Fengming

Background

Plump and attractive, well past the usual age of marriage, she wore bandages on her left arm to hide burns, and was gentle and generous with the women under her, rewarding them with compliments, warm blankets and sweets. She came from a prominent family of beekeepers who dealt with merchants, among them Maomao's kidnappers, and devoted her life to Ah-Duo out of admiration for her gallant spirit. Helping to raise the infant Imperial Brother, whom she believed to be Ah-Duo's son, she accidentally killed him by feeding him honey, not knowing it was fatal to babies, and she made sure her mistress never found out.

Because Lishu, who had nearly died the same way as an infant, knew the danger of honey and was close to Ah-Duo, Fengming tried to keep her away from the Garnet Pavilion; she also helped a maidservant who had tried to poison Lishu climb the Inner Palace wall and drown in the moat. Maomao understood her motives and persuaded her to turn herself in as the mastermind of the poisoning, in exchange for Ah-Duo never learning of her part in the child's death. Fengming was executed soon after, and Ah-Duo grieved for her and for the maidservant.