April third, the weather was fine and clear.

This year had experienced a late spring cold snap. In mid-March, a night of north wind mixed with snow had turned the bright yellow glazed tiles of the Forbidden City white. Everyone’s tone carried a touch of melancholy, worrying that this year’s flowering season would be delayed. Unexpectedly, in the final days of the month’s end, there came a sudden turnaround, and the weather became considerably warmer.

Sunlight danced on the brows of the roof corner beasts, and half of the wide-open palace doors of Yude Palace were closed. The palace maid adding incense below the steps poured the ashes left from the previous night into a lacquered box, standing quietly. She could faintly hear cautious humming coming from within the palace. She shifted her gaze and exchanged smiles with those standing in attendance under the corridor. A young eunuch made a silencing gesture toward the palace interior, and the other half of the palace doors slowly closed as well.

Living in one place for a long time, even if it has carved beams and painted rafters, there are times of boredom. Not only were the palace servants who worked here like this, but the noble masters in the palace were the same way.

The warm afternoon light streamed in through the windows, casting a brilliant diamond-shaped pattern on the blue bricks – a natural stage. Wanwan liked to close the doors and sing an opera aria at this time, though of course she had to hide it from Nanny. Without lyrics, she hummed gracefully according to the drum beats in her memory, applied thick powder to her face, outlined exquisite red lips, and waved her water sleeves in proper fashion, turning back with a leisurely smile… At this moment, she was not a princess, but a girl dreaming of being an opera performer. Only she had no audience – the two palace maids assisting from the side by arranging her skirt train kept their eyes downcast, and even when she finished singing, there was no applause. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed, though not sad. She would find the cloud-patterned couch for an afternoon nap, and when she woke it was already evening. Rubbing her eyes and looking at the sunset clouds in the sky, swallows flew by – diving down to catch insects, perhaps? Palace life was tedious and dull; if you didn’t find your own entertainment, you would have been suffocated to death eight hundred years ago.

She got up, planning to remove this costume. Going to the mirror to look at her face, before she could focus her eyes, Xiao You entered through the palace gate and stood at the threshold calling out: “Master, our Western Flowering Crabapple under the south wall has bloomed. Won’t you go take a look?”

This was good news. She had this habit every year – the first cluster of flower branches had to be adorned with red silk, praying that her flowers would bloom better than those outside Wenhua Gate. Finding a jeweled sash for tying hair, she went out and hurried to the base of the tree. Looking up, she saw newly sprouted buds that seemed rather delicate. She was shorter than Xiao You, and even on her tiptoes still fell a bit short. The opera costume’s sleeves were too large – when she raised her hands, they slid smoothly to her shoulders, exposing a pair of gleaming white arms.

Xiao You quickly pressed her hands down, looking left and right before whispering: “Be careful not to be seen by others. If Nanny finds out, she’ll scold again.” Taking the sash with a smile, “This servant will hang it up for Master!”

Wanwan agreed, standing peacefully to one side with her sleeves tucked in. The remaining glow of sunset illuminated her face, her eyes bright as stars.

She began counting – one, two… Starting from age four without fail every year, there were now eleven ribbons. Initially, adorning the tree with red silk was taught to her by her birth mother, Consort Xu. Consort Xu was from the south, a young lady from a Hanlin scholar’s family, who always had an irrepressible poetic sentiment in her bones. She said crabapple trees were the eyes of the matchmaker god – adorning the tree with flowers would ensure she could marry a good prince consort in the future. Although at that time she didn’t know what kind of horse a prince consort was, her mother’s words had always been firmly remembered in her heart. Later, after Consort Xu passed away, whenever she missed her, she would come under this crabapple tree to look at the red silk ribbons, and had been looking for so many years.

“You say… how many would be enough to encounter a good marriage?” She turned to ask Xiao You. “Would twenty be enough?”

Xiao You teased her: “Master wants to marry? That’s not hard to handle! As the old saying goes, the emperor’s sister need not worry about marriage. When you see His Majesty, just drop a hint, and you’ll have everything.”

Her face reddened as she muttered: “Lame tongue, making fun of me now…”

Xiao You laughed for a while before consoling her: “Don’t worry, Master. Where would you need twenty ribbons? In my opinion, waiting another year or two would do it. Since you’re not the Empress Dowager’s birth daughter, appearances must be made even more beautiful. They can’t very well leave you to become an old maid! In the future we need to find someone from a renowned family – wealthy, handsome, of good character, and who dotes on his wife. That would be enough.”

Wanwan extended a little finger wanting to scratch her scalp, but withdrew it in the end. Regarding the matter of marriage, it was actually full of contradictions. When Consort Xu died of illness, she was only six years old. It wasn’t that she feared having no one to care for her – she was the dignified Princess of Daye, would she worry about not having enough to eat? However, she needed to find an adoptive mother to be registered under someone’s name. Girls had many matters to attend to, and there would be concerns about her future marriage and such. The trivial affairs of the deep palace were all managed by women; the emperors of previous dynasties did not interfere. Back then, Father personally sent her to Kunning Palace, and from that time she acknowledged someone else as mother.

It was just unfortunate that not having come from that person’s belly, there was always a barrier. So many times she wanted to show affection, the Empress Dowager was always indifferent, and over time she became disheartened. Now she feared being hastily sent away. Though a princess was precious, once she entered someone else’s household, that would be all there was to it. It was better to delay and carefully select. However, if she didn’t marry out, she would have to stay in the Forbidden City forever, with countless rules and regulations constraining her. Every word, every action, even which part of an orange segment to bite first had specific regulations. She didn’t like this kind of life. How unfortunate to be born into the wrong body – if she were male, how wonderful that would be! If she couldn’t participate in government like her brothers, it would be good even to follow those people from the Ceremonial Directorate out to make purchases.

Xiao You finished hanging the sash. She squinted carefully to look – the cord was inlaid with gold thread that occasionally flashed golden in the remaining sunlight, but when she looked closely, it was gone again.

Somehow, this evening was particularly quiet. Several young eunuchs stood listlessly at their posts, lacking the usual spirit and energy, all looking rather wilted.

She remembered now – the most formidable Nanny Jingqi had gone to visit relatives this afternoon and hadn’t returned yet. Fortunately, Li Nanny wasn’t here, otherwise if she dared to run around with painted face and opera costume, she would surely scold even Consort Xu back to life! It would be too much to bear if she started lecturing from needles and thread all the way to national affairs.

Speaking of whom she feared most, it was probably Nanny Jingqi. The imperial family had rules, particularly strict ones. From birth, each prince and princess was assigned special personnel for care. Palace servants were divided into three categories – Jingqi, Shuishang, and Nannies, managing different duties. Nannies were wet nurses who, having nursed the child themselves, were tender-hearted and relatively easy to talk to. Shuishang specialized in boiling water and washing clothes, not concerned with rules. Jingqi was formidable – commonly called “watching mothers.” As the name suggested, they watched you without blinking. If you spoke too loudly or grinned too widely when laughing, it all fell within their scope of instruction. Princes had hard studies, having to rise at the second quarter of the Yin hour. If they couldn’t get up, Jingqi nannies dared to use the paddle. For princesses, though they didn’t suffer physical punishment, besides studying they also had needlework. Any slight misstep earned scolding – it was also a form of mental torment.

She quickly walked under the corridor, hands behind her back about to enter the palace, when she suddenly stopped: “Why haven’t the windows been put up yet?”

What did “putting up windows” mean? At night, paper window frames were installed outside the glass windows – this was a daily routine. There was a simple-minded maid doing rough work in Yude Palace who responded “Oh!” and said: “Reporting to Master, Supervisor Xiao came this afternoon and probably won’t come to inspect tonight.”

Because she was the only princess in the Forbidden City, and after her brother ascended the throne she became Grand Princess, the Ceremonial Directorate feared the palace servants would become lax. Probably also intending to control her, they specially dispatched someone to manage the palace affairs here.

“Just because Supervisor Xiao isn’t coming, I’m still here, so you just slack off?” She huffed angrily. “Put up the windows!”

She usually had a good temper, so seeing her truly annoyed this time, several palace servants stuck out their tongues and installed window frames on all the windows in front of Yude Palace. Wanwan, with her heavily painted face, watched for a long time. Feeling they wouldn’t slack off anymore, she turned to enter the palace.

Xiao You brought water to wash her face, saying while washing: “His Majesty’s health has been poor these past few days. Won’t Master go visit? Last time when you twisted your neck, His Majesty came to see you for two consecutive days!”

She sighed: “I don’t know what’s wrong with the Emperor. He caught cold during Mid-Autumn Festival last year, and the illness has lingered until today. I originally wanted to visit, but Qianqing Palace is more strictly guarded than elsewhere. The Empress Dowager even mentioned those consorts, telling them not to constantly find ways to appear before the Emperor. His Majesty has mountains of state affairs to handle; don’t needlessly add to his troubles. I know it wasn’t said for me to hear, but I must be tactful and understanding myself.” She paused and pondered further: “Yesterday I heard he coughed up blood – Second Brother secretly told me. When I inquired with the factory minister, he evasively deflected, so it’s probably true. I also want to visit. How about tomorrow I go to Cining Palace to request the Empress Dowager’s decree? If she approves, then I’ll go to Qianqing Palace.”

Xiao You muttered: “The Empress Dowager really… blood siblings having to avoid such unlucky suspicions!”

There was no help for it. Daye’s rules were like this – men and women were separate. After reaching a certain age, even speaking had to be done several steps apart. So in the imperial family, even wanting to be affectionate was impossible.

The next morning after washing and dressing, she properly went to Cining Palace to pay respects. The Empress Dowager was the greatest Buddha in the Forbidden City – morning and evening greetings could not be exempted even for the Emperor and Empress. Wanwan always went early, basically arriving as soon as the Empress Dowager took her seat. The Empress Dowager was quite satisfied with her on this point.

Regarding morning greetings, the daily conversations were much the same. Wanwan would offer blessings to the Empress Dowager, receive tea brought by palace maids to present upward. Only after the Empress Dowager took a sip would she be allowed to sit. Then she would respectfully inquire: “Did Mother rest well yesterday?”

The Empress Dowager’s brow furrowed slightly: “I’ve been uncomfortable these past few days. The first half of the night was fine, but the second half I never slept soundly.”

Wanwan looked up. The Empress Dowager wore a crane-patterned medallion front-opening jacket. Due to good maintenance, despite being over forty, her face showed almost no signs of aging. However, she might truly be sleeping poorly – light shadows had appeared under her eyes, making her look rather more haggard than usual.

“From this daughter’s observation, it’s probably depletion of qi and blood. Mother should take care of her health and have the Imperial Medical Academy prepare some qi-tonifying prescriptions.” She bashfully pressed her hands on her knees: “If Mother cannot sleep well, Wanwan is very worried. If Mother would permit it, Wanwan could attend Mother at night. Whatever Mother needs, Wanwan will serve you.”

The Empress Dowager listened to her words and smiled with pursed lips. This child had always been well-behaved. Though somewhat timid, her heart was sincere. The late Emperor had few heirs – only two sons and one daughter in his lifetime. As the only daughter, Princess Hede had been very favored when young. Unfortunately, she was fated to have shallow connections with her parents. If not for carrying misfortune in her destiny, she would be quite pitiful.

The Empress Dowager said it wasn’t necessary: “Your constitution is also weak; you couldn’t endure such exertion. I have them by my side; you needn’t worry about me.” She then unusually inquired about the princess’s morning meal, asking what she had eaten and how well she had eaten it.

The supervising eunuch beside the princess bowed with hands hanging: “Reporting to the Empress Dowager, Grand Princess had half a bowl of glutinous rice porridge and one milk bun this morning, eating with good appetite.”

The Empress Dowager nodded slightly: “Her appetite is still somewhat small. Those below should encourage her more. When the master is healthy, it’s your good fortune.”

Those accompanying immediately knelt to receive the decree. Wanwan’s heart also settled somewhat, thinking privately that the Empress Dowager was in a good mood today. When she mentioned wanting to visit the Emperor later, she probably wouldn’t obstruct it.

While she was calculating in her heart, through the south window she saw the Empress leading people in. She tucked her skirt and stood up, quietly retreating to beside the Empress Dowager’s seat. The sound of eunuchs striking wooden clappers came from the doorway. The Empress, wearing a phoenix-patterned jacket and skirt like a large butterfly, led the consorts to settle on the carpet before the treasure throne of Cining Palace.