Jade hidden in a rat hole

[Thanks to Bichun and the dinner that hadn't filled your stomach, you stayed awake.]

[First watch. Second watch. Third watch.]

[You finally became certain those two old women weren't coming back, and slowly reached beneath your pillow.]

[Your fingers found something small and hard. You took it out and examined it by the moonlight, making out its shape.]

[It was a piece of jade.]

[A very small piece, about the size of your thumb, snowy white all over, with a soft, lustrous sheen in the moonlight. You rubbed it with the pad of your finger. There seemed to be characters carved into it, but the light was too dim to see clearly. Actually, even if you could see them clearly, you couldn't read.]

[You knew nothing about jade, but you had spent seven years in the Marquis's Household and had seen the accessories the masters wore.]

[This jade was of even finer quality than what the concubines wore.]

[Whatever the case, this thing absolutely should not have appeared on your bed. You clenched the jade in your palm, which was slick with sweat.]

[Just as you were considering how to deal with the jade, a sound reached your ears.]

["Cluck-cluck, cluck-"]

[It was a chicken calling outside the window.]

[But you froze.]

[Because you understood it.]

[That wasn't an ordinary chicken's call. It was a complete sentence.]

["Those two Old Women came again! Again! They stole things last time, and they're stealing things again!"]

[It was Chickens and Ducks Can't Understand Each Other! You nearly sat up in bed. The white trait you had equipped had actually worked! You held your breath and listened closely.]

[Outside the window was the Marquis's Household's chicken coop, not far from your row of servants' quarters. At that moment, the crowing rooster was flapping his wings in the coop, complaining to the hen beside him.]

["What's all the racket? It's the middle of the night," the hen said lazily. "Let them steal. It's not your grain they're stealing."]

["You don't understand!" The rooster grew agitated. "Last time they stole silver from the kitchen! I saw it with my own eyes! They dug it out of a gap between the bricks beneath the stove! Who knows what they're stealing this time, sneaking around like that!"]

["What's that got to do with you?" The hen rolled over. "Go to sleep. You still have to crow tomorrow."]

["I just can't stand it!" The rooster stiffened his neck. "Our masters feed us, so we ought to guard their home! Those two Old Women definitely weren't up to any good!"]

[You listened, dumbstruck.]

[This rooster had quite a sense of professional duty, didn't he?]

[But what he said alarmed you even more. Zhou Pozi and Li Pozi had stolen silver from the kitchen?]

[Something suddenly dawned on you.]

[If they had stolen silver, then this jade... could it be stolen too? Had their crime come to light, and now they were disposing of the stolen goods?]

[While you were thinking, the rooster spoke again. "And let me tell you, I just saw them come this way with something in their hands. But when they went back, their hands were empty! They must have hidden it nearby!"]

["Let them hide it." The hen yawned. "Let the masters find it tomorrow. What's it got to do with us?"]

["You-" The rooster was so angry his feathers bristled. "With an attitude like that, how did you ever become a chicken of the Marquis's Household!"]

[You nearly laughed aloud, but immediately held it back.]

[Now was no time to laugh.]

[If someone came to search tomorrow and found this jade in your room, you maids would be the thieves. Meanwhile, the real thieves, Zhou Pozi and Li Pozi, could stay out of it entirely, and might even be rewarded for their "meritorious exposure of the crime."]

[No wonder they had said they wanted to "get these girls killed."]

[In the Marquis's Household, stealing the masters' property meant, at best, having your legs broken and being sold off; at worst, being beaten to death on the spot. The lives of lowly maids like you were already worth no more than grass. If something like this happened, nobody would speak up for you.]

[What should you do?]

[With stolen goods in your hands, how should you deal with them?
1. Throw the jade out the window. As long as it couldn't be found in the room, what grounds would they have to frame you?
2. Sneak into Zhou Pozi and Li Pozi's room and return this hot po-"jade"!
3. Find a good spot and hide the jade.]

[You chose 3!]

[You climbed out of bed without a sound. Bichun's snores shook the heavens, while Xiaochan, sleeping on her other side, was curled into a ball, sound asleep. You moved very softly, a skill beaten and scolded into you over these seven years. Tonight, it finally proved useful.]

[Five maids, three pieces of jade, all hidden in the most concealed corners beneath their pillows.]

[You held jade worth a thousand gold pieces, yet your heart felt icy cold.]

[You had wanted to get rich overnight in your previous life, true, but that was your previous life. Why did it still have to torment you in this one?]

[Grumbling was useless. Your gaze roamed around this shabby room. Where could you hide them to escape those people's search? They were all old hands. Ordinary hiding places certainly wouldn't fool them.]

[You also considered simply smashing them to destroy the evidence. But however loud Bichun's snores were, they couldn't drown out the sound of shattering jade. Besides, with jade of such fine quality, where could a little maid like you find a suitable tool to smash it? Hiding it was your only option.]

[In the end, you chose the hole Mother Rat had dug.]

[You didn't put the jade straight inside. That would be too obvious. Your life was at stake, so you had to be careful, careful, and more careful still.]

[Your fingers scraped cautiously inside the rat hole.]

[This family of rats had lived in the room for at least three years. Mother Rat was an industrious rat and had dug her hole deep and winding. You reached farther inside. Sure enough, several little tunnels branched off the main one, used by the rats to store food.]

[They went hungry all year round, so naturally these tunnels were empty too.]

[You chose the deepest one, tucked the three pieces of jade inside, then scraped up some loose dirt beside the entrance and covered the jade completely. Even after that, you still felt uneasy, so you picked up a suitably sized stone and blocked the little tunnel completely.]

[Perfect.]

[Even if the matron came to search in person, she couldn't possibly stick her hand into a rat hole and feel through it inch by inch. There were rats in there, after all, and they bit.]