One Year Hiatus

So life happened. University has been keeping me on my toes. I regret not writing and publishing for a while. But I’m back writing again. I won’t be able to publish so often, but I have many ideas for this story and I want to share them with you. Hope you enjoy the read.

What happened until now:

19-year-old high school graduate Kim Jieun meets her almost identical doppelgänger Chu Hua, who turns out is a royal court lady from a parallel world called Cathay. Chu Hua tricks Jieun and they switch places. Now Jieun has to deal with the messy life that Chu Hua is leading (her enemies at court, her uous relationship with her brother Min Shuo, her duties as concubine of the Prince Lu Han) and meanwhile Chu Hua might be messing with Jieun’s life – her mother, her stepdad, her step-brother Chanyeol or the barista Oh Sehun.

A quick who is who

• Kim Jieun (IU) – Main Character
• Chu Hua – The Doppelgänger
• Kim Gayun – Jieun’s mother
• Park Young Hwan – Jieun’s Stepdad
• Park Chanyeol – Jieun’s stepbrother
• Oh Sehun – barista at local coffee shop
• Jin Zhong Da (Chen) – servant at Cathay Court
• Rong Min Shuo (Xiumin) – brother of Chu Hua
• Rong Lihwa – Min Shuo’s wife
• Zhenzhen – Chu Hua’s daughter, royal princess
• Qing Gong – Chu Hua’s dog
• Pei Meifeng, Jo Ruiling, Sin Yuke, Shy Jia – friends of Chu Hua’s
• Xingjuan – Chu Hua’s handmaiden
• Lu Han – Crown Prince of Cathay
• Lu Zian – Emperor of Cathay, father of Lu Han

Stay tuned to find out what happens...

And the story continues…

Small bits of sunlight fell in through the slim cracks in the wooden wall of my bedroom, but they were enough to make me bury my head in the pillows. I wanted to never ever get up again. Instead I wanted to dive right back into the deep sleep I had been brutally woken from by another barking tirade of Chu Hua’s damned dog, which was awake and outside my bedroom door.

“Shut up,” I screamed into my pillows.

Even though my scream had been effectively muffled, the activity had made my head hurt, so I stopped immediately. I felt like . Why did I have to drink again yesterday? Oh right, I had failed to escape – once again – and in my hopelessness and fury gulped down a series of rice wine cups.

Someone moved in the adjacent room and eventually succeeded in calming the dog down. It had to be my maid, Xingjuan, and if she was already here… damn, what time was it? I wished there were clocks around the place, but there weren’t, so I had to rely on my own sense of time and the angle at which the small streams of sunlight fell into my room from outside. I estimated that it was already noon, if not early afternoon.

I decided to emerge from my pile of pillows and to sit up. Despite my pounding head I managed to throw off the blankets that were trying to invite me to hide under them again, got off the bed and stumbled towards the bedroom door.

Upon opening the bedroom door I indeed found the servant girl Xingjuan kneeling next to and feeding the beast. She quickly got up, bowed and wished me ‘good morning’.

“Don’t tell me the temple is closed for lunch time again,” I said, leaning against the door frame and rubbing my pounding forehead.

“I’m afraid so,” said Xingjuan.

“Alright,” I murmured – not particularly surprised.

It seemed that if I wanted to escape successfully I would have to do some planning. And definitely no drinking the evening before…

“I could use a hot bath,” I said, remembering that there was a large wooden tub in the bathroom.

As usual Xingjuan wasn’t looking at me, but at some obscure spot on the floor. Still I could notice that my request caused her distress, because she almost started wringing her hands:

“I’m terribly sorry, milady, but… the regulations for Baolin state that a bath can only be taken every five days. You have to wait until tomorrow.”

Again Xingjuan was almost trembling… as though she expected punishment. I wondered whether court ladies regularly slapped disobedient servants… or worse… Would Chu Hua have? Well, it clearly wasn’t Xingjuan’s fault! It was palace regulations after all!

I sighed.

“Well, then, I’d like to get dressed and have breakfast.”

“Yes, Milady!”

I would have very much liked a bath, because after two days without one I was really starting to smell. During the dressing process I paid close attention and noticed that Xingjuan sprayed several of my garments with perfume first, before helping me to put them on. When I was fully dressed the sweet artificial fragrance successfully hid my body odor.

Thus assimilated and ready for court life, I was once again lead through the maze of corridors and to the cafeteria that was already full of women engaged in conversation and in the process of consuming their breakfasts or lunches.

Luckily I spotted the four now somewhat familiar faces of Chu Hua’s friends and promptly joined them at their table. Vividly remembering the rice attack from the day before, I sat with my back to the wall, instead of the other tables. Everyone in my little group seemed to be as hungover as I was and after the initial greetings, we spoke little and mostly ate in silence. I was feeling unwell and refrained from any heavy food, instead drinking a few bowels of hot seaweed soup. While sipping the broth, I pondered the question of how to organize my successful escape.

Optimally I would manage to reach the temple in the early morning so that I would have good light and maximum time to roam the fields and find my way back home… or if that failed… still manage to climb back over the wall and into the temple. The problem was that Xingjuan had duties in the mornings and I – well, Chu Hua – was expected to still be asleep during that time. So I would have to find a way to either free Xingjuan of her duties or get another servant to dress me. I was entirely unsure how much leverage I as Chu Hua had to make such requests. So far it seemed that I wasn’t all that powerful…

“We shouldn’t miss the chance to visit the Large Garden today” said one of Chu Hua’s friends, whose name I had finally gotten down as Yuke. “Qing Long will be happy to get some movement and fresh air, no?”

Yuke looked at me expecting an answer. It took me a moment to remember that Qing Long was the name of my dog – the beast.

“Oh? Oh yes!” I said, “He will be delighted. He’s been rather unhappy and sickly these days.”

“Sickly like yourself,” said a woman’s voice and I looked up to see the concubine who had flipped her rice at me yesterday.

Wan Ting. That was her name. She was accompanied by her own clique of girls, standing around and behind her, sneering.

“Need something?” I said defiantly.

“I’m all good,” said Wan Ting, my entire table now glaring at her. “But you look skinny as ever. No surprise his majesty the crown prince has lost all interest in you. Especially after you bore him such a sickly little worm.”

Wan Ting had to be referring to Zhenzhen – Chu Hua’s daughter. I could see Ruiling, the other friend of Chu Hua who also had a daughter, give Wan Ting a deadly stare and then turn her head expectantly at me. Of course as a mother I had to defend my child… even though it wasn’t technically mine.

I got up – which must have looked a lot less intimidating than intended, because Wan Ting and her herd of friends just laughed.

How could I attack her? I knew nothing about Wan Ting, except that she disliked me. What had Chu Hua and her friends done to her in the past? Oh, right, the fish up the sleeve.

“At least I don’t smell like fish all day, whether I got one up my sleeve or not,” I spat out, looking at Wan Ting provocatively.

I quickly looked around at my girlfriends; they all laughed and nodded at me encouragingly.

“Oh, please,” countered Wan Ting, “Don’t come at me with that. Of course you’d use a fish, that’s where your family is from. A dirty fishing village. The thing that smells most of rotten fish is the name Rong.”

Wan Ting was clearly the more popular one. Her clique was bigger and I had to wait for their laughter to die, before I could hit back.

“And yet here we are. Sharing the same dining room. I don’t see you moving up in court, despite what you might think about your birth. Surely if you knew how to please the crown prince, you’d have moved up the latter at some point.” I said crossing my arms.

By now our little verbal battle had attracted quite a few spectators. Almost the entire room had either come to stand around us or were looking over from their tables.

Wan Ting was about to respond, when the big door to the cafeteria opened and a large group of servants came in. They were led by the head servant I had encountered before. The lower servants began to clear the empty tables and the concubines, who had still been eating, hurried down their food and got up.

The head servant and a few of his subordinates however headed straight towards the crowd around me and Wan Ting. Interestingly enough – even Wan Ting and her friends moved away for this man. Around here, he apparently was the one highest up in the hierarchy.

“What do we have here,” he said – not smiling. His eyes examined the crowd and he gave both me and Wan Ting a knowing glare. “Wan Ting and Rong Chu Hua. I’m not surprised,” he murmured. The he raised his voice, so the entire cafeteria could hear him: “Need I remind everyone that this is not lady-like behavior. A court lady should learn to eat in quiet contemplation, always having in mind how she can be useful to the court. All this gossip belongs in the servants' kitchen or a commoner’s house. If anyone here wants to ever make a name for herself, her behavior will need to be drastically altered. Have I made myself clear? Now, the Large Garden is open for Cairen and Baolin, so you may enjoy your time there this afternoon. Everyone dismissed.”

I had once had a very strict teacher in middle school that this head servant reminded me of. He, too, would lecture students on their manners for the smallest slip up and could get a class to be in their seats and silent in a matter of seconds. I had hated it, especially because I had been prone to tears back then and had cried in this teacher’s class at more than one occasion. No surprise Chu Hua had felt pressured and claustrophobic with someone like this breathing down her and her friends’ necks.

Looking around me it was clear this man had the same effect on the concubines as my middle school teacher had had on the students. They had all assumed stiff attentive postures and had lowered their heads slightly to signal obedience. All laughter had gone from the room.

The concubines around me where all evidently glad to get away from this servant and all quickly filed out of the cafeteria. I followed Meifeng and the others, avoiding the head servants and Wan Ting’s gazes as I left the room. Once outside the cafeteria and on our way down the hallway outside my clique broke out in a tirade of complains about the head servant. I learned his name was San Kang and that he was both responsible for a smooth running of the servants' duties in the concubine quarters, as well as making sure the women themselves stuck to court etiquette.

We had almost made it down the hallway, when Meifeng in front of me stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. Behind us was San Kang, positively towering and still looking very much displeased.

“Pei, Sin, Jo, Shy – dismissed,” he said, looking at each of Chu Hua’s friends in turn, calling their family names, and then looking at me, “Rong, you’re staying.”

My clique – again in the presence of San Kang – transformed into stiff obedient court ladies, didn’t even look at me, but silently bowed and moved through the adjacent door, which was being held opened and then closed by servants.

Again it was me and San Kang alone in the hallway.

I wondered whether this was something that happened to Chu Hua a lot. Maybe she got in trouble with some more powerful male and then had to endure uncomfortable situations with power dynamics like these.

San Kang didn’t make me wait long, before he began to lecture me some more:

“I have been duly informed that you found a way to soil the dress of a Cairen with fish oil not too long ago. I don’t know how or why you did it and it doesn’t matter. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

He leaned in, so that his eyes were on the same height as mine.

There were too many men getting too close to me lately. I wasn’t used to this.

“You might consider yourself a Baolin and a lady of status,” he said, now speaking quietly, but with barely suppressed anger, “But make no mistake: Many a court lady has risen in here, but many of have fallen by making too many enemies, before amassing sufficient power and influence. I will not have you or your friends stir up trouble that might harm my standing at this court. Let me be absolutely clear: The fact that you have been deflowered by a royal , does not make you a person worth protecting.”

I knew I should have assumed an obedient and remorseful posture, but I couldn’t do it. I was again frozen, staring San Kang right into his cold black eyes, rather than fixating on the floor, like I was probably expected to do.

There was no mistake here indeed: Chu Hua had an enemy in this man. What exactly had started this and if it really was the fish and the bit of arguing with Wan Ting I didn’t know. But the crass language he used was shocking. I had never imagined a royal court ladies life to be like this – not while Chu Hua had told me about it.

I don’t remember how exactly I got away from San Kang. He let me go shortly after humiliating and threatening me like this and in a sort of daze I let Xingjuan who had turned up out of nowhere me away from him. We took another palanquin and were let out shortly after.

Stepping out of the palanquin, I found myself in front of a stone gate, behind which stretched luscious gardens, whose various greens had just recently been tipped with early autumn’s yellow and orange. Meifeng and the others were waiting for me only a few steps into the Large Garden. They had all brought their dogs with them and to my dismay they had bothered to get Qing Long for me. At the very least he was on a leash, which Meifeng handed to me.

Us five concubines began strolling through the Large Garden, our servant girls trailing behind, in respectful distance as not to listen in on our conversations, but close enough in case a dog needed a treat or some other service was in order.

The garden was huge and strikingly beautiful, so much so, that I pushed aside San Kang’s unkind words. It was a man-made landscape, but so carefully planned out, that behind every row of bushes, every tree, laid another pretty scenery – a small lake, a pond, a bed of flowers or carefully positioned stones surrounded by deep green grass.

Had this garden been a public park in Seoul, I would have gone there to practice drawing plants and nature. The variety and shapes of the fauna was astounding and the dogs of my little clique were running around quite happily, or at least sniffing the fresh air, while being carried by their owner in her arms or sleeve.

The dogs of my friends were much smaller than my dog and a lot more docile. Had I tried to take Qing Kong into my arms, he might have bitten my nose off. At least that’s how our relationship still felt. Meifeng had initially handed the leash to me at the loud protests of Qing Kong. I had handed them to Xingjuan at the earliest opportunity, as with her he was sufficiently calm.

Meifeng, Ruiling, Yuke and Jia – I now had their names down – chatted happily away, now and then asking my opinion on a certain flower blooming or a certain rumor going around court. When a smile or nod sufficed I answered with that and otherwise kept my answers short. This worked; they gave me space to think and didn’t bother me with too many questions.

I had mentally calmed down enough to start working on my escape plan again, when my clique’s relative peacefulness was interrupted by the barking of a small dog that had suddenly joined us. It was wearing a sort of dog clothing, an elaborate gold and purple coat wrapped around its tiny furry body. I pitied the small thing, stuck in clothes not at all natural for his species, looking ridiculous and kind of clownish.

“That’s not my Bun Bun,” said Yuke, looking around to see her own dog inspecting a bed of flowers near us.

“That’s Wan Ting’s half-breed,” judged Meifeng and we all turned around.

Indeed Wan Ting, again accompanied by group of concubines – seven or eight, bigger than my clique -, casually strolling towards us, as though having chosen the same area of the Large Garden as us by pure coincidence.

Before she had come close enough to hurl insults at us, her dog had snuffed each of my clique’s dogs that had been running around and had then proceeded to introduce himself to Qing Gong. Qing Gong however apparently didn’t like Wan Ting’s dog and the two began a barking match. It was quite the sight: Qing Gong was about 5 times the size of Wan Ting’s dwarfish dog, but they were both barking at opposite frequency at each other: Qing Gong in loud deep bawling barks and Wan Ting's tiny creature in high-pitched tweets.

“Can’t you control that monster!?” Wan Ting shouted at me, over the barking of the dogs.

I looked at Xingjuan, who was struggling to calm down Qing Gong. There was nothing I could possibly do to calm the beast either.

“It should be forbidden to keep wild dogs in our quarters, don’t you think?” Wan Ting continued her tirade against Qing Gong.

If only she had known that I wanted to get rid of Qing Gong just has badly has she did. I had no love for the dog. All he had been was trouble and he made me uneasy in my own quarters. Now that I thought of it – he was the only one around who had realised that I wasn’t Chu Hua. The only one who knew I was an imposter. Alas an unwilling one.

Wan Ting might have continued for a while making dismissive and insulting comments towards Qing Gong and me, whom she perceived to be Chu Hua, if not her own friend had tapped her cautiously on the shoulder and then gestured towards a short wall that separated our part of the garden from another. Wan Ting turned her head and quickly instructed her handmaiden to snatch her dog out of Qing Gong’s reach. Then as quickly as they had appeared - she and her little clan of admirers had turned their backs on us and marched away, towards the little wall to look at whatever there was to see beyond it.

I was relieved something had diverted their attention and wanted to walk away from them, but Meifeng touched my shoulders to stop me.

“Look,” she said, pointing in the direction that Wan Ting’s clique had gone, over the little stone wall, into the adjacent part of the garden.

I turned to look.

The adjacent part of the garden had a small pavilion in it, before which laid a beautiful pond full of sparkling water in which some ducks swam. I didn’t immediately see what had caught everyone’s attention, until a woman emerged out of the shadow of the pavilion.