Lovely Blossoms

Fen Hua stared at her a moment before answering. She was searching through all the memories she had of the previous Fen Hua. She couldn't recall a single memory that involved something like royalty.

"No, I've never heard of anything like that. Why do you ask?"

Jingfei looked a little disappointed but told her the story that she knew.

"When I was young, maybe six or seven I lived in a large house near the river. My father worked hard as a merchant and our house became well known in the city for wealthy people to purchase hard to find items. During the year of the great fire my father had worked out a deal with our rival nation Sin'ju to trade for rice and flower. Because of his efforts many lives were saved during that time. He was given an opportunity to meet with Emperor Jianguo to be given an honor for his wisdom and the way he handled the matter. He solely was responsible for making this deal. You have to remember that our greatest enemies, even more so then the great Jin'ping nation, has always been Sin'ju.'

"When my father went to meet the Emperor my entire family was allowed to come. Though we were not allowed to enter the great hall we were given a nice place to sit and delicious food to eat. It was there that I heard of your mother for the first time."

Fen Hua leaned a little closer. The whole situation somehow startling her even more then having transferred into a different body, possibly a different world or dimension.

"My mother was being friendly with the palace maids who were there to serve us. It was clear that they did not give us any respect, and even had us serve our selves for the majority of the time we were there. They would sit and talk about all the things that had been happening within the palace walls. I heard of the second prince. The son of the then favored concubine Kaylee. This would be your grandfather if this story is true."

"My mother never mentioned anything about any of this," Fen Hua said skeptically. It was all seeming a little far fetched at this point.

"Of course she would not talk about it. Though others can mention something like this she would never. Her father was accused of building an army that would appose the emperor. The entire family line of males was killed off. Even the infants. The women were sold as slaves within the neutral territory where things like that happen."

"Is this actually true?"

Jingfei was feeling more and more comfortable talking to Fen Hua, she was much different then she had expected.

"I believe it is true. There was one other time that I heard your mother mentioned since I worked here. This was only a few years ago, and I had never met your mother, but the First Miss made a comment about how the "Royal Trash" was sick again. When I asked what this meant to another servant I was told the story of how your mother came to be here. Your father had always found your mother to be attractive. He even was to believed to have loved her. When he learned that she would be sold in the neutral territory he rode for three days to get there before she was sold off. He paid a good price for her and brought her back here."

Fen Hua couldn't think that her father had ever loved anyone with the memories she had of him.

"The trouble started when he returned with her. The Emperor found out about it and he became enraged. Your Father who was at that time a General was stripped of his ranks and forced back into a low rank position. Your entire clan was affected by this and began to despise your mother. By that time she had already become a concubine to your father."

Fen Hua furrowed her brows, she could understand the animosity for her and her mother a bit more now. Thought that didn't make her like it any more.

"Because your father wanted to protect the rest of his family clan he began to treat your mother harshly. She was no longer treated as a concubine, but a servant. He never came to visit her after that first year, and when you were born there was no celebration, perhaps the Royal Family does not even know of your existence."

What a miserable life this old owner used to live Fen Hua thought sadly. To think she was even part of the royal blood line. She shook her head sadly as she thought of the way she had died. Of the silence that came before, and the nothing that came after.

"So why am I not treated as a servant then if my mother was?"

"I don't know the answer to that question," she said pondering it.

Fen Hua thought it over too. If her father treated her mother as a maid it only made since that he would think of her as one too. He didn't even announce her birth? Nothing? It's like she didn't even exist.