In the twentieth year of the Jingtai era, a severe drought struck Suzhou.
The fields cracked and the rivers dried up. Thirteen-year-old Wang Jinyu headed south with her parents in search of a way to survive.
Halfway through their journey, both her parents fell ill and died, and she became separated from her younger brother. After many twists and turns, she was unexpectedly spotted by people sent out from the palace to recruit young women, and brought inside as the lowliest rank of palace maid.
Over the years, to stay alive, Wang Jinyu had emptied chamber pots and washed clothes. She learned sewing and embroidery, learned to bow and scrape, and when she offended someone, she could end up eating one meal of spoiled rice in three days.
But she refused to accept her fate. She secretly learned to read and write, picked up useful skills, and scrimped and saved every penny. At last, at the age of twenty, she came upon a great opportunity: she paid to be assigned as a third-rank maid to the quarters of a newly arrived concubine.
Her mistress thought her name sounded too rustic and changed it from Wang Jinyu to Wang Jinyu, written with different characters.
She thought she would finally have a good life, but once she entered the palace, she was still emptying chamber pots and washing clothes. Every undesirable job in the palace was dumped on her.
Watching others live in private rooms, wear silk and satin, and handle gleaming silver, Wang Jinyu was terribly envious.
They were all people. If others could do it, why couldn't she? Wang Jinyu thought as she held her steamed bun. She wanted a good life too.
She wanted to live in splendor, dress well, eat and drink her fill, and walk around with everyone calling her Auntie.
When she was old enough, she would leave the palace, open a shop, buy property, and live comfortably for the rest of her life.
Palace maids can leave between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. She had at most ten years left.
Time waits for no one. Wang Jinyu was determined to rise.
Tip: A palace maid's story of striving. The heroine will not become a harem consort.
There is a romance, but the love interest appears fairly late.
Theme: Be self-reliant and never forget your original aspirations
