Chapter 1
There were ten of us in all, close in age and height.
Xiaochun and I came from the same village, so we looked after each other and soon became close.
That day, we were following the palace matron to pay our respects to the Empress.
As we passed through a covered passage, footsteps sounded ahead. I looked up to see eunuchs in blue palace robes carrying a golden sedan chair toward us. The matron went pale and ordered us to kneel at once.
We knelt beside the wall. The chair stopped, and a shrill voice demanded, “Which palace are you from, and where are you going?”
Foolishly, I raised my head, smiled at the speaker, and called, “Eunuch.”
The matron sucked in a sharp breath and hurriedly looked up. “Forgive her, Eunuch. She has only just arrived and knows no better. This old servant will discipline her properly.”
The man had long, upturned eyes, red lips, and white teeth. He spoke with an affected air, his little finger crooked as he berated me for my lack of manners.
He came over and raised a hand to strike me.
I squeezed my eyes shut in fright, but the slap never came.
When I opened them, I saw that Xiaochun had blocked it for me.
The matron was horrified and reached to pull Xiaochun away, but Xiaochun stood and shoved the eunuch instead.
She glared at him and shielded me behind her. “Was I wrong to call you a eunuch? Why are you hitting people?”
“Insolence!” His face reddened with rage as he pointed at Xiaochun. “Seize her.”
Before the words had left his mouth, attendants pinned her down.
“Enough.”
A languid voice sounded. I could not help looking up.
The man in the sedan lifted the curtain and revealed his face. He gazed with interest at the defiant Xiaochun kneeling on the ground.
“What is your name?” he asked, plainly intrigued.
Xiaochun tilted her chin up. “Luo Xiaochun.”
He smiled faintly and waved a hand. The men holding her released her at once and retreated in perfect order.
He beckoned to her. “Come here.”
Xiaochun approached without the slightest fear. “What for?”
The man stepped down from the sedan and looked at her. He caught her by the chin and said with a gentleness that brooked no refusal, “I am the Emperor. Will you become my woman?”
Xiaochun’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you really the Emperor?”
“Do I not look like one?” he asked with a smile.
Xiaochun shook her head, then nodded. “You do.”
She stared at him in a daze. With a soft laugh, he suddenly swept her into his arms and carried her into the sedan.
Xiaochun pulled back the curtain and called to me in a rush, “Ah Yuan, I’ll come find you!”
After the sedan departed, the matron pinched me hard twice and told me to remember never to speak out of turn again.
We went on to see the Empress. The matron told her what had happened to Xiaochun, and the Empress merely said, “I see.”
She looked us over and waved impatiently. “We will place them after His Majesty has made his selections. Teach them the most basic rules of etiquette today. Take them away.”
The matron said that if the Emperor took a fancy to us, we would soar onto the highest branch and become phoenixes.