From Maid to Imperial Star: Kangxi Wants Me to Be His Mother

She never bathed in her life, yet became a legend of the Qing court.

At thirteen, Su Mo'er, a poor girl from the Horqin grasslands, was “sold” into a beile's household and became the personal maid of Bumbutai, the future Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. She vowed to change her fate, unaware that this step would begin a life of extraordinary twists and turns.

From Shengjing to Beijing, from the imperial harem to the court, she used her grassland wisdom and remarkable memory to become Xiaozhuang's most trusted right hand. After Hong Taiji's death, she risked her life to enter Dorgon’s residence at night and help six-year-old Fulin ascend the throne. When smallpox swept the land, she risked her life to care for two-year-old Xuanye, becoming the future Kangxi Emperor's first teacher. When the powerful official Oboi grew tyrannical, she advised Kangxi and helped him take power. During the struggle among the nine princes, the Twelfth Prince she had raised kept out of the fray and became Kangxi's longest-lived son.

She lived through four reigns, assisted two young emperors, and influenced three generations of rulers. She never married, yet Kangxi honored her as “E'niye,” meaning mother, and granted her the rites due to an imperial noble consort. She rejected power and stayed true to herself, using her ninety-three years to show what true wisdom and loyalty meant.

This is not a fairy tale about Cinderella marrying a prince. It is the true legend of a woman who used her wisdom and sincerity to rise from a lowly maid to become the spiritual pillar of an empire.

Her life tells us that birth does not determine one's fate, gender is no limitation, and staying true to oneself is how to live a legendary life!