The next morning, Zi Hua awoke before dawn and dressed herself without much difficulty, though the same could not be said about her roommates. Despite their moans and groans, the preliminary evaluation waited for no one, especially not courtiers whose woes were as trivial as how painfully plain their uniform dresses were.
The preliminary evaluation comprised of three stages: chastity, body, and health.
The first was... an embarrassing process, to say the least. One Zi Hua would gladly purge from her memory the moment she was allowed to slip on her robes and leave the partitioned room.
During the second body check, even one as uninhibited as Zi Hua blushed as an experienced servant perused every inch of her body like she was an unfeeling object, occasionally pinching at the soft flesh around her waist and thighs. She was by no means fat, but judging by the servant's disapproving hum, Zi Hua supposed she wasn't as lissom as the capital's standard.
The servant suddenly lifted her arm and took a sniff.
Before Zi Hua slapped her out of reflex, she let go and scribbled something on a scroll. "No body odour or venereal diseases," she noted.
Then, she ran her hands down Zi Hua's arms. Her muscles from archery training were firm yet "subtle enough not to mar her femineity", and her skin had a "healthy glow" to it.
When the servant reached her calloused palms, she stilled. Contrary to Zi Hua's prediction, she didn't comment on it, much less instantly disqualify her.
She didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.
"Courtier Yang has an adequate body. Pass."
Nothing else unexpected occurred during the ensuing health check.
***
Three shichens later...
While struggling to maintain her curtsy, Zi Hua learnt the hard way that etiquette training wasn't any easier compared to physical training.
In fact, she would rather do a hundred squats than maintain a specific posture for a hundred seconds, run three miles than "glide like a weightless lily pad crossing the pond", and shoot arrows on horseback than balance books atop her head.
Although her physique was arguably stronger than her peers, that advantage was neglectable due to her lax etiquette training growing up—while the other courtiers performed the required actions with familiar ease, she fumbled around like an ugly duckling.
Back in Xiping, noblewomen were few and far between, and those she befriended shared her unbridled temperament. They didn't care for flowery protocol, instead treating each other with the casual closeness of the soldiers they grew up around. They even used to make fun of the "proper" ladies who gasped at the sight of them galloping down the streets on horseback without wearing veiled hats!
Oh, to think she had to literally bow down to the formalities she had once mocked...
Zi Hua sighed mournfully and instantly wobbled.
"Be as still as a flamingo in a crystal lake!" Madam Xiu's voice rang out beside her. "Use your core strength and tether your feet to the earth. Neck in, head down. Slouch not, sway not."
'A flamingo? What flamingo? Where?'
Strangely, focusing on what were flamingos grounded her.
Zi Hua sucked in a breath and held her posture. The midday sun beat down mercilessly on the open courtyard. She could feel each droplet of sweat sliding down her face, her neck, her back. It sent shivers down her spine, reminding her skin how much it yearned for water and shelter.
Where was the wind? Why was there not even a lick of breeze?
A day had never felt so endless...
Her thighs were burning, her knees quaking with effort. She sneakily pressed her folded hands onto her hips for support. The laboured breathing of the courtiers on either side of her belied their effortless image, consoling her somewhat.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Nobody dared to move with Madam Xiu on the prowl with her bamboo cane. Zi Hua barely managed to endure until the strict tutor's back was turned, then she widened her stance.
But her legs were too numb from bending too long. The sudden movement caused her to lose balance and stumble into the courtier in front!
"Ah!"
That courtier also lost her balance, and one by one, the girls in Zi Hua's row fell forward, collapsing like dominoes in a cacophony of gasps and startled yelps.
When the dust settled, dozens of courtiers sprawled ungraciously across the courtyard, resembling wilted white flowers. They slowly crawled to their feet, united by hisses and moans of pain...
All but one.
She laid face-first in the soil, worrisomely motionless.
"Is... Is she still alive?" someone asked shakily.
"Silence!" Madam Xiu reproached, rushing to the fainted courtier's side. "She is well and alive. If I hear such inauspicious talk again, you will immediately be expelled from the palace!"
She slapped the courtier's cheeks lightly to rouse her, but only received a subconscious whimper in reply.
"Weak," Madam Xiu spat, straightening. "Send her home!" she ordered the servants on standby.
Two came out of line and carried the unconscious courtier away on a stretcher. An invisible pressure descended upon the whole courtyard watching her go.
If they faltered, would they be next?
Zi Hua gulped. To pass the notoriously uncompromising preliminary evaluation only to be disqualified in the same day for fainting... How would that courtier feel when she woke up?
She couldn't help the twinge of guilt that surfaced—if she had just stayed still, would this stranger have been able to enter the rear palace?
"What a pity..." someone whispered, mirroring her thoughts.
"Zi Hua, are you alright?" Ding Meng Meng manifested by her side, holding her hand worriedly. "I was shocked when I saw you suddenly push someone!"
The murmurs came to a screeching halt. Zi Hua had a sense of déjà vu as she became the centre of attention, perused by a multitude of ghastly expressions.
The courtier previously standing in front of her whirled around. "So it was you who pushed me!" she screeched. "I wouldn't have fallen otherwise!"
One by one, the implicated courtiers surrounded her, drowning her with their accusations.
"What is wrong with you?!"
"Apologise at once!"
"Because of you, we'll be stuck here for even longer!"
"I scraped my knees when I fell! What if they scar?!"
"This is all your fault!"
Ding Meng Meng let go of her hand, slowly taking a step back. Zi Hua sucked in an irritated breath.
This was the second time. She must be blind to not see her roommate's animus before, but now wasn't the time to point more fingers.
She stepped forward and bowed. "I sincerely apologise for causing an accident and wasting everyone's time. However,"—her apologetic tone took a sharp turn—"I reject the claims of purposely pushing a fellow courtier! Bluntly speaking, there is nothing to gain by doing so. My wish for training to end is as ardent as yours. The truth is: my feet were so numb that I tripped. I'm sorry, everyone!"
Under her steadfast explanation and apology, uncertainty rippled through the crowd.
"Courtier Dan, Courtier Yang has no reason to push you, does she?"
"No... We don't even know each other."
"I believe Courtier Yang! Why would she cause all this only to suffer under the sun with the rest of us?"
"True... Accidents happen. I can barely feel my own feet either."
"And I used to trip a lot during etiquette training."
Clap! Clap!
"Courtiers, to your places!" Madam Xiu ordered, breaking up the crowd. "We'll practice the formal curtsy one last time. Then you may return to your quarters, lest another frail one faints."
"Yes, Madam!"