Who knows anything about the palace harem?

For ladies-in-waiting, it is sad not to be loved by the emperor, but it may not be gratifying to be loved. Sui Wendi Sui Wendi is a famous emperor in history, but his five men and two women are all his own, which is extremely rare in the imperial era. The reason is that Queen Dugu is a jealous pervert. She never allowed Yang Jian to fall in love with another woman. Once she learned that Emperor Wendi liked a maid-in-waiting and asked her to serve wine. She became jealous and immediately tortured the maid-in-waiting to death. Similarly, there is Queen Li. Once, a maid-in-waiting waited on Guangzong to take a bath. Guangzong saw the maid-in-waiting hand was white and thin, so he touched the maid-in-waiting hand and praised it. When Queen Li knew about it, she cut off the hands of the ladies-in-waiting and gave them bloody boxes.

Guangzong was so scared that Guangzong fainted on the spot. Maid-in-waiting may not only suffer from the jealousy of the empresses, but also die on the whim of the emperor. According to Tang Yulin, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty got a maid-in-waiting who loved her very much, and the reward within a few days didn't count. One day Xuanzong suddenly said gloomily, "There is only one Yang Guifei in Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, and the world is not peaceful. How dare I forget? " So I called the maid-in-waiting and said, "I shouldn't have left you." I'm busy trying to persuade you to put this girl back. Xuanzong said, "I'll think about it when it's released. I can give you a drink." The poor maid-in-waiting was poisoned like this.

There are thousands of palace ladies in the past dynasties. Once they were elected to the palace, they lost their freedom, had scanty food and clothing, lived in humble houses and worked as servants. On weekdays, their parents not only don't want to see them, even if they are sick, they don't get normal treatment, and no one will take care of them. In this unbearable loneliness, it should be entirely possible for the equally lonely maids and eunuchs to take care of and comfort each other. Moreover, in most cases, the interaction between maids and eunuchs will not be criticized or even encouraged by empresses. The reason for this phenomenon is that, on the one hand, maids are actually potential concubines, and once favored by the emperor, they may be promoted, so that they can keep close contact with eunuchs and reduce their own threats accordingly; On the other hand, whether empresses can get the emperor's blessing depends on the eunuchs who serve them to a considerable extent. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, eunuchs were usually responsible for the emperor's sexual life. Every time the emperor finished eating, the eunuch in charge of serving presented the emperor with a silver plate with the "green head card" of the concubine for the emperor to choose the concubine to serve that night. In this process, eunuchs may exert influence on the emperor, such as "a certain princess is in poor health recently" and "a certain princess is radiant recently", etc., all of which are suggestions in disguise. On the premise of the emperor's indecision, these suggestions often play a decisive role. Therefore, concubines are not only unwilling to offend eunuchs, but sometimes they curry favor with eunuchs. It is undoubtedly one of the optional ways to leave the maid-in-waiting beside the eunuch with status.

The eunuch has no wife and the maid-in-waiting has no husband, so they form a temporary partner to comfort the loneliness in the palace. This relationship is called "anti-food". Duishi was first seen in the Han Dynasty. From the analysis of the name itself, it may be that the eunuch and the maid-in-waiting eat together, which does not mean * * * to sleep. There is a saying in "Gong Ci" of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties: Don't blame the imperial court for boasting about food, most of the clothes are the best. This roughly reflects the phenomenon of food opposition in the palace at this time. By the Ming Dynasty, it was quite common for eunuchs and maids to become food lovers because they comforted each other. Even a maid-in-waiting who didn't eat in the palace for a long time was ridiculed by her peers as "abandoning things." Two of a kind, a former eunuch and maid-in-waiting, is enthusiastic and willing to be a matchmaker. The reason is that the junior eunuchs in the palace can't marry and concubinage, and the maids rarely have the opportunity to get the protection of the emperor, so the eunuchs and maids have to seek comfort themselves. The so-called "in the palace, resentment is boring, quenching thirst and making the best policy." ①

The partnership between eunuchs and maids in the Ming Dynasty was also called "vegetable farmers". From the analysis of historical data, there should be a difference between vegetable farmers and food lovers. For pasta, it can be between eunuchs and maids, or between the same sex, and most of them are temporary; The ladies-in-waiting and eunuchs, which can be called "vegetable households", mostly live together and are quite stable like husband and wife. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang hated this behavior between eunuchs and maids and strictly prohibited it. He even imposed very cruel punishment on eunuchs who married and had children. However, since Yongle, the status of eunuchs has risen, and this ban has vanished. The history book says: "Those who have no children in the inner palace choose their inner supervisor as their partner, which is called a vegetable farmer. Their property is like a family, and they love each other like lovers. There are many concubines, although the emperor can't help it, his official is not too much. " (1) There are similar historical materials in unofficial history. According to Wan Bian, at first, because the eunuch on duty had more contact with the maids in charge, he gradually developed feelings. On this basis, eunuchs often take the initiative to purchase food, clothing, jewelry and daily necessities for maids to show their admiration. If the maid-in-waiting marries the eunuch, they can form a partner, called a vegetable farmer. Vegetable farmers were openly allowed in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty. Even emperors and empresses sometimes ask eunuchs, "Whose vegetable farmer are you?" Eunuchs can only answer truthfully.

After eunuchs and maids became "vegetable households", they came back singing, just like husband and wife. Eunuchs are hard-working and driven by their beloved ladies-in-waiting. The ladies-in-waiting will feel sorry for the eunuchs and will not let him do too much work, but order other eunuchs to do it. Some humble, ugly and older eunuchs in the palace know that they can't be liked by ladies-in-waiting, so they are willing to be the servants of the cook, cooking, carrying and sizing for them, and the ladies-in-waiting pay them a certain amount of money every month. In this case, some eunuchs who are good at cooking become the targets of chasing, and they get more rewards. They can earn four or five taels of silver a month at most. These eunuchs wear clothes covered with dust and oil stains, carry food baskets, go in and out of the palace, and buy all necessary sundries.