“If you wish, Mei, come and visit me. We shall have a nice talk.”
I shook my head and turned to a path near the willow. I did not like the fact that Jewel knew everything about me. And I was worried. I did not believe she had run into me by accident. She must have been planning something, but I did not know what.
? ? ?
“Do you wish to know their secrets?” a girl with buck teeth said to me when I was having the midday meal in a loud dining hall, where the middle-ranking and lower-ranking ladies sat at low tables and many eunuchs threaded through the crowd to deliver trays.
Her name was Plum, one of my Talent roommates. She was always busy talking at bedtime, and during the lesson, she had paid no attention to Teacher Rain, so busy was she whispering to the others.
“Whose secret?” I asked.
“That girl.” She pointed at a glum-looking girl sitting in a corner. “She is a Grace. Look at her, she’s scratching her head again. Don’t go near her; she has lice. And that girl in the green-and-white gown over there, she has terrible body odor. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? The stink of a fox. She’s never going to be favored, I tell you now.”
I hesitated, unsure whether I should trust her. But I liked her. She had an innocent look on her face despite her talkativeness, and she was definitely different from Jewel. “Those are big secrets.”
Smiling, she nudged me with her elbow. “Now tell me yours.”
I slowly chewed a piece of pork belly. After I swallowed, she was still staring at me, almost nose to nose. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
The other Talents near us finished their food and moved away. There were only the two of us. Plum licked her lips. “You were very brave, saving the Emperor’s life,” she said. “How did you do it?”
“I ran,” I said. “I was not brave. I was frightened to death.”
“I know it. Anyone would be frightened.” Plum grinned. “So do you like the training? I hate the ‘perfect walk,’ by the way. It gave me blisters, and when they popped, the fluid stuck to the inside of my clogs. I cried every day when I first came here. If you saved all my tears in a barrel, they’d flood the whole court.”
“It must be a very big barrel.” I smiled. I liked the fact that she knew many things about the girls. She would be the perfect supplier of resources, and perhaps a good spy. “How long have you been in the Inner Court, Plum?”
“About three years.”
I finished my food and stacked the bowl and saucers on the tray. “Have you met the Four Ladies?”
“Of course. They’re like four gods ruling the four directions of the court.” Plum looked around and cupped her hand at my ear. “But to tell you the truth, the only lady we love is the Noble Lady. You’ve heard of her, right? She’s very powerful. She oversees the Imperial Silkworm Workshops, and she is a weaver herself, most kind and generous.”
“She is also the daughter of Emperor Yang from the Sui Dynasty,” I said, recalling Father’s story.
“So you do know.”
“Why did the Emperor not make her the Empress?” After all, it had been almost three years since Empress Wende’s death, and the Noble Lady had a son, Prince Ke, who was one year younger than the Crown Prince. She would be a good candidate for the crown.
“That’s a long story.” Plum sighed. “The Pure Lady would like to be the Empress herself, and she is gathering support for her son, Prince Yo.”
I placed his name among the list of the princes. He was the fourth living son of the Emperor, after Taizi and Prince Ke. “What kind of support?”
Plum glanced around as though to see if anyone were eavesdropping. Then she cupped her hand over my ear again. “One thing you need to know is the Pure Lady is ruthless. You must make sure you never offend her.”
“I have yet to meet her.” Laughter burst out, interrupting us. I turned to see a group of Graces in a corner, their heads gathered together. “So I hear I will receive an assignment after the training.”
“Yes. We all have duties. Some weave, some clean, some do laundry, some serve the Ladies. Only the Ladies can sit on their stools and draw their beauty marks all day.”
“What about the Emperor?” I asked. “When will we see him?”
He was wounded, but he would recover.
“We go to see him on the tenth day and the twenty-first day of every month.”
The bedding schedule. I remembered what Jewel had told me during the bath. “Why those days?”
“Oh, according to the bedding schedule, the lowest-ranking ladies go to see the Emperor on the first nine days of the moon, then the middle-ranking ladies on the next three nights, followed by the high-ranking, and the Empress on the fifteenth and the sixteenth days of the moon, the full moon nights.”
“Why on full moon nights?”