Empress Orchid - Anchee Min [26]
“Did the Grand Empress Lady Jin look like the paintings we have seen, beautiful and elegant?”
“She must have been a beauty when young,” I replied. “Today I would say that the pattern on her dress is more interesting than her looks.”
“What was she like?” both Mother and Rong asked. “What does she expect from you?”
“That is a hard question. On the one hand, we are expected to follow the rules. ‘As royal members,’” I mimicked Her Majesty, “‘you are the models for our nation’s morality. Your purity reflects our ancestors’ teachings. If I catch you passing around books of a salacious nature, you will be hanged like those before you.’ On the other hand, the Grand Empress expects us to mate with Emperor Hsien Feng as often as we can. She told us that her achievement will rest in the number of heirs we produce. The Emperor is expected to outperform his father and grandfather. Emperor Kang Hsi, Hsien Feng’s great-great-grandfather, sired fifty-five children, and Emperor Chien Lung, Hsien Feng’s grandfather, twenty-seven.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Kuei Hsiang smiled slyly as he threw a fistful of roasted nuts into his mouth. “His Majesty has more than three thousand ladies all to himself. I bet he can hardly make the rounds.”
“But there are obstacles,” I told Mother. Hsien Feng’s performance in the Record Book of Imperial Fertility, a diary kept by Chief Eunuch Shim that traced His Majesty’s bedchamber activity, was poor. The Grand Empress had accused the Emperor of “deliberately wasting the dragon seeds.” Too often, His Majesty was said to favor a single concubine, forgetting his duty to spread his seeds by sleeping with different ladies each night. The Grand Empress spoke angrily of past concubines who had been possessive of His Majesty. She saw them as “wicked-minded” and didn’t hesitate to punish them severely.
I told Mother that the Grand Empress had taken us to the Hall of Punishment, where I saw for the first time the famous beauty Lady Fei. She used to be the favorite concubine of Emperor Tao Kuang, but now she lived in a jar. When I saw that Lady Fei had no limbs I almost fainted. “Lady Fei was caught having the Emperor all to herself, and she fooled nobody but herself,” the Grand Empress said coldly. The only reason Lady Fei was kept alive was to serve as a warning.
I would never forget my horror that afternoon at the sight of Lady Fei. Her head rested on the rim of the jar, her face was filthy, and green mucus dripped from her chin.
Mother grabbed my shoulders. “Promise me, Orchid, that you will be careful and wise.”
I nodded.
“What about the thousands of beauties selected?” Kuei Hsiang asked. “Is His Majesty encouraged to take ladies at a moment’s interest? Can he take a maid who is a courtyard sweeper?”
“He can do anything he wants, although his mother doesn’t encourage him to take courtyard sweepers,” I answered.
Rong turned to Mother. “Why would His Majesty want a maid when he has beautiful wives and concubines?”
“I can only say that the Emperor might resent the fact that he doesn’t get the chance to sleep every night with the woman he loves.”
We went quiet for a while. “His Majesty probably hates the ladies forced on him by his mother and the eunuchs,” Mother continued. “He must feel like a hog led by the nose.”
“Orchid, what are you going to do?” Rong asked. “If you obey the rules, you will attract no attention from the Emperor; but if you try to be alluring, and His Majesty desires you, the Grand Empress may remove your limbs!”
“Let’s go to the Temple of Mercy and consult your father’s spirit,” Mother said.
We had to climb hundreds of steps to reach the temple, on the top of Goose Mountain. We lit incense and paid the most expensive contribu-tion. But I didn’t receive any advice from my father’s spirit. My mind was troubled, and I was very aware that I was on my