A wisp of smoke from the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Imperial Household Department, a pale silhouette in the deep palace of Prince Yong's residence.
She is Consort Mao, a woman of the Yongzheng era, lost to the pages of Qing history: an ordinary yet resilient woman of the imperial harem.
She entered the household as a young girl and became a secondary consort, with no family pedigree or striking beauty, relying only on her gentle nature to make her way.
She gave birth to two daughters, adopted a son and a daughter, and raised two granddaughters in her later years, her heart full of hope that her children would always be by her side.
But fate was merciless: her own daughters, adopted daughter and son, and granddaughters all left her.
After a lifetime of caring for them, she was left utterly alone.
The pain of losing a child made her realize that favor and honor in the deep palace were all illusions.
When the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, she was made Consort Mao and lived alone in a side hall.
She did not yearn for imperial favor or envy others' glory. She copied scriptures, brewed tea, and kept her heart at peace.
She lived through the reigns of the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors. Though she had no children of her own and held no great honors, she found a peaceful end amid the treacherous imperial harem.
A strand of black hair turns to snow, and half a lifetime of earthly joys fades like smoke.
This is the story of an ordinary woman of the imperial harem who held fast through a lifetime of loneliness.
Each stitch and thread embroiders the girl's expectation for stability and her obedience to fate. The spring in Yanzhao is deep and the flowers are blooming, but her life has just opened the first page, with unknown confusion and a faint light. There is a wisp of smoke with a yellow flag in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a shadow in the deep palace of Yongdi. She is the Song family, the concubine of the Yongzheng Dynasty, an ordinary but tenacious harem woman who has been hidden in the volumes of Qing history. In the twenty-seventh year of Kangxi's reign, in her prime, she entered Prince Yong's palace as a princess. She had no protection from aristocratic family and no beautiful appearance. She could only live a gentle and respectful life. With her exquisite embroidery skills and delicate thoughts, she lived a stable life in the undercurrent of the palace's backyard. When she first received the emperor's favor, she also had a wish to survive, but her wishes were not fulfilled and her two daughters died one after another, crushing all her hopes. The pain of losing her daughter smoothed away the greenness between her eyebrows, and also made her realize that the honor and favor in the palace were all false. When Yongzheng ascended the throne, she was named Mao's concubine and lived in a side hall of the deep palace. She did not envy the concubine Nian's unrivaled favor, nor did she envy the concubine Xi's motherly appearance. She only guarded a courtyard, copied scriptures and prayed for blessings, made tea and embroidered handkerchiefs. In the turbulent harem, she guarded her true nature and took care of herself. She has seen the ups and downs of concubines, and the ups and downs of the government. She has experienced the Kang and Yong dynasties, from an ignorant concubine to a quiet concubine. She has no prominent family background in her life, no prince by her side, and she has not been a concubine in her life. However, she found a stable and good death in the shadow of swords and swords in the deep palace. A wisp of black hair boils into snow, and all the rest of my life is like smoke. This is a story that belongs to the Maobin Song family. It has nothing to do with the power in the harem or the ups and downs of legends. It is just an ordinary harem woman who, amidst the shackles of time and class, held on to the tiny warmth and survived the long loneliness, leaving a faint trace in the dust of history.
Multi-dimensional description, real and delicate emotions! Super pretty!
It looks good, the storyline is quite attractive, the characters are well-drawn, and I look forward to the follow-up 😳