The Last Empress - Anchee Min [11]
My husband's younger wives, Lady Mei and Lady Hui, were said to have met with a secret curse. They spoke the words of the dead, and they insisted that their heads had been soaked in the rain throughout the season. To prove their point, they took down their headpieces and showed the eunuchs where water had seeped through to the roots of their hair. Lady Mei was said to be fascinated by images of death. She ordered new bed sheets of white silk and spent her days washing them herself. "I want to be wrapped in these sheets when I die," she said in an operatic voice. She drilled her eunuchs in the practice of wrapping her in the sheets.
I dined alone after the day's audience. I no longer paid attention to the parade of elaborate dishes and ate from the four bowls An-te-hai placed in front of me. They were usually simple greens, bean sprouts, soy chicken and steamed fish. I often took a walk after dinner, but today I went straight to bed. I told An-te-hai to wake me in an hour because I had important work to do.
The moonlight was bright, and I could see the calligraphy of an eleventh-century poem on the wall:
How many flurries or squalls can spring stand
Before it will have to return to its fount?
One is afraid
Spring flowers fade too soon.
They have dropped
Petals
Impossible to count.
Fragrant grass stretches
As far as the horizon.
Silent spring leaves only fluff behind.
Spider webs catch but
Spring itself would not stay.
An image of Yung Lu entered my mind, and I wondered where he was and whether he was safe.
"My lady," came An-te-hai's whisper,"the theater is crowded before the show is even created." Lighting a candle, my eunuch drew near. "Your Majesty's private life has been the talk of teahouses throughout Peking."
I didn't want to let it bother me. "Go away, An-te-hai."
"The rumors expose Yung Lu, my lady."
My heart shuddered, but I couldn't say that I hadn't anticipated this.
"My spies say it is your son who stirs up the rumors."
"Nonsense."
The eunuch backed himself toward the door. "Good night, my lady."
"Wait." I sat up. "Are you telling me that my son is the source?"
"It's just a rumor, my lady. Good night."
"Does Prince Kung have a role in it?"
"I don't know. I don't think Prince Kung is behind the rumor, yet he hasn't discouraged it either."
A sudden weakness ran through me.
"An-te-hai, stay awhile, would you?"
"Yes, my lady. I'll stay until you are asleep."
"My son hates me, An-te-hai."
"It is not you he hates. It is me. More than once His Young Majesty swore that he would order my death."
"It doesn't mean anything, An-te-hai. Tung Chih is a child."
"I've told myself that too, my lady. But when I look at him, I know he is serious. I am afraid of him."
"Me too, and I am his mother."
"Tung Chih is no longer a boy, my lady. He has already done manly things."
"Manly things? What do you mean?"
"I can't say another word, my lady."
"Please, An-te-hai, continue."
"I haven't the facts yet."
"Tell me whatever you know."
The eunuch insisted that he be allowed to remain silent until he obtained more information. Without wasting a moment, he left.
All night long I thought about my son. I wondered whether it was Prince Kung who was manipulating Tung Chih in order to get back at me. The word was that after Kung apologized for his behavior, he ended his friendship with Yung Lu. They had split over the case of General Sheng Pao.
I knew Tung Chih was still bewildered and angry over my treatment of his uncle. Prince Kung was the closest thing to a father he had, and he resented