Proofreader: Prof Zhu Yuan
Hardly had Emerald Lotus finished speaking when the old and dignified voice of Lady Intellectual Chen came over: "Sit down."
Ladies entered Hundred Herb Pavilion obediently. They felt uneasy because Lady Intellectual Chen was very strict. It was her to decide whether this group of waiting ladies could enter the Pharmacopoeia Department or the Decoration Department or be sent back to Yuexiu Palace to do the lowest-level work.
Ann Brocade lowered her head and collected herself. She sat in the nearest row in front of Lady Intellectual Chen. Emerald Lotus shrank her neck and quietly sat in the last row.
Lady Intellectual Chen was a middle-aged woman in her forties, but she looked older than her age with grey hair on her temples and wrinkles on her face.
Today, she was wearing a long scarlet dress with a short coat. Her hair was tied in a simple topknot with a small silver hairpin pinned on it. This was the hairstyle of the old ladies in the palace who did not want to leave the palace and get married.
Lady Intellectual Chen and Mammy Cheng looked at and saluted each other, which was the beginning of today"s teaching.
Lady Intellectual Chen glanced around the delicate ladies sitting in front of her and began the daily teaching: "Yesterday I taught you to identify spices. Now who can tell me, how many kinds of aloes are there and where are they produced?"
The ladies looked at each other but no one could answer. Lady Intellectual Chen"s had a serious expression: "It"s only been one day. Have you all forgotten?"
She looked around again. The ladies remembered the severity of her punishment, and they quickly lowered their heads and did not dare to look at her. Finally, Lady Intellectual Chen"s eyes rested on Brocade"s face, which was as calm as lake.
"Brocade, you say. How many kinds of aloes are there? " She asked.
Brocade kowtowed, and then calmly said, "Aloes is the top of all spices. In ancient times, there was a old saying about the top four spices: "Aloes, Sandalwood, Ambergris and Musk". Aloes has a dark color and special aroma, and its grease can be condensed into lumps. When it is put into water, it will sink. Hui"an, Xingzhou abound with best Aloes..."
Her voice echoed in the Medicine Hall. Her beautiful voice and graceful speaking style were very pleasing to the ear. Lady Intellectual Chen"s serious face finally showed a little smile.
After a while, Ann Brocade finished her answer and waited quietly for Lady Intellectual Chen"s response.
Lady Intellectual Chen nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, your answer is perfect." She coldly looked at other ladies: "In another month, there will be an examination of Way of Fragrance. This test will determine whether you will go back to Yuexiu Palace to continue studying palace regulations or go to different departments to work. If you don"t want to waste the rest of your life and die in the palace as a mediocre servant, work hard!"
The ladies couldn"t help shivering and quickly answered yes.
When she saw that all the girls were afraid, Lady Intellectual Chen began her teaching. She pointed at several things in front of them: "Today, I will teach you to recognize tools for fragrance."
She picked up a small pot-like thing and said, "This is the censer for burning incense."
None of the ladies knew such a thing. Most of them were born in ordinary families and had never seen such elegant things for high-level people. Lady Intellectual Chen was not surprised and continued to explain.
"This is an incense shovel, which is used to shovel and fill incense ashes." Lady Intellectual Chen picked up another strange-looking long-handled object and explained.
All the ladies nodded again. The boring course of recognizing spices had ended. Now Lady Intellectual Chen began to teach how to burn incense, which was naturally more interesting than the previous theoretical knowledge.
All the young ladies were absorbed. However, Ann Brocade, who had always been the most serious student, was absent-minded at this time ...
An hour later, the preliminary teaching of Way of Fragrance had been completed, and Lady Intellectual Chen let all the ladies touch and study incense tools themselves.
Brocade sneaked out of Medicine Hall when others focused on tools for fragrance. She identified the direction and walked quietly down the palace wall toward the southeast corner. After a little while, a grand view unfolded in front of her.
It was the Imperial Garden. Although it"s early winter, the scenery was picturesque and full of colorful flowers. No one knew how the gardeners in the palace did it, but many flowers were actually not in their blooming season.
Brocade glanced quickly and made sure that no one was here. She looked down to find the reason for keeping flowers blooming in winter. She looked at the bottom of flowers for a while, and then she understood the reason why Imperial Garden was thriving in winter. It turned out that these flowers were all planted in pots. They must have been placed in greenhouse to bloom before they were moved out to the garden. When it got dark, they would be sent back to the greenhouse. This is an expensive method to decorate the garden.
As she walked and looked around, she came to a pavilion. It was quiet around the pavilion. She finally saw what she wanted. Her eyes lit up.
She hurried to the pavilion. As she was turning the corner, she suddenly saw a man kneeling there. She was suddenly frightened by the man and almost stopped her steps subconsciously, but she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
The expected pain did not come; instead, she fell into the man"s arms and was surrounded by an unspeakable man"s breath.
She heard a cold voice: "Which palace are you from?"
Brocade immediately freed herself from his arms and recovered herself to stand firmly. This time she saw the man clearly.
A tall man was kneeling in front of her. He was about thirty years old, dressed in a dark-colored military robe with mud on it, and his army boots were dirty and covered with dust. She could tell that he had come from afar.
However, he was quite good-looking with outstanding facial features. His long sword-shaped eyebrows flew into his temples, which made him cold and forbidding. He was a handsome man, but unfortunately the seriousness of his face made him formidable, especially his eyes, which were like soaked in the ice caves of ten thousand years, frightening and penetrating.
At the same time, the man looked at her with such cold eyes indifferently.
Brocade frowned when the man stared at her. Presumably this army man should have been ordered to return to Beijing to report on completion of a task, but somehow, he was punished and ordered to kneel down by the emperor. Judging from the shabby appearance of his military robes, she thought he should not be a high-grade general.
"Which palace are you from?" The man finally broke the silence.
He asked and did not look at Brocade. He looked ahead and continued to kneel in silence, like a statue.
Brocade frowned and replied, "Master, I work in Yuexiu Palace."
The man nodded slightly. Brocade waited for a while, but he didn"t say a word. She turned and left.
"You just left?" Behind her came the cold voice of the man.
Brocade paused and looked at the man on the ground. "Master, what is your order?"
The man looked into Brocade"s pure eyes. He saw the reflection of his dusty and weary face in her clear eyes.
He was silent for a while and then said slowly, "Nothing. Just go."
Ann Brocade took a few steps and stopped to look back. In the Imperial Garden, the solitary figure of the man stood out among the colorful flowers.