A Crane Cries in Huating

Everything has a start, but not all things have an end.

As she stepped into the West Garden[1] Palace through the gate, A-Bao turned her head quietly, staring back at the blue sky extending outside the Vermilion Gate. 

In the first year of Jingning, at the end of spring, there were smooth winds and clouds sailing calmly. The sky felt warm and lovely, giving out a pink-blue crystalline glaze. The swirling willow catkins intertwining with the falling cherry blossoms appeared as if dancing in a golden pink hue under the sun. Amidst the thin layer of the glaze, a white and ashy porcelain colour would sneak out from time to time. 

This was the horizon.

Withdrawing her sight, she tidied her dress[2] and silently followed her peers as they went into the Dark Vermilion Wall.

Entering the palace at an older age, she was already doomed to have no future. Nevertheless, as an inexperienced palace maid, A-Bao’s first task was to wash the clothes of the middle and low-level servants residing in the West Garden. 

Li Shi, the head of Laundry House, and the palace maids who worked with A-Bao all knew that this person never cheated or slacked. She was assessed to be modest, patient, docile, and above all, a woman of few words, which inevitably made them fond of her. Perhaps that’s why when the washerwomen gathered around to gossip after finishing their due tasks, she could listen to them silently by the side without getting shunned or even avoided. 

Well, the idle talk of the palace maids was nothing more than various trifles that would take place in this small palace. Like someone and someone else became friends, someone who recently quarrelled, a leaf wilting somewhere, a flower blooming somewhere, and so on. However, at the end of the day, they would always end up talking about the lord of the West Garden — His Imperial Highness, the crown prince. Just then, one of the maids remarked with joy that when she was delivering starched clothes to the palace courtyard, she caught a glimpse of the crown prince from a distance, to which the others couldn’t help but ask enviously over and over again for more details. 

“Was His Highness fair or dark?” 

“What clothes did His Highness wear?” 

“Did His Highness see you too?” 

Amidst the relentless exchange of questions and answers, A-Bao gradually heard about the beauty of the crown prince’s appearance. She would hear the palace maids say with glistening eyes about how worthwhile being born a woman would be if they could share even a single night with a man like the crown prince. 

Of course, A-Bao also intermittently heard them saying that because of his surly and disagreeable temperament, the strict management of his subordinates, adding to the fact that he was not held dear by the Emperor, made him not the best candidate for the position of the crown prince, etc. — However, these were rumours that the court and even the public knew. 

The main hall of West Garden was originally named Chonghua. But, because it was bestowed upon the crown prince, it was turned into a palace and renamed. The Chonghua Hall was originally a detached palace, but as it was left desolate by several successive emperors in the past, it remained unmaintained for ages. The palace design was rather narrow and straightforward. Although the imperial palace was only three or five li[3] away, due to its declining reverence and weakening systems in various places, it looked no different from the Cold Palace. 

Furthermore, the sleeping quarters where the washerwomen lived was ‘the cold palace’ in the Cold Palace, because the younger and more elegant maids were hardly even seen going there. The work was not easy, and the relevant salary was not generous at all, which was very different from their aspirations of serving the Emperor.

However, whenever this subject was brought up, they would change the conversation and comfort themselves, saying, “But there are always advantages in being at such a small place, like, yes! There’s always a chance to get a glimpse of His Highness in the future.”

Naturally, most of the palace maids had never seen the crown prince in person. What they had seen, however, was a mere unavoidable distant impression, and yet they would just stubbornly start from describing the appearance of His Highness’s shu fa guan[4] and jin zi[5], down to the patterns on his robe and the clouds on his boots. 

It wasn’t easy to please everyone, so there were several versions describing the appearance of the crown prince. Apart from giving general comments like, ‘Elegant’, what the eyewitnesses seemed to have described was definitely not the same person. In fact, the young palace maids were quite distinctly aware that, in their entire life, they would not be in the least bit related to such a person who sits atop the sky. However, they still wanted to envision the appearance of the crown prince in their hearts, moulding it accordingly to suit their own preferences and understanding and letting this enchanting idol accompany and comfort every young and lonely heart everywhere in this desolate palace. Whether the people there were of a noble origin or not, this feeling of loneliness in the heart remained the same regardless, right? 

With double knots on her head just like everyone else, and a silver rope across her shoulders, A-Bao washed clothes for a whole summer in the corner of the West Garden.

TN Notes↲1西 Xī – West苑 Yuàn – Garden, park, mansion↲2青衫 – qing shan are blue-green uniforms worn by low-level officials.↲3one li is approx. 500m↲4束发冠 Shù fà guān – A cap made out of braided gold and silk, with long pheasant feathers on either side. The guan covers a small area of the upper part of the head instead of the entire head.↲5巾子 Jīn zǐ – Cloth or head covering worn by men in ancient times.