Gu Fei and the Second Miss kept their heads down as they moved through the crowd, the latter clutching tightly to Gu Fei's hand.
She didn't know what had just happened, but she was certain of one thing: their escape was all thanks to Jadeite.
One by one, the women of the household were marched like lambs to the slaughter into the cold, damp women's prison of the Ministry of Justice.
The women and maids of the Pingyang Marquis Mansion totaled nearly a hundred people. The women's prison was instantly overcrowded, with each cell crammed with ten or so individuals.
Gu Fei was in the same cell as the Second Miss, who clung to her the entire time, refusing to let go.
Once inside the cell, Gu Fei finally let go of the hand that had been clutching the front of her tunic.
She looked down. Her fine cotton inner tunic was torn all the way to her waist. If it wasn't mended, it would be unwearable.
The Second Miss saw it too. She blinked, lifted her tunic, and pulled a peach-pink, floral-patterned silk sash from her waist. She handed it to Gu Fei. "Here, use this to cover yourself."
Gu Fei gave a rueful smile. 'If a guard saw something like this, they'd snatch it away immediately.'
After a moment's thought, she tore the peach-pink sash in two. She handed one half to the Second Miss. "Use this as a belt, so your trousers don't fall down."
The Second Miss blushed and tied her half of the sash around her waist. She then saw Gu Fei pull a white cotton strip of cloth from her own waist and begin to wrap it around her chest.
The Second Miss quickly reached out to help Gu Fei secure it.
Gu Fei then used the other half of the peach-colored sash to secure her own trousers. She glanced down at herself. 'It's hardly elegant, but at least I'm not exposed anymore.'
Only then did Gu Fei have the presence of mind to survey the cell.
The cell was no more than ten square meters. The floor was strewn with straw and a few tattered, discolored quilts. A small window, barred by two wooden posts as thick as a child's arm, was set two or three meters up the wall.
In one corner of the cell sat a chamber pot, its outer walls covered in clearly visible, suspicious stains.
Gu Fei took one look and didn't dare to look again.
Besides a few of the Second Miss's personal maids, the cell also held several scullery matrons from the kitchen.
Gu Fei tugged on the Second Miss's arm. "Let's go sit over there."
'The air should be a little better near the door.'
The Second Miss already saw Gu Fei as a sister, but now she was ready to follow her lead without question.
The two had just sat down by the bars of the door when a woman's shrill cry rang out from the cell diagonally across from them. "How are we supposed to live like this?! There isn't even anywhere to sit!"
Gu Fei peered through the bars. It was the Marquis's third concubine.
The woman had been bought from a brothel. Accustomed to using the Marquis's favor to demand the finest food and clothes, she could never endure such a filthy, chaotic place.
Before a guard could intervene, the Marchioness in the opposite cell snapped, "If you don't want to live, then go die! No one's stopping you!"
Soon, only the Third Concubine's hitching sobs could be heard from the other side.
The Second Miss huddled even closer to Gu Fei, whispering, "Jadeite, are we going to be stuck in this prison forever?"
Gu Fei shook her head. She had no idea what fate awaited them either.
It had been dusk when they arrived. Perhaps they had missed the mealtime, as the jailers hadn't given them so much as a bowl of watery gruel.
The sky was now completely dark, and an oil lamp cast a faint, gloomy yellow glow.
Gu Fei's stomach growled. The Second Miss glanced at her, then rubbed her own stomach. "I'm so hungry, too."
Gu Fei whispered, "Go to sleep. You won't feel hungry if you're asleep."
She struggled to her feet to grab a quilt.
But the few tattered, discolored quilts were gone from their original spot.