Anchee Min - Empress Orchid

For many days Mother and Rong shopped while Kuei Hsiang and I cleaned and decorated the house. We hired laborers to do the heavy work. We put on a new roof, repaired the old walls, installed new windows and fixed the broken gate. My uncle took the opportunity to order a brand-new redwood door, elaborately carved with the image of the god of money. We replaced the old furniture and painted the walls. We hired the best carpenters and artists in town. Everyone took his job as a great honor. Fancy patterns were created on window frames and doorsills, mimicking the Imperial style. The craftsmen made incense holders, altar tables and staircases. Sometimes they had to work with toothpick-sized knives in order to fashion the desired details.

The head eunuch came to inspect the house after the work was completed. He made no comment and his expression revealed little. He showed up again the next day, however, and brought with him a group of people. They tore apart the whole place and said that they had to start from scratch. The roof, the walls, the windows, even Uncle’s new door-all of it had to go.

“The decree will not be delivered if your door faces the wrong direction!” the head eunuch said to Mother and Uncle.

Nervous, Mother and Uncle begged for advice.

“Which direction do you think you should kneel to thank His Majesty?” the eunuch asked, and then answered his own question. “North! Because the Emperor always sits facing the south.”

My family followed the head eunuch as he walked around the house, pointing his finger at everything.

“The shade of paint is wrong.” His hand drew circles in the room. “It should be a warm beige instead of a cold beige. His Majesty expects cheerfulness!”

“But Orchid told us that His Majesty would not be present in our house,” Mother said. “Did Orchid misunderstand?”

The eunuch shook his head. “You must learn to see that you are no longer your old self. You have become part of His Majesty, and you represent the Imperial aesthetics and principles. What you did with your house could ruin the appearance of the Son of Heaven! My head wouldn’t be where it sits if I allowed you to do whatever you like. Look at your curtains! They are made of cotton! Didn’t I tell you that cotton is for ordinary people and silk is for the Imperial family? Did my words go through your ears like the wind? It’ll bring your daughter bad luck if you try to be cheap!”

At my repeated pleading the head eunuch agreed to let us get out of the house while his men conducted the renovation. Mother took us to Peking’s most prestigious teahouses, in an expensive shopping district called Wangfooching. For the first time Mother spent like a rich lady. She tipped the busboy, the kitchen hands, even the stove man. The owners themselves brought the finest wines to our table. I was glad to see Mother happy. My being chosen had changed the condition of her health overnight. She looked well and was in exuberant spirits. We drank and celebrated. I had no real reason to be proud, because my good looks had nothing to do with me. But I thanked myself for having had the courage. I would have missed the opportunity if I had hesitated or carried myself poorly.

Mother wanted to know if the newly selected Imperial concubines would get along living together in the Forbidden City. I didn’t want her to worry, so I told her that I had already made friends. I described Nuharoo’s beauty, her admirable manners and knowledge. I also described Lady Yun. I didn’t know much about her character or family background, so I concentrated on her beauty. I mentioned Lady Li as well. I described the difference in their characters. While Yun was daring and cared little about the opinions of others, Li wondered if she was the reason that people coughed.

Rong was a bit jealous when I mentioned Lady Soo, the youngest, who wept in front of the Majesties. Soo’s sensitivity needed tenderness and care. She was an orphan, adopted by her uncle at the age of five, and she was obviously both sad and scared. The Grand Empress sent doctors to examine her; they concluded that she had a disturbed mind. Soo’s weeping didn’t stop after she was officially chosen. The eunuchs called her the Weeping Willow. The Grand Empress became concerned about the quality of the “eggs” that Soo would produce. “No quality eggs, no ladyship,” she had said to all of us. If Soo continued to be who she was, Her Majesty would give her away.

“Poor child.” My mother sighed.

I went on to speak of Lady Mei and Lady Hui, the two who looked like twins. They had less beauty but strong bodies. They were the Grand Empress’s favorites. Their breasts were as big as melons and their buttocks were the size of washbasins. They were gifted in flattery and hovered around Nuharoo like pets. Cheerful and animated in front of the Grand Empress, they were wooden and silent by themselves. They didn’t like to read, paint or do embroidery. Their only hobby was to dress alike.

“Did the Grand Empress Lady Jin look like the paintings we have seen, beautiful and elegant?”

“She must have been a beauty when young,” I replied. “Today I would say that the pattern on her dress is more interesting than her looks.”

“What was she like?” both Mother and Rong asked. “What does she expect from you?”

“That is a hard question. On the one hand, we are expected to follow the rules. ‘As royal members,’” I mimicked Her Majesty, “‘you are the models for our nation’s morality. Your purity reflects our ancestors’ teachings. If I catch you passing around books of a salacious nature, you will be hanged like those before you.’ On the other hand, the Grand Empress expects us to mate with Emperor Hsien Feng as often as we can. She told us that her achievement will rest in the number of heirs we produce. The Emperor is expected to outperform his father and grandfather. Emperor Kang Hsi, Hsien Feng’s great-great-grandfather, sired fifty-five children, and Emperor Chien Lung, Hsien Feng’s grandfather, twenty-seven.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Kuei Hsiang smiled slyly as he threw a fistful of roasted nuts into his mouth. “His Majesty has more than three thousand ladies all to himself. I bet he can hardly make the rounds.”

“But there are obstacles,” I told Mother. Hsien Feng’s performance in the Record Book of Imperial Fertility, a diary kept by Chief Eunuch Shim that traced His Majesty’s bedchamber activity, was poor. The Grand Empress had accused the Emperor of “deliberately wasting the dragon seeds.” Too often, His Majesty was said to favor a single concubine, forgetting his duty to spread his seeds by sleeping with different ladies each night. The Grand Empress spoke angrily of past concubines who had been possessive of His Majesty. She saw them as “wicked-minded” and didn’t hesitate to punish them severely.

I told Mother that the Grand Empress had taken us to the Hall of Punishment, where I saw for the first time the famous beauty Lady Fei. She used to be the favorite concubine of Emperor Tao Kuang, but now she lived in a jar. When I saw that Lady Fei had no limbs I almost fainted. “Lady Fei was caught having the Emperor all to herself, and she fooled nobody but herself,” the Grand Empress said coldly. The only reason Lady Fei was kept alive was to serve as a warning.

I would never forget my horror that afternoon at the sight of Lady Fei. Her head rested on the rim of the jar, her face was filthy, and green mucus dripped from her chin.

Mother grabbed my shoulders. “Promise me, Orchid, that you will be careful and wise.”

I nodded.

“What about the thousands of beauties selected?” Kuei Hsiang asked. “Is His Majesty encouraged to take ladies at a moment’s interest? Can he take a maid who is a courtyard sweeper?”