Chapter 3

The Empress was an unworldly woman. She neither fought for favor nor schemed against others. She cared only for her books.

The first time I brought her a menu, she was reading and could not be disturbed. I waited for a full hour.

Xiaochun said the Empress saw life clearly and therefore cared nothing for favor or neglect. She was unlike ordinary women, whose thoughts revolved around their husbands and bearing children.

She appeared delicate, but she was harder at heart than anyone. In the entire harem, she alone was the daughter of a court official—and the daughter of the reigning chancellor at that.

The Emperor disliked officials’ daughters, and the Empress knew it. He did not favor her; he had never even shared her bed. Yet she neither complained nor seemed to care.

Because my monthly bleeding had made me miss the imperial audience and cost me my chance to become a “phoenix,” I became a joke throughout the harem. Everyone said I carried ill fortune in my fate and had been born to be a slave.

The Empress did not agree. She studied me for a long while, then called me “wise beneath a foolish face.” I had read very few books, so I did not understand what she meant.

She smiled faintly. “I am praising you.”

Delighted by her praise, I beamed at her. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The Empress gave me a book and asked, “Can you read?”

“A few words.”

“Come ask me for another when you have finished. Circle the characters you cannot read and ask Eunuch Hong about them. Ask him about any sentences you do not understand as well. He is a most learned man.”

Eunuch Hong was the head cook of the imperial kitchens. I heard he was widely read and had once been a scholar. During the previous emperor’s reign, scholars were persecuted, and after offending a powerful noble, he had found himself with no path left. In a fit of defiance, he castrated himself and entered the palace. He never spoke of his past, for fear of wounding his pride.

I carried my copy of *Biographies of Exemplary Women* everywhere. I read while tending the fire, before sleep, and even in the privy.

The first time through, I learned the characters. The second, I came to know the women. The third, I understood their stories.

I did not glean any grand principles from it. Instead, I saw the Empress reflected in its pages.

The brand-new book grew crumpled in my hands. I even drooled on it and covered it in circles and marks. When I returned it, the Empress asked what I had discovered within.

I answered without hesitation, “I found Your Majesty in it.”

She only smiled. She opened the book, looked it over, and said with satisfaction, “You read it with great care.”

Then she gave me another. “This one should suit you better.”

I held it up, read the title on the cover, and exclaimed happily, “The *Classic of Mountains and Seas*.”

It truly was to my taste—far more interesting than *Biographies of Exemplary Women*.