Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 141: One-Person Laundromat

With the clothesline within reach, Anji had a new idea. She might not have enough strength to wring the water from the clothes or continuously spin them dry without a large basket. However, she could mimic a flameless stove to dry them quickly.

Arranging the bronze mirror right beneath the clothesline, Anji carefully designed a new type of spell on a piece of talisman paper. After putting everything together, she imbued qi into the paper and waited.

After a few seconds, the paper started to feel warmer, and Anji stopped supplying it with energy, fearing it would become too hot to hold if she continued. There was a limiter to ensure the heat would not burn the paper and the fabric. It was warmer than hot spring water, so Anji had to be careful when coming into contact with it and prevent getting burned.

Sticking several similar heating talismans to the back of the large bronze mirror on the floor, Anji flipped it around and started working.

One by one, she untangled the wet mess in the nearby tub and grabbed the first clothes she could free. Then, Anji dumped it onto the heated bronze mirror, which started sizzling. Almost immediately, a large amount of steam formed in front of her, clouding her vision.

Stepping backwards, Anji realised she would need to wait until most of the water had evaporated. When the steam finally dispersed, Anji realised the side that touched the heated surface was almost dry. Picking it up, she tossed the wet side of the clothes onto the mirror, rolling ball of fabric over and heaped more wet clothing from the tub onto it as if she were tossing onions into a wok.

The steam became out of hand, so the little girl rushed back to grab more talismans. Hastily scribbling a simple wind-emitting talisman, Anji clipped them on the clothesline above so it faced the bronze mirror.

The downward wind pushed the steam away efficiently and Anji grinned. For safety, she grabbed a dismantled broom handle and poked around at the wet clothes to "cook" them until they were mostly dry. At the same time, Anji unloaded the newly washed clothes into the wet tub and tossed in the dirty clothes with a new batch of ashes.

Repeating the cycle flawlessly, the heap of dirty clothes decreased as the machines worked efficiently. They were almost too efficient because Anji was exhausted from all the walking and carrying alone.

Her drying mirror worked like a charm. The clothes became eighty percent dry in just minutes. The remaining time was spent straightening the damp clothes individually on the bronze mirror and flattening them to smoothen the wrinkles. Eventually, the heap of dirty clothes was replaced by a heap of dried and ironed clothes.

Thinking it was a waste to simply do the clothes, Anji went around the compound and grabbed every dirty fabric she could drag off with her, dumping them into the washing tub. She had tablecloths, muddy rugs, dusty curtains and smelly bedsheets waiting for their turn to be washed in years while she folded the ironed clothes.

Not knowing where to place the clean clothes because the rest of the compound was still dirty, Anji stacked them on the table Aunt Wine cleaned earlier so they could eat. The room was aired well and no longer smelled like rotting food.

Just like this, Anji finished folding the heap of laundry and went back to dry the cleaned curtains and bedsheets. It was tough work working through them part by part, one at a time. Eventually, the bigger sheets were done, and Anji decided to leave them hanging on the lines and bundle them up instead of folding them. It made little sense to fold them when they were going back up for use again. However, she did not want to replace them now when everything else was still dirty.

Cutting off her qi supply to the talismans, Anji yawned. She was meant to have a nap an hour after lunch, but she worked through it. Luckily, Doctor Yun was not here to check on her. Hence, Anji decided to catch up on her sleep while waiting for Researcher Yang to finish his meeting in the eastern district. Neither of his assistants was around, so Anji picked a cosy spot in the backyard and curled up beneath a tree. Within ten breaths, the girl was soundly asleep.

The afternoon went by peacefully, but only for a while. About an hour after Anji fell asleep from exhaustion, the giggles from Researcher Yang’s assistants could be heard as they opened the main gate and peered inside.

Expecting to see at least the messy objects arranged out of the way, they baulked at the sight of an unchanged outer courtyard. Stunned, they wondered where the little apprentice was. Could she be the lazy kind who would run away and skive when nobody was watching her?

"I told you we should have stayed back," hissed the woman. "Master is going to think we did nothing! The twerp didn’t do a single thing while we were gone."

Trying to appease the woman, the man quickly shushed her and closed the door behind her. The outer court looked practically untouched. It would not be difficult to arrange a few objects out of the way to cover their lies.

"There is still an hour before Master returns. We can at least work together and clear the outer yard. If the interior is still messy, we can blame it on the girl not doing anything and running away while we were busy."

Agreeing with the plan, the research assistants rolled up their sleeves and started to carry away heavier objects lying in the yard, moving them indoors. However, they were not expecting to see a drastic heap of clothes on the table when they first entered the main hall.

"That wasn’t here when we left," the woman huffed. It had been a while since she had done any heavy lifting.

Surprised by the large pile of clothes, the man walked around and noticed a few other things different about the room.

"The curtains are gone as well. The rug on the floor is also missing. Do you think she washed it?" freeweɓnovel.cøm

There was no doubt that the clothes on the table were cleaned. The room also no longer smelled of rotting food. The girl must have taken care of that in their absence. However, with only thirty more minutes before Researcher Yang arrived, they had to first find the missing child for an explanation to coordinate their stories.

Splitting up, the couple searched for Anji. She was nowhere indoors, and the inner courtyard was still as messy as before. However, the woman noticed a few items missing from the rooms. In particular, some tubs and a large bronze mirror that had been used as a clothes stand for a long time were gone.

Meeting in the kitchen, the two assistants noticed the large pile of ashes was also reduced to half its original size. What exactly was the girl doing in their absence?

Eventually, they entered the backyard and saw all the missing objects there. There seemed to be some sort of strange arrangement with the tubs and mirror beneath the clothesline.

"Is that a talisman?" the man pointed at the wind-emitting talisman Anji clipped onto the clothesline.

Curious about what Anji had done earlier, they inspected the tubs and mirror, finding even more talismans hidden beneath them.

"Wait, this is... this is an advanced elemental seal. Did she find this in Master’s room, or did she draw it herself? I can’t believe an elemental seal can also be used this way. It’s a revolutionary way to do laundry! Literally hands-free washing, no more aching backs and sore arms!"

Turning over the bronze mirror, the man inspected the hidden heating seals and beckoned to the woman.

"She must have drawn those herself," he pointed to the new seals. "Master would have no use to create a heated plate. What exactly was she doing with this hot mirror?"

Looking at the curtains and bedsheets bundled on the low clothesline, the woman put two and two together.

"I think she was trying to dry them quickly. There were too many clothes to hang up, so she needed a quicker way to dry them. I can’t believe a squirt like her managed to think of something like that. It’s like a one-person laundromat."

Agreeing and feeling impressed by Anji’s innovation and young age, the man quickly remembered they were looking for the girl and still in trouble. Just because Anji did the laundry did not mean they were out of the woods.

"You find the girl. I’ll start cleaning the outer yard before Master returns. He would definitely kick us out this time if everything is still a mess when he returns."

Agreeing with the man, the woman started searching the backyard as the man hurried to get cleaning. Seeing these talismans, the woman had a different idea. Jealousy brewed inside her.

Having spent many years working hard and playing dirty to get to where she was, she was still only a research assistant tasked with menial chores instead of working on greater projects. Her research proposals had been shot down so many times, and her womanly charms only worked on her assistant partner instead of another researcher who would support her work. Frustrated and angry at Anji’s brilliance from a young age, the woman knew she had to stub that young spark out before it could burn into a brilliant flame.

Eventually, she spotted the small child curled up under a tree and smirked. She would have to teach this child an unforgettable lesson.