The lunar 20th, August of the 12th year of Qianyuan, a clear and auspicious day, marked my first foot set in the palace. Standing in the spacious yard of the Forbidden City, one can easily grasp a view of the crystal sky, as blue as a jade can be, without a thread of cloud, but a parade of wild geese gliding over occasionally, which was said to be a good omen.
Countless carriages taking beauties to the Forbidden City were lined up outside the gate of Yuxiang, but there was nothing other than silence in the air. I was among the beauties, who came from all over the country, elaborated and scented. No one uttered a word, but dedicated themselves to their dressings and makeup or just peeped over other counterparts nearby.
Beauty Selection is what a girl from an official family can hardly avoid, which takes place every three years and aims to flourish the inner palace by choosing girls with both beauty and wisdom through selections round after round.
Nevertheless, the selection meant nothing to me this time, and I was just being perfunctory by simply showing up myself, after which I would go straight back home.
My father always remarked: "Our daughter is so indulged that how on earth can she manage to live restricted in the palace. So just forget about it and may her end up happily with an average good man." My mother also holds that a girl with such a perfect appearance and family background like me is by all means worth the best man with both abundant knowledge and kind characters in the world. And so it is with me that I, if ever to marry, shall marry the best man and live the happiest life till the end of the day and that I shall never mistreat myself.
However, an emperor, though in charge of everything in the world, is not necessarily my best man, for at least he can never solely belong to me. Therefore, I was not so finely dressed up that I just put on an average makeup, dressed in plain green, and wearing a fresh white cotton rose hibiscus in my hair, apart from which there was still a tiny green-jade hair pin attached with precious jewels, enough to demonstrate my status as the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Personnel, who is never to be looked down upon by anybody. With such camouflage, all I needed to do was to wait for the emperor to "turn down my name card", meaning I failed the selection.
The selection took place in the Hall of Yunyi, the formal hall of the Ever Spring Palace in the Forbidden City. All the beauties were divided into groups of six, with each group guided by eunuchs into the hall to be examined while the rest waiting in the rooms on the west and east side of the Ever Spring Palace. The examination was simple: the beauties only need to kowtow to the emperor and the empress and then retire to stance, waiting for further instructions from the emperor, whether there is one or two or not, after which they shall pay their tribute and then leave the hall. It is all up to the emperor who is to stay and who is to fail the selection. The one, once chosen to stay, is granted to reside back in her own family for the time being, and then sent to the palace to wife the emperor upon an auspicious day.
As a matter of fact, the emperor has already been married, and enjoys the company of many beloved wives. The selection this time was just meant to provide more heirs for the royal family.
Among all the beauties in the room, there was only one that I was well acquainted with, Meizhuang Shen, daughter of Zishan Shen, Chief Commander of the army in Jizhou. Since we'd been neighbours in childhood, we had a profound sisterly affection with one another.
She caught sight of me, approached and enquired with great care: "Huan, I'm so relieved to see you're here. I heard from my grandma that you had a cold. Are you feeling better now?"
I stood up immediately and replied: "It was but some coughing, nothing to concern you with. What about you, sis? Have you suffered a lot making all your way here?"
"Yes," nodded her, "but I'm feeling better now after two days' rest here in the capital. Huan, you're dressed a bit plainly today, but it adds to your beauty the other way round. Extraordinarily handsome!"
I flushed instantly and said with extreme shyness: "Being a true beauty yourself, how could you tease me so, sis?"
She smiled in silence, with her fingers stroking across my cheek, when I noticed that she was dressed in pink, her hair scraped back into a bun attached with a filigree-golden-phoenix hair pin, a tiny golden flower pattern tattooed on the forehead, and a pair of glittering ruby earrings, all of which contributed to an air of grandeur and elegance.
I gasped in admiration: "Sis, your beauty is ever growing! You're bound to catch the emperor's eyes."
Meizhuang, pressing her fingers onto her mouth, motioned me to stop talking and whispered: "Mind your words, Huan! There are full of competitive beauties this year, so mine can't necessarily promise me a win."
I realized that I had made an indiscreet remark, so I stopped the topic at once and turned to other trivial matters instead.
Suddenly a noise came from afar. It seemed a tea cup had been tossed over. We stopped our chatter and tried to find out what happened. A woman, dressed in dark green silk, wearing hair pins made from various jewels, took the skirt's hemline by one hand and grasped forcefully another woman by the other, screaming: "Are you blind? How come you poured such hot tea onto my dress! What a fool! What's your family?"
The woman grasped by her, though dressed plainly, looking rather adorable, was now entirely frozen up, trembled, looking down to the ground and replied tremulously: "My name is Lingrong An. My father is … is …"
Seeing her plainly dressed, the woman became even more supercilious and cried: "Have you no idea what your father is?"
Lingrong, An was so poorly overwhelmed that she said in the slightest voice: "My father is … Bihuai An … sub prefect of Songyang prefecture."
The woman scorned: "Such a family! No wonder your lack of courtesy!"
Then someone else warned Lingrong, An: "You know what? You've just offended nobody but Yuqing Lin, daughter of the Chief Constable of Xinbei."
An was so terrified that she instantly begged for Lin's forgiveness by bowing to her and explained: "I was just being upset at the thought of meeting his majesty soon. I didn't mean to pour the tea onto your dress. Please do forgive me, would you, sis?"
An obvious expression of disgust coming to her face, Lin frowned: "You? Meeting his majesty? What a joke! You beg for my forgiveness? Alright, only if you kneel down and kowtow to me."
Lingrong An turned pale instantly, with tears flooding in her eyes. No one nearby would help her because it was evident that a daughter of a sub prefect could never make it to be wedded with the emperor, whereas Lin had a rather big chance. Therefore, no one was willing to offend Lin for the sake of An, who seemed doomed to be humiliated this time.
I was filled with indignation, but Meizhuang held firmly my hand, warning in a whisper: "Don't you ever bother yourself!" Nevertheless, I got rid of her hand, moving forward, holding An up, and said in a tender voice to Lin: "It was just a matter of dress, so don't be fretted, sis. Luckily I happen to have some clothing in preparation. Suit yourself, and you may exchange in the back room. However, on such a big day, his majesty will be easily disturbed if you continue with this fuss, and if his majesty does get upset with this, how on earth can we afford it?
Besides, even if his majesty isn't disturbed, your good fame will also be tainted with what happened today spread elsewhere. Please do think over whether it is worth doing so."
Lin hesitated for a moment, and finally left, giving a snort of contempt, with whose departure, the other watchers-by dismissed as well. I turned to An and smiled: "Please don't mind my interference today. By the way, would you care to join us, since I see you are alone by yourself here, so that we can take care of each other as companions, thus feeling less upset with what's going on next."
With her head bowing, An replied in extreme gratitude: "Thank god for your help, sis. I may have a humble blood, but I shall never forget your kindness today."
I smiled: "Never mention that. We are all here for his majesty's sake, so it's natural we help each other." An worried: "But I'm afraid, sis, your helping me today would cause you trouble."
Meizhuang came upward to me and said: "Huan, you worried me so much. I mean your being so bold in the Forbidden City," and then smiled to An: "Look at her, such a naughty girl that she must want to fail the selection. Never thought of whether having offended someone or not."
I took a glance at An's dressing, which was newly made though, the texture of which was but ordinary. There was no sign of accessories on her at all, except for the two silver hair pins with no jewels and a plain-looking golden bracelet on her wrist, all of which added to her inferiority among other well-dressed-up beauties. I thought for a while and came up with an idea that noticing some begonia in full bloom in the corner of the wall, I took a pair of scissors from the table, cut off three blossoms, and attached it by the side of An's temples, which immediately added charm to her appearance. I then took my green jade ear rings off, helped An wear them on and said: "Clothes make a woman woman! Your dressings look plainly ordinary, no wonder their contempt. This pair of ear rings serves as a token of our friendship today. May they bring you good luck to the selection."
An was deeply moved, but replied in tears: "I'm afraid I shall disappoint your generosity and kindness, sis. With my humble birth, my name card is destined to be turned down."
Meizhuang consoled her: "One shall never judge a hero by his birth. Don't belittle yourself. You are a beauty."
By the time we were conversing, there came some eunuchs to escort An and some other beauties into the hall. I smiled to her as a kind of cheering up and then returned back to our seats with Meizhuang, waiting for our turns to come.
No sooner had we settled down than there came up a maid offering tea for us. Meizhuang and I tipped her respectively; afterwards she retreated with great joy. Seeing her leaving, Meizhuang finally relieved and worried for me: "What a remark you made just now. Don't you ever fear offending the would-be wives of his majesty's?"
I took the cup of tea, slowly let out some breath to cool down the heat, seeing no one was around, and said unhurriedly: "Thank you for your consideration for me, sis. But look, his majesty's selection, by all means looks at one's birth and family background, but one's manners also counts a lot. Yuqing Lin, though is born with a noble blood, her manners will surely block her way up from his majesty. Even though she is lucky enough to be accepted into the palace, I'm afraid she will not end up good. So considering this, there is no point in fearing having offended her."
Meizhuang nodded in praise: "You are right about that. No wonder your father has particularly favoured you since childhood, praising you as a little genius girl, whereas An is rather pitiable, indeed."
I smiled: "With your beauty and family background, sis, you are certain to succeed. A humble birth as An may have, she is rather polite and knows etiquette in addition to her unique charm, so she might have a bigger chance than Lin. Since I don't want to be involved in the palace life, you will at least have a companion to look after each other if An succeeds. Of course, with so many beauties this time, it still remains to be seen whether An can succeed. Anyway, it's all I can do for you now, sis."
Meizhuang was deeply touched. She held my hand warmly and thanked: "Huan, thank you for your thoughtfulness for me. However, it will be such a pity for your beauty if you finally end up in a normal family instead of in the palace."
I replied, lowering my voice: "One has one's own aspiration. Besides, I don't find myself quite fit the palace life, so all I wish is for you to succeed and have a wonderful life."