e is not exactly a Court lady, but she is not
a servant girl either." I almost laughed right out, to hear such a funny
statement, and wondered what she must be. I saw her sitting down with
the Court ladies that very morning, so of course I asked her to sit
down, too. These two Court ladies asked me if I felt tired, and how I
liked the Empress Dowager. I told them that Her Majesty was the most
lovely lady I had ever seen, and that I already loved her very much,
although I had only been there a few days. They looked at Chun Shou and
exchanged smiles. They did that in such a peculiar way that it annoyed
me. They asked: "Do you think you would like to live in this place, and
how long do you intend to stay?" I said I would love to stay long, and
would do my best to wait on Her Majesty, and be useful to her, for she
had been so kind towards us in the short time we had been there, and
besides, it was my duty to serve my sovereign and country. They laughed
and said: "We pity you, and are sorry for you. You must not expect any
appreciation here, no matter how hard you work. If you are really going
to do as you have said just now, you will be disliked by everybody."

I did not know what they were talking about, or what their conversation
referred to. I thought this was so strange that I had better put a stop
to it, so I immediately changed the subject. I asked them who dressed
their hair, and who made their shoes for them, as they had asked me.
They answered my questions by saying that their maids did everything for
them. Chun Shou said to these two girls: "Tell her everything about this
Palace, and I am sure she will change her mind when she actually sees
things for herself." I didn't like this Chun Shou, and her face didn't
impress me. She was a little bit of a thing, tiny head with thin lips.
When she laughed one could only hear the noise she made; no expression
was on her face at all. I was just going to say something to them, so as
not to give them the opportunity of gossiping, but found they were too
cunning. They noticed that I tried every way to stop them, so they said:
"Now let us tell you everything. No one else will know. We like you very
much and we want to give you some warning, so as to be able to protect
yourself whenever you are in trouble." I told them that I would take
great care to do my work and didn't think that I would ever get into
trouble. They laughed and said: "That makes no difference. Her Majesty
will f