A Forbidden Happiness

Chapter 11

In the Forbidden City, many preferred to be sent to the grave rather than to The Office of Careful Punishment. If you came back at all, you didn't come back whole. His Majesty liked to pretend that the guards and momos in the Office of Careful Punishment were upstanding people, only striving for truth but everyone knew that a few pieces of silver or a promotion for a close relative could have a witness turned into a corpse. The guards that stole her away from Molan were none too gentle as they pulled her down the winding streets. The frozen fear wrapped around her body transformed into an inferno as the gates of The Office of Careful Punishment came into view.

Jiayi wondered if she would ever see the sun again as she was pulled deeper into the bowels of the building. The smell of piss and blood churned her stomach. Jiayi glimpsed the sight of a limp hand for only a moment before she snapped her eyes shut. She couldn't dampen the sounds of the screams and grunts of pain but she could close her eyes to the gruesome truth. The guards pushed her to the ground of the cell and slammed the door behind her. The cell was completely bare save for a moldy hay-filled bed and a commode. If Jiayi stretched herself out flat, she would be able to touch both walls. The guards tugged at the lock of the cell before striding away. Jiayi snatched her hand off the floor as a mouse scurried by and into the hall. She couldn't smother her gasp at the sight of a crew of eunuchs towing away a body covered in a bloodied sheet. Walking leisurely behind them were a pair of momos. The taller of the two was wiping her wet hands with a rag while the other glanced into Jiayi's cell.

"Yo! Yi momo, isn't that one of the girls we whipped some time ago?"

Yi momo, peered between the bars of Jiayi's cell before smiling, showing off her missing teeth.

"It looks like you're right, Qi momo. Some of these girls never learn," she said with a shake of her head.

With a sigh, Qi momo crossed her arms, "I hope she didn't piss off His Majesty too much. We worked all morning on that one," she said, nodding her head to the hallway where the body was carried out.

"Let's have lunch before they come find us," said Yi momo.

The pair left, leaving Jiayi alone again, with only the sounds of the other poor souls in the jail to keep her company. The metallic tang of blood overwhelmed her at last. She crawled over to the commode and wretched before pushing the bucket away. Curling up on the pile of hay masquerading as a bed, Jiayi tucked her face into her knees. Her journey to the Forbidden City so many years ago started very like this. Dragged away and put behind a cage, only this time Jiayi wasn't sure if she was going to come back out.

Had Fung gonggong given her up? Did they already know she was guilty? Would they execute her? Jiayi's crime wasn't so grave. She had been a good maid to Xiang gui ren all this time and hadn't caused trouble. Being beaten to death was terrifying but it was a far better outcome than being sent back to Su gonggong. Thinking of the man again, Jiayi was surprised to feel a hot rush of anger slice through her body. The sheer force of it brought tears to her eyes.
Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Was she the only woman in the Forbidden City he could torment? This was the closest she had ever been to happiness and that disgusting man was doing his best to snatch it away from her.

"Jiayi," a slimy whisper called.

Fighting the urge to scream, Jiayi picked up her head and looked at Su gonggong. The man was pressing his gaunt, gray face between the bars, gnarled hands gripping the metal tight.

"You're in a bad way, aren't you, my dear," he cooed, "I have a few connections here, if you promise to be a good girl I can–"

Sick of hearing the shit that Su gonggong was spewing, Jiayi picked up the commode bucket and lashed the contents into his face. The man retched and sputtered, wiping the acrid liquid from his eyes.