The Last Empress - Anchee Min [17]
I summoned Tsai-chen, Prince Kung's fifteen-year-old son, Tung Chih's closest companion. I pressured and cajoled Tsai-chen until he confessed that it was he who loaned the books and he who had taken Tung Chih to the brothels. Showing no guilt, Tsai-chen described brothels as "opera houses" and whores as "actresses."
"Summon Prince Kung!" I called.
Prince Kung was shocked no less than I, which made me realize that the situation was worse than I had imagined.
When I forbade Tsai-chen from ever visiting again, Tung Chih was even more upset.
"I'll see you off," my son said to his friend.
"Tsai-chen will leave with his father!" I told my son. Then I told An-te-hai to block the door so Tung Chih couldn't get out.
"You bunch of dead bodies!" Tung Chih shouted, kicking An-te-hai and the other eunuchs. "Molds! Poisonous snakes!"
As I waited for the results from Doctor Sun Pao-tien, I visited Nuharoo to inform her of what had happened. Without mentioning Tung Chih's outrageous behavior, she worried about the possibility of venereal disease but even more about the Emperor's reputation—and hers, since as the senior mother she was responsible for the important decisions in Tung Chih's personal life. Nuharoo suggested that we begin the selection of an Imperial consort right away, "so that Tung Chih can start his life as a grown man."
An-te-hai was silent on our way back to my palace. The look in his eyes was that of a beaten dog.
At first Tung Chih showed no interest in the consort selection. Nuharoo was determined to carry on anyway. When I called Tung Chih to arrange a date to inspect the maidens, he instead wanted to discuss An-te-hai's "misconduct" and the proper punishment.
I ignored my son and said, "What's going on between us should not interfere with your duties." I threw a court report at him. "This arrived this morning. I want you to take a look."
"Foreign missionaries have made converts," Tung Chih said as he riffled through the document. "Yes, I am aware of that. They have attracted layabouts and bandits by offering free food and shelter, and they have helped the criminals. The issue is not religion, as they claim."
"You have done nothing about it."
"No, I haven't."
"Why not?" I tried to keep my voice calm but wasn't able to. "Was whoring all over the city more important?"
"Mother, every treaty protects Christians. What can I do? Father was the one who signed it! You are trying to say that I am bringing down the dynasty, but I am not. Foreigners were having their way in China before I was born. Look at this: 'Missionaries demand rent for the last three hundred years on long-standing Chinese temples which they declare are former church properties.' Does that make sense to you?"
I was speechless.
"I'd like to believe that the missionaries are good men and women," my son continued, "that only their code of morals is defective. I agree with Uncle Prince Kung that Christianity lays too much stress on charity and too little on justice. Anyway, it's not my problem, and you shouldn't try to make it mine."
"Foreigners have no right to bring their laws to China. And that is your problem to fix, son."
"The business of running the nation makes me sick, period. Sorry, Mother, I have to go."
"I am not done yet. Tung Chih, you don't know enough to know what to do yet."
"How could I not know enough? You have made the court's papers my textbooks. I have been considered weak as far back as I can remember. You are the wise one, the all-knowing Old Buddha. I don't send spies to invade your rooms and empty out your closets. But that doesn't mean I'm stupid and know nothing. I love you, Mother, but—" He stopped and then broke down sobbing.
In the darkest moments of my life, I would go to An-te-hai and ask him to comfort me. I was beyond shame.
It would be unimaginable for any woman to stand the thought that her body was being touched by a eunuch, a creature from the underworld. But I felt as low as the eunuch.
That night, An-te-hai's voice soothed me. It helped me escape reality. I was taken