Thе third dау оf thе fourth lunar month, сlеar and finе weathеr.
Тhеrе hаd bеen a lаte spring chill this year. In mid-Маrch, а northеrn wind саrrуing snow оvеrnight hаd whitеnеd the Fоrbidden City's bright уеllow glаzed tiles. Evеryonе's tone саrriеd а tоuсh оf melanсhоly, wоrrуing thаt this yеar's flоwеring seasоn wоuld be dеlayed. Unеxpeсtеdlу, in the finаl days of thе mоnth, а sudden rеvеrsаl brоught grеаt warmth.
Sunlight dаnсed оn the brоws of the rоof ridgе bеаsts. Onе hаlf оf thе wide-opеn main doors of Cultivаting Virtue Palаce wаs clоsеd. Bеlow the steps, a palace maid adding incense emptied the previous night's ashes into a lacquered box and stood quietly, faintly hearing careful humming from within the hall. She shifted her gaze and exchanged a knowing smile with someone standing in attendance under the corridor. A young eunuch gestured for silence, pointing toward the interior, and the other half of the palace doors slowly closed as well.
Living long in one place, even amidst carved beams and painted rafters, can lead to weariness. This is true not only for serving palace maids like them but also for the noble ladies and mistresses within the palace.
The warm afternoon light streamed in through the window, casting a brilliant diamond-shaped reflection on the blue brick floor—a natural stage. Wanwan liked to close the doors at this time and perform a Kunqu opera piece, of course, behind the Nurse Matron's back. Without lyrics, she hummed melodiously following the remembered drumbeats, her face thickly powdered, delicate red lips outlined, gracefully swinging her water sleeves, turning with a leisurely glance and a smile... In these moments, she was not the Imperial Princess but a girl dreaming of being an actress. Only she had no audience; the two palace maids assisting with arranging her skirt hem kept their eyes downcast, not applauding even when she finished. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, though not sad. Finding the cloud-head couch, she took an afternoon nap, waking only at dusk. Rubbing her eyes, she watched the evening glow at the horizon. A swallow flew over, diving down—catching insects to eat, perhaps? Palace life was dull and monotonous; if one didn't find joy for oneself, one would have died of boredom eight hundred years ago.
She rose, intending to remove this costume. Before her eyes focused at the mirror, Xiao You entered through the palace gate, standing at the threshold and calling out, "Mistress, the Western Palace Crabapple by our southern wall has bloomed. Won't you go see?"
Good news. She had this habit every year: the first cluster of branches must be Draped in Red with silk ribbons, wishing for her flowers to bloom better than those outside the Gate of Literary Brilliance. Finding a precious hair ribbon, she went out, hurried to the tree, and looked up. The newly sprouted buds seemed somewhat fragile. She was shorter than Xiao You; even on tiptoe, she fell a bit short. The opera costume sleeves were too large; raising her hands, they slid smoothly to her shoulders, revealing a pair of smooth, bare arms.
Xiao You quickly pressed her hands down, glanced around, and whispered, "Be careful not to attract attention, or the Nurse Matron will scold again." Taking the ribbon with a smile, she said, "Let this servant hang it for you, mistress!"
Wanwan agreed, calmly tucking her sleeves and standing aside. The lingering sunset glow shone on her face, her eyes bright as stars.
She began to count, one, two... Unbroken since she was four years old, there were now eleven. The tradition of Draping the tree in Red was taught to her by her birth mother, Consort Xu. Consort Xu was from the south, a daughter of a Hanlin scholar's family, with an enduring poetic and artistic sensibility in her bones. She said the crabapple was the matchmaker's eye; adorning the tree with flowers could bless her to marry a good Imperial Consort in the future. Though she didn't know then what kind of "horse" an Imperial Consort was, her mother's words had remained firmly in her heart. After Consort Xu passed away, whenever she missed her, she would come to this crabapple tree to look at the red ribbons—and had been doing so for all these years.“How many do you think… would be enough to secure a good marriage?” She turned to ask Xiao You, “Is twenty enough?”
Xiao You teased her, “Does my lady wish to marry? That’s easy enough! As the old saying goes, the Emperor’s sister never lacks suitors. When you see His Majesty, just drop a hint, and everything will fall into place.”
Her face flushed, and she muttered, “You’re just mocking me with your sharp tongue…”
Xiao You laughed for a while before comforting her: “Don’t worry, you won’t need twenty. In my opinion, another year or two will do. Since you aren’t the Empress Dowager’s own daughter, appearances must be kept even more properly. They surely won’t let you become an old maid!” Stroking her chin, she mused, “We must find someone from a noble family—wealthy, handsome, virtuous, and who dotes on his wife. That would be perfect.”
Wanwan extended a little finger to scratch her head but withdrew it at the last moment. The matter of marriage was actually full of contradictions. The year Consort Xu passed away, she was only six. It wasn’t that she feared having no one to care for her—as a dignified Imperial Princess of Great Ye, would she worry about going hungry? But she needed a foster mother, to be registered under someone else’s name. Girls had many matters to attend to, and future arrangements like marriage would require careful planning. The trivial affairs of the deep palace were managed by women; the Emperor of the former court did not intervene. Back then, her father personally brought her to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, and from that moment on, she recognized another as her mother.
It was just a pity—not being born from that person’s womb always created a distance. So many times she tried to show closeness, but the Empress Dowager remained indifferent. Over time, she grew disheartened. Now she feared being hastily married off. A princess was precious, but once she entered another family’s household, it would be just like that. It was better to delay, to choose carefully. Yet, without marriage, she would forever remain in the Forbidden City, bound by countless rules and regulations—every word, every action, even which part of an orange to bite first had specific rules. She disliked such a life. It was unfortunate to have been born into the wrong gender. If only she were a man—even if she couldn’t engage in politics like her brothers, it would be nice to go out on procurement trips with those from the Directorate of Ceremonial.
Xiao You hung up the precious sash. She squinted to examine it carefully—the cord was inlaid with gold thread, occasionally glinting in the fading light, but upon closer inspection, the gleam vanished.
Somehow, this evening was particularly quiet. A few young eunuchs stood on duty listlessly, lacking their usual vigor, all seeming rather dispirited.
Then she remembered—the most formidable Nanny Jingqi had gone to visit relatives in the afternoon and hadn’t returned yet. Thankfully, Nanny Li wasn’t around; otherwise, if she dared to run about with painted face and theatrical costume, she might even scold Consort Xu back to life!She ducked her head and hurried into the hall, afraid of arriving late and running right into them, only to be lectured later—from needles and thread all the way to matters of state and nation, which would be truly unbearable. If asked whom she feared most, it was probably Nanny Jingqi. The imperial family had strict rules, and they were particularly stringent. Each prince and imperial princess was assigned dedicated caretakers from birth. The palace staff was divided into three categories: jingqi, shuishang, and momo, each responsible for different duties. Momo were wet nurses, who, having nursed the children themselves, tended to be more lenient and easier to talk to. Shuishang were solely in charge of boiling water and washing clothes, with no concern for rules. Jingqi, however, were formidable—commonly known as watchful matrons, as the name implied, they kept their eyes fixed on you without blinking. If you spoke too loudly or laughed too broadly, it fell within the scope of their admonishments. The princes suffered in their studies, having to rise at the second quarter of the yin hour (around 4:30 AM). If they failed to get up, the jingqi matrons dared to use the rod. As for imperial princesses, although they were spared physical punishment, aside from their studies, they also had needlework. The slightest mistake would earn them a scolding, which was a kind of mental torment in itself.
She quickened her pace to the corridor, hands clasped behind her back as she was about to enter the hall, when she suddenly halted. "Why haven't the windows been covered yet?"
What was meant by "covering the windows"? Each night, an additional layer of paper windows was placed over the glass panes—a daily routine. In Cultivating Virtue Palace, there was a dim-witted maid who did rough work. She let out an "oh" and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, Director Xiao came by in the afternoon. He probably won’t be inspecting duties tonight."
Because she was the only princess in the Forbidden City, and after her brother ascended the throne, she became the Princess Royal, the Directorate of Ceremonial, fearing the palace staff might grow lax—and likely also to keep her under control—had specially dispatched someone to manage the palace affairs here.
"Just because Director Xiao isn’t coming, does that mean I’m not here? So you just left it?" she fumed. "Cover the windows!"
She had always been good-natured, but seeing her anger this time, several palace attendants stuck out their tongues and fitted the row of window frames in front of Cultivating Virtue Palace. Wanwan watched for a long while with her heavily made-up face, satisfied that they wouldn’t slack off, before turning to enter the hall.
Xiao You brought water to wash her face, and as she washed, she said, "The Emperor has been unwell these past two days. Shouldn’t you go and see him? Last time you sprained your neck, His Majesty came to visit you for two days in a row!"
She sighed. "I don’t know what’s wrong with the Emperor. He caught a chill during last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, and the illness has lingered until now. I originally wanted to visit, but the Palace of Heavenly Purity is kept stricter than anywhere else. The Empress Dowager even scolded those concubines, telling them not to find excuses to appear before the Emperor all the time. His Majesty has mountains of state affairs to attend to, and they shouldn’t add to his troubles. I know it wasn’t directed at me, but I must still be sensible." She paused, then pondered further. "Yesterday, I heard he coughed up blood. My second brother secretly told me. When I asked the eunuch official, he evaded the topic with rambling excuses. I’m afraid it’s true. I want to visit too. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll go to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to seek the Empress Dowager’s decree. If she permits it, I’ll go to the Palace of Heavenly Purity."
Xiao You grumbled, "The Empress Dowager is really something! They’re full siblings, yet she still avoids such trivial suspicions!"
There was no helping it. The doctrines of Great Ye were like this—men and women were kept separate. Once they reached a certain age, they had to speak from several steps apart. So, even in the imperial family, closeness was hard to achieve.
Early the next morning, after washing up, she dutifully went to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility to pay her respects. The Empress Dowager was the highest authority in the Forbidden City, and even the Emperor and Empress could not skip the Morning and Evening Salutations. Wanwan always went early, usually arriving as soon as the Empress Dowager took her seat. In this regard, the Empress Dowager was quite pleased with her.Regarding the morning greetings, the daily conversations were quite similar. Wanwan paid respects to the Empress Dowager, received the tea offered by the palace maid and presented it upward. The Empress Dowager took a sip before allowing her to sit. She then respectfully inquired, "Did Your Majesty rest well last night?"
The Empress Dowager frowned slightly. "I haven’t been feeling well these past few days. The first half of the night was fine, but I was rather restless in the latter half."
Wanwan looked up. The Empress Dowager was wearing a crane-patterned round-flowered jacket. Due to meticulous care, her face showed almost no signs of aging despite being in her forties. However, perhaps due to poor sleep, faint dark circles had formed under her eyes, making her appear somewhat more haggard than usual.
"From what I understand, it is likely due to depleted vitality. Your Majesty must take care of your health. It would be best to have the Imperial Medical Bureau prescribe some qi-boosting remedies." She shyly placed her hands on her knees. "I am very worried about Your Majesty’s poor sleep. If Your Majesty permits, I will keep watch for you at night. Whatever Your Majesty needs, I will attend to you."
Hearing her words, the Empress Dowager smiled faintly. This child had always been obedient. Though somewhat timid, her heart was sincere. The Late Emperor had few offspring, with only two sons and one daughter in his lifetime. As the only daughter, Princess Hede had been greatly favored in her youth. It was a pity that she was born with a shallow bond with her parents. If not for the misfortune in her fate, it would indeed be pitiable.
The Empress Dowager declined, saying it was unnecessary. "Your health is also weak and cannot withstand such strain. I have attendants here with me, so you need not worry about me." She then, unusually, inquired about the princess’s morning meal, asking what she had eaten and how well she had consumed it.
The leading eunuch by the princess’s side bowed respectfully and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Princess Chang had half a bowl of glutinous rice porridge and a milk bun this morning. She ate well."
The Empress Dowager nodded slightly. "Her appetite is still rather small. Those serving her should encourage her more. The well-being of your mistress is your blessing."
The accompanying attendants hurriedly knelt to receive the decree. Wanwan felt somewhat reassured, thinking to herself that the Empress Dowager was in a good mood today. Later, when she mentioned visiting The Emperor, she likely would not be obstructed.
As she was pondering this, she saw The Empress leading others in through the south window. She straightened her skirt and stood up, quietly retreating to the side of the Empress Dowager’s seat. The sound of a eunuch’s clapper came from the doorway, and The Empress, dressed in a phoenix-patterned jacket and skirt, resembled a large butterfly as she led the consorts to settle on the carpet before the throne in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
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