Empress Orchid - Anchee Min [71]
I bowed to her. I believed that she was conducting this act out of pain. I should offer her, if nothing else, words of understanding.
As if knowing what I was going to say, she raised her right hand. “The second matter of my visit is to tell you the news that Lady Yun has given birth.”
“She has? How … wonderful!”
“It is a girl.” Nuharoo sighed. “And the court is disappointed. So is the Grand Empress. I have been feeling sorry for Lady Yun, but sorrier for myself. I haven’t been granted fortune by Heaven to conceive a child.” Moisture filled her eyes and she took out her handkerchief and began to dab.
“Well, there is time.” I comforted her, took her hand. “After all, the Emperor has been married just a year.”
“That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been offered women since his teens. By Hsien Feng’s age, twenty-two, Emperor Tao Kuang had produced seventeen children. What concerns me”—she looked around and made a gesture to dismiss the eunuchs—“is that His Majesty has been impotent. This is not just my experience, but Lady Li’s, Mei’s and Hui’s as well. I don’t know what you have experienced. Would you tell me?” She looked at me eagerly, and I sensed that she wouldn’t desist until her curiosity was satisfied.
I didn’t want to share what had happened, so I nodded in silent confirmation of the Emperor’s condition.
Relieved, Nuharoo leaned back. “If the Emperor remains son-less, it will be my responsibility and misfortune. I can’t imagine the throne being passed on to a different clan because of that. It would be a disaster for both of us.” She let go of my hand and stood up. “I would like to count on you to bear His Majesty an heir, Yehonala.”
I found myself unwilling to trust her words. On the one hand, she wanted to be who she would like to be—an empress who would go down in history as a woman of virtue. On the other hand, she couldn’t hide her relief when she found out that Emperor Hsien Feng had been impotent when with me. What would have happened if I had told the truth?
The night after Nuharoo’s visit I had a series of nightmares. In the morning An-te-hai woke me up with terrible news. “Snow, my lady—your cat has disappeared!”
Eleven
I TOLD Emperor Hsien Feng about Snow’s disappearance and that I had been unable to solve the mystery. “Get another one” was his response. I revealed the incident to him only after I found myself too anxious to comply with his request that I sing for him.
“It can’t be Nuharoo,” he said. “She may not be terribly intelligent, but she is not the vicious type.”
I agreed with him. More than once Nuharoo had surprised me with her remarks or behavior. After an audience the week before, the Emperor told us that a large portion of the country was in the midst of a serious drought. People in the provinces of Hupeh, Hunan and Anhwei were dying of starvation.
“Four thousand new deaths since winter.” His Majesty paced back and forth between the standing basin and the throne. “Four thousand! What else can I do besides order the beheading of the governors? The peasants have begun looting and robbing. Soon it will be a nationwide uprising.”
Nuharoo removed her necklace and bracelets and took down her hairpins. “Your Majesty, they are yours from now on. Auction them off so the peasants can eat.” She spoke with a noble glow on her face.
I could tell that Hsien Feng didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He asked Nuharoo to take back her belongings. Then he turned to me. “What would you do if you were me?”
I recalled an idea I once heard my father discussing with his friends. “I would raise taxes on the rich landlords, merchants and government officials. I would tell them that this is an emergency and the country needs their support.”
Although Emperor Hsien Feng didn’t praise my suggestion in front of Nuharoo, he rewarded me later. That night we had a long conversation. He said that he felt blessed by