ladies jumped up to smell it.
The last month went by in an eyeblink. “Tomorrow His Majesty shall decide my fate,” I told Mother.
Without saying a word, she went to light incense sticks and knelt down before a picture of Buddha on the wall.
“What’s on your mind, Orchid?” Rong asked.
“My dream of visiting the Forbidden City will come true,” I replied, thinking of Big Sister Fann’s words:
My mother stayed up all night. Before I went to bed, she explained the meaning of
I listened quietly and promised that I would remember the importance of being obedient and of learning how to “swallow the spit of others when necessary.”
I had been ordered to be at the Gate of Zenith before dawn. Mother had spent her last borrowed taels and hired a sedan chair to carry me. It was draped with fancy blue silk cloth. Mother had also hired three plain-looking sedan chairs for Kuei Hsiang, Rong and herself. They were to accompany me to the gate. The footmen would be at the door before the rooster’s first cry. I didn’t fuss about the way Mother spent the money. I understood that she wanted to send me off in an honorable manner.
At three in the morning Mother woke me. My being chosen as an Imperial consort had filled her with hope and energy. She tried to hold back her tears as she did my face. I kept my eyes tightly closed. If I opened them I knew that my tears would flow and ruin the carefully applied makeup.
When my sister and brother woke up I was in Big Sister Fann’s beautiful dress. Mother tied up the laces. After all was set, we ate porridge for breakfast. Rong gave me two walnuts that she had saved from last year. She insisted that I eat them both for good luck, and I did as she wished.
The footmen arrived. Rong helped me to keep the dress off the ground until the footmen lifted me into the sedan chair. Kuei Hsiang was in our father’s clothes. I told him he looked like a Bannerman, except that he must learn to do the buttons properly.
The girls and their families gathered at the Gate of Zenith. I sat inside the sedan chair. It was cold. My fingers and toes grew stiff. The gate looked imposing against the dark purple sky. There were ninety-nine copper-colored cups embedded in the gate, like turtles parked on a giant panel. These covered the huge bolts that held the wood together. A footman told my mother that the wall-thick gate had been built in 1420. It was made of the hardest wood. Above the gate, on top of the wall, was a stone turret.
Dawn broke. A company of Imperial Guards poured out of the gate. They were followed by a group of eunuchs dressed in robes. One of the eunuchs took out a book and began to call out names in a high-pitched voice. He was a tall middle-aged man with the features of a monkey, a pair of round eyes, a flat nose, an ear-to-ear thin-lipped mouth and a wide space between his nose and upper lip. His forehead sloped. He sang the syllables as he made the calls. The tune lingered on the last note for at least three beats. The footman told us that he was the chief eunuch. His name was Shim.
The eunuchs dispensed silver coins in a yellow box to each family after a name was called. “Five hundred taels from His Majesty the Emperor!” Chief Eunuch Shim’s voice rang again.
Mother broke down when my name was called. “Time to part, Orchid. Watch your step.”
I got out of the sedan chair carefully.
Mother almost dropped the box given to her. She was escorted back into her sedan chair by the guards and was told to go home.
“Consider yourself boarding a ship of mercy on the sea of suffering,” Mother cried, waving at me. “Your father’s spirit will be with you!”
I bit my lip and nodded. I told myself to be happy, because with the five hundred taels my family would be able to survive.
“Take care of Mother!” I said to Rong and Kuei Hsiang.
Rong waved and raised a handkerchief to her mouth.
Kuei Hsiang stood like a wooden post. “Wait, Orchid. Wait awhile.”
I took a deep breath and turned toward the rose-colored gate.
The sun popped out of the clouds as I made my way to the Forbidden City.
“The Imperial ladies walking!” Chief Eunuch Shim sang.
The guards at the entrance lined up on either side, creating an aisle through which we passed.
I looked back for the last time. The crowd was bathed in the light of the sun. Rong was swinging her arms with the handkerchief, and Kuei Hsiang held the box of taels over his head. Mother was nowhere to be seen. She must have been hiding inside her sedan chair, crying.
“Goodbye!” My tears fell freely as the Gate of Zenith slammed shut.
If it hadn’t been for Chief Eunuch Shim’s voice, which kept giving orders, making us turn left or right, I would have believed that I was in a fantasy world.
As I walked, a group of palatial buildings presented themselves. They were solemn in atmosphere and gigantic in size. Glazed yellow roofs glistened in the sunshine. Slabs of carved marble lay under my feet. Not until I saw the Hall of Supreme Harmony did I realize that what I was seeing was just the beginning.
For the next two candle-times, we passed ornate gates, spacious courtyards and hallways with carvings on every beam and sculptures in every corner.
“You are taking the side ways, which are the paths for servants and court officials,” Chief Eunuch Shim pointed out. “No one except His Majesty uses the center entrance.”
We walked through empty space after empty space. No one was there to see our elaborate dresses. I recalled Big Sister Fann’s advice: “The Imperial walls have eyes and ears. You’ll never know which wall conceals the eyes of His Majesty Emperor Hsien Feng or Grand Empress Lady Jin.”
The air felt heavy in my lungs. I glanced around and compared myself to the other girls. We all had painted faces in the same Manchu style. On the lower lip was a rouge dot, and the hair was coiled around the head in two parts. Some girls wound their tails all the way up to the top of the head and draped them with glistening jewels and jade flowers, birds or insects. Some used silk to create an artificial plate, pinned with ivory clips. Mine was a swallowtail wig, which took Big Sister Fann hours to fasten onto a thin black board. A large purple silk rose was pinned to the center of the board, with two pink ones on each side. Also in my hair were fresh white jasmines and orchids.
The girl who walked next to me wore a heavily laced headpiece. It was in the shape of a flying goose and was draped with pearls and diamonds. Yellow and vermilion threads were braided in patterns. The headpiece reminded me of those worn in Chinese operas.
As a shoemaker I naturally paid attention to what the girls wore on their feet. I used to think that if I knew nothing else, I knew shoes. But what I saw put my knowledge to shame. Every pair of shoes the girls wore was encrusted with pearls, jade, diamonds and embroidered patterns of lotus, plum, magnolia, Buddha’s hand and peach flower. The sides of the shoes were crowded with the symbols of fortune and longevity, fish and butterflies. As Manchu ladies, we didn’t bind our feet as Chinese ladies did, but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be fashionable, which was why we wore extra-high platform shoes. The intent was to make our feet look smaller, like Chinese feet.
My feet began to feel sore. We passed through glades of bamboo and larger trees. The path became narrower and the staircases steeper with each turn. Chief Eunuch Shim hurried us along, and all of the girls grew short of breath. Just when I thought we had reached a dead end, a grand view unexpectedly revealed itself. I held my breath as a sea of golden roofs suddenly spread out before me. I could see the massive gatehouses of the Forbidden City in the distance.
“Where you are standing is called Prospect Hill.” Chief Eunuch Shim rested his hands on his waist and drew in big breaths. “It is the highest spot in all of Peking. Ancient
Following Chief Eunuch Shim’s finger, I saw a white pagoda. “That Tibetan-style temple houses the spirits of
