I meet with the nervous young couple. The young minister keeps accidentally knocking his new hat askew. It amuses me at how nervous they are to have tea with me in the Apricot Side Palace. I wonder why. My bluntness probably makes things worse, but I'm not exactly the subtle type anymore. I can't be bothered beating around bushes. I prefer to get straight to the point.
"Don't be so nervous. No one is trying to kill you or scheme against you here," I tell them. "You are here because of an Imperial order. There's no poison. Relax. Drink your tea. I don't know what tea it is but it has a nice fragrance. Slightly nutty. Don't you think?"
"My Lady, this is the new tribute white tea from the south east," Fluttering Bird hisses in my ear. "It's called Elegant Silver Needles."
"You heard her," I wave at the couple, making them smile. "I didn't know there was such a tea. What will come next? Silver Hair Tea?"
"Umm, my Lady, there is indeed such a tea," Fluttering Bird mutters.
"There is? And I thought I'd just made something interesting up. I'm a genius!"
The couple chuckle at my antics and seem to relax somewhat. I detect a slight light of ridicule in the wife's eye, as if she is looking down on me. Am I too childish for her? That makes my smile widen.
"A genius indeed," the young minister tries to butter me up.
"Don't try to butter me up," I tell him. "I'll just butter you back down. I heard you were the young genius in planning the capture of a band of nasty mountain thieves. Tell me, how many months of preparation did it take?"
The young minister blinks at me in surprise.
"It took me over three years, Princess," he replies. "The Princess must have some insight. Most people ask me how I did it, but you ask me how many months of preparation. The Princess should indeed, not be underestimated."
"Hunting bandits is not much different from preparing for a war," I reply. "It's just on a smaller scale. How many of your people did you lose during these three years?"
"Fifty," the man looks away with glistening eyes. "I lost over fifty men and women. A few were only children. They hadn't had a chance to live and prove themselves. The bandits were too sharp. It was my fault for my lack of experience and my ignorance."
"Who is providing for the families of the lost now?" I ask him, leaning forwards. "What happened to the families of your people?"
"I could only give most of them a little money," he sniffs, looking away to dab his eyes. "Forgive me, Princess. Many of them were close comrades. They were like family to me but the little I earn is insufficient to support so many people. I would have given more if I could afford it."
The minister's wife flinches and gives him a little glare from below her lowered eyes. It appears she hadn't been aware of this.
"I see," I look over at the rock formation where the memorial for my babies were, thinking of the time we had lived on the cusp of starvation in the mountain. "It is indeed not easy to support so many people. Did any of them follow you to the capital?"
"Some of them wanted to come but I asked them to stay home and wait for me," the minister replies. "It's very expensive to stay in the capital."
"Do you have sufficient funds for your stay?" I ask in concern.
A glint appears in his wife's eye.
"We have enough," he waves a hand at me while his wife shoots him another glare and nudges him. He ignores her. "This lowly minister thanks the Princess for her concern."
"It must have been hard for you with your husband away so often for the past three years," I turn my attention to the minister's wife. "How often was he able to come home?"
"I understand that as a minister, my husband is a very busy man," the minister's wife simpers, while shooting her husband an unhappy look. "I cannot hope to keep his attention from official matters. For a man, his work is understandably more important. I should be grateful enough that he is too busy to even take in a concubine," her expression cheers up with her last sentence.
"A man of loyalty then," I smile at her, disliking her fake mask while it is obvious she is seething at him underneath the surface for some reason.
"It's a pity that loyalty and hard work does not always provide sufficient money, especially when he is always giving what he earns away for charity. He was overlooked by his superiors for promotions three times because of this," the woman says.
It seemed there is more of a story to this couple and the woman's unhappiness. The man doesn't seem to be very aware of her emotions. His eyes are clear and free of guilt, while he watches and listens to us chat.
"He was not promoted because he gave to charity?"
"His superiors thought he did not manage his money or his affairs well because of it," the woman sulks and pouts a lip.
"I see," I say, putting my tea cup down, I meet her eyes. "While he was away, what matters kept you occupied? How have you been managing to scrape through all this time?"
"You know how it is," the woman waves a languid hand as if to wave the question away. "I sewed old clothes into something that would pass for new. I waited and listened for news. I managed the household."
"You have no children?"
The couple look at each other and then away. The young minister reaches over to pet her hands.
"No," the minister's wife trembles. "Not anymore. The bandits caught him one day when he chased after his father. He wanted to help. I didn't know he had run out of the house. His father didn't know that the boy was looking for him."
I take a deep breath and look at the distant rock. I think of a helpful boy that had once followed his father around the farm, asking questions all the time. Swallowing, I reach out to hold the woman's other hand.
"I'm sorry. I lost mine too."
"I have heard," the woman says in a way that implies something but what, I don't know. It seems she thinks I am too far beneath her to make friends. Since she doesn't want to be friends then I shall switch gears to antagonism.
Straightening up, I clear my throat.
"Given the opportunity, how are you planning to support your husband in the future?"
The young minister's wife gives me a curious look.
"It is the wife's job to manage the household. It is the man's job to support it."
"Is that all?" I point at Fluttering Bird. "When we were poor and lived in the mountains, Fluttering Bird went down the mountain with her husband and father to work as a nurse. Swaying Blossoms looked after and taught the children. She sold embroidery and needlework for extra money when she was not taking the children into the mountain to collect mountain herbs and vegetables to sell. When I was a young girl and a princess in another country, my mother, the queen, not only managed the household but trained people to build their businesses and trades stronger. She always had a lot of work to do in supporting my father, the king. As soon as I was old enough, I worked among the common people in the fields. I gleaned behind our men in the fields, gathering food for the poor. When I did not have sufficient pocket money, I raised chickens and sold eggs and roosters to the palace kitchens. I copied books for the palace library or for the royal academy. I have seen little girls hawking wares and old women selling straw sandals to help supplement the family income. You. What have you done to support your husband besides making old clothes into new and complaining?"
"It's different," the minister's wife mutters. "My life is different from yours. I am from a poor scholarly family. I never had power to back me up."
"What does having power have to do with putting in the extra effort to help your husband while he works hard for you? Did I have power when I was first kidnapped in this country? Did I have power during the war when I was running for my life and the world was hunting my husband and child? Could I afford to sit back and wait for people to serve me? Who would listen to the complaints of a crazy woman? Do the common people have power to back them up when the women strive to help their husbands earn more rather than sit and moan at the lack of money? No, they farm the fields. They help to build their own houses. They work and do what they can do."
"You don't have the right to criticise me," the minister's wife flares up. It seems I found her sore spot. Perhaps she really is a more entitled, stingy whinger than I first guessed, who never lifts a finger unless she's forced to. "Who are you to talk, you crazy woman? We are only here to have tea with you out of politeness while we wait for the appointed time. If we hadn't been ordered to come here, why would we or anyone want to visit you? What face does a deranged person who isn't even a real princess anymore and was only the former emperor's pet have? What are you but a pretty, useless ornament? You only knows how to cling to the thickest thigh to survive. You can't talk properly and have no manners. I don't understand why we should have to demean ourselves to spend time with a brain damaged fool like you. Are they trying to belittle us because we are low down in the ranks of the officials?"
"Wife!" the minister elbows his angry wife and she bites her lip, looking down. "Princess, please forgive my wife. She has a bad temper and has been feeling unwell lately. She says things she doesn't mean when she is feeling unwell."
I take a deep breath and let a smile play about my lips. There. I made the shrew come out from hiding and feel proud of myself for it.
"Minister," I ask the sweating, nervous man. "What have you done to please your wife the past three years? Have you neglected her so that she turned into this or was she always like this? Have you truly not sought after any other women? Is it really just the death of your son that has soured your relationship? You both know better than I. Perhaps it was nobody's fault. Perhaps, it was both of your fault. Perhaps, you both need to sit down and just talk.
"I'm going to leave you both to have a good talk now. There's still some time before you need to leave for your audience with the Emperor and for the lady to meet with the Empress. Their Imperial Majesties are not blind. If a crazy, deranged person like me who isn't a real princess can see the potential problems you may both have or may develop should you be promoted, Minister, you are in trouble. Don't you know the low salary of a minister is a test of your management abilities and character? Even if you have received great merit for the empire in subduing bandits and have done charitable deeds, will you both survive the promotion? Will your marriage survive the promotion? Rising up the ladder requires much teamwork between husband and wife. The family must be a cohesive unit, striving to support one another and become model examples for the rest of society. It seems the two of you still have much to learn, otherwise how will you survive the competition, scheming and backbiting of the political world when you are already struggling - and not just with your finances?
"Lady, you need to learn how to hold your tongue and not give all your inner thoughts away. Do you think I did not notice your condescension? I have been kind to you in this exchange but the wives of higher level ministers will not be as easygoing as I have been. You are too easy a target. Be grateful I, this fool, really am just a fool and will not retaliate. Remember that the palace has ears everywhere. Even if I say nothing, if someone has overheard and reports it to their Imperial Majesties, tell me, what do you think will be your end? True, I may be just a useless ornament but the power behind me may not think the same. If you truly knew what it was like to have no power, you would not be so ignorant in your speech. I do, however, thank you for your candidness.
"You two talk. I will be back later."