Hua Meng

Biodata

Background and History

In her previous life, Hua Meng hanged herself after Zhang Jinghong’s family broke off their engagement. Her soul wandered for twenty years before an immortal woman gave her the Seven-Colored Flower and sent her back to the morning of the broken engagement, when she was sixteen 1 3.

In her new life, Hua Meng demanded that the Zhang family publicly accept responsibility for ending the engagement. The families agreed to limit the notice to the southern part of the city, while the returned betrothal gifts became her dowry. Fearing future retaliation, she sought entry into the imperial selection, hoping that bearing the childless emperor a son would protect her family 2 3.

Appearance

Hua Meng is noted for her striking looks and figure. She drank Spirit Spring water regularly before entering the palace, improving her skin and enhancing her figure 4 6.

• Long black hair and large, bright almond-shaped eyes 6 17.
• A slender waist and a full figure 6.
• For her first meeting with Emperor Jing'an, she wore a red bodice and pleated skirt beneath a moon-white robe embroidered with pink butterflies 6.

Personality

Hua Meng becomes more forthright after her return. Where she believes her former self would have endured insults, she answers the Elder Princess directly and refuses to avoid her enemies merely to keep the peace 8 30.

She is protective of her family and attendants, but also calculating about how to secure their future. After recognizing that her knowledge of the future had made her overconfident, she asks for teachers and begins studying palace management 34 36 42 44.

Abilities and Skills

Seven-Colored Spirit Spring

The immortal woman’s Seven-Colored Flower produces one drop of Spirit Spring each day. Its seven colors have different effects, and Hua Meng can store the drops in the flower’s petals 3.

• Physical conditioning: She secretly adds a drop to Emperor Jing'an’s soup and later to his medicine 11 22.
• Detoxification: One type can cure poisons. Hua Meng delays using it to clear the emperor’s poison because she does not want him to recover too quickly 3 11.
• Recovery and nourishment: She gives drops to her unconscious mother, the Empress Dowager, and Commandery Princess Shouning 19 28 50.
• Appearance: She uses spring water that moisturizes skin and enhances the figure 3 6 25.
• Revival: She identifies one type as capable of bringing the dead back to life, but considers it too miraculous to use carelessly 25.

Medicine and Palace Management

Hua Meng learns to prepare the emperor’s Grass-Insect Decoction and asks to study medicine under a female physician. She begins by identifying ingredients and memorizing prescriptions, partly so she can eventually give her family Spirit Spring in medicines without revealing it 21 23.

• During her suspected pregnancy, she avoids handling medicinal herbs and continues memorizing prescriptions 25.
• She proposes dividing palace affairs among several consorts to prevent Consort Qi from controlling them alone. Emperor Jing'an appoints Hua Meng and Consort Ying to assist Consort Wan and Consort Qi 41.
• Nanny Ming subsequently teaches Hua Meng palace management and offers to train her attendants 44.

Relationships

• Emperor Jing'an — Her husband and the father of her unborn child. She helps conceal and treat his medical condition; his growing favor for her attracts palace rumors 11 15 21 28.
• Lu Shi — Her mother. Hua Meng secretly gives her Spirit Spring when she falls unconscious and later advises her about the family’s rising status 19 34.
• Hua Teng — Her father and Minister Lin’s former student. His promotion makes Hua Meng worry that the Zhang family and the Elder Princess may retaliate against the Hua family 4 32.
• Hua Peng — Her second brother, to whom she is especially close. She proposes using her dowry to support his business in Jiangnan 2 33 34.
• Zhang Jinghong — Her former fiancé and childhood sweetheart. His family broke their engagement so he could marry the Elder Princess’s daughter, Wei Ningyan 1 2 30.
• The Elder Princess — A rival whose family became Hua Meng’s enemy over the broken engagement. Hua Meng answers her insults at their first palace audience 8 30.
• The Empress Dowager — Her supporter, who protects her pregnancy, lends her Nanny Ming as a teacher, and publicly demonstrates her favor with lavish gifts 28 44 48.
• Consort Wan — Her fellow Sparrow Plume Palace resident and ally. Wan helps her navigate the harem and agrees to invest in the Hua family’s business 9 34.
• Consort Ying — A friend of Consort Wan who becomes close to Hua Meng. She helps question the wet nurse accused of harming Shouning 29 50.
• Ling Cui — Her loyal attendant. Remembering Ling Cui’s attempt to avenge her in her previous life, Hua Meng plans for her to leave the palace and marry 36.
• Qiu Die — A senior attendant arranged by Minister Lin. Hua Meng finds her useful but suspects that she also serves the emperor 5 36.
• Jiang Chan — A female physician who teaches Hua Meng and first suspects her pregnancy 23 24.
• Yi Yun — The guard Emperor Jing'an assigns to protect Hua Meng after the assassination attempt 40.

Story Role and Major Arcs

Entering the Palace

With support from Lu Shi, Minister Lin, and the Empress Dowager, Hua Meng enters the selection and is granted pin rank. She sets herself a three-month deadline to establish a foothold before a crisis she remembers from her previous life can cost her father his official support 4 5.

Emperor Jing'an favors her, and she secretly begins conditioning his health with Spirit Spring. She accompanies him outside the palace to see physicians, tends to her sick mother, and learns to prepare his medicine while helping conceal his condition 11 17 19 21.

Pregnancy and Family Plans

Hua Meng becomes the first consort of Emperor Jing'an’s reign to conceive. Once her pregnancy is confirmed, he grants her the title Consort Jing, and the Empress Dowager warns the harem against harming her child 28.

She uses her family’s visit to discuss a Jiangnan business venture and warns against ill-gotten gains. She also urges her relatives to be mindful of the scrutiny that will accompany their increased standing 33 34.

Palace Threats and Training

At Consort Qi’s orchid banquet, a maid throws pastries at Hua Meng and rams into her amid an assassin alarm. Physicians later confirm that Hua Meng and her unborn child are well; the Empress Dowager is wounded in the wider incident 36 38.

Hua Meng later reports rumors that she may be carrying twins and that the succession could be disputed. Emperor Jing'an tells her of a secret edict addressing succession, and Jiang Xin’s examination confirms that she carries one child 44 45 46.

After realizing how much she still has to learn about court politics, Hua Meng asks for teachers and begins training under Nanny Ming. When Commandery Princess Shouning falls ill, Hua Meng sends for Jiang Chan, gives the child Spirit Spring water, and calls for severe punishment after learning that her wet nurse had harmed her 42 44 50.