Empress

I prostrated myself at the Empress’s feet before bowing deeply to her mother. I expressed my profound gratitude, and the sovereign asked me a few questions about my living quarters, then fell silent. She had the voice of a little girl. I sensed that she was shy and reserved-in noble women, silence was a sign of elegance. I was preparing to ask her permission to withdraw when the Lady Mother spoke out in her haughty voice: “Talented One, when the sovereign returned from his pilgrimage to the Monastery of Rebirth, the Empress learned of the sin that had been committed. Given that her heart knows no jealousy and that, as an exemplary wife, she considers her master’s happiness as her own, she suggested that he should recall you to the palace to quell the scandal that would have damaged his august reputation. We here are well aware that you served the previous emperor. To obtain your return, the mistress had to disobey ancestral codes, and this offense attracted reprimands from the Outer Court. I hope that you now recognize the error of your ways and that this boundless generosity will be repaid with your grateful devotion.”

I struck my forehead against the ground several times, repeating the words: “Majesty, your servant shall never forget your goodness.”

The Lady Mother eyed me with a hostile sneer and went on: “Talented One, you are already familiar with the laws of the I

The Lady Mother’s words clarified the ambivalent nature of the hasty ruling made on my behalf. Jealous of the favors enjoyed by the Resplendent Wife, the Empress wanted to use me to deflect the sovereign’s passion. On my return to the lodgings in the Side Court, I came across a woman whose beauty was stupefying. The Resplendent Wife Xiao feigned surprise and introduced herself to me. She was sheathed in a dress of crepe and a muslin tunic, and above her right breast she flaunted a beauty spot in the form of an avaricious wasp.

I curtsied deeply before her.

She returned my greeting and said in an eager, affable voice: “It is indeed you, the Talented One of two reigns! I have heard that you are twenty-eight, but you look ten years younger. Is it true that the nuns have magic recipes to preserve eternal youth? It seems that your friends, the monks, know the secrets of ecstasy and are more virile than ordinary men. Come and talk to me of all this when your Empress gives you the time. I invite you to take lunch on my boat. The poor girl must have spoken to you of me, anyway. I expect that, once again, she ground her teeth and shed many tears! So much the better if her morbid jealousy drives her insane! She is barren, and she resents every belly capable of bearing a child. No one is stopping her from conceiving, but her own perfidious nature has dried her out!”

She came closer to me and hissed in my ear: “I know that the Empress had you brought back to the Palace to steal the sovereign from me. You should know that she has already pushed a number of unfortunate girls into his arms. Alas for her, at the moment, it is I who command His Majesty’s heart in this I

IN THE CLOSED world of the gynaeceum, despite the gardens and parkland extending beyond the horizon, despite the insurmountable walls separating pavilions and palaces, the tangled web of our fate was inescapable. Why did these women love each other to the point of madness? Why did they loathe one another so vehemently, and why did sworn enemies feel such horror and fascination for one another? Why should furious hate become obsession, then intoxication and the very reason to live?

Because love and hate were the two heads of the demon.

The Empress had been married at fourteen, and now, at twenty-two, her stomach was still flat, while in the other palace, a succession of concubines and slaves brought imperial children into the world. Infertility is a major crime committed toward the ancestors, and any man whose wife is sterile is free to repudiate her. Many former Empresses had lost their title on these grounds, and the Empress Wang was well aware of the danger that threatened her.

Like the noble women who grew up in the closed world of the gynaeceum’s apartments, she valued the comfort and refinement of an artificial existence. She was afraid of life’s urges and enthusiasms, bored by copulation; from the very day she was married, she had received the Emperor’s advances by playing dead. But, to conceive a son, she would suffer anything, even rape. At first light every day, she prepared herself feverishly to appear beautiful. Her Lady Mother forced her to drink medicinal infusions for fertility and to have warm fluids injected between her thighs. As the sun began to fall still, there would be no sign of the Emperor. She would sit in the middle of her day room, with her hands on her knees, a black silhouette against the vermilion silk carpets covering the ground, and her heart would curse him. She swore to herself that she would no longer live in such humiliation once she had delivered a son. Night stole through the palace, and servants lit candles and lanterns. Her face lit up at the tiniest rustling sound; she would get up and run to the door. The women she sent out as spies came back one after the other: His Majesty had finished dining! He had ordered his litter to be prepared. His Majesty was about to leave his palace! He was heading for the apartments of the Resplendent Wife!

The Empress would collapse, and her shrill cries would echo round the room: “Snuff out the lights! Snuff out the lights!” She would shrug off every hand offering to help her and would spend the night on the spot where she had fallen. With day break the servants would come and open the shutters. The hope and disappointment began again with the sun as it circled endlessly across the sky.

Her rival, the Resplendent Wife, had had her belly filled three times, and her son had been given the crown of Yong, the kingdom-province that boasted the capital Long Peace and one that was usually reserved for the eldest son of the Mistress of the Palace. Every time the Empress heard her accursed name, she faltered and dissolved into tears: She wanted to drive this whore out of the Forbidden City. She accused her of practicing black magic to make her sterile; she was a demon incarnate in a woman’s body who wanted to steal her throne and destroy the Empire!