It was the dead of winter. A heavy snow had fallen all night, stopping only at the fifth watch.
The slumbering Forbidden City had silently transformed under the cover of night. Red walls, green tiles, official roads, cypress pines—all were covered in a thick layer of white snow, appearing even more solemn and majestic.
All was silent, save for the whistling of the cold wind blowing through the halls.
Suddenly, in the northwestern part of the imperial city, the gate of a place called Xinzheku was pushed open with a creak.
Several palace servants carrying brooms, dustpans, and lanterns walked out one after another and began the task of sweeping snow and clearing paths.
The rustling sounds startled a skylark on an old locust tree outside the gate. It flapped its wings and flew along the palace wall, finally landing on the walkway outside Shoushanfang, behind Cining Palace, pecking at a few grains of japonica rice that had been swept to the side of the wall.
Before long, a palace maid carrying a lantern approached from a distance. When she drew near and saw that the door to Shoushanfang was not yet open, she had no choice but to set down her lantern and wait anxiously on the steps.
The skylark tilted its head, its small, beady black eyes observing for a moment. Seeing that the palace maid not far away was shivering, merely blowing on her hands and rubbing them together in place with no intention of harming it, the bird relaxed and continued to peck at the rice grains by the wall.
As dawn approached, Shoushanfang finally opened its doors.
The palace maid hurried inside. After a while, she emerged carrying a red tiered food box with white steam rising from its edges. She walked quickly and skillfully through the palace paths, arriving at the entrance of Qianxi Sisuo.
She entered the main gate, passed through the covered walkway, and reached the bedroom of the north wing main room. She called softly to the person on the bed, “Miss, it’s time to get up for breakfast.”
Before her voice faded, a fit of coughing came from behind the bed curtains.
“Cough, cough… Yun Mo… what’s that smell… cough, cough, it’s so pungent… cough, cough, cough…”
The palace maid named Yun Mo froze for a moment, then her gaze fell to the floor. In the corner by the bed was a brazier filled with several pieces of charcoal that had failed to light and were now emitting wisps of black smoke.
Yun Mo hastily put down the food box in her hands and carried the brazier outside. By the time she returned, the person from the bed was already up and had pushed open a window, taking deep breaths of fresh air.
“Miss, be careful you don’t catch a cold.”
“I’m fine.”
Su Muyao waved her hand. Having finally recovered, she said softly, “Alright, let’s eat.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Mo immediately opened the food box and placed its contents one by one on the table beside the couch.
Today’s breakfast was millet congee, pickled vegetables, and several white flour steamed buns.
Among the palace concubines, such a breakfast was incredibly meager. But for the mistress and servant pair of Su Muyao and Yun Mo, this meal was already countless times more sumptuous than what they had been having.
Besides, after eating this meal, there was no telling if there would be a next one.
Su Muyao had transmigrated three days ago. Like many other transmigrators, she had also received the original owner’s memories.
The owner of this body was named Guaerjashi Huyi, the fifteen-year-old granddaughter of the former third-rank sub-commander, Human. She was a show-girl selected for the palace last winter. Due to her frail constitution and excessive worrying, she had fallen ill right after entering the palace and had been bedridden for a full two months.
Until three days ago, a high fever had completely claimed Guaerjashi’s life.
And then she had taken her place.
The original owner’s body was weak, and her luck was extremely poor.
The selection she had participated in was the last one during Kangxi’s reign. In the two-odd months that the original owner was bedridden, the world outside had quietly changed.
Now, the one sitting on the dragon throne was the renowned Emperor Yongzheng.
The first thing Yongzheng did after ascending the throne was to handle the former emperor’s funeral affairs, which included deciding the fates of all the former emperor’s concubines in the harem.
Su Muyao had read history and knew that Yongzheng had treated the concubines left behind by the former emperor quite well. He allowed those with sons to leave the palace and reunite with them, and he also released all the old, low-ranking concubines.
It could be described as an act of immense imperial grace!
But after Su Muyao sorted through Guaerjashi’s memories, she couldn’t help but feel like screaming. How could this immense imperial grace be so precisely and unfortunately “bestowed” upon the original owner?
Qianxi Sisuo had originally been full of people. Including Guaerjashi, there were a total of twenty-six newly selected show-girls.
As the former emperor’s show-girls, it was natural that they should show some devotion to him.
So a month ago, when Prince Yi (the former Thirteenth Prince) came for an audience and asked about the arrangements for this batch of show-girls, Yongzheng, without a second thought, ordered them to go guard the imperial mausoleum for the late emperor.
Only the original owner, because of her illness, had her situation reported by the Imperial Household Department. Yongzheng thought for a moment and then issued an imperial decree: Since Guaerjashi is gravely ill, she need not go guard the imperial mausoleum. She shall remain in the palace to recuperate.
Su Muyao certainly understood that Yongzheng’s purpose in issuing this decree was not a genuine concern for the life or death of a mere show-girl.
To put it bluntly, he issued that extra decree to earn a good reputation. As a newly enthroned emperor, he had to keep up appearances.
Treating the former emperor’s concubines with generosity, even graciously allowing a bedridden show-girl from the previous dynasty to remain in the palace to recuperate—this was not only filial but also benevolent. When the people of the realm heard of it, who wouldn’t give him a thumbs-up in praise?
If it were recorded in the history books, it might even rank among the top ten stories of enlightened rulers.
If she were an observer, she too would think this emperor was not bad. But now that she had become the “appearance” being made, experiencing it firsthand, this decree could be said to be downright toxic.
It was only a fingernail’s breadth better than guarding the imperial mausoleum.
A new dynasty brings new courtiers. The original owner, a show-girl from the sixty-ninth year of Kangxi’s reign, had never received favor, had no rank, and was saddled with the empty title of one of the former emperor’s concubines. To top it off, because of a single sentence from Emperor Yongzheng, she could forget about ever leaving the palace in this lifetime. She was worse off than an ordinary palace maid, who could at least be released from service at the age of twenty-five.
Guaerjashi’s future was bleak enough to be seen through at a glance.
The original owner’s first crisis, and her current greatest crisis, was the problem of food.
After the imperial decree was issued, Qianxi Sisuo quickly became empty as all the other show-girls moved out.
In the entire three-courtyard palace, only the sickly original owner and her maid, Yun Mo, who had served her since childhood, remained.
Yun Mo was loyal and devoted to the original owner, simply beyond reproach.
As Su Muyao drank the hot millet congee, she couldn’t help but recall when she had just transmigrated three days ago.
At that time, she had still been disdainful of the yellow cornmeal bun Yun Mo had given her to eat. But that evening, she had accidentally discovered Yun Mo secretly gnawing on a hard, coarse brown rice bun under her blanket.
Only then did she realize that their situation had become so difficult that they could barely afford to eat.
There were two reasons for this outcome.
First, after the other show-girls moved out, the kitchen that had belonged to Qianxi Sisuo was abolished, and her rations were merged with the Empress Dowager’s Shoushanfang in Cining Palace.
In the palace, every residence had its own kitchen. The largest was undoubtedly the emperor’s Imperial Kitchen, followed by the Empress Dowager’s Shoushanfang, and then the kitchens of the empress and various concubines. Some favored concubines who disliked the food from the main kitchens would even set up their own small, private kitchens.
As the residence for new show-girls, Qianxi Sisuo naturally had its own kitchen as well.
But now, Su Muyao was the only mistress living in the entire Qianxi Sisuo, and her status as a mistress had been discounted with the passing of the former emperor. How could the Imperial Household Department possibly be willing to expend so much manpower and resources for her?
The abolishment of Qianxi Sisuo’s kitchen was inevitable.
And merging Su Muyao’s rations with Shoushanfang was logical.
She bore the title of one of the former emperor’s concubines, so it was natural for her to be under the Empress Dowager’s management. Moreover, both Cining Palace and Qianxi Sisuo were in the northwestern area of the imperial city. Merging her rations with the kitchen of Kunning Palace, where the Empress resided, would have been a long detour.
With her rations being managed elsewhere, the people at Shoushanfang were already thinking of skimming and cutting back.
Adding to that was the ancestral rule of the Qing court, which held that sick people should be “cleansed by fasting.” They were not to touch any meat or fish and were best fed only liquid foods like thin congee every day, so that their illness would heal faster.
With this, skimming her rations now had a reasonable excuse.
Thus, for the past two months, the original owner and Yun Mo’s lives had gotten worse day by day. Eventually, Yun Mo had to use silver to bribe and supplement at Shoushanfang just to get some decent food.
The original owner was also in poor health, and seeing a doctor and getting medicine from the Imperial Medical Office cost money every day. Soon after Su Muyao transmigrated, she discovered that the original owner’s entire fortune amounted to only a few taels of loose silver.
In the palace, what could that possibly buy?
In fact, Su Muyao also had the unique “golden finger” of a transmigrator.
Her golden finger was a jade pendant her mother had left her. When she was little, she had accidentally cut her finger, and her blood dripped onto the pendant. The pendant had acknowledged her as its master, becoming a portable spiritual spring.
The Spirit Spring Water was full of vibrant life force. Poured on the ground, the soil would become exceptionally fertile. Poured on a withered plant, the plant would revive overnight and grow even more lushly than others…
In addition, the Spirit Spring Water had other supplementary effects like beautifying the skin, preserving youth, and detoxification.
But now, even with the spiritual spring in her possession, she was a clever housewife who couldn’t cook without rice.
If she had arrived in spring, summer, or autumn, she could have had Yun Mo use the silver to exchange for some seeds from the Imperial Household Department, then start a farming side-quest in the courtyard of Qianxi Sisuo and live a self-sufficient life.
But she just had to arrive in the middle of a harsh winter. The ground in the courtyard was frozen solid, difficult to even dig up, let alone plant anything.
To be self-sufficient, she would have to wait until spring.
The most pressing crisis at the moment was how to survive this winter.
While Su Muyao was lost in thought, her maid Yun Mo was extremely happy.
Eating the soft, hot white flour steamed buns with the pickled vegetables, she sighed with satisfaction, “Miss, the idea you came up with is truly brilliant! This morning’s meal is the best I’ve had in over a month!”
Yun Mo was born only two months before the original owner and was also just fifteen this year. She had an oval face, and when she smiled, her crescent-moon eyes would curve, and two small, shallow dimples would appear on her lips, making her look very endearing.
Seeing her so happy, Su Muyao didn’t have the heart to dampen her spirits. She smiled and said nothing.