The Last Empress - Anchee Min [41]
"I don't know." She made loud chewing sounds. "His father is a con man."
I asked what she meant.
She wiped her mouth and fell back into the chair. Her belly stuck out like a pillow. "I thank Heaven I am not pregnant." She grinned. Bits of cookie clung to her mouth. "But I told my husband otherwise." She leaned over and whispered, "He said that it was impossible, because we haven't done you-know-what for years. I told him this pregnancy was made by the demons." She started to laugh. "That scared a scorpion out of him!"
I didn't know what to say. Something was terribly wrong with my sister.
"Orchid, you are incredibly thin. You look awful. How much do you weigh?"
"A little over a hundred ten," I replied.
"I've missed you since Mother's burial." Instantly Rong broke into tears. "You never care to see me unless there is business."
"You know that is not true, Rong," I said, feeling guilty.
A eunuch came in with tea.
"Didn't I tell you that this house serves no tea?" Rong yelled at the eunuch.
"I thought the guest might like—"
Get out," Rong said.
The eunuch picked up the cups and gave Li Lien-ying a resentful look.
"Idiot pud-nut," Rong said. "Never learns."
I looked at my sister and then said gently, "I came to see Tsai-t'ien."
"The little debt seeker is napping," Rong responded.
We went to the child's room. Tsai-t'ien was sleeping under his covers, curled up like a kitten. He looked a lot like Tung Chih. I reached out to touch him.
"I don't want this child." Rong's voice was strangely clear. "He has given me nothing but trouble and I am sick of him. Truthfully, Orchid, he will be better off without me."
"Stop it, Rong, please."
"You don't understand. I am scared of myself too."
"What is it?"
"I don't feel any love for this child—he is from the underground. He made his three brothers die so that he could have his turn to slide through my body and live. When I was pregnant I wanted him so badly, but after he came out, I knew I'd made a terrible mistake. I dream of my three dead children all the time." Rong began to sob. "Their ghosts have come to tell me to do something about their younger brother."
"You will come around, Rong."
"Orchid, I can't cope anymore. Take my son, will you? You will be doing me a great favor. But you must be extremely careful with his demon-possessed spirit. It will take away your peace. His trick is to cry around the clock. No one here gets any sleep! Orchid, take my trouble. Strangle this son of a demon if you have to!"
"Rong, I won't take him because you want to abandon him. Tsai-t'ien is your son, and he deserves your love. Let me tell you, Rong, the only thing I regret is that I wasn't able to love Tung Chih enough—"
"Oh, Mulan, the heroine!" Rong cried.
Awakened by his mother, Tsai-t'ien opened his eyes. A moment later he broke into a muted cry.
As if disgusted, Rong turned away from him and returned to her chair.
I picked up Tsai-t'ien and held him. Gently I rubbed his back. He smelled of urine.
Rong came and grabbed her son from me. She threw him back onto the bed and said, "See, you offer him a penny, he demands a dollar!"
"Rong, he is only three years old."
"No, he is a three-hundred-year-old! A master of torture. He pretends to be crying but he is having fun."
An overwhelming anger and sadness came over me. I felt that I couldn't stay in that room. I started walking toward the door.
Rong followed behind. "Orchid, wait a minute."
I stopped and looked back.
She gripped the boy's nose with her fingers.
Tsai-t'ien began to scream, struggling for air.
Rong pressed. "Cry, cry, cry! What do you want?"
Tsai-t'ien tried to break away, but his mother wouldn't let go.
"Do you want me to kill you? So that you will shut up? Do you?" Rong put her hands around Tsai-t'ien's neck until he began to choke. She laughed hysterically.