The Last Empress - Anchee Min [93]
"It was you who drafted my appointment as Su Shun's replacement," Prince Kung said.
"Did I?"
"Yes. It was audacious—and unthinkable."
"You deserved the title," I said softly. "It should have been Heaven's will in the first place."
"I am guilty because it wasn't what my father and my brother Hsien Feng intended."
"The dynasty wouldn't be where it is without you," I insisted.
"In that case, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity, Orchid."
"You are a good partner, although you can be difficult."
"Can you forgive me for Tung Chih's death?"
"You loved him, Kung, and that is what I will remember."
The second thing Prince Kung wanted was my promise to continue to honor Robert Hart, a man he had worked with closely over the years.
"He is the most precious connection China will ever have. Our future place in the world depends on his help." Kung was sure that the court would not follow his instructions once he died. "I am afraid that they will drive Robert Hart away."
"I will see that Li Hung-chang follows your path," I promised.
"I couldn't get the court to grant Hart a private audience," Prince Kung said. "Will you receive him?"
"Does his rank allow me?"
"His rank is high enough, but he is not Chinese," Kung said bitterly. "The ministers are jealous of him because I relied on him for so much. He is resented not because he is English, but because he can't be bought."
Prince Kung and I both wished that we had more men of Robert Hart's character.
"I heard that he was honored in England by the Queen. Is that true?" I asked.
Prince Kung nodded. "The Queen made him a knight, but she cares far more about Hart's achievement in opening China for England than his rank."
"I will never take Robert Hart for granted," I promised.
"Hart loves China. He has been tolerant and has put up with the court's disrespect. I fear that his patience will soon run out and he will quit. China is absolutely dependent on Hart's leadership. We would lose a third of our customs revenue, and ... our dynasty..."
I did not know how to carry on Prince Kung's work. I had no way to communicate with Robert Hart, nor was I confident of convincing the court of his vital importance.
"I can't do it without you, sixth brother." I wept.
Kung's doctor hovered nearby and told me that I'd better leave.
The prince looked relieved when he waved goodbye to me.
I returned the next day and was told that Prince Kung had been drifting in and out of consciousness. A few days later he went into a coma.
On May 22, he died.
I helped to arrange a simple funeral for Prince Kung, as he had requested. The throne personally notified Robert Hart of his friend's passing.
It was hard for me to let go of Prince Kung. The day after his burial, I dreamed of his return. He was with Hsien Feng. Both men looked to be twenty again. Prince Kung wore purple, and my husband was dressed in his white satin robe.
"To live is to experience dying and is worse than death," my husband said in his usual depressed tone.
"True," Prince Kung said, "but 'living death' can also be interpreted as 'spiritual wealth.'"
I followed them in my nightgown as they talked to each other. I understood the words, but not their meanings.
"The understanding of suffering enables the sufferer to walk on the path of immortality," my husband went on. "Immortality means the ability to bear the unbearable."
Prince Kung agreed. "Only after experiencing death can one understand the pleasure of living."
Still in the realm of dreams, I interrupted them. "But there is no pleasure in my living. To live means only to die over and over. The pain has become impossible to bear. It is like a continuous punishment, a lingering death."
"Dying over and over gives you the rapture of being alive," my husband said.
Before I could argue, both men faded. In their place I saw a very old woman squatting on her heels in the corner of a large, dark room. It was myself. I was in servant's clothes and I looked sick. My body had shrunk to the size of a child.