Fa Gao Fight

The Princess had invited the young noble ladies to the palace to make fa gao as the lunar new year approached. Meili arrived in the high walled courtyard with some trepidation after her last visit to the palace.

A large group of girls was already gathered around a stone table in a pavilion as she anxiously approached them. She wished she had some friends among them. There was one girl she knew slightly. Yue Tingting was an old family friend who was expected to marry her First Brother, if she was not chosen at the concubine selections.

As she went to stand by Yue Tingting, the princess looked up and saw her.

"Mei Meili," she called with genuine warmth. "Welcome, come and join us."

"Hello Miss Mei," said Tan Wentian shyly. Her brother had asked her to be kind to the Mei family's daughter.

"Hello everyone," Meili curtsied.

"Miss Mei," greeted Li Fengfeng with false sweetness, "how lovely to see you again".