Tsu Tsung
Chi Hsiang" (old ancestor, all joy be with you). Her Majesty was still
in bed and smiled to us and asked us if we had slept well. We told her
the rooms were very comfortable, etc. I thought to myself, we had slept
very well for the little time we had, but I had not had half enough. The
day before had been very hard for us and we were quite unused to it and
it had made us very lame and sore running around so much.

She asked us if we had had any breakfast and we told her not yet.
She scolded Li for not having given the order for our breakfast to be
brought to our rooms and said: "You must not feel like strangers, order
anything you may want." Then she arose and started to dress. She put
on her white silk socks first, having slept in her pantaloons as is the
custom, and tied them at the ankle with pretty ribbon. I must tell you
here that although she always slept in her clothes, she changed them for
clean ones every day. Then she put on a pale pink shirt of soft material
and over that a short silk gown, that was embroidered with bamboo
leaves, as she always wore low heeled shoes in the morning and
consequently could not wear her long gowns. After she had dressed she
walked over to a window in front of which were two long tables covered
with toilet articles of every kind and description.

As she was washing her face and dressing her hair, she said to my mother
that she could not bear to have the servant girls, eunuchs, or old
women, touch her bed, that they were dirty, so the Court ladies must
make it. When she said this she turned to my sister and myself, we were
standing a little to one side, and said: "You two must not think for a
moment that the Court ladies do servant's work, but you know I am an old
woman and could easily be your grandmother and it will do you no harm to
work a little for me. When it comes your turn, you can superintend the
others and don't have to do the work with your own hands." Then Her
Majesty said to me: "Der Ling you are a great help to me in every way
and I make you my first lady-in-waiting. You must not work too much
for you will have to make all the arrangements for the audiences for
foreigners and you will have to interpret for me. I also want you to
look after my jewels and don't want you to do rough work at all. Roon
Ling (my sister) can choose what she likes to do. I have two more
besides you, Sze Gurgur and Yuen Da Nai Nai, making four altogether and
you must all work togeth