On the third day of January, the Spring Welcoming Day, a major incident occurred.
According to custom, on this day “all noblemen, inner court officials, high-ranking officials, and warriors go to the spring field to race horses, in order to compare their merits” – it was considered a semi-internal outdoor activity for the royal court.
However, just as Xie Xuanying and the others were competing in equestrian skills, an eunuch suddenly came to report that the Princess Consort Lu had arrived in the capital with her grandson to offer New Year congratulations.
The Emperor was very surprised and ordered them to be summoned.
One should know that princes of fiefdoms were not permitted to enter the capital without being summoned. Although princess consorts and grandsons were not included in this restriction, suddenly arriving in the capital without submitting a report was strange in every way.
When they finally met, all the officials were dumbfounded.
The Princess Consort Lu was over forty years old, blind in one eye, with half her face burned by fire, and she trembled as she bowed down.
The Emperor was shocked and quickly granted her a seat.
The Princess Consort Lu clearly knew that noblemen and inner court officials were all present, yet she remained unmoved, kneeling for a long time without rising. “I beg Your Majesty to save my grandson’s life.”
The eldest grandson of Prince Lu, also kneeling, kowtowed without cease.
The Emperor asked, “What has happened?”
Had there been a rebellion in Lu? He had not heard of any.
Princess Consort Lu said, “The Prince has already beaten my son to death with a cane, and now wants to kill me as well. If not for this grandson of mine, who out of filial piety brought me out of the residence, I fear I would not have survived even past the New Year.”
All the officials were astounded.
Princess Consort Lu could no longer contain her anger and, in front of the assembled officials, exposed Prince Lu’s evil deeds: he was obsessed with alchemy, had a cruel and violent temperament, beat his wife, buried maids alive, tortured the guards of the princely residence, and wiped out entire families.
His eldest son often tried to persuade him, but he would not listen. Instead, he wanted to request that his youngest son be made the heir. After the youngest son died of a cold, he never designated a new heir.
More than a month earlier, Prince Lu had taken an alchemical pill. When his eldest son tried to dissuade him, he beat him to death on the spot. He then went to settle accounts with the Princess Consort, poured oil on her and set her on fire. She nearly died, and only survived because her daughter-in-law shielded her from the flames, but the daughter-in-law was killed.
Prince Lu did not care in the least. He continued to make alchemical pills and even wanted to kill young boys and girls.
The grandson, whose parents had both been killed, had no other recourse. He took his grandmother and fled, coming to the capital to seek help.
Such a tragedy shook the court and the realm. The censors submitted memorials requesting severe punishment.
The Emperor immediately dispatched trusted eunuchs to the Lu region to investigate, reprimanded Prince Lu, and demoted him to a commandery prince.
And then? Nothing… that was the end of it.
For killing his son, daughter-in-law, and wife, even a commoner would not have to pay with his life, let alone a prince of a fiefdom? The lives of ordinary people mattered even less. A reprimand was already a statement of position.
Of course, the Emperor also kept Princess Consort Lu and her grandson in the palace, offering them much comfort and countless rewards.
Princess Consort Lu was overwhelmed with gratitude and tears, and settled down.
However, once the fifteenth day of January passed, she smashed the palace lanterns of the Lantern Festival, set fire to her room, and burned herself to death, leaving behind a final testament.
Her grandson would only be killed if he returned to the Lu region. She hoped His Majesty, considering that the boy had already lost both parents and that his father had not even been the heir, would let him stay in the capital and simply give him a bite to eat.
The Emperor had been outmaneuvered, but there was no help for it. He could only temporarily keep Prince Lu’s grandson.
At this time, the Embroidered Uniform Guards sent to the fiefdoms before the New Year returned.
Yes, as early as when Commandery Prince Feng and Commandery Princess Jianing came to the capital, the Emperor had already dispatched the Embroidered Uniform Guards to secretly investigate the circumstances of the various princes.
The deeds of Prince Lu were naturally included as well, and they were even more cruel than what Princess Consort Lu had exposed. He had tortured and killed nearly a hundred people, and had even killed a granddaughter of his own long ago – it was simply that no one knew of it.
Nor was he the only one. The other princes of fiefdoms each had their own misdeeds.
Commandery Prince Cheng was licentious and depraved, frequently summoning nuns and female Daoists into his residence for indecent amusement, and even forcing his concubines to consort with his guards. His debauchery was extreme.
The Commandery Princess Consort had been driven to hide in a temple with her son, not daring to come down the mountain casually, fearing that if she were the least bit careless, her chastity would be lost, and she would not even know how she would die.
By comparison, Prince An’s plundering of the people’s wealth, lending at usurious rates, and seizing farmland did not seem so serious.
After reading all this, the Emperor issued a rather interesting decree. The gist of it was: considering that the princes of fiefdoms were far away in their domains, where educational resources were certainly not very good, for the sake of their sons and grandsons, each princely residence was permitted to send one son to the capital. The Emperor would be responsible for finding teachers to instruct them. If they wished to send daughters as well, they could come too, and it would be a good opportunity to show filial devotion to the Empress Dowager.
For a time, the capital was stirred with speculation.
The Marquis of Jinghai was astute and immediately decided not to wade into these troubled waters. Xie Xuanying’s marriage matter was pushed even further back, and recently it was not to be mentioned at all.
Xie Xuanying had not expected that his most vexing problem would be resolved in such a manner. Amid his relief, he also felt sorrow.
Once January passed, the inner palace made its move.
The Emperor summoned the sons of the princes to enter the palace for study, and more than one commandery princess or county princess would come as well. The female officials therefore had to prepare before they arrived.
Palace Matron Hong began recruiting female officials in advance.
The Yan family submitted Cheng Danruo’s name, and her household registration was accordingly placed under the Yan family.
The day of the examination was the tenth of February.
When Cheng Danruo took an examination in the ancient era for the first time, Yan Hongzhi specially prepared a “preparation gift package” for her.
A bamboo basket, containing writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and a household registration document.
It was very similar to the college entrance examination.
Second Master Yan personally drove her there. The two took the Dong’an Gate, and the examination site was the Ministry of Rites office in the Imperial City. This place was in the southeast corner of the Imperial City and was responsible for selecting wet nurses, selecting consorts, and selecting imperial sons-in-law. Directly to its north was a large complex of buildings – the offices of eunuchs from the Eastern Depot, the Imperial Horse Administration, the Imperial Catering Directorate, and others.
This area belonged to the Imperial City, but was not within the Forbidden City.
The Imperial City was a very large area. At its very center was the Forbidden City, where the Emperor held court and lived. But outside the palace walls, there were also the Inner Treasury, Taiye Pool, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Qionghua Island, and, most importantly, the Twenty-Four Directorates.
Therefore, the Imperial City was actually much, much larger than the Forbidden City.
Upon reaching Dong’an Gate, one had to get down from the carriage and submit a name card.
After the eunuch verified her identity, he issued her a number tag and told her to line up.
“Senior Brother,” Second Master Yan was looking around when he suddenly heard a familiar voice. Looking up, he saw Xie Xuanying arriving on horseback.
He quickly returned the greeting. “Junior Brother.”
Xie Xuanying feigned surprise. “Why are you here?”
“Today is the selection of female officials. I am escorting my sister to the examination,” Second Master Yan said truthfully. He was away from the capital year-round and was not well acquainted with Xie Xuanying.
Xie Xuanying glanced at the crowd, then immediately said, “Brother, you may return with peace of mind.” He then instructed the eunuch, “If anything happens to the young lady, just send word to the palace.”
He was on duty today.
The eunuch in charge of selecting female officials was from the Directorate of Ceremonial. Hearing this, he quickly said, “Rest assured, Young Master Xie. I guarantee that the Yan…” He lowered his head to look at the household registration document and said vaguely, “that this young lady will be fine.”
Xie Xuanying nodded, bade farewell to Second Master Yan, mounted his horse, and turned to leave.
Only when he was some distance away did he turn his head to look back.
Cheng Danruo was just withdrawing her gaze.
His throat felt a little itchy. He coughed twice before entering the palace.
Over there, Cheng Danruo had already been invited by the eunuch into a small side room, where she was told to warm herself by the fire and wait, no longer needing to brave the cold wind outside.
As she warmed her frozen fingers, she thought: That horse was really too beautiful.
Just then, the eunuch came in again, bowing, and escorted in another young lady. “Please sit for a while and warm yourself by the fire. The wind outside is still harsh.”
Cheng Danruo looked up and came face to face with the other party.
The other party looked a little awkward and, after a pause, said, “Sister Cheng.”
“Miss Wang,” Cheng Danruo said, already having changed how she addressed her.
Ever since she had declined the Wang family’s marriage proposal, Wang Yongxu had never written her another letter – whether out of awkwardness or a bit of anger, it was hard to say. If the two families had not continued to visit each other as usual during the New Year, one might have thought there was now a rift between them.
Wang Yongxu cleared her throat and made conversation for the sake of it. “You came to take the female official examination too?”
Cheng Danruo nodded.
Silence again.
When the time came, the eunuch called them out and led about a hundred girls into a narrow passage. The red palace walls rose deep on both sides, and the further they walked, the more oppressive it felt. At the outer wall of the palace gate, they turned left, and the Ministry of Rites office was there.
The desks for the examination had already been prepared in the hall. They took their seats according to their number tags and waited for the test papers to be distributed.
Cheng Danruo felt an inexplicable sense of melancholy.
Examinations – how common they had been in her past life. Big exams, small exams, middle school entrance exams, college entrance exams, endless. Who dared say they had never grown sick of them? Yet at this moment, to take an examination just like men, she had to walk so far.
It had taken her thirteen years to obtain her first opportunity.
The test papers were distributed.
The examination habits carved into her DNA surfaced once again after so many years. She first glanced over the questions. The female official examination questions were rather miscellaneous, but they had points in common with modern ones.
The first type of question: tie jing, fill-in-the-blank questions.
A passage from the Four Books was excerpted, with a blank line left in the middle, and the missing content was to be supplied.
The second type of question: mo yi, short-answer questions.
For example, “The Book of Songs says: ‘The royal domain extends a thousand miles, and it is where the people dwell.’ What does this mean?”
The third type of question: shi fu, composition questions.
Using “Spring” as the title, write a poem, with the rhyme also being “spring.”
This was also within expectations. Yan Hongzhi had predicted questions for her, saying that the female official examination would not produce anything too difficult – nothing more than spring, summer, autumn, winter, flowers, grass, trees, and plants. One simply had to write in a lofty and elevated manner and it would be fine.
Cheng Danruo had prepared several poems, especially many about spring. The first two lines described the fresh and lovely vegetation, and the last two lines elevated the tone, praising the eternal peace of the Xia dynasty. Done.
The fourth type of question: professional knowledge.
The Six Bureaus and One Directorate needed certain professional talents. In order to select accurately, the questions were divided into three major sections and three minor sections.
The three major sections were literature and history, ritual, and arithmetic. The three minor sections were needlework, medicine, and food.
The major sections were mandatory; the minor sections were optional.
Cheng Danruo glanced at the arithmetic and medicine sections and felt there was no great problem.
So she began to grind ink, spread out paper, and prepare to write a draft.
At noon, the eunuchs brought meals: each person got two steamed buns and two filled buns, with unlimited tea and water, enough to fill the belly.
Cheng Danruo took a couple of bites of dry rations and thought: This examination is much simpler than the imperial examinations – one does not even have to cook for oneself.
After the examination ended and the papers were submitted, she saw the setting sun resting on the edge of the glazed tiles of the palace, illuminating them with a dazzling, flowing radiance.
The Imperial City… the very center of power.
Cheng Danruo let out a soft breath and turned to leave the examination grounds.
That night, Palace Matron Hong convened the Directors of Ceremonies, of Apparel, of Food, of Bedchamber, of Works, and of Palace Discipline – seven people in total – to evaluate the examination papers together and, by the way, allocate personnel.
The Director of Palace Discipline, who was responsible for investigating and rectifying matters within the palace, said, “This time you are leading the selection of female officials in order to teach the consorts and princesses, is that right?”
Palace Matron Hong smiled. “I know you have taken a fancy to the young lady of the Wang family.”
“I will not be polite with you either,” said the Director of Palace Discipline. “Without a bit of pride, how can one enforce warnings, demotions, and punishments? If one offends a consort, and later one’s family suffers for it, whose heart would not be afraid? Wang Yongxu is more suitable than anyone.”
The Director of Ceremonies, who was responsible for ritual, was also tempted. “Wang Xu-niang’s literary reputation is well known. If she could serve in the Bureau of Records, could anything be better?”
The other four did not contend with them and chose other candidates they favored.
The Director of Palace Discipline and the Director of Ceremonies argued for a while, but in the end Palace Matron Hong said, “Let her go to the Bureau of Ceremonies first, to wear down her temperament. A young lady of a wealthy family and a female historian are not the same thing.”
The Director of Palace Discipline thought about it and found it reasonable, so she agreed.
The others took the papers they favored and each chose their people. Before long, it was Cheng Danruo’s turn.
But she entered the Bureau of Food without any objection.
“It is rare to find someone who understands pharmacology,” said the Director of Food. “I was nearly worried to death.”
The Dispensary Officer of the Bureau of Food controlled the palace’s medicinal prescriptions, but there were truly few who understood medical principles. Many people only knew how to use prescriptions and did not know how to diagnose illness at all. If they saw someone with excess internal heat, they used clear-heat and detoxifying remedies; if they saw someone with diarrhea, they used anti-diarrheal formulas. The Dispensary Officer who was most skilled in medical principles had a specialty in obstetric massage, and was not much good at anything else.
Palace Matron Hong glanced at it and said, “Send her to the Hall of Peace and Joy.”
The Director of Food raised an eyebrow. “Is that all right? Her household registration says the Yan family of Swallow Lane.”
“It is precisely because she is my niece that I want her to go,” Palace Matron Hong said slowly. “Surely you will not refuse me even this bit of request.”
The Director of Palace Discipline said, “Since you have spoken, we will naturally comply with you.”
