Concubine - TRUE STORY [English Version]

20) king Ying Zheng

Li Yu was again the last person to stand up. Even the Queen Mother stood up. For her son, the king of Qin, was about to enter. Chu and all other servants had withdrawn behind the scenes.

The door opened and the first thing she saw were four soldiers. Then two more and in the back were even more. And within the number of soldiers, she saw the king. For the first time in her life.

"The king!"

He was dressed in black. He was wearing a lot of lucky animal charms in jade on the rope that tied his tunics. The length of the rope itself was knotted in various styles. Hidden behind all of the layers of black tunic was a white tunic with it's collar slightly showing.

The collar of the outer tunic was embroidered with gold thread. Around his waste was a sword hanged.

His hair was tied up completely with braids. That seemed the fashion for men. Through the braid he wore a hair pin worthy of his status. The end was carved into a dragon. When Li compared it to the Queen's, she realized that women wear a phoenix and men wear a dragon.

The sleeves of his tunic jacket were big and weighed down. It somehow surprised her that he wasn't wearing a hat or anything. It almost looked like the king would go somewhere else after this dinner. He was só well-dressed.

He had eyes that were searching for his chair, excuse me, throne. He didn't care (yet?) for the others. It wasn't at all how Li expected him. Her fantasy was killed in an instant.

After the eight soldiers that preceded the king in his entrance, came his closest people. Another man in black, similar to the ministers. Unlike the other minister's clothes, his were decorated with silver thread. It had some color accents and he didn't wear a hat. His hairstyle was almost identical to the king's hairstyle. Only his hair showed signs off graying by age.

Some other important people followed. By their presentation they appeared to be generals in the king's army. After all of that followed the last four soldiers. When everyone got seated, the guards left through the same door. Li Yu expected them to take guard before the entry doors.

The king had his own personal eating-throne. On his left was his mother and alongside her were the concubines seated. On his other hand were the ministers. In the middle table his guests and the generals. Some kind of ceremony master wore a black top tunic and a longer gray one underneath. He was standing behind the guest's table. The concubines were the only ones in the room to wear color, alongside with the queen.

The ceremony master screamed his studies line;

"Long live the king",
and everyone repeated after him.

Li saw and copied what was happening around her. Everyone made the hand-over-fist sign at the hight of their collar bones. And after you did that, you need to bow as well. The king sat down and saw that all is well. When they came back op, everyone shouted "hail" three times in a row. Well, the men did, alle the ministers with their low manly voices who are very well trained in chanting the words in perfectly synchrony.

And then, everyone was allowed to sit down. The ministers have to scream hail to the king usually before they bow, but since the queen and concubines and the army officials were here, protocol was a little altered.

Servants entered with the first dishes. Thee, wine and sweets. The king got his first, then everyone else. Li knew that now is the time she is allowed to look around. And oh how much she likes to. She leaned over to the girls next to her.

"Hi" she whispered, "I'm Li Yu".
"I'm Hai Lin."
"Who are all the people here?"

Hai Lin pointed at the man who came in with the king. Dressed like a minister with som ecolor in his clothes. "That is Lu BuWei. He is the prime minister. He is very powerful. The men dressed in black next to him are the ministers. You can never ever talk to them. If they see you talking to them, they might accuse you of intervening with politics as a woman. Don't take that lightly, you will get executed for that."

That information made swallowing that sweet candy thing really hard.

"She is the queen Zhao Ji. It may happen that you will accompany her or play music to her. You can only do that when your position in court is really good. Never ask for her husbands. Never ever."

Li remembered vaguely that there is a rumor that the queen might have had a relationship with the prime minister. What kind of circus is this place?"

"The other table is the Royal Family, uncles, nephews and marquises and all that. The eunuchs mostly."

"What's a eunuch?"

Hai Lin whispered with even a quieter voice, "someone who is castrated to make sure there will be no, you know, 'concurrents' for the throne."

At this point all Li wanted to do is stand up and leave. But that was impossible. Food and drinks are brought in as a flowing river. But not an actual meal. Everything came in little portions."

A man in white clothes walked past the ministers and leaned towards the king, whispered something and then left.

"That man is Li SI. I don't know what he does, but be his behavior he must be very important."

Li Yu didn't want to know anymore. Too complicated, too much and too dangerous. It gave her shivers.