Ji Yue pressed a hand to her mouth to hold back her scream. The brush fell from her hand and she pulled back from her peephole. For a time, she did not think she could breathe. Even worse, she could not close her eyes because whenever she did, she saw the point of Bo Tao's dagger sticking out from the front of the ape-man's throat. She saw the blood welling and…
Ji Yue bit her lip. She would not scream. She would perform her duties as a good wife should. She would think of nothing else but her task. She had to record…nothing. Nothing else was said. Bo Tao stomped out of the room, but the soldiers remained. And the foreigners meekly gathered up the corpse and filed away.
Ji Yue waited, watching, while inside she shook like a leaf in a storm. Sometime later—she didn't even know how long—someone entered her tiny room. She didn't have the presence of mind to see who it was. But the moment his arms came around her, she turned and pressed her face into Bo Tao's coat.
'I'm sorry,' he murmured. 'I am so sorry. I did not mean for you to see that, but I could not allow such a slight from that man. Fear must be lasting and his had already faded. We are in such danger from their opium, you cannot know what I fear for our country.'
'I know,' she said as she lifted her mouth to his neck. 'I know.'
'You were very brave,' he said.
She released a short laugh. 'I was safely hidden. You were the man walking among swords.'
'My men are very well trained. There was no danger to me.'
She shook her head, easing away from him to make sure he saw her earnestness. 'You are wrong, Sun Bo Tao. There is always danger with those men. They may be frightened now with your swords at their throat, but it will not last long. They will return.'
Bo Tao's expression turned even more grim. 'I know. China will soon be beset on all sides.'
There was nothing she could say to that. He had confirmed her worst fears. But then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. 'Come, come. Let me see what you have recorded.'
'I have not finished,' she said as she reluctantly pulled from his arms. 'Mama taught me to write down my impressions after it was all done.'
'Excellent advice,' he said as he scanned her paper. Then his eyes suddenly lit with surprise. 'You speak Cantonese?'
She nodded. 'Mama was appalled, but I learned it from my nurse.'
'In this, your mother and I disagree. A knowledge of the shippers' tongue is most valuable. Most valuable indeed!'
Then he sat down at the table to read her notes more directly. She hadn't noticed until then that he'd lit the candle, so she quickly shut the bamboo shutter.
'Sit, sit,' he said as he gestured to the chair. 'Write down your notes as your mama said, and then I have a surprise for you.'
Chapter 10
WHAT A POWERFUL WOMAN! Bo Tao thought as he watched Ji Yue's tiny mother inspect her daughter from head to toe. That had been his surprise for Ji Yue. Once she finished with her notations on his meeting with the Dutch, he'd escorted her to another room where her family waited. It had given him such joy to hear her squeal with delight and rush forward. The happiness she expressed when surrounded by her family went a long way to restoring his peaceful spirit after his disastrous afternoon.
The emperor would applaud his show of strength to the Dutch, but murder was never something Bo Tao would stomach with ease. That Ji Yue had witnessed his moment of violence disturbed him, but she'd handled it with more aplomb than two of his soldiers. They had to leave early to cast up their stomachs; she had sat quietly and recorded her notes. Looking at the mother now, he understood how the daughter became the amazing woman she was. Her mother would have tolerated nothing less!
But whereas the mother was almost shrewish with her tight words and pursed lips, Ji Yue was sweet- tempered and kind. Those must be the traits she got from her father, who was indeed rather vague in his mannerisms. Even the sons were just as Ji Yue described, the eldest lost in his own thoughts while the youngest missed nothing. But no one in this family could match the mother for power.
Bo Tao ordered food, then sat back and watched the family interact. He drank his tea and listened in silence as Ji Yue related a severely edited version of all that had occurred so far in the contest. They all cheered in delight that she had passed both the physical exam and the family history exam, which meant she had only the artistic display before the final selection. Then, just when he was at his most relaxed, the mother pinned him with her stare.
'This is most lovely, Sun Bo Tao. Our family can never repay such a kindness. But I cannot help but wonder if all the imperial virgins have family visiting. If so, then the Forbidden City must be overrun with happiness today!'
'Today has indeed been a happy day,' he lied. 'But no,' he said, answering her unspoken question, 'the other virgins have not been so fortunate as your daughter. They rest in the virgins' palace without the blessed kisses of their mothers.'
Madame Chen's brows shot high. Or rather, they would have if the woman still possessed eyebrows. 'Sweet heaven, we are richly blessed,' she cried. 'Has something occurred that we receive such beneficence? Ji Yue, what have you done to be singled out so?'
Ji Yue blushed a bright red. Damn. Such a shrewd woman would see right through any lie.
'It is a trifle, Mama. It appears I have gained the attention of the emperor.'
'Really?' her mother said, hope and surprise at war on her features. 'How?'
Bo Tao stepped forward. 'A simple matter of translation, Madame Chen. Your daughter speaks the sailors' dialect of Canton.'
'That terrible nurse!' the woman spat. 'Had I known earlier of her background—'
'It is a most fortunate stroke of luck. In thanks, the emperor has allowed you to visit. All the girls miss their mothers.'
'Pah,' the woman said. 'She is a grown woman and should be a mother herself.'
'Exactly,' Bo Tao agreed. And then he made his play, praying that the mother would think of more than simple politics. 'Unfortunately, of the girls still here, most will never have a child. Most, in fact, will never even see the emperor except at a distance. I would shudder should such a sad fate befall your daughter.'
Madame Chen shrugged. 'That is the nature of things in the Forbidden City.' Then she smiled and patted her daughter's hand. 'But if you have already caught the emperor's eye, you have little to fear.'
Bo Tao cursed silently. This was not going as he planned. He had hoped that the mother would understand what a horrible future was in store for Ji Yue. Clearly, Madame Chen only saw political opportunity. But maybe he could convince Ji Yue. He turned to her, wishing he could be more plain.
'Chen Ji Yue, you are a beautiful, talented flower of China. You have seen the rancor that is part of daily life here. You could return home now with your family—'
'Leave the Forbidden City?' gasped her mother.
Bo Tao glared at the woman. Could she not listen for a moment? Could she not see her daughter's fate rather than politics and opportunity? He glanced at the husband for help but saw that his eyes had gone vague like his eldest son's. Bo Tao doubted the man really listened.
'There will be more suitors for you, Chen Ji Yue. Why be one of thirty women when you could be first wife to one man?'
'No!' the mother cried before Ji Yue could speak. 'Everyone knows that you came here, my child. We hired weepers! You cannot return home without every man wondering why!' She cast a canny look in his direction. 'Why do you suggest such a thing to my daughter? Have you made her unfit somehow? A disgrace to her family which you wish to cover?'
Three curses upon the woman's head! There was no way to answer that honestly. 'Your daughter is an imperial virgin,' he snapped. 'I believe she could make an excellent empress, but the dowager consort does not like her.'
