That officer nodded. “Alright, I’ll let him enter the palace to chop firewood. Little beauty, you should be satisfied with this. I have helped you with such a favour. How are you going to thank me?” Looking at his face, I really wanted to puke. His current appearance was even more disgusting than my face.
Xiao Rou glanced at him coquettishly and said, “Let’s meet at the south entrance tonight. Handsome brother, I’ll head off first. Please take care of my brother!” After saying that, she walked out from the crowd with her hips swaying .
The officers were still focused on Xiao Rou in a daze. I waved my hand in front of his eyes as I shouted, “Officer! Officer!”
The leader of the officers snapped back to reality. “What do you want?”
I asked, “What am I supposed to do now?”
The officer replied, “Do you still have any belongings elsewhere?”
I replied, “No, I’ve only myself.”
He replied, “En! Head over there and wait. After gathering all the new personnel, we’ll enter the palace.”
I respectfully agreed before running to a corner. I could faintly hear the officer saying behind me, “There’s actually such a sibling. Why do they have such huge disparity in their looks?”
Just as I walked to the corner, Xiao Rou, who had turned back to the size of a squirrel, ran and pounced over to my chest. I patted her little head and replied, “If it wasn’t for you, it would have been terrible. Thank you, Xiao Rou.”
Xiao Rou licked my hand before snuggling in my arms where she slept.
……
It was already afternoon when the soldiers had recruited the necessary staff, and gathered us to head out.
At a glance, I discovered that there were about 20 people, but I didn’t know what their jobs entailed. After walking for about an hour, we finally reached the royal palace. Due to our low status we walked in through side entrance. After entering the palace, the scenery completely changed. There were exotic flowers and rare herbs in the everywhere. Even though the architecture wasn’t as sophisticated as the human race, it was able to express the unrestrained spirit of the Demon race.
The soldier commanded, “Keep your eyes down and don’t look around. If not, and something happens, don’t blame me for not warning you beforehand.”
After hearing his words, I immediately lowered my head. Currently, I just want to settle down here peacefully before thinking through other things that I had to do.
The soldier led us to a small courtyard before saying, “Alright, you just have to wait here. The supervisors that are in charge of the stewarding the palace will be coming shortly to record your names and assign your tasks. This is the home of Our Imperial Majesty, The Demon Emperor. Even though you are unlikely to see His Majesty, you must be cautious as you work. Do you understand?”
Everyone harmoniously agreed. That soldier seemed to be satisfied with his awe-inspiring authority as he walked away with a smile.
Since I was ugly, there wasn’t even a newcomer that was willing to strike up a conversation with me, keeping me at a distance. However, this suited me quite well as it would save me quite a lot of trouble.
After a while, a person with a medium stature and wore the palace livery walked over with two guards behind him. There was a book in his hand that seemed to be a registry of the names of job. When he walked to the front of the group, he cleared his throat before saying, “Everyone, quiet down. You’ll all be under my supervision from now on. You’re to remember to call me Vice Manager Rui Dong or Vice Manager. Alright, everyone of you are to report your name and task one at a time, starting from the far left.”
There was a lithe Demon with an ordinary appearance at the far left. He bowed towards that Vice Manager before respectfully saying , “I am Li Cha, my role is to be a gardener here. Lord Vice Manager, please take care of me in the future.”
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Volume 9: Chapter 22 - Imperial Firewood House
After the Vice Manager entered him in the registry, he said, “Alright, go and stand on the left side. Someone will take you to the gardening department soon. Next!”
……
It was finally my turn. I hastily moved forward and said with a bow, “Lord Vice Manager, you can call me Eighteen. My role is to split logs at the firewood house.”
When the Vice Manager raised his head and looked at my appearance, he furrowed his eyebrows as he said, “What on earth were those brats doing to recruit such an ugly person? But I’ll let it slide and allow you to be as ugly as possible as no one will see you anyway. You’re to behave and be diligent in splitting logs after today.”
I hastily agreed. “Thank you, Vice Manager. I will definitely do my best.”
“En!” The Vice Manager agreed as he motioned for me to stand aside.
Finally, everyone’s names had been recorded by the Vice manager and taken to their respective workplaces. I was led away by a fatty along with two others. He led us to a big building before saying, “This is the kitchen. You’ll be working here in the future. Ugly, you’re to head to the rear courtyard of the kitchen. There’ll be an old fellow there that will assign you your work.”
I immediately agreed and dashed towards the rear courtyard alone.
The courtyard was large and contained many people, some were washing vegetables while others were cooking meat, all contributing to the bustle of the kitchen. There were a pile of logs at the north-east corner of the grounds. This should be the place I am to be stationed. When I walked over, I saw an old man with snow white hair splitting logs.
I respectfully said, “Greetings to you, sir.”
The old man raised his head and looked at me before replying, “What do you want? You need something?” His tone, devoid of any humility, suggested that he was anything but a log splitter.
I replied. “I have been assigned to assist you in splitting the logs.”
The old man sized me up before saying indifferently, “Then go and find some logs to split. Remember, you’re to chop them evenly to avoid having those picky fellows from the kitchen complaining again.”
I nodded as I found a log and sat down. The old man tossed me a firewood axe before pointing to the circular logs at the side.
I placed a circular log in front of me before I gently struck down with the firewood axe. I used my strength to cleanly split the circular log in two. It was a pity that I couldn’t use my magic and battle spirit. I would have to just split it with pure strength.
When the day ended, even though I didn’t split many logs, I was so tired that my waist was sore and back ached.
When it was dinner time, unbeknownst to me, the old man had procured some food and shared half of it with me. “Eat up and rest early. Tomorrow, you’re going to continue splitting logs. Your current pace is incomparable to this old man’s pace. How can that be satisfactory?”
After taking my portion of food from him, I asked, “How long have you been here?”
The old man dazed a little before saying, “I’ve forgotten. It should at least be thirty years.”
“You have split logs for thirty years? Why haven’t you left?” I replied in astonishment.
The old man snorted before saying. “What’s so good about the outside? Even though it’s a little tough here, life is still stable. Splitting logs during the day until I’m worn out and sleep after eating at night. Isn’t that good? Ah! That’s right! Wait a moment before you eat.” Upon saying that, he turned around heading towards the firewood house. After a short moment, he was holding onto a worn out bottle gourd. He looked as though the bottle gourd was something that was dearest to him. He said, “It wasn’t easy to obtain this. Do you want some?”
I asked, “What is that?”
The old man mysteriously grinned and replied, “Premium wine.”