Milk/child house.
Forty-four female officials, divided into groups of ten, were searched. Hu Shanwei stood at the end because of the incident with her shoes. She was one of the last four.
Coincidentally, Chen Ermei, the Guangzhou native who had been asking about her frostbite, was also selected.
They first searched the bag that Hu Shanwei was carrying. He was left home empty-handed and had no belongings except for a purse, which contained a Tiejun brand and a bottle of frostbite cream.
The female officer conducting the search asked, "Is that all?"
Hu Shanwei: "Yes, just these two items."
This girl could be said to be the shabbyest new female official in history; she didn't even have any decent luggage.
The female official opened the white porcelain medicine bottle and sniffed it. "What is this?"
Hu Shanwei spread out his hands: "Chilblain cream, for healing hands."
It is spring now and the weather is getting warmer. The area of frostbite has shrunk by most, but the scars on the little finger and ring finger have not faded yet, and they look like two wilted carrots.
The female official said, "Medicine is contraband and is purchased by the palace pharmacy. You cannot bring it into the palace without permission. You will serve the palace in the future, and your life will be covered by the palace. The female doctors from the pharmacy will prescribe medicine for you, so don't worry."
The female official threw the medicine bottle into the bamboo basket, which was already filled to the brim with all kinds of prohibited items.
The second item was an iron army badge. The female official read out the words engraved on it, "Wang Ning, the captain of the Jinwu Rear Guard. Who are you, Wang Ning?"
The Jinwu Guards were the imperial guards in the capital, and their headquarters were located west of Yanjia Bridge in the north city.
Hu Shanwei's eyelids jumped, and he said, "He was my fiancé, and he died in the battlefield during the second northern expedition of the imperial court."
Among the forty-four female officials selected this time, most were widows, and one was even a seventh-rank lady. It was not uncommon for an unmarried widow like Hu Shanwei to be a prominent family.
The female officer registered it on the roster and returned the Iron Army badge to Hu Shanwei, "It's OK."
Hu Shanwei put the general badge into her purse. The Cantonese woman Chen Ermei next to her was carrying a large bag that was almost half her body. It contained clothes, jewelry, study treasures, and a bag of steaming preserved vegetable and duck oil sesame cakes.
"No edible food can be brought into the harem. Not only you, but even the ladies with royal titles cannot bring food into the harem." The female official in charge of the search first took away the sesame cake and wanted to throw it away.
Chen Ermei said hurriedly: "This is my favorite food in Nanjing. It would be a pity to throw it away. Can I eat it here? It's not prohibited to put it in my stomach, right?"
The female official found it interesting and pushed the sesame cake away, "You can eat it, but don't waste everyone's time. Finish it within a cup of tea."
Chen Ermei finished one in two bites. When she had eaten five, she choked and covered her neck to ask for water. She managed to swallow it down with tea. There was only one left in the oil paper bag, and Chen Ermei had already started to feel nauseous and burp.
The female official was about to throw away the oil paper bag when Chen Ermei, who was burping, showed a look of regret.
"Let me eat it." Hu Shanwei picked up the last one and finished it in three bites.
Chen Ermei thanked him, and Hu Shanwei said, "I'm a little hungry."
The young palace maid sent the last four people into separate compartments. The two old palace maids ordered her to untie their hair buns and comb their heads thoroughly to prevent anyone from hiding something in their hair.
He carefully checked her eyes, mouth, and even her ears. Finally, he ordered her to take off all her clothes and lie down to examine her private parts.
Hu Shanwei resisted instinctively, and the old palace servant said, "I'm sorry, there was a female assassin who hid a huge poison in her private parts and almost killed the emperor. From now on, all palace servants and female officials who enter the palace to serve the emperor will have to pass this test."
Hu Shanwei had no choice but to endure it.
Fortunately, the inspection was completed quickly. The old palace maid brought a new set of clothes and said respectfully, "Please change your clothes, Ms. Hu. New female officials entering the palace must wear the same clothes. Go to the Palace Administration Office for training."
The female officials in the Ming Dynasty's harem were divided into six bureaus and one department. The Palace Supervision Department was similar to the court's inspectorate, independent of the six bureaus, and supervised all the female officials.
The female officials in the palace were clearly divided into different levels, with the highest rank being the fifth-rank Shang Gong. However, new female officials had to start from the lowest rank, the eighth-rank Nü Shi, and were promoted step by step based on their work performance. If they made a mistake, they would be sent to the Gong Zheng Si for trial and judgment, and receive punishment, ranging from a salary deduction to being demoted to a palace maid or even being executed.
From head to toe, Hu Shanwei looked brand new. She wore a bright red Ruyi robe with long sleeves, a lake blue horse-faced skirt with a circle of gold woven at the bottom, and high-heeled shoes with wooden soles as thick as a blue brick!
The old palace maid put her long black hair up on top of her head, tied it into a bun, and then tied a silver beaded peony ribbon around the bun.
The old palace servant showed an admiring look, "The girl is naturally beautiful, and she will look even better when she dresses up."
Hu Shanwei looked at himself in the mirror and felt a little dazed for a moment.
The old palace servant collected her changed clothes, shoes and other belongings and said, "Ms. Hu can go to the Palace Administration Office to receive instructions. Someone will deliver her luggage to her room."
Hu Shanwei hurriedly thanked him, "May I know your name, old man?"
The old palace maid smiled and said, "Ms. Hu is an official, and I am just an old palace maid. My humble name is not worth mentioning. We will meet if we are destined to."
At this time, the female official outside urged him to come in. Hu Shanwei did not dare to stay. He bowed to the old palace maid and walked out in a line.
In the courtyard of the wet nurse's mansion, forty-four new female officials lined up in two teams, with Hu Shanwei and Chen Ermei standing at the end of the team.
The new female officials wore the same bright red four-sided Ruyi robe with long sleeves and lake blue horse-faced skirt, and high-soled shoes as thick as bricks.
The only difference is that the married widows wear a conical bun made of ponytails on their heads, on which they wear nine kinds of silver-inlaid gemstone head ornaments, including a top hairpin, a heart-shaped hairpin, a flower hairpin, and a hairpin on both sides, a flower hairpin, and a cordyceps hairpin. They dress solemnly and elegantly.
Unmarried female officials, such as Hu Shanwei, wore their hair in a round bun with a silver peony-beaded bun, which made them look cute and lovely.
The old palace maid watched the group of female officials walking towards the Forbidden City in their unfamiliar thick-soled shoes. She withdrew her gaze and ironed the old clothes that Hu Shanwei had taken off.
Another old palace maid was puzzled. "Meixiang, you are old and about to be buried. Why do you want to please a young lady who has just entered the palace? Even the young palace maids find this coarse old clothes shabby. Why are you ironing them? Just roll them up and throw them in the box."
The old palace maid named Meixiang was about 40 years old. She pointed at the black boots that Hu Shanwei had taken off and said, "Don't just look at the clothes, look at these shoes."
The old palace servant touched it with his hand and his face changed. "It's lambskin on the outside and velvet lining imported from Fujian. It's soft and comfortable."
Looking at the workmanship of the shoes and the "Sifu" mark on the soles, the old palace servant was surprised and said, "This is something made in the palace and supervised by the Sifu Bureau. How could something from the harem be worn by a poor commoner girl?"
Meixiang asked again: "These are women's shoes, but they are obviously larger than ordinary women's shoes. Among the nobles in the harem, who has the biggest feet?"
The old palace servant was even more shocked, "The Queen! It's the Queen!"
Kunning Palace.
The big-footed Empress Ma, who was wearing her daily living clothes, had a stern face and lectured the student, "Xiaochun, today is not the ten-day holiday. Are you skipping classes at the Imperial College again?"
Bai Kan, who was called Xiaochun, sat on the embroidered cushion beside Empress Ma and shook the Empress' sleeves. "Yes, please tell the Empress and the Imperial College's chief priest that I will not go to school anymore."
Empress Ma refused. "Only talented people in the world can enter the Imperial Academy after going through layers of selection. Only the eldest son who inherits the family business can have a place in the Imperial Academy. How many people are looking forward to this opportunity, but you don't know how to cherish it. You skip classes every other day. The Imperial Academy's chief priest has complained to the emperor several times."
Xiaochun said, "My father was a soldier, and I will be one in the future. What's the point of studying those things in the Imperial College? Can reciting an Analects to the enemy make them retreat?"
Empress Ma swung her sleeves and said, "Stop arguing here. If you don't go, I will ask the Jinyiwei to tie you up and take you to the Imperial College. I will monitor you every step of the way and see how you will skip school in the future."
Xiaochun was still unwilling to give up. She once again held Empress Ma's sleeve and said coquettishly, "Your Majesty, my second brother is two years younger than me. He has already followed our father to fight on the battlefield and has begun to make military achievements. As for me, I am seventeen years old and have achieved nothing. I am locked up in the Imperial Academy to study all day."
Queen Ma said: "You will be the crown prince in the future and will inherit the family title. Your brothers are different from you."
Xiaochun said: "I don't want to be a prince, I want to be a general and protect the Ming Dynasty."
"Nonsense!" Empress Ma tapped him hard on the forehead. "The more you learn, the more you go backwards."
Xiaochun still pestered, "That's right, I studied in the Imperial Academy for a year, and I'm really going backwards. Madam, please get me out quickly! I'm really not cut out for studying."
Empress Ma ordered the female officials around her, "Call Mao Xiang and ask him to tie up the monkey and send it to the Imperial Academy, and ask the chief priest to teach it a lesson."
Mao Xiang, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
When Xiaochun heard this, she ran away. Empress Ma ordered again: "Close the palace gates and catch the turtle in the jar."
Xiaochun ran and shouted, "Mother, you can't say that. If I were a turtle, my father would be a big bastard!"
Xiaochun was just running forward when he suddenly bumped into someone's arms. He covered his head and looked up, "Dad? Are you back?"
A middle-aged man wearing a bright red court robe and a five-beam crown glared at Xiaochun fiercely, "You bastard! Go to the ancestral hall and kneel down first. I will pay my respects to the queen and then I will go back and settle the score with you!"
The middle-aged man knelt down and bowed, "I pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen."
When Empress Ma saw the middle-aged man, her eyes were full of warmth. She hurriedly stood up from the throne, personally helped the man up, and asked him to sit on the embroidered cushion beside her where Xiaochun had just sat. "Mu Ying, I finally got you back."
This person was Mu Ying, Marquis of Xiping, the adopted son of Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang, and also the best among his more than 20 adopted sons.
He was from Fengyang. His parents died when he was seven years old, and he became an orphan. Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife adopted him and loved him very much, especially Empress Ma. She only gave birth to two princesses and no sons in her life. Empress Ma raised Mu Ying as her own son and took good care of him.
After growing up, Mu Ying repaid his adoptive parents with his outstanding military achievements. Zhu Yuanzhang and his wife chose a wife of noble birth, Feng, for their most beloved adopted son.
Feng was the daughter of the founding general Feng Guoyong, Duke of Ying, and the eldest daughter of the Duke's Mansion.
Feng gave birth to her eldest son Mu Chun, but died of complications during childbirth. Mu Ying was away fighting all year round and was unable to take care of his son. Empress Ma took pity on Mu Chun and brought him to the palace of the then King of Wu when he was still a baby, raising him as her own grandson.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang chose a lady from a prominent family, Geng, as his second wife for the widower Mu Ying - the eldest daughter of the founding general and Marquis of Changxing Geng Bingwen.
He married two noble ladies from prominent families in succession, which shows that Mu Ying was extremely favored by the emperor.