Chapter 13

"Milady please wear some jewellery…"

"Please milady, you have to be presented at your best"

"Lai'er why are you taking books to the palace?"

"The royal carriage is to arrive in one hour, why isn't she ready yet?"

I can't believe it is already today. I am to enter the palace for the first time and I have been in a daze the whole morning. Maids have been rushing in and out of my room, packing my things and helping me get ready. Since it is my first time, they are trying to put as much makeup on me as they can. Obviously I have been resisting, and I'm not fond of jewelry. I finally decide to where a dark red dress with black embroidery and gold in it, which is a surprising choice seeing as women rarely wear black. But it is the only one that I agreed to as all the rest were too bright. The maids also styled my hair into a graceful bun and stuck a few jewelled hair ornaments into it. I refused to have more than three ornaments, which made my mother almost cry as she was worried people would think that I was poor.

When I finally do get ready, my maid walks with me to the front hall, as she is coming with me to the palace, and my mother and the servants holding my things are also there.

The royal carriage finally arrives and my things are put in. Before I get in, I give my mother the biggest hug ever, which surprises her and she starts crying. I try to console her, but she weeps and says "Please Lai'er, do not let us down, and stay safe…"

'I know mother,' I reply cheerfully, 'Take care…'

I give a big hug to Hui and Bin, which makes Hui turn red with embarrassment and this makes me laugh. I also turn to father and bow to him and without looking at him, I get on the carriage. Father is an official in the palace, and of the highest ranks so he'll be taking a separate carriage to the palace. Chi Lou sits on the opposite side of me and then we're off. This entire day has been so surreal and now I am finally going to the place that will either raise me up or bring my downfall.

I try to reassure my self as I've learnt most things to help me survive. After quite some time, the outlines of the enormous Imperial Palace seemed to show and at this point, I am shaking with anexiety. I am excited and nervous at the same time.

The Palace looks just like they do in dramas, it is mostly red in colour and adorned with gold and intricate designs. And that is only the North Wind palace that I'm seeing. On it's two sides are the East and West palaces. Behind it I can see many more beautifully built buildings.

My carriage seemed to be one of many carriages that are entering the palace. There is a drop point where all the carriages drop off their passengers. My carriage halts there and I see my brother outside and he notices me and hurriedly comes over.

The driver hops off and opens the door for me and my maid gets off first and respectfully waits for me to get off and brother holds out his hand, waiting for me to take it. He should remember that I don't like receiving help, when I can do something perfectly by myself. So like the time I went to grandmother's residence, I slap his hand away, and he looks baffled once again.

'Hello brother,' I smile and say, 'I presume you have been well?'

"Ah yes sister," he replies, "How is mother and father doing?"

'They are well. Shall we be on our way?'

"Ofcourse, the new students head through the main hall to greet the emperor. I presume you know the rules."

'Of course I know the rules'

"Very good. Now let us go in. I will be your escort today."

Chi Lou orders the servants waiting to take my luggage up to our residences and tells me she will meet me after. The other nobles are getting off and they seem to have dressed most lavishly. I walk beside my brother and other students, and I am looking out for Wu Roqing.

A eunuch arrives and orders the new students to form a line. My brother can't go with me in the line, so he says he'll meet me later. I don't see Wu Roqing yet, but she may be behind me and it might not be a good idea to turn around. But I do spot my two cousins Song Shie and Song Sui, and I'm not surprised because it happened in the book.

The book of nobles that I had been memorising do not show pictures of people's faces, only their names, so I need to think before I talk incase I offend anyone. From the looks of it, everyone is about my age. Laing also had never spoken to people her age before as she thought she was better then them. So she did not have any memories of anyone here. She also didn't talk with her cousins, but only used them later in the story for her own use.

Finally, the eunuch orders everyone to follow him into the hall. All the other kids are fidgeting or looking nervous, but I am not. I think maybe because of the fact that I've already died as an adult that I'm not afraid of death or punishment anymore. But I am terrified of people close to me getting hurt.

We walk up the long flight of steps into the Palace and see the enormous golden doors being opened by two guards. My, this feels like a fairy tale, except that I am basically walking to my doom.

The inside court room is also exactly like those in dramas. There are rows and rows of court officials and I think father should be somewhere at the front. At the front of the hall, sitting on his mighty throne is the Emperor.

Now the Emperor looks more handsome than they do in dramas, handsome for an old guy that is. He is wearing golden robes, with a matching headpiece. He looks majestic and gives me grandfather vibes. All of us stand in two straight lines, put our hands together, bow and say, "Greetings to your majesty the Emperor. May you have a long and healthy life."

Ha, he won't live for more than the two years that the story takes place. In the story, he dies of a disease and Tian Mo and Wu Roqing becomes Emperor and Empress.

The Emperor Shangyen was a fair and just ruler in the book and treated everyone fairly, but he was against Mo Tian's marriage to Wu Roqing as he wanted him to marry someone of higher status.

Right now he raised his hand to show that he acknowledged us and we straighten up and now our heads. He gets up from his throne and stands.

"You are here to learn and grow as nobles in this palace," he says with his surprisingly warm old man voice, "And that is why Zhen expects you to work hard and bring honour to this empire."

With that he dismissed us and the eunuchs and escorts took over.

I feel so weird since I know that the events of the story have already begun and I am basically looking around now for Wu Roqing, but since I don't know how she looks like, my search is empty.

They take us to the inner courtyards within the palace, one for the girls and one for the boys. The girls have already formed cliques, and me and some other girls aren't part of them. I kept silent the entire time, because everyone here is a stranger except Song Shie and Sui, and they wave at me, and I awkwardly wave back at them. Everyone seems to know everyone and my name must be very popular, because one of the more flashy and richly dressed girls came up to me and courteseyd. She was wearing a yellow dress with silver embroidery and looked so contrasted to me and my dark clothes. She also wore jewels head to toe.

"Noble Lady Song," she said, bowing a little, "A pleasure to meet you. Li Erong."

'A pleasure to meet you Noble Lady Li,' I say also bowing, 'May we get along.'

Of course I'm not hanging out with this girl, she also hates Wu Roqing and was one of Laing's henchmen. My cousins that I've been avoiding for so long came over and looked excitedly at me.

"Cousin! It has been a long time!" says Shie,

'Yes, my cousins,' I say, 'Nice meeting you here.'

"Come on, we have to choose beds!" said Sui excitedly, leading us towards the Purple Lily Courtyard. I shook my head and helplessly followed her.

Silly girls, don't you know if you stick with me you'll be walking towards a painful death? These two girls were the only ones that never betrayed Laing and remained true to her till the day they died. I guess I'll have to protect these two as well.