Empress Orchid - Anchee Min [22]
A heavy scent filled the room.
I took the opportunity and raised my eyes. His Majesty was looking at me. He squashed his nose and mouth together as if trying to get me to laugh. I didn’t know how to react.
The mocking continued. He seemed to be more interested in getting me to break the rules.
My father’s teaching came to my mind: “Young people see an opportunity where older people might consider it a danger.”
The Son of Heaven smiled at me. I smiled back.
“This summer is going to be nice and breezy.” Emperor Hsien Feng played with the chips.
The Grand Empress turned her head toward us and frowned.
My thoughts went to the girl who had been beaten to death, and my back was instantly wet with sweat.
The Emperor raised his right hand and pointed a finger at me. “This one,” he said.
“Yehonala?” Chief Eunuch Shim asked.
I felt the heat of the Grand Empress’s stare.
I lowered my eyes and endured a long, unbearable silence.
“I have done what is required, Mother,” the Emperor spoke.
The Grand Empress offered no comment.
“Shim, did you hear me?” Emperor Hsien Feng turned to the eunuch.
“Yes, I did, Your Majesty, I heard you perfectly.” Eunuch Chief Shim smiled humbly, but his intention was to give the Grand Empress the opportunity to say the final word.
The “yes” finally came.
I sensed His Majesty’s elation and Her Majesty’s disappointment.
“I … I wish Your Majesties ten thousand years of life,” I said, struggling to gain control over my trembling knees. “Your luck will be as full as the East China Sea and your health as green as the Southern—”
“Wonderful! My longevity has just been shortened,” the Grand Empress interrupted me.
My knees gave in and my forehead was on the ground.
“I am afraid I just saw the shadow of a ghost.” The Grand Empress rose from her chair.
“Which one, my lady?” Chief Eunuch Shim asked. “I’ll catch it for you.”
“Yes, Shim. Let’s call everything off.”
Suddenly there came the loud clang of a bamboo chip being thrown into the golden plate. “Time to sing, Shim!” ordered the Emperor.
“Yehonala stays!” Shim sang.
I couldn’t remember much after that, only that my life had changed.
I was startled when Chief Eunuch Shim got down on his knees in front of me and called me his mistress and himself my slave. He helped me back onto my heels. I didn’t even notice what became of the other girls or when they had been escorted out.
My mind was in a strange state. I recalled an amateur opera back in Wuhu. It was after the New Year’s feast and everyone was drunk, including myself, because my father let me sip the rice wine so I could see how it tasted. The musicians were tuning their instruments. The sound was oddly mournful at first. Then it turned into the sound of a horse being beaten. Then, broken and strained, the notes sounded like wind whistling through the Mongolian grasslands. The opera began. The actors entered, dressed in women’s gowns with blue and white floral prints. The musicians hit their bamboo tubes with sticks as the actors sang and beat their thighs.
Crack! Crack! Crack! I remembered the sound. It was unpleasant and I couldn’t understand why people liked it. My mother told me that it was a traditional Manchu performance mixed with elements of Chinese opera, originally a form of entertainment for commoners. Once in a while rich people would request it performed, “to taste the local delicacy.”
I remembered sitting in the first row. My ears grew numb from the loud drums. The sounds of the sticks beating the bamboo tubes felt like a hammer coming down on my skull. Crack! Crack! Crack! My thoughts were beaten out.
Chief Eunuch Shim had changed his costume. The fabric featured hand-painted red clouds floating over a hill of pine trees. On both of his cheeks, two red tomato-like circles had been drawn. The eunuch must have painted them in a hurry, for the color had smeared. Half of his nose was red too. A narrow white line ran from his forehead down the bridge of his nose. He had a goat’s face, and his eyes looked like they had grown out of his ears. He smiled, revealing