Serving the Emperor for the First Time

Emperor Jing'an had selected five young women to enter the palace this year. Compared with those chosen in previous selections, all five were of modest birth, but they shared one trait.

Their birth mothers had borne many children, and they themselves had the looks and figures of women suited to bearing sons.

Though Hua Meng was the lowest-born of the five, her mother, Lu Shi, had borne the most children among their mothers. With her connection to Minister Lin as well, Hua Meng entered the palace with a fairly high rank.

Hua Meng had been granted the rank of pin and assigned to a side hall of Sparrow Plume Palace. It was not that her rank was too low for the main hall, but that Sparrow Plume Palace already had a pin who had been promoted from guiren.

At the time, Emperor Jing'an had merely raised her rank without mentioning a move to the main hall, so she had continued living in the left side hall for the past two years.

Thus, when Hua Meng entered the palace today, she could only live in the right side hall.

Hua Meng had brought Ling Cui into the palace with her, but before she entered, her grandmaster, Minister Lin, had told her that he had arranged for another palace maid to look after her.

"Your servant Qiu Die greets you, Mistress." Unlike Ling Cui, Qiu Die was already twenty and had no intention of leaving the palace. She had now combed up her hair and become a senior attendant.

The moment Hua Meng saw how she was dressed, she understood why her grandmaster had made this arrangement.

"Get up, quickly," Hua Meng told Qiu Die. Once she had risen, Hua Meng continued, "Ling Cui has gone to put our things away. Go take a look later and give her some pointers."

Hua Meng had just finished speaking and was about to ask about the current situation in the palace when a flurry of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hall.

"Lady Hua, Xiao Jiangzi just came with a message. His Majesty has summoned you to attend him in bed tonight."

Outside the room, the young eunuch Yang Jiu had barely finished speaking, his face alight with excitement, when Qiu Die frowned slightly inside.

Hua Meng had initially thought there was some problem with her being the first to attend the emperor in bed, but Qiu Die soon continued, "Although you have taken the first prize this time, Mistress, I fear you may be too tired to pay your respects to the empress dowager tomorrow."

With that, Qiu Die promptly added, "Mistress, did you bring any loose silver?"

Hearing the question, Hua Meng immediately understood what she meant.

At the same time, she could not help marveling inwardly that there really was hardly any strife in the imperial harem.

Just then, Ling Cui, who had heard the commotion, came out of the room carrying a purse filled with loose silver.

After Ling Cui went to give Yang Jiu a reward, Hua Meng turned to Qiu Die and asked, "Qiu Die, did you just say we were to pay our respects to the empress dowager tomorrow?"

"Yes." Qiu Die nodded, then patiently explained in detail, "As you must know, Mistress, the founding emperor of this dynasty established a rule that no empress is to be appointed in the imperial harem. Whoever first bears the emperor's eldest son may be made empress, provided the eldest prince grows up healthy to the age of three."

Hua Meng naturally knew about that.

But what did it have to do with paying their respects to the empress dowager tomorrow?

Qiu Die was attentive. Seeing Hua Meng's confusion, she continued her explanation.

From Qiu Die's explanation, Hua Meng learned that on the second day after the selected women entered the palace, the empress dowager would always summon them all before her, give them plenty of encouragement, and promise to raise the rank of whoever first bore an imperial son.

"Besides that, the empress dowager will also address everyone, but she is kind, so you needn't worry, Mistress." Having said this, Qiu Die saw Ling Cui come in and hurriedly turned to her. "Mistress must attend His Majesty tonight, so we must help her bathe now."

Before entering the palace, Ling Cui had received instructions from everyone in the Hua household. She knew she was too young to shoulder the duties of the head maid in charge at her mistress's side, so as soon as Qiu Die spoke, she listened closely and quickly set about making the arrangements as instructed.

At the beginning of the hour of Xu, Emperor Jing'an finished a busy day. After bathing and changing at Phoenix Approaches Palace, he took a sedan chair to Sparrow Plume Palace.

By then, Hua Meng had made all the preparations in the right side hall of Sparrow Plume Palace to welcome Emperor Jing'an and attend him in bed for the first time.