After three years of marriage and two daughters, her husband had taken on a concubine to help increase their chances of having a boy. Concubine Swan got with child quickly, and they all celebrated. As the head wife, any child born to any of her husband’s women would be considered her own. She would take the lead in raising him and he would call her mama. But after her husband’s sudden death, Concubine Swan miscarried. Lady Li mourned three times: once for her husband, once for Concubine’s Swan’s child, and once for all the children she would never have. It had been three years since her husband’s death. She should have arranged a new marriage for Concubine Swan, but since she was used property and had lost a child, no man of quality was willing to accept her. If Lady Li pressed the issue, she could probably find a man to take Concubine Swan away, but in truth, she would miss her. Concubine Swan was a sad and lonely woman. At least Lady Li had a considerable fortune, a household to run, and two lovely daughters. Concubine Swan had nothing and no future, and she was only nineteen years old. Lady Li had great empathy for Concubine Swan and enjoyed her company as they did embroidery work together or shared neighborhood gossip. She would keep Concubine Swan in her home for as long as Concubine Swan wished to stay.
Lady Li did not realize just how lost in thought she was until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“My lady?” she finally heard her eunuch, Bai, say.
“Oh, forgive me. I was dreaming,” Lady Li said.
“You have a lot on your mind, my lady?” Eunuch Bai replied.
“Nothing more than usual,” she replied. “Did you need something?”
“Forgive me,” he said, “but there is a man here to see you.”
“A man?” Lady Li replied, surprised. “And he wants to see me? Why? Who is he?”
“He said his name is Inspector Gong.”
“Could he not talk to you?” she asked.
“He refused, my lady. I pressed him several times and warned him about how improper he was acting, but he insisted. He said he comes with orders from Prince Kung himself.”
“Prince Kung?” she asked, sitting up. This was all extremely out of the ordinary. Men and women in China lived very separate lives, rarely interacting if they were not of the same household or family. Since Lady Li was the head of her own household, she did have more interactions with men than most women, but it was still quite limited. If she required any dealings with men, she usually did so through Eunuch Bai.
But she had never been in a situation like this before. What would an investigator want with her? And with the authority of Prince Kung? She knew Prince Kung from her own years at the Forbidden City and through her family connections. If the prince needed something, why did he not come to her himself or order her to appear at court? Something was very wrong. Had something happened to the empress? Or her sister-in-law, Suyi?
“Where is he?” she asked.
“I have him sitting in a room near the south gate,” he said. “Madam Ling is serving him tea.”
“Help me dress,” she said. “Quickly.”
Since Lady Li rarely had visitors and left her home even less often, she was not presentable for company. She was wearing a very plain chaopao of dark blue with a simple trim, her hair was plaited, and she was wearing flat-soled shoes. Eunuch Bai helped her pull out a more elegant light blue chaopao with butterfly embroidery and a more elaborate trim. He didn’t have time to do her hair in the batou style, so he arranged it in a plaited bun and decorated it with jade pins. As a widow, she was forbidden from wearing makeup, but she could not resist using a little coal on her eyelashes and around her eyes and adding a little color to her cheeks and lips. Before stepping out the door, Eunuch Bai helped her step into a pair of high pot-bottom shoes, as was the style for Manchu women since they didn’t bind their feet. She needed help balancing and walking for the first few steps, she was so out of practice with wearing them, but after a few steps, her body recalled the swaying rhythm necessary and she was able to make her way to the front room where this Inspector Gong was waiting.
As soon as she passed through the doorway, Inspector Gong stood. Lady Li had no idea what he was expecting, but he seemed surprised to see her. He smiled and stuttered as he introduced himself.
“I am Inspection Gong…Inspector Gong!” he said as he stepped forward and gave a respectful bow.
Madam Ling, Lady Li’s old housekeeper, laughed as she exited the room.
Lady Li kneeled slightly and inclined her neck just so. She was being polite, but her station did not require her to show any respect to this stranger. She did not make eye contact with him as she walked toward the table and sat in the chair opposite his.
“I hope you enjoyed your tea while you were waiting. You will forgive my delay. I had no notice of your coming,” she said.
“Forgive me, Lady Li,” he said as he sat down and poured her a cup of tea, “but there was no time to send a notice. I had to speak with you on a matter of grave importance.”
Lady Li looked the inspector in the face for the first time. His eyes were hard and serious and his jaw was set firm. He wasn’t exaggerating, and her heart began to beat quickly.
“Then, please, state your business,” she said.
He glanced at Eunuch Bai. “My news is quite sensitive,” he said quietly. “May we speak privately?”
“Certainly not!” Lady Li replied firmly, and at a normal volume. “You shouldn’t be speaking to me at all, let alone privately. Now, state your business or leave my home.”
Inspector Gong set his teacup down and looked into Lady Li’s eyes. “Lady Li, I am sorry to inform you that your sister-in-law, the Lady Yun, is dead. She was murdered.”
Lady Li’s eyes widened and her hands shook. She could not have heard him correctly. “What did you say?” she asked.
“I am sorry to be so blunt, madam, but it is true. I am sorry for your loss.”
Lady Li tried to put her cup down gently, but instead she dropped it as she gripped the table, the cup shattering and tea spilling on her chaopao. “Bai!” she wailed as he ran to her side. “It’s not true! Tell me this monster is lying!”
“My lady…my lady,” was all he could stammer as she gripped his arms and tears started to fall. Eunuch Bai did his best to hold her upright as she began to crumple into herself.
“Lady Li,” the inspector said gently. “I need you to be calm. I need your help.”
Lady Li looked at him through watery eyes, but she could not see. She could not do this again. Suyi! Her dear Suyi! The girl was like her sister, her friend, and a daughter all together in one beautiful person. Such life, such promise. She couldn’t breathe. She had to get out. She did her best to stand, but she couldn’t walk in those stupid pot-bottom shoes. She kicked them off and wandered toward the doorway. She leaned on the doorjamb and vomited in the hallway.
3
Inspector Gong had told many people about the death of a loved one before, but he was never prepared for the reaction. He had discovered that everyone grieved differently. Some people cried, some people got angry, some people would sit in stunned silence. Some people even laughed. But every reaction told him something. It was clear to him that Lady Li was in shock. She had no idea that her sister-in-law had been killed. He was relieved at this, but the level of her grief was a bit surprising to him. It was uncommon for a woman to have so much affection for her husband’s family. When a woman married, she had to leave her own family and join his. She was usually considered an outsider in a new clan, a lone horse. Rarely was a woman ever truly accepted as a part of her husband’s family. Maybe the fact that Lady Li was a widow, and such a young one at that, had something to do with how close she was to her sister-in-law.
Eunuch Bai had helped Lady Li from the room, sending Inspector Gong many dirty looks along the way, to help her clean up and compose herself. Madame Ling returned, tears in her eyes as well, and had asked the inspector to leave, but he refused. He still wanted to talk to Lady Li. If he could talk to her in her g
rief, her answers would be raw and honest.
Nearly an hour later, Eunuch Bai came back. “I want you to know that I am completely against you being here and think you should leave,” he said.
“You know I can’t do that,” Inspector Gong said.
“I simply wanted to make my position clear,” he said.
“Your devotion to your lady is admirable,” Inspector Gong replied. The two stared at each other for a moment. Inspector Gong could not tell how old the eunuch was, they didn’t age like real men, and his perfect skin and shiny bald head didn’t help. His voice was clear, but slightly too high pitched. His lips were plump, which were exaggerated by the way he was pouting now. His large eyes were rimmed with thick, dark lashes any woman would envy.
“Follow me,” Eunuch Bai finally said. He led the inspector down a hallway to another room where Lady Li was seated, waiting for him. She did not rise at his entrance. Her head was downcast and her hands fidgeted with a handkerchief. Eunuch Bai motioned for Inspector Gong to sit in a nearby chair.
“You may go,” she said to Eunuch Bai.
“But…my lady…” he sputtered.
“I’ll be all right,” she said. “The inspector and I need to talk.”
Eunuch Bai huffed as he left the room. Inspector Gong assumed he wouldn’t go far though, and would probably be listening, if not watching, from the other side of the wall.
“Forgive him,” she said. “He is very protective of me.”
“I don’t consider loyalty a crime,” the inspector said.
“What happened?” Lady Li asked. The superiority and haughtiness she first displayed upon meeting the inspector had vanished. She had not looked up from her hands and still seemed on the verge of tears, but she was clearly doing her best to remain calm.
“Are you sure you want to hear it?” he asked.
She pulled her eyes from her hands and looked at him. “Yes, I need to know.”
“She was murdered,” he repeated.
“How is that possible?” she asked. “The Forbidden City is one of the most secure places in the world. Everyone is watched all the time. It simply isn’t possible.”
“That is why I was called in,” he said. “This is a terrible crime, not just against Lady Yun and your family, but the throne itself. The emperor and empress could be in danger. This is why I must find out what happened.”
“Then why are you here?” she asked. “Why aren’t you in the Forbidden City talking to the eunuchs, the maids, the ladies-in-waiting?”
The inspector paused. He didn’t want to tell her he was incapable of conducting the investigation, that he most likely wouldn’t find the killer since he couldn’t interview the people most central to Suyi’s life, but that was the truth. If he lied to her, he would be setting a terrible precedent for the rest of their conversation.
“You can’t,” she said, interrupting his attempt to come up with a good explanation. “That is why you are here. You can’t enter the Inner Court. You are hoping this was a crime against Suyi and not the throne. You are hoping to find the answer on the outside.”
She was clever, he had to admit. “Is it possible that someone outside the Forbidden City, someone from her family, a rival, a spurned lover, someone outside the walls would have wanted her dead?” he asked leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees.
“No,” Lady Li said. “She was just a girl. A child. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her.”
“But someone did,” he said. “Someone not only wanted to hurt her, they hated her enough to kill her. There had to be something about her, someone in her life who hated her.”
“Not that I know of,” Lady Li said.
“Just start talking about her,” he said. “Maybe something will come to you. Maybe something you don’t realize is a clue. Tell me about her. I heard you were her guardian. Tell me about that.”
Lady Li sighed and closed her eyes. “She was only a girl when I married her brother. But he and I had been betrothed for most of my life. Our families were close, so I knew her from the time she was born.
“Her mother was sickly and weak, always was. Her father died shortly after she was born. So she came to live with me after we married. She was such a sweet, funny little girl who loved to run and get dirty. She would chase the ducks around the yard and follow them into the pond, getting her clothes drenched and covered in algae. She was only eight or nine years younger than I was when I married, so she was like a little sister to me. But I was also Lady of the house, and her care fell to me, so she was like a daughter to me as well.
“I got with child within the first year, so she had to help me quite a bit. She became like a friend, and she was in the room with me, holding my hand, as my first daughter came into the world.”
Lady Li began to sniff and she dabbed her handkerchief to her eyes.
Inspector Gong sat and waited for her to continue. He knew that she would eventually fill the silence.
“When my husband died, we mourned him together, sharing the funerary rites. He was the only man in her family. She did not get to mourn her own father, so she took the death of her brother hard, probably harder than I did.” Lady Li gasped and put her hand to her mouth for a moment. “Forgive me, I should not have said that,” she said.
“When she was fourteen, she followed in my footsteps and went to serve the empress, only a year ago. She was last home for Spring Festival. She was in such high spirits. Life in the Forbidden City is not easy, but there is always something going on, people to meet, things to do. She was happy and excited.”
“Did she mention if she had made any enemies?” the inspector interrupted. “Another lady-in-waiting or a eunuch?”
Lady Li shook her head. “No. There are cliques and everyone is always vying for attention or favors, but that is just how things are. No one would ever go so far as to kill someone. Especially since there is no emperor to fight over.”
“There is an emperor,” Inspection Gong corrected.
“He is a child,” Lady Li explained. “There are no wives or concubines. No scheming maids hoping to make the leap from servant to Lady. There is no clawing or grabbing for the love of a single man.”
Inspector Gong nodded slowly in understanding.
“I’m sorry,” Lady Li said. “I know none of this is helpful to you.”
“It is,” he said. “It helps me better understand what is going on inside the Inner Court.”
“There are still some things you could do,” she said. “You could talk to the eunuchs. They know everything that is going on. Their trade is information.”
“But would they betray their ladies?” he asked. “I doubt Eunuch Bai would ever speak ill of you.”
Lady Li gave a small smile. “That could be a problem,” she said. “Inside the Forbidden City, all of the eunuchs are the property of the throne. But some do form alliances with various ladies and with each other. If a lady moves up the ranks, she usually rewards those who helped her. So it is in the interested of the maids and eunuchs to help their ladies advance.”
Inspector Gong thought about this, but decided to worry about it later. “Tell me more about Lady Yun’s mother and father. Was her father’s death suspicious in any way?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I was a girl when he died. It was many years before my marriage, and my husband didn’t talk about it. I’m not very close with his mother either.”
“Maybe I should talk to her,” he said.
“She won’t speak with you,” Lady Li said. “She is very traditional. She won’t speak with a man. Besides, with her illness, she rarely leaves her quarters, so it wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“It’s my job, Widow Li,” he said. “I must speak to everyone.”
“Lady Li,” she corrected.
“What?” he asked.
“Lady Li, if you don’t mind.”
“You don’t take the title widow? In respect to your husband?” he asked.
“In my g
irlhood, my hair pinning days, my wifehood, and my widowhood, I am still the same person. I am Lady Li.”
Inspector Gong nodded his acquiescence. “Lady Li,” he said. “Well, I suppose I should go and alert your mother-in-law of my need to call on her. What is her name?” He stood to leave.
Lady Li stood as well, but shook her head. “She won’t speak to you. And, I assure you, to press your case would be unwise.”
“What am I to do?” he asked. “Do you want her killer found?” It seemed every avenue he wanted to take in this investigation was being blocked to him. He immediately regretted the question as Lady Li flinched from his verbal barb.
“More than anything,” she said. “But pushing your way into my mother-in-law’s bedroom will not get you the results you want. You are Han, you might not understand our ways.”
Inspector Gong could not help but let out a small breath of surprise. How did she know he was Han? The Manchu had conquered China hundreds of years before, but had imposed many of their ways on the Han people and had adopted many Han ways in return. While the Han and Manchu liked to still believe they were separate peoples, in many ways, they were indistinguishable.
“How…” the inspector asked. “How did you know I was Han?”
“It is rather obvious,” she said. “Your head is not shaved far back enough, your features are clearly southern, and your accent is…not quite right,” she explained. “Does it ever get in the way of your investigations? Not being one of us?”
“No…” he said slowly. “At least, I didn’t think so. Do you think other Manchu can tell by looking that I am Han?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I only know that if my mother-in-law’s neighbors suspected you of being indelicate with her, you might not leave the compound with your head.”
“Would you speak to her?” he asked.
“Me?” Lady Li asked in surprise.
“Yes,” he said. “I can tell you what I want you to ask and you could ask her for me. If you could just relay the information, it could help me. Provided you don’t leave anything out.”
The Qing Dynasty Mysteries - Books 1-3 Page 2