Mei Lin's Chores - The Big Help of Little Things

Ever since she took charge of Lord Liu Bei’s household staff, Mei Lin had effectively changed things around. Her knowledge of how to run a busy tavern and make it thrive despite the troubles that had plagued the land certainly made her more than capable of running the household of a minor magistrate. Everyone worked with diligence and expedience. They didn’t question her instructions and, when necessary, would be guided on how to properly take on a chore that they struggled with. Those that misbehaved however… her ladle would find their thick skulls and would receive the scolding of a lifetime. But whenever she addressed Lord Liu Bei and his Swordn Brothers - Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, she was the picture of perfect manners and cordiality.

Some of the staff had taken to calling her “The Silk Hammer” - a nickname she wasn’t too happy to have received.

But for Mei Lin there was something more personal involved in this new assignment than just correcting mistakes from household servants or being an exemplar of good manners. More than anything she wanted to keep an eye on her childhood friend - Xiao Long. Or as the world knew him, Tien Shin - the Heavenly Sword of Freedom, and a follower of Lord Liu Bei.

Ever since Xiao Long had started following Lord Liu Bei, he started not coming to the tavern as often as usual. Mei Lin knew better than anyone that her childhood friend had a great destiny to fulfill - he often boasted about it whenever he came in and made a fool of himself at the tavern. Despite this, she was still worried that he’d start taking unnecessary risks in the battlefield that would put his life and that of his comrades in peril.

“Excuse me, Mei Lin…” One of the servants had approached her.

“Yes? What can I help you with?” Mei Lin would often look at the other servants with a mix of strictness and charity - she would help if needed, but they would have to earn it.

“Well… the laundry staff mentioned that they’re a bit shorthanded today and they might fall behind schedule today.” The servant was expecting a scolding from Mei Lin. But the young woman simply nodded.

“I imagined this would happen. Miss Yi’s father had fallen ill, so she’d be taking care of him. Mister Huang hurt his hand when he tried to carry a heavy load by himself. If I recall correctly, Misses Cho was on cooking duty today.” Mei Lin sighed softly and nodded again. “I’ll help you out.”

“L-Lady Mei! That’s not necessary! W-We can handle it ourselves.” The servant grew worried at what Mei Lin had said.

“No. You can’t. It’ll be fine. If I help out, you’ll be able to finish faster.” Despite the strictness she often displayed, she also knew when to be kind and gentle.

Mei Lin followed the servant to the laundry where the people looked overworked and saturated with orders. When they saw her, they froze on the spot expecting to be scolded.

“Alright, people! We’re shortstaffed and work’s piling up! I’ll be helping you to get this sorted out as soon as we can! If we put our backs into it, we’ll get this done by lunch time. Let’s move it!”

Almost like a drilled army, the servants shouted: “Yes, Lady Mei!”, and started working with double the efforts. Mei Lin herself took a sport among the servants, rolled up her sleeves and began working.

While her hands moved, her thoughts brought her to the day she had an unexpected visitor to the tavern she worked in.

She had heard all about how the Yellow Turban Rebellion had been easily defeated (by Tien Shin’s own account) and how the realm would soon regain peace. But after a couple of years since the Rebellion had been defeated, there were still the occasional uprising from rebels all over the place. In those days, Lord Liu Bei and Xiao Long had been very busy as they took up residence in the Anxi County nearby and continued to clean up the mess left by the rebels.

Then one particular day, a visitor asked if a certain young maiden by the name of Mei Lin worked in the tavern.

Mei Lin looked at the man with some reservation. He didn’t look like any of the regulars nor did he appear penniless. By the looks of things, he looked like some young government official that expected things to happen the way they wanted. Armed with her ladle and her bravery, she approached the gentleman and poured him a drink.

“You said you were looking for a ‘Mei Lin’, did you Sir?” She didn’t want to reveal anything to this fellow, no matter how much he smiled and nodded with good manners. There was something oddly familiar about this man.

“Oh yes, my lady. I do hope you could point me in the right direction. I need to speak to her about something rather urgent.” The man took the drink that was offered, smiled kindly and placed a few coins for the service. At least this one wasn’t penniless…

“Hope you don’t mind my asking, Sir, but why would a gentleman like yourself be looking for this ‘Mei Lin’ girl?” She was careful to gauge what kind of man this was.

“I believe she’s the only person who can help me control one of my more unruly friends.” The man chuckled sheepishly, which made the girl quirk and eyebrow.

“Why don’t you just give him a proper punishment and be done with it? If this friend of yours is becoming a pain, give him back some of it and straighten him out.” The girl brandished her ladle proudly.

“I don’t think that’s the kind of approach that would work on Shin.” The man smiled and took a sip from his drink. Did he just say his friend’s name was Shin?

“Why not?”

“He’s too strong for me.”

“You can’t control one unruly brat because ‘he’s too strong for you’? Why would you take him in then? He sounds like trouble to me…”

“You’re right,” the man sighed sadly even as he smiled, “he can be troublesome. But, I cannot turn him away. He’s a friend of mine and my sworn brothers. I see his potential and his strength has saved many people’s lives. But…”

“You can’t control him?”

“Yes. Which means that I must find Mei Lin. Tien Shin would only listen to her.” The man looked at her pleadingly.

“Tien… Shin!? Wait a minute! Y-You’re… You’re Lord-” Mei Lin saw Lord Liu Bei wink at her and hold a finger to his lips to keep her silent about who he was.

“As you can see, Lady Mei Lin, I desperately need your help with our young friend. Will you help me?”

While she scrubbed and wrung the wet clothes, Mei Lin remembered her meeting with Lord Liu Bei and her immediate acceptance of serving in her household. Then she met with Xiao Long while she was working, much to the young man’s shock. Seems he didn’t expect her to be so close by now… for better or worse, for the boy.

After she filled her basket to the top, she carried the laundry outside to be hung out to dry. While she was preparing to start hanging the first garments, she caught the sound of someone groaning and sighing heavily. Those sounds annoyed her, because she knew who was making them.

Dragging his feet and walking around with a face of pure boredom was Tien Shin himself roaming around the mansion like a ghost - but Mei Lin had a different idea of what he looked like, a spoiled brat!

Another loud groan and sigh was heard coming closer to Mei Lin which made her take a deep breath to try and calm down.

“Hey Sis…” Tien Shin finally said as he walked around the hanging clothes twisting from time to time as if to show off his ability.

“What do you want, Xiao Long? I’m busy.” Mei Lin snapped at him as she started hanging more clothes.

“I’m just bored, is all… I wanted to see what you were doing…” Tien Shin’s tone of voice and utter disregard of how busy she was getting on her nerves.

“Well now you’ve seen what I’m doing.” When she said those words, Tien Shin groaned again which made her grit her teeth. But suddenly she got a bright idea. “Xiao Long!”

The suddenness of how she called out to him made him lose his balance and stumbled back.

“What? What!?”

“You’re bored aren’t you?” Mei Lin carried the heavy basket with her left arm and approached him.

“Yeah, I’m bored…” He answered back meekly.

“So, you have nothing to do, is that right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“No training sessions? No summons from Lord Liu Bei for a big fight? No patrol duty?”

“None of that! I’m free as a bird and bored like a snail…”

A cunning smirk appeared on Mei Lin’s lips as she tossed the basket full of clothing to him, which he clumsily managed to catch.

“Then you can get off your butt and help me with the laundry.” When she noticed that Xiao Long was confused, she looked at him with an angry expression, “Get on your feet and help me with the laundry, Xiao Long! This isn’t a request! Move it!”

“Now hold on a minute!” Tien Shin stood up with the basket still securely in his arms, “I’m a warrior! Not a servant! I’ve more important things to do, you know?”

“Oh? Didn’t you just say you had nothing to do? No training, no summons, no fights and no patrol duty. Right?” Mei Lin smirked devilishly at him, which made him flinch.

“Y-Yes…” The boy grumbled to himself when he realized he stepped into her trap.

“Then you’re going to help me with the laundry, ‘Mr. Warrior’. Now don’t you DARE drop any of these clothes or YOU’RE going to be the one to wash them again. Got it?”

“Yes, Sis!”

Over the next hour, Mei Lin had taken command of the situation and directed Tien Shin on how to hang the clothes, correct him when he made a mistake and told him where to place each garment. With the help she had from him, they managed to finish in half the time which made her all the happier, even though Tien Shin was grumbling the whole time whenever Mei Lin wasn’t looking at him.

“Ah! That looks pretty good! You make a wonderful launderer, Xiao Long! Thanks!” She patted him on his head as if he were a little kid, even though was growing up a bit taller than her already.

“Tch!” The boy kept fuming as to how he had been outmaneuvered by her and simply took the “praise”.

“Well then! Off to get the rest of it!” Mei Ling pulled on Tien Shin who was carrying the empty basket.

“Wait, what!? There’s more? This is crazy! I don’t have to do this, you know?” Despite his protests, he couldn’t really pull away from her. She was the only one that could pull him around or push him around like this.

“Oh yes, you do!” Her smile had turned into a hardened expression of duty.

“Sis, I already told you I’m not a servant or a launderer or any of that! I’m Tien Shin! The Heavenly Sword of Freedom!” He cried out without noticing that he had just yelled those words in the middle of the laundry room. Those that noticed him simply gave him a nod and kept working.

“You’re still acting like a child, Xiao Long.” Mei Lin said as she looked at him hard. For a moment the boy felt angered by this insult, but the look in her eyes forced him to calm down. “Look at them…”

Tien Shin looked at the servants and just saw men and women moving from side to side, scrubbing clothes and handling wet garments with care. In his eyes they were just doing what servants were expected to do.

“So what am I looking at?”

“These are the people you’re supposed to protect, Xiao Long.” Mei Ling started pointing at some of the servants. “That one is Mister Xian, a simple man who lost his farm and lands due to the Yellow Turbans. The lady over there, Misses Ying, her son fought for the Imperial Army once but came back injured and unable to fight afterwards. That young girl over there, Miss Ling washes the clothes you’re wearing right now, Xiao Long…”

Tien Shin couldn’t help but turn to look at his shirt then back at Mei Lin as he started to realize what her intentions were.

“We all do our part in this fight as well. We cannot fight the way you can or face the enemy like you would. We’re not warriors. But we are all fighting in our own way. There is big help in the little things everyone does in their lives, Xiao Long. Don’t be so arrogant to think you’re not like them.”

The boy kept looking at the servants and started to feel embarrassed with how foolishly he had been acting. He hadn’t appreciated all the efforts these folks were doing every day so that they, the ‘warriors’ would be able to fight to protect them and the realm from trouble.

“I… never thought about it… that I was like them.” He finally admitted, which made Mei Lin sigh heavily.

“You’re a Heavenly Sword, Xiao Long.” She pointed out at him, “Aren’t YOU a servant of the Heavens?”

The sudden realization of what Mei Lin just said made him hang himself with shame and embarrassment.

“You really are the Heavenly Sword of Idiots.” She patted him over the head again as she moved again towards the baskets of laundry that were filling up.

She was right. All this time he had grown arrogant and dismissive of so many things thinking that he wasn’t living up to what he wanted to do. And yet the small folk, the ones he had promised to help and protect all those years ago were the ones he had so casually dismissed. How was he any different from those far lords who did the same every day?

His hands went to the hilts of his swords and gripped them tightly. He had to do better…

“Wait! Let me help you with those!” Tien Shin rushed to lift three baskets of laundry, one under each arm and another that was being balanced over his head.

“Hey! Don’t show off, Xiao Long!”

“Come on, Sis! If you keep yelling you’re going to get wrinkles on your face and no one’s gonna want to marry you!”

The Silk Hammer exploded as she chased after the Smiling Dragon who was laughing.

Surprised by the sudden antics of the Heavenly Sword and the Silk Hammer, the entire staff began to laugh loudly.