When it’s round, it shall illuminate the sky.”
“Well said!” The Emperor clapped his hands, laughing. “I have never heard of a woman with such a fine spirit. Tell me, my fair Talent, what do you wish to have?”
I could not let the opportunity slip away. I leaned over and cupped my hand around his ear. With the fragrance of wine wafting from his breath and his whisker touching my cheek, I told him about Mother and said how much I would like to find her.
“The Secretary shall take care of that. Tomorrow. He will have the notices pasted all over Chang’an.”
Happiness filled my heart. I bowed.
“But you deserve more than this. I have another announcement to make.” He stroked my cheek. “You shall be my personal attendant from now on.”
He had promoted me. Personal attendant. My hours at the wardrobe chamber would be reduced, and I would attend to him while he went to the Outer Palace, where he received foreign ambassadors and dealt with state affairs. I would see him in two courts, the Inner Court and the Outer Palace, a great honor and privilege. Jewel made an excuse to leave the table.
Sitting near the Emperor, I felt dizzy with happiness. Everything was perfect. Mother would be found, and she would be safe and sound, and my future, like the candles before me, finally glowed with radiance.
? ? ?
On my first day as the Emperor’s personal attendant, I walked down the wide streets of the Outer Palace lined with maples and elms. In my right hand I carried a tray of apples. A few paces ahead of me, the Emperor sat on a sedan carried by four porters. Beside him were seven other attendants, holding parasols and banners.
I was eager to go to the Audience Hall to observe the audience, to listen to the details of state affairs, to learn how the Emperor governed, and most important of all, to find and forge an ally among the men who had the Emperor’s ear. For it was with the support of the ministers that an empress would be born, and it was in the Audience Hall that an empress would reign.
The air was fresh in the dawn’s light. We passed several buildings sitting on raised platforms, where many ministers and scribes knelt at the door, waiting for the Emperor’s passing. In the distance, I could see many majestic buildings, the famous Cuiwei Hall with red corridors and white stone fences, the Zhengshi Hall, and the solemn Taiji Hall, where enthronements for emperors and empresses took place. It was a building with blue roofs and three bridges, each with a long, steep staircase.
We arrived at the vast yard in front of the Audience Hall, a wide, towering edifice. My legs were sore, and my arms had grown tired from holding the tray. But I was excited to see so many ministers waiting for the Emperor. There were also foreign messengers, some in high hats and boots, some in fisherman’s sandals. They all crowded around the steep stairs that led to the hall, for our kingdom, the most prosperous and the most cultured, was also the most powerful under Heaven.
A loud gong sounded, and a court announcer’s distinctive voice pierced the sky. “I hereby announce the Emperor of China, the One Above All, Emperor Taizong, the Conqueror of the North and the South, the great ruler of all land and the seven seas, has arrived!”
All the men kowtowed, heads bowed, backs arched, and hands flattened on the ground.
I followed the Emperor as he ascended the stairs and entered the Audience Hall. He went to his throne, threw his long sleeves behind him, and sat, his hands resting on his thighs. I went to an antechamber at the left of the hall with the other attendants. We would wait for the Emperor there, where he would have refreshments during the audience and change his formal attire at the end of the session. Behind us, the ministers holding their ivory tablets filed into the Audience Hall and lined up along the two sides.
The court announcer began to call out the names of the courtiers. First came the three most powerful men, the Duke, Chancellor of the Shangshu Department; Wei Zheng, Chancellor of Menxia Department; and Secretary Fang Xuanling of Zhongshu Department, then the Emperor’s uncle, then the second-degree courtiers, the third-degree courtiers, and many more. I remembered my grandfather had been one of the chancellors in Sui Dynasty, though I did not remember which department. As I listened to the men’s names, I watched them through a gap between the screens that blocked off the hall, memorizing their faces.