19. Time-Travel to the Qing Dynasty (19)

Wen Yao sensed something unusual in the palace atmosphere the moment she woke up that morning.

It felt as if the air were thick with a kind of suppressed excitement.

After observing this inexplicably for a while, she beckoned Aunt Songqin over. "What is going on in the palace today? Everyone seems off. Has some good news arrived?"

Her eyes and brow were filled with joy; it could only be good news.

"Great joy for you, mistress."

Aunt Songqin’s expression mirrored that of the other palace servants—she was trying hard to keep her lips straight, but they kept curling upward. "Word came from the Qianqing Palace this morning that His Majesty has reached maturity."

Reached... maturity...

Wen Yao’s mind went blank for a moment. It took quite a while for the implication to sink in. She raised an eyebrow, widened her eyes, and asked in a voice so stiff it felt surreal, "So... the entire palace knows about this now?"

"Of course they do," Aunt Songqin sighed, looking immensely gratified.

Having served the previous mistress as a second-rank maid and having looked after her current mistress since childhood, she viewed the Emperor—the former mistress’s own son—as a child of her own. Now that he had reached maturity and had already selected consorts, she figured it would not be long before the sounds of infants crying filled the inner palace. Naturally, she was delighted.

Yet... there was still a lingering regret.

She regretted that her mistress was in poor health and would likely never be able to bear an heir for the Emperor.

Wen Yao felt a tingling sensation of awkwardness across her scalp. She considered herself quite open-minded—back when she was a "ghost," she had once sneaked into a farmhouse to watch television with the family. Sometimes, if she couldn't retreat in time after the lights went out, she would even witness the couple being intimate. But even then, they had the decency to turn off the lights and keep their business private; she had never seen anyone go around broadcasting it.

Usually, on her way to pay respects at the Kunning Palace, Wen Yao would have the leisure to admire the clear blue sky, but today, she walked with her head down, hurrying along.

Even though the passing servants knelt and faced the walls to avoid her, why did she feel as if their gazes were scorching her back?

Little Emperor, oh Little Emperor, do you have any idea how much trouble this announcement of yours has caused me?

The atmosphere at the Kunning Palace was also strange.

Compared to the pure joy at the Changchun Palace, the mood here was significantly dampened. After all, the Empress was still a child, yet the Emperor was now ready to summon consorts and father heirs.

However, the Empress was well-trained in composure and treated Wen Yao just as she always had.

After paying her respects, Wen Yao retreated to the Changchun Palace. Even though she was thick-skinned, she could not handle this level of embarrassment.

***

By evening.

The young Emperor frowned at the two bed-chamber maids kneeling before him. Although his heart had been stirred the previous night, it did not mean he was desperate. The object of his dreams was his cousin, who happened to be his consort, and since he could have his heart's desire, why should he settle for anything less?

He waved his hand. "Not tonight. You may leave."

The faces of the Zhang and Wang maids turned deathly pale.

Once they returned to their room after kneeling to dismiss themselves, their tears began to fall. Any prior rivalry between them vanished, replaced by sheer panic.

"Sister Zhang, what are we to do?" the Wang maid asked, her voice trembling with terror.

"Do not fear. We were chosen by the Empress Dowager as bed-chamber maids. The Emperor must go through this rite of passage; he cannot simply go straight to the concubines in the inner palace," the Zhang maid said, though her own face was equally pale.

Ever since they had entered the waiting chambers last year, they had been anticipating this day.

It was the rule that when an Emperor reached maturity, he must be instructed in the ways of the bedchamber by specific maids. Surely, the Emperor would not break such a long-standing tradition.

Though they spoke these words, their hearts were in chaos.

If the Emperor refused to use them, they would be sent back to the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, and their only remaining path would be the laundry quarters. Although they lived in the waiting chambers, their status was different from that of ordinary maids.

"Currently, among the concubines, only Consort Tong of the Changchun Palace is eligible to serve the Emperor, but she is in poor health and likely cannot fulfill her duties," the Zhang maid whispered, trying to convince herself.

"But I heard the matron say that the Empress Dowager intends to select a few more maids from the tea room to enter the inner palace," the Wang maid said, less optimistic than her companion. With no consorts available to serve him, were there not plenty of others in the palace who could?

"Those in the tea room may be bondservants, but they come from prominent clans. How can we compare to them?"

As she spoke, the Wang maid wept again.

They were orphan girls chosen from the common folk; they were not even banner-people. In the palace, they could only do menial labor. They had been lucky enough to be sent to the Office of Imperial Household Affairs and then trained to serve before the Emperor—essentially, to be his first experience. They had hoped to win his favor and be elevated to the status of consorts.

The Zhang maid’s face was filled with sorrow.

Indeed, how could she compete with the daughters of those prominent bondservant families?

***

The Empress Dowager acted swiftly. A month later, she hosted a small selection for the tea room.

In fact, rumors of this selection had been circulating for a month. During this time, maids in the Qianqing Palace’s tea room had been replaced frequently. Only a few first-rank maids responsible for brewing the Emperor’s tea remained unchanged, while the others had been replaced by beautiful, graceful young girls.

This blatant, rule-breaking staff rotation had been tacitly approved throughout the month.

The imperial family had long held a tradition of selecting bondservant women to enter the inner quarters to ensure the continuation of the lineage. As the late Emperor relied heavily on these bondservants, by this reign, they had gradually transitioned from mere servants to positions of bureaucratic authority.

After the new Emperor ascended the throne, these bondservants were even more ambitious, hoping to change their social standing from "bureaucrats" to "officials."

The staff reshuffling in the tea room was merely the result of various games of strategy and the exchange of interests.

In the end, the Empress Dowager selected four women from the tea room, including the future Consort Rong (the Ma Jia clan) and Consort Hui (the Na La clan), though for now, they were merely ordinary secondary consorts.

"The Ma Jia clan is granted residence in the Zhongcui Palace, and the Na La clan is granted residence in the Yanxi Palace."

When assigning the palaces, the Emperor habitually thought to assign them to the Western Six Palaces, but remembering that Wen Yao had mentioned a few days ago that the Eastern Six Palaces were empty and lonely, he assigned the two new consorts there instead.

However, before they moved in, the Emperor cautioned them: "The Changchun Palace is the head of the Eastern Six Palaces. Although Lady Tong does not manage palace affairs, you must still pay your respects to her."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Ma Jia and Na La clans answered respectfully.

Yet, they were uneasy.

They knew the Emperor disliked assigning consorts to the Eastern Six Palaces. Of all the consorts who had entered the palace so far, only Lady Tong lived there, while everyone else was crammed into the Western Six Palaces—some rooms housing two or three people. Being suddenly assigned to the Eastern Six Palaces did not make them feel favored.

"I wonder if Lady Tong is easy to get along with," the Na La girl muttered, filled with worry.

The Ma Jia girl, who was packing her belongings nearby, glanced at her and smiled. "Whatever her temperament, we should just live our own lives quietly. Do you really intend to go and wait on her every day?"

"Did you not understand the Emperor’s meaning? He expects us to take our cues from Lady Tong," the Na La girl thought the Ma Jia girl was a bit naive.

She had seemed like such a sharp and generous person before.

"We don't even live in the same palace. At most, we’ll kowtow when we move in and offer our help when we go to pay respects at the Kunning Palace," the Ma Jia girl thought the Na La girl was being foolish. The Emperor had just said it; he didn't literally mean they had to visit Lady Tong morning and night.

Besides, "I heard Lady Tong is in poor health. Even if we wanted to bother her every day, she might not have the energy to deal with us."

At worst, she would just embroider a few pouches or tie some decorative knots for Lady Tong in her spare time.

"Forget it, we'll see as we go," the Na La girl straightened up and touched her face. She had been chosen by her clan to be sent to the tea room for the sole purpose of serving the Emperor in the inner palace. If she were lucky enough to give birth to a prince, it would bring honor to her family and allow them to be elevated into a higher banner.

The Ma Jia girl had the same goal.

As bondservants, who wouldn't want their family to be elevated? Even becoming a common banner-person without an official title was better than remaining a bondservant.

The Zhongcui Palace was just behind the Changchun Palace, and the Yanxi Palace was next to the Jingren Palace; both were very close to the Changchun Palace. As soon as the two moved in, the Changchun Palace heard the news. Zhao Defang immediately sent a young eunuch to investigate and soon returned to report: "A secondary consort of the Ma Jia clan has moved into the Zhongcui Palace, and a secondary consort of the Na La clan has moved into the Yanxi Palace. Both are granted the allowance of a 'Little Gege'."

A "Little Gege" allowance... that was the rank of an attendant.

Were these future Four Consorts really that low-ranking when they first entered the palace?

Wen Yao looked up and asked Songqin, "They were selected by the Empress Dowager just yesterday, right? Would the Empress Dowager agree to such a low rank?"

Wouldn't that be a slap to the old lady's face?

"It was the Empress Dowager herself who set the allowance," Songqin explained with a smile. "Mistress, you may not know, but in this palace, most maids who become consorts start as attendants. They are only rewarded with higher ranks after they have served the Emperor. Since they are consorts of bondservant origin, it wouldn't be proper for them to have the same rank as those from the formal, noble selections, would it?"

That wasn't necessarily true.

Wen Yao knew from history that the Consort De was made a Noble Lady upon her initial conferment.

People said she had earned her rank by selling out her son, but the truth was unknown. After all, the real Empress Xiao Yi Ren had raised not only the Fourth Prince but also the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth; those princes were just passing through, staying in the Jingren Palace for only a year or two.

Could it be that the Little Emperor was actually truly in love with Consort De?

She had heard gossip before that even in her fifties, Consort De still had records of serving the Emperor in the bedchamber.

"The Empress Dowager still promoted them," Aunt Songqin sighed.

In her mind, it would be better if they remained mere attendants forever so that they would never affect her mistress's favor.

Wen Yao had no interest in their ranks. She already knew they would eventually stop at the rank of Consort. She was more interested in who would be the first to serve the Emperor. She adjusted the jade hairpin in her bun in the mirror. Summer was coming; it was time to put away the gold hairpins.

The Zhang and Wang maids had waited for over a month, and finally, the verdict arrived.

The Emperor had flipped the tablet for the Changchun Palace.

In other words, the Emperor had no intention of choosing the bed-chamber maids and had gone straight to the inner palace.

Wen Yao, who had just received the notification, was stunned. Aunt Songqin had just said the Emperor was a man of rules, yet the boy had slapped her in the face the very next second, breaking the rules entirely.

Even while sitting in the bathtub, washing with flower petals, Wen Yao was still conflicted.

Thirteen years old...

He wasn't even fully grown yet, was he?

Should she brush up on her acting skills? Otherwise, if she didn't feel anything, wouldn't the Emperor be terribly embarrassed?