Though I knew love was the less important thing in my life in this restraining mansion of a royal family, I could not help to fell in it.

    When I woke up with exhaustion, he had left, only the maid Mingzhu was waiting aside to sever me.

    “Where is the prince?”

    “My lord, our prince asked me to tell you that he should go to the study to write a memorial to the throne. You can have a good rest for you have been so tired this days. ”

    “Writing a memorial?”Might I got a bias on my husband? He went to the study in the early morning during his honeymoon.

    Bing brought in a basin with fragrant water for me to cleanse and asked, “My lady, shall I bring some tea for you?”

    I nodded, I used to drink some chrysanthemum tea in the morning, sometimes with the bitter core of the semen nelumbinis. Bing was afraid I could not find suitable taste so she brought many from my family.

    “My lord, the maid Qinglian is waiting outside for your acceptance to her greeting.”

    “She knows the courtesy well.”

    “Yes, my lord. Qinglian had a poor lot. At first, one of her relatives was a servant to the Queen De, so she got a chance to serve the queen too. Though the queen already had three daughters, she doted her and taught her to learn and read. After the pass away of Queen De, she was married to our prince by the appointment of the Precious Junior Concubine Ding. But the predictor said her birth-time characteristics were conflicted with the prince’s. Though she was a close maid, she seldom have the opportunity to see him in face.”My maid Mingzhu seemed to hold a good relationship with Qinglian.

    “Bing, let her in. Help me to take on my suit, I prefer the golden embroid dress with jades today.”

    Bing surely got a interlinked mind with me. That dress was knitted by mom in half an year. She used the golden thread to knit lotus patterns on it, since she knew lotus was my favorite flower. And she picked the the precious Hetian white jade pieces to decorate the stamens. The edges were inlaid a line of pearls from the East Sea. The whole dress looked lovely, shining, without missing the noble sense. I cherished it in common days and seldom putting on it, but today I wanted to show her the difference between us.

    Suddenly I heard a outcry with surprise. When I turned to check, I found Bing’s face was anxious with fear. A golden thread on my dress was hooked on to the lotus folding screen.

    “Take my dress out carefully, what’s wrong with you?”I ordered.

    They were standing there, looking at me with frighten eyes.

    Later, I followed their sights to find a falling petal from the screen.

    “My lord, the lotus on the screen were all real lotus petals. The prince picked them himself in the summer, and used his handwriting paper to press them and dry them, then pasted them onto the screen with a foreign glue. To keep the fragrance, he treated the petals with smoke of the condiments made by lotus petals for two months. Oh, no……the prince won’t forgive me. ”

    So? I took up the falling dry piece, it was a real flower petal. Sometimes I smelt the fragrance of lotus in this bedroom, I had thought that I got some illusion.

    What an interesting prince!”Please forgive me, my lord!”She bowed down to beg me.

    “Stand up, Mingzhu. I have said, no need to act obsequiously before me when there is no outsider. Let me know the truth, I promise he won’t punish you.””My lord, our prince have done all this for you. He heard that you liked lotus, so he asked the underlings to dig that pool. And the handwriting was written by him and hanged on to the screen by himself. He forbid me to say a word to you, or he will send me to the wash-house instead of serving you. Please don’t let me go……I would like to serve you here.”With this words, Mingzhu bowed on the ground and would never stand up.

    I was moved by his adoration, and went to hold up the maid by myself. I took a careful look at the handwriting, it was a poe, written by a famous poet Cao Zijian, about the beauty of Luo River, named“On the Goddess of Luo River”. It was written: “She was Like a dragon hiding in the clouds, and I got a chance to glimpse at her slim and soft body. It was like the blooming chrysanthemum, as young as a green pine tree, or a curved moon hiding behind the colorful clouds, the clean and adorable snow in winter……”

    This was my favorite poem. He had put his heart on me before we met.

    “Stand up, Mingzhu. You won’t leave me, I need you I promise.”

    I took a look at the two dull girls and required, “Relax, come to help me put on my suit. ”

    They were woke up by me from the imagined bad-luck future and came up to help me.

    I put the petal in my dressing box and smiled in the sunshine.

    After a careful made up, I found myself beautiful and dignified in the mirror.

    When I stepped out to see the close maid. She was standing before me with a poor but lovely posture. Now I had a different feeling toward her since I was sure of his affection with me.

    “I am sorry I have you waited here for a long time.”

    “My lord, no need to apologize to me. It is my honor.”

    I took up her soft and slim hands, thinking of the description about a beauty in the “Book of Songs”, “Her hands were like tender young roots, and the skin was as white as the bitty cream……the neck was slim but pliable, and the teeth the melon seeds……with a cunning smile, and a pair of curious beautiful eyes……”

    What a poor beauty that she had no one to love her! I sighed.

    “Thanks for coming to greet me.” I said.

    She was surprised by me again,“My lord, please don’t be too courteous to me. It is my honor.”She bowed half-down before me. I took her up and found her eyes full of tears of appreciation, “I am only a maid, not worthy of your adoration, my lord.”

    “No need to be nervous before me. We are a family.”Though I had pretended to be a family with the four maids, now I felt like I would like to accept her as a family member. Her poor past and the lonely shade moved the softest part in my heart.

    “My lord, I have no parents from my childhood. It was always my honor to be taught and supported by the queen. Now she had left, I have not expected I would meet another good lord. Only you would like to take me as a family.”She said poorly.

    I took up her hand and comfort, “I will be your elder sister from now on, you life will be better in the future.”