The Double

In November, Yanjing City saw its first snowfall.

The snow was not heavy, but the weather had already turned bitterly cold. It was said that the mountains to the east had their paths sealed by snow, and hunters dared not venture into the mountains. Yet for the sake of making a living, some risked the danger to hunt. Nothing else mattered, for in this season, selling a single white wolf pelt to the wife of a wealthy family could fetch one hundred taels of silver.

For the sake of livelihood, people could bring themselves to do anything.

Outside the palace walls and on the eaves of the house roofs, a layer of white snow had settled, not as thick as in the deep winter, yet it hinted at a world cloaked in serene whiteness. The little eunuchs and little palace maids who had just entered the palace found it very novel, and they couldn’t resist stamping their feet in the snow as they swept the courtyards. Sometimes, when it was break time and no one was around, they would ball up the snow and playfully toss it at each other, finding quite a bit of amusement in it.

Those who were older didn’t share the same enthusiasm. In winter, people always became more prone to sentimentality, as if everything were hopeless. Observing these new palace maids, they could only shake their heads and sigh continuously. A future uncertain, year after year people enter the palace, and year after year people die. Do you not see how this pure white snow buries countless nameless bones beneath the ground? The palace, though magnificent and splendid, is filled with dangers. For them, perhaps the greatest fortune is to safely spend a few years, and at the end of their service, be released from the palace to marry, bear children, and lead a peaceful life.

The sound of chanting Buddhist scriptures in Cining Palace had become less frequent of late. Presumably, it was simply too cold; the Empress Dowager, sitting in the hall copying scripture, would find her hands and feet going numb after only a while, so the palace maids would hastily bring over a warmer for her to heat her hands.

"I’m getting old," the Empress Dowager sighed, saying, "Recently, my hands and feet are always cold."

"Perhaps the hall is a bit too cold," Mei Xiang replied, "Your servant will have people add more fine charcoal later."