Empress Orchid - Anchee Min [106]
I smelled an unusual herb as Lady Yun walked by. She was in a pale yellow silk dress embroidered with white chrysanthemums. Her earrings were two walnut-sized balls that dangled to her shoulders. When Lady Yun sat down and smiled, dimples showed on her cheeks.
“Does the baby sleep through the night?” she asked. “Not yet?”
Nuharoo and I exchanged glances.
“I would appreciate some words of good luck,” Nuharoo said to Lady Yun.
“Did you notice that the plum trees have just blossomed?” As if she hadn’t heard Nuharoo, Lady Yun went on. “The strangest thing happened this morning at my palace.”
“And what is that?” the other ladies asked, stretching their necks toward Lady Yun like geese.
“In the corner of my bedroom”—Lady Yun lowered her voice to a whisper—“I discovered a giant mushroom. It was as big as a human head!”
Seeing that she had stunned her audience, Lady Yun smiled. “More strange things are going to happen. My astrologer read a sign of death from a spider web in a sweet osmanthus tree. Of course, I am not unaware of such things myself. Emperor Hsien Feng has told me many times that he turns into a rag as he sleeps and is carried by the southern wind directly to Heaven. His Majesty wishes no farewell ceremony. It is his decision that we shall all be widowed.”
Nuharoo sat with her back as straight as a pine tree. She blinked her eyes and decided to ignore Lady Yun. She took up her teacup and lifted the lid to sip.
The rest of the ladies followed suit. We dipped our noses in our teacups in unison.
I wondered if Lady Yun was sane. The line seemed to blur as I continued observing. There was truth in her words when she began to sing “Dust in the Wind”:
You ask me when I’m coming.
Alas, not yet, not yet …
How rain filled the pools on the night we met!
Ah, shall we ever snuff candles again
And recall the glad hours of that evening’s rain?
Finally my mother’s palanquin reached the side entrance of the Gate of Celestial Purity. The moment I saw Mother getting out, I burst into tears. She had aged, and now leaned helplessly on the arms of Rong and Kuei Hsiang. Before I finished my ceremonial greeting, Mother broke down. “Congratulations, Orchid. I didn’t think I would live to see my grandson.”
“The lucky moment has arrived!” Chief Eunuch Shim’s call came from the hallway. “Music and fireworks!”
Guided by eunuchs specially trained in ritual, I moved through the crowd. I asked Emperor Hsien Feng if my mother could sit with me, and he granted my wish. My family was so happy they wept. With difficulty Mother leaned over and touched Tung Chih for the first time. “I am ready to go see your father in peace,” she said to me.
After we sat down, Rong and Kuei Hsiang reported that they had been taking Mother to the best doctors in Peking. She looked frail. I took Mother’s hands in mine. By custom, my family couldn’t stay overnight in the Forbidden City, and we would have to part when the ceremony ended. The idea that I might never see Mother again disturbed me so much that I ignored Nuharoo’s request that I join her to receive members of the court.
“Think this way, Orchid,” Mother said, trying to comfort me. “Dying will be a relief for me, since I am in so much pain.”
I leaned my head on Mother’s shoulder and was unable to say a word.
“Try not to spoil the moment, Orchid.” Mother smiled.
I made an effort to look cheerful. It didn’t seem real to me that everyone was here for my son.
Kuei Hsiang had begun to mingle in the crowd and I could hear him laugh. I could tell that the rice wine had taken effect.
Rong was more beautiful but thinner than the last time I had seen her.
“Rong’s future has not yet been settled, and that worries me,” Mother said with a sigh. “She hasn’t been as lucky as you. Not one worthy proposal, and she is over twenty.”
“There is a man I have been thinking of for Rong,” I told Mother.
“I can’t wait to