Empress Orchid

knew that she would be selected. As if she had come only to receive this news.

After a long while Nuharoo turned toward me and smiled again. She had an almost childlike smile, innocent and free of worry. I was sure she had never suffered. She must have had servants in her house to fan her to sleep on hot summer nights. Her gestures suggested that she was trained in manners. Had she attended schools for the rich? What did she read? Did she like opera? If she did, she must have a hero or heroine that she admired. Suppose we loved the same operas, and suppose we were both lucky enough to be chosen…

“What do you think about your chance of being chosen?” I asked Nuharoo after she revealed to me that her father was Emperor Hsien Feng’s distant uncle.

“I don’t think about it much,” she said quietly. Her lips opened like the petals of a flower. “I do whatever my family asks of me.”

“So your parents know how to read wood grains.”

“Pardon me?”

“One’s future.”

Nuharoo turned away from me and smiled gently into the distance. “Yehonala, how do you see our chances?”

“You are born of an Imperial relative and you are beautiful,” I said. “I am not sure about my chance. My father was a taotai before he died. If my family hadn’t been heavily in debt, and if I had not been forced to marry my retarded cousin Ping, I wouldn’t have…” I had to stop, because my tears were welling up.

Nuharoo put a hand into her pocket and took out a lace handkerchief. “I am sorry.” She passed the handkerchief to me. “Your story sounds terrible.”

I didn’t want to ruin her handkerchief, so I wiped my tears with the back of my hands.

“Tell me more,” she said.

I shook my head. “My story of misery would be bad for your health.”

“I don’t mind. I want to hear it. This is the first time I have stepped out of my house. I have never traveled like you.”

“Travel? It was not at all a pleasant experience.” As I continued speaking, my mind flooded with memories of my father. The decaying smell of the coffin and the flies that followed it. To remove myself from the sadness I switched subjects.

“Did you go to school when you grew up, Nuharoo?”

“I had private tutors,” she answered. “Three of them. Each taught me a different subject.”

“What was your favorite subject?”

“History.”

“History! I thought that was only for boys.” I remembered hiding a book from my father, The Record of the Three Kingdoms.

“It was not general history as you are imagining.” Nuharoo smiled as she explained. “It was the history of the Imperial household. It was about the lives of empresses and concubines. My classes focused on those of the greatest virtue.” After a pause, she added, “I was expected to model myself after Empress Hsiao Ch’in. My parents have told me since I was a young girl that I would one day join the ladies whose portraits are hung in the Imperial gallery.”

No wonder she looked like she belonged to this place. “I am sure you will impress,” I said. “I am afraid that I am the least educated in this aspect of life. I don’t even know how the ranks work for the Imperial ladies, although I know plenty about the eunuchs.”

“It will be my pleasure to share my knowledge with you.” Her eyes glowed.

Someone yelled, “On your knees!”

A group of eunuchs rushed in and lined up in front of us. We dropped to our knees.

Chief Eunuch Shim appeared through the arched door. He struck a pose, lifting the side of his robe with his right hand. He made a single step and came into full view.

From my knees I saw Chief Eunuch Shim’s blue boat-shaped boots. He held the silence. I felt his power and authority. Strangely, I admired his manner.

“His Majesty Emperor Hsien Feng and Her Majesty the Grand Empress Lady Jin summon…” Pitching his voice, Chief Eunuch Shim sang out several names. “… and Nuharoo and Yehonala!”

Four

I HEARD THE SOUND of my dangling headwear and earrings. The girls in front of me swayed gracefully in their magnificent silk robes and high platform shoes. The eunuchs walked back and forth around the seven of us, constantly responding to the hand signals of Chief Eunuch Shim.

We passed through countless courtyards and arched doors. Finally we arrived in the entry hall of the Palace of Peace and Longevity. My inner shirt was soaked with sweat. I was afraid I would humiliate myself. I glanced at Nuharoo. She was as calm as a moon in a pond. A lovely smile hung between her cheeks. Her makeup was still immaculate.

We were led to a side room and given a few moments to freshen our appearance. Inside the hall His Majesty and Her Majesty were said to be sitting. When Shim went in and announced our arrival, the air around the girls intensified. Our small movements made our jewelry clatter like poorly made wind chimes. I felt a slight dizziness.

I heard Chief Eunuch Shim’s voice, but was too nervous to figure out what he was announcing. His syllables sounded distorted, like those of an opera singer playing a ghost, speaking in a stylized tone.

A girl next to me suddenly dropped. Her knees had given in. Before I was able to assist her, the eunuchs came and removed her.

Buzzing noises filled my ears. I took several deep breaths so I wouldn’t lose control like the other girl. My limbs were stiff and I didn’t know where to place my hands. The more I thought about calming my-self, the worse my composure became. My body began to tremble. To distract myself, I stared at the art works around the doorframe. Calligraphy written in gold on a black wooden board featured four giant characters: cloud, absorption, star and glory.

The girl who had collapsed returned. She looked as pale as a cut-paper doll.

“His Majesty and Her Majesty!” Chief Eunuch Shim announced as he entered. “Good luck, girls!”

With Nuharoo leading and me as the tail, the seven of us were guided through a wall formed by the eunuchs.

Emperor Hsien Feng and the Grand Empress Lady Jin sat on a kang, a bed-sized chair covered with bright yellow silk. Her Majesty was on the right side and His Majesty on the left. The rectangular room was spacious with a high ceiling. There were two potted orange coral trees on each side of the room against the walls. The trees looked too perfect to be real. The court ladies and the eunuchs stood against the walls with their hands folded before them. Four eunuchs, each holding a long-handled peacock-feather fan, stood behind the chair. Behind them was a huge tapestry with a rainbow-colored Chinese character-shou, longevity. Looking closer, I noticed that the character was made up of hundreds of embroidered butterflies. Next to the tapestry was an ancient fungus, as tall as a man, in a golden pan. Opposite the fungus was a painting entitled The Immortal Land of the Queen Mother of the Middle Kingdom. It had a Taoist goddess riding a crane in the sky, looking down at a magical landscape of pavilions, streams, animals and trees, under which children played. In front of the painting was a carved red sandalwood container. It had a riotous mass of double gourds, blossoms and leaves carved in high relief. Years later I would learn that the container was used to hold tribute gifts to the Emperor.

The seven of us performed the kowtow ceremony and stayed on our knees. It seemed as if I had just stepped onto a stage. Although I kept my head down, I could see the beautiful vases, the magnificently carved legs of water basins, the floor lanterns with tail lace touching the ground and large good-luck locks draped with silk around the corners of the walls.

I ventured a glance at the Son of Heaven.