The palace had numerous buildings, and the most important concern was fire prevention. Privately lighting stoves or burning charcoal would result in beheading – one of the most common methods listed in “One Hundred Ways to Die in the Great Ming Palace.” All meals for every palace were prepared by the Imperial Kitchen, placed in food boxes, and delivered. There were no individual kitchens.
Since it was spring, all palaces had already removed their heating braziers and other warming items. Wanting to heat a pot of sweet rice wine was not easy.
However, Mei Xiang was an experienced palace servant and had her own methods. The Six Bureaus and One Office for female officials were located west of the West Six Palaces. The West Six Palaces consisted of six palace compounds: Jingren Palace, Yanxi Palace, Chenggan Palace, Yonghe Palace, Zhongcui Palace, and Jingyang Palace.
Among them, Imperial Noble Consort Hu of Yanxi Palace held the highest rank and was the leader of the West Six Palaces. Imperial Noble Consort Hu had given birth to Prince Zhu of Chu and was currently pregnant again. According to palace regulations, pregnant consorts were allowed to set up small kitchens in their palaces to adjust their health at any time.
Yanxi Palace happened to be closest to the Six Bureaus and One Office, so Mei Xiang took her wine pot to Yanxi Palace to borrow the use of their small kitchen.
The small kitchen had Mei Xiang’s acquaintances, who readily agreed to her request and boiled a pot of water for warming the wine.
After warming the wine, Mei Xiang expressed her gratitude and returned with the wine pot. When she pushed open the door, Hu Shanwei’s study was filled with new female officials who were testing each other on palace regulations and etiquette – quite a lively scene.
On the desk, besides the osmanthus cakes and yam cakes that Mei Xiang had brought, there were also late-night snacks that others had respectfully offered to other female officials: tiger-eye nest silk candy, wisteria cakes, butter-fried conch, and even precious foods like bird’s nest and lotus seed porridge.
It turned out that after Mei Xiang had left, her neighbor from next door, Chen Er’mei from Guangzhou, had come with butter-fried conch to visit Hu Shanwei, saying that studying alone was too lonely and she wanted companionship.
Chen Er’mei was innocent and lively, fond of socializing. Although she was sometimes a bit outspoken, she wasn’t disagreeable. With her presence, even someone as silent and reserved as Hu Shanwei could say a few more words and smile more.
After a while, several more female officials knocked on the door to borrow Hu Shanwei’s class notes, afraid they might have missed recording something.
Hu Shanwei had the fastest writing speed and most accurate records – this was well-known to everyone, making her notes authoritative. Being cultured and well-mannered people, none came visiting empty-handed, so the food and drinks on the study desk kept increasing.
With the major examination approaching, all the female officials were somewhat nervous. Hearing the sound of laughter and conversation coming from Hu Shanwei’s room, they couldn’t sit still and also brought food to join the excitement.
Soon, Hu Shanwei’s room was filled with female officials. Almost all forty-four newcomers had arrived, making it difficult even to turn around. The desk was covered with food, and everyone gathered together to share and eat.
Chen Er’mei laughed cheerfully, “Everyone knows the palace regulations by heart – it’s all about beheading and collective punishment. The more we talk about it, the more nervous everyone gets. How about I pose a question to test everyone on palace etiquette?”
Everyone clapped in approval.
Chen Er’mei pointed toward the West Six Palaces, separated by two palace walls and one street, “Imperial Noble Consort Hu in Zhongcui Palace is currently pregnant. I’ll test you all on the birth ceremony and naming ceremony for princes – we’ll need this knowledge in a few months. Starting from my left, let’s go in sequence with each person stating one rule.”
Hu Shanwei said, “When a prince is born, on the third day, the Emperor wears sacrificial robes and goes to the southern and northern suburbs to make offerings. Court civil officials of fifth rank and above, military officials of fourth rank and above, as well as imperial relatives and princes consort accompany the sacrifice. Upon returning to the palace, offerings are made to the ancestors at Fengxian Hall and Chongxian Hall.”
After stating the first rule, Jiang Quan, the thirty-nine-year-old widow from Fujian sitting below Hu Shanwei, quickly continued, “The next day, His Majesty wears ceremonial court dress and goes to Fengtian Gate, where civil and military officials wear auspicious clothing to offer congratulations and perform the four-bow ceremony. From the day of the prince’s birth, civil and military officials wear auspicious clothing for ten consecutive days. A date is chosen to proclaim throughout the realm, with officials from the Hanlin Academy, Eastern Palace, and Six Boards carrying imperial edicts to inform all princely residences.”
Jiang Quan from Fujian was the oldest among the forty-four female officials. Emperor Hongwu had set the recruitment age for female officials as no younger than thirteen, no older than nineteen, above thirty, and below forty. Jiang Quan was exactly thirty-nine.
In civilian life, at her age she would already be a grandmother with her life essentially over. It was unclear why she insisted on entering the palace to compete with candidates young enough to be her daughters for the female official position.
Sitting below Jiang Quan was female official Shen Qionglian, only thirteen years old – the youngest female official and the first place winner in this female official selection examination, the “top female scholar.”
A true teenage genius!
Shen Qionglian not only received excellent grades on all her discussions of the Four Books and Five Classics, but particularly distinguished herself on the question about “preserving chastity” from the “Women’s Analects.”
Because she began her essay with, “How extreme was Qin’s lack of virtue! Why must one preserve loyalty?”
She overturned the concept of preserving chastity, directly stating it wasn’t necessary – an absolutely shocking opening.
This meant that the Qin state was tyrannical and the world lacked virtue, so there was no need to preserve loyalty. She then gave examples and turned her argument:
“The Yuan was without virtue, so people’s hearts turned away and rebellions arose throughout the realm. Our Emperor, originally a commoner from Huaizuo, rose due to the great chaos, pushed forward by the masses, rescuing the people from dire straits and enabling all citizens to find their proper place…”
She said the Yuan Dynasty lost popular support, so heroes rose throughout the realm with no need to “preserve loyalty.” Emperor Hongwu, this commoner from Fengyang, became leader through popular will, saving all people from fire and water.
Hu Shanwei greatly admired this. When she took the exam, she disagreed with the line “if one conduct fails, a hundred conducts fail” from the “Women’s Analects” section on “preserving chastity.” Her writing was obscure and her thoughts unclear, and she didn’t even finish that question before submitting, dragging down her final score. She ranked thirty-seventh among the accepted female officials – essentially at the bottom.
However, Shen Qionglian took a unique approach, jumping beyond the narrow interpretation of “preserving chastity” to discuss dynastic changes while cleverly flattering the imperial family, saying that Emperor Hongwu didn’t “preserve loyalty” but rose in rebellion to save the people from fire and water.
Such a talented yet appropriately tactful teenage genius – if she didn’t take first place, who would?
Hu Shanwei certainly accepted this.
Shen Qionglian smoothly continued with the next step of the prince birth ceremony, and the fourth female official took her turn…
In this way, the female officials completed a full round of the prince birth and naming ceremonies. Only two female officials made slight errors, immediately corrected by the others. This method strengthened memory in a relaxed and lively atmosphere.
Just then, Mei Xiang returned with the warmed sweet rice wine. As the host, Hu Shanwei naturally couldn’t be stingy and gave each person a cup, exactly emptying the pot.
Everyone drank fully. When it was Hu Shanwei’s turn to pose a question, she said, “Let’s test you all on the investiture ceremony for princely consorts…”
In just fifteen days, the Palace Administration Office required female officials to memorize by heart the palace regulations from the “Imperial Ancestral Instructions” and the sections dealing with various court ceremonies from the “Great Ming Statutes.” The texts piled on their desks were as thick as bricks.
The assessment standard for palace regulations was that not a single rule could be wrong. The ceremonies in the “Great Ming Statutes” were intricate, and rote memorization was insufficient – one had to first master the “Rites of Zhou” to understand the logic behind ceremonial procedures.
With the major examination tomorrow, Hu Shanwei was immersed in the fervent atmosphere of exam preparation. There was pressure, but studying and competing alongside the most outstanding women of the Great Ming, she felt incredibly fortunate.
Everyone ate while reciting the statutes. They didn’t disperse until the second watch, having eaten almost all the various late-night snacks on the desk. The sweet rice wine had long been finished.
The top scholar Shen Qionglian, only thirteen years old, had a childlike nature and loved sweets, especially the fragrant and sweet osmanthus cakes. Everyone both admired and loved her, willing to indulge her. Seeing her eat happily, they all yielded to her, with no one competing for the osmanthus cakes. Thus, she had eaten almost the entire plate.
As the host, Hu Shanwei was considerate of her guests and ate the least.
By the third watch, the youngest, who had eaten the most and had the weakest constitution, Shen Qionglian, was the first to fall ill. She began vomiting and having diarrhea. Subsequently, other female officials gradually began feeling various discomforts, though none as severely as Shen Qionglian.
Some with good health were fine, like Hu Shanwei, who slept soundly until being awakened by commotion outside in the middle of the night.
It turned out that the palace servants on night duty in the corridor were afraid something serious had happened and went to the Imperial Kitchen to wake the female medicine official on duty tonight.
Among the Six Bureaus in the rear palace, the “Shang” (Imperial) positions were all fifth rank – the highest female officials in each bureau, totaling six.
According to their responsibilities, each of the Six Bureaus had four divisions under them, making twenty-four divisions total. Emperor Hongwu believed that the Yuan Dynasty had corrupted ceremonies and music, with eunuchs causing the country’s ruin, so he simply adopted the Six Bureaus and Twenty-Four Divisions female official system from the Sui and Tang periods.
For example, the Imperial Kitchen Bureau had four subordinate divisions: the Division of Food Management for meals, the Division of Brewing for wine and vinegar, the Division of Medicine for drugs, and the Division of Fuel for firewood and charcoal.
Each division had two female officials of parallel rank working in alternating day and night shifts, ensuring female officials were on duty in the rear palace for all twelve hours, serving the court.
The forty-eight “Division” (Si) ranked positions in the Six Bureaus were all sixth-rank female officials.
The medicine division female official on night duty tonight was surnamed Ru. Medicine Official Ru immediately brought several female physicians to examine all the new female officials experiencing discomfort.
Shen Qionglian was the most severely ill. After vomiting and diarrhea, she began running a high fever, her whole body burning red while her hands and feet were ice cold.
According to the “Imperial Ancestral Instructions,” all medical care in the rear palace was the responsibility of the Imperial Kitchen Bureau’s Division of Medicine. Imperial physicians could not step foot in the rear palace or face beheading.
Medicine Official Ru was experienced. Seeing that most of the affected people had symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, she knew this was either dysentery or food poisoning.
Medicine Official Ru immediately ordered the palace servants, “Close the palace gates and scatter lime around the area. Seal and isolate all waste buckets – tomorrow morning have them carried far outside the palace. No one here may step outside the palace gates until their health is restored.”
The palace servants looked troubled, “Medicine Official Ru, the Palace Administration Office has the major examination tomorrow.”
Medicine Official Ru said coldly, “Then the Palace Administration Office people will have to come find me for questioning. If dysentery is confirmed and spreads, you and I will both face beheading.”
The palace servants dared not disobey and closed the palace gates.
Medicine Official Ru had all the new female officials living in the corridor chambers awakened. Regardless of whether they felt unwell, each was examined and questioned by the female physicians.
Shen Qionglian’s condition grew increasingly severe, with female physicians administering acupuncture treatment.
One female official discovered that all those feeling unwell had been sitting in Hu Shanwei’s room that evening.
Seeing Shen Qionglian’s small body filled with silver needles, her life hanging in the balance, the official felt sorry for her. In her agitation, she pointed at Hu Shanwei and said:
“This is all Hu Shanwei’s scheme! She saw that Shen Qionglian was exceptionally talented and felt she couldn’t outperform the other female officials in tomorrow’s exam, so she poisoned the late-night snacks to bring everyone down. Look, she’s perfectly fine while everyone else fell ill.”
Everyone looked and saw this was indeed the case, with all eyes focusing on Hu Shanwei.
Watching those who had once smiled at her and called her sister suddenly thrust in a knife, Hu Shanwei was left speechless, “I didn’t… I’m not…”
Medicine Official Ru pointed at Hu Shanwei and commanded, “Arrest her.”