Where was she taking me?
She walked down a corridor and stopped in front of a building with three bays. “This is the Emperor’s wardrobe chamber,” she said, pushing open the center door. “You’re to tend to it from now on.”
My heart sang. I had been given an assignment in the imperial wardrobe! Not emptying Jewel’s chamber pot, embroidering, or doing other onerous, menial work. Most importantly, I was closer to the Emperor, and I could run into him at any moment. I wondered what Jewel would think when she found out.
I picked up my skirt and stepped inside.
Twelve tall wardrobes, engraved with elaborate flowery designs and lacquered in shiny red, stood before me. Along the walls, rows of shelves contained large chests, each the size of a writing table, stacked to the ceiling. I could not tell how many there were. Hundreds, perhaps. A strong odor of mold slapped my face like a soiled rag, but I did not mind. It smelled better than any exotic perfume, and my heart swelled like a storehouse full of treasure and riches.
“What should I do?” I walked between the rows of chests with leather buckles. My clogs struck the wood floor, the clear sound echoing in my ears like sweet music.
Rain stuffed a scroll into my hand. “This will tell you everything.”
I glanced at the document, which contained a list of my daily duties—preparing garments for the Emperor in the morning, organizing garments, counting linens, mending the seams, etc. “Where are the other caretakers?” Surely there were other helpers in the Emperor’s wardrobe chamber; even my father had two maids dusting his garments.
“You are the only one. More will come when the Emperor approves the assignments.”
I was surprised. “What about the previous maids?”
“Gone.” She headed to the door.
“Gone where? Did something happen to them?”
“Hanged.” The door swung shut behind her.
I wondered what they had done to deserve such a terrible fate. I studied the chamber again. It seemed different, the air filled with sinister threat. I must be careful. I could not make any mistakes.
I began to examine the chests. None of them were labeled. The former caretakers of the wardrobe were either too lazy to write the Chinese characters, or they were illiterate.
I opened the tall wardrobes. Inside were many extravagant sets of regalia. Red robes made of smooth silk, indigo robes interwoven with gold and silver threads, maroon robes embroidered with intricate designs of cranes, dragons, phoenixes, evergreens, and mountains, and multicolored gowns edged with fur and embellished with sparkling jewels. I was familiar with beautiful robes, but these touted finery I had never seen before.
“Sort out the garments according to the occasions the One Above All must attend…” I read from the list. “Important occasions include the audience on the first day of the moon, audience on the fifteenth day of the moon, days of receiving foreign ambassadors, worshipping Heaven and Earth, making sacrifices to ancestors, sacrifices to divinities of seas and mountains, offerings to the deities of grain and soil, offerings to the ancestors on their death anniversaries…”
But how would I know which robe was for which occasion? I knew enough not to dress him in red for his ancestors’ death anniversaries, but I also understood the wrong embroidery, wrong patterns, wrong fabric could cause insult when none was intended.
I went on to examine the chests. I could not lift the ones stacked high, so I started with the ones on the ground near the wardrobes. One by one, I opened them. Inside lay the Emperor’s casual outfits—long yellow robes; knee-length orange robes; tunics with wide sleeves; tunics with narrow sleeves; dresses embroidered with the sun, the moon, and stars; dresses stitched with paired deer and cranes; and many more.
“And the occasions are”—I checked the list—“court days, hunting, polo competitions, picnics, spring outings, admiring the full moon, spring outing, stargazing, feasting…”
So many occasions. I rubbed my eyes and moved on to the chests along the wall, which amassed an array of dazzling accessories, such as mortarboards, bejeweled girdles, jade clasps, beaded seal pouches, silk slippers with curled tips, jade pendants, leather boots, silk undergarments, even breastplates and capes.
In another container, I found red sable coats, black mink hats, spotted leopard vests, dyed leather gloves, and many crimson fur capes.
How could one man wear all these?
I started to sweat, but I had finished reviewing only half of the chests. Many accessories were tangled together and mismatched; to simply put everything in order would take days.