyone's complexion was bad.
When Lin Jia Bao thought of the scene he saw in the afternoon, he was nauseated. He barely drank down a bowl of congee and ate a steamed bun.
At this time, the gong gong in charge came in with a momo dressed in a gray palace uniform. When the children saw them, they all put down their bowls and stood up.
“This is Xi momo. In the following month, all of you have to study well under Xi momo and learn the rules of the palace,” said the gong gong.
“I am Xi momo. The thirty of you ger children palace attendants will be under my management for the next month. From tomorrow on, you will all learn the rules and etiquette in the palace with me. Right now, I will first pass out your palace attendant uniforms. After entering the palace, you cannot wear your own clothes. Go change first, then take your things, and gather here. I will take you to where you'll be living.”
“Yes.”
T/N: Help! I made a mistake in the last chapter! The term 双儿 shuang er showed up and I translated it as “twin,” but this is actually the “male omega” or “ger” of this world, meaning they are men who can get pregnant, if you know this trope.
Now I have a conundrum. I was under the impression that the Chinese term for “ger” was 哥儿 ge er, based on another story that I read with gers in it. Please correct me if I'm wrong! I don't know if that's the actual Chinese term or not, it was just an assumption based on the translator's explanation. If anyone knows, can you please tell me where the term “ger” came from? And what's the Chinese for it?
Right now, I'm inclined to translate 双儿 as “double-sex child,” because that makes the most sense to me. 双 is double and 儿 is child. I just can't reconcile it as ger, because it looks nothing alike, and autocorrect keeps changing it to “her.” (>_
Chapter end
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