The Qing Dynasty Mysteries - Books 1-3

by Amanda Roberts

  Gong Laoye, Inspector Gong’s father, was present as well, but other than the prescribed greetings, he had remained silent. Allowing his wife to handle the negotiations. Lady Li suspected Gong Furen handled most aspects of their life together.

  “But under the circumstances,” Gong Furen continued, “you understand why we would…have concerns.”

  Lady Li smiled and gave a small nod. It was the “concerns” that threatened to show the cracks in her confidence. She wanted Inspector Gong’s parents to accept the match, but in order to convince them, certain aspects of Concubine…Lady Swan’s life would have to be…concealed. She did not want to deceive the Gongs, but Inspector Gong already knew about Swan’s opium addiction and had agreed to marry her anyway. Revealing Swan’s addiction to his parents would only make life for all of them much more difficult.

  “I can assure you,” Lady Li said, “that Lady Swan would be an excellent wife for your son.”

  Swan, appropriately, said nothing, but sat straight with her eyes downcast. Lady Li knew that Swan was eager for the marriage, but she really had no say in the matter. She was Lady Li’s property, passed on to her after their husband’s death. As such, it was at Lady Li’s discretion what happened to the girl, whether she should marry or remain a chaste widow for the rest of her days. Similar to how Swan had had no choice in her first marriage either.

  “I have no doubt of Lady Swan’s many admirable qualities,” Gong Furen acquiesced as she eyed the girl up and down. “I am sure your husband was a man of discerning taste.”

  “Indeed, he was,” Lady Li said, motioning for the maid to refill their teacups. “Lady Swan is from a very respectable family here in Peking. Her father is a calligrapher. He taught his daughter to read and write, and he personally schooled her to have the most beautiful penmanship. She can recite all the classics and she speaks English.”

  “Yes,” Gong Furen said, pressing her lips disapprovingly. “We heard how she…assisted our son on his last case. You know she turned up at our house, unescorted.”

  Lady Li felt her eye twitch and hoped it was not visible. Lady Li had been helping Inspector Gong solve a murder in the British Quarter of the Foreign Legation because she spoke English and he did not. Swan had taken it upon herself to sneak out of the mansion and involve herself in the case as well. She had been helpful, but Lady Li had feared the damage she could have done to her reputation. Married women—even widows—were rarely seen out of their homes, and never unescorted. But Swan had ended up going to Inspector Gong’s home because she was—rightly—afraid of returning home to Lady Li, who would have beaten her soundly had Inspector Gong not been there to still her hand.

  Lady Li gave a small chuckle, as if the incident had not been as serious as they all knew it was. “Lady Swan certainly showed her industriousness that day. I daresay Inspector Gong might not have been able to solve the case without her.”

  Gong Furen leaned back in her chair and sighed. “Yes, I do think that her usefulness to him on that occasion is why he has become so insistent on this match.” She looked at her husband, Gong Laoye, but he stayed quiet, offering no help to his wife in this situation. It was clear that he would accept whatever ruling his wife made.

  “I believe that Inspector Gong wants a wife who is both dutiful and useful,” Lady Li offered. “One who will be able to raise his children and run his household while he is busy working for the prince and keeping the city safe.”

  “Gods willing, she won’t have to run the household for many years,” Gong Furen said. It was tradition for sons to stay with their family even after marriage. And Lady Li knew that Inspector Gong had older brothers who were already married as well. Even after Gong Furen passed away, Swan would be the least of the next generation of wives. Lady Li feared that Swan’s desire to marry was blinding her to the difficulties of having to kowtow to a mother-in-law and elder sisters-in-law, but that was something that Swan would eventually learn on her own should the marriage happen.

  “But raising children…” Gong Furen said, and Lady Li felt her heart clinch in her chest. “We do hope that sons would come quickly. Our son has waited much too long to accept a wife. We do not want to delay any children.”

  Lady Li nodded. “Of course,” she said. “My husband passed away so soon after Swan joined our household, she was never blessed with a child of her own. But she has been a wonderful aunt to my daughters.”

  Please don’t ask more. Please don’t ask more, Lady Li prayed silently as Gong Furen looked at Swan again.

  “Stand up, girl,” Gong Furen ordered Swan. Swan glanced at Lady Li, who nodded her permission.

  Swan stood up gracefully, not wobbling even for a moment on her pot-bottom shoes.

  “Turn around,” Gong Furen said, and Swan did so. Gong Furen tisked her tongue and shook her head. “She is awfully skinny. It could be difficult for her to bear healthy children.”

  Lady Li laughed again. “Nothing some heavy meals and happiness won’t cure,” Lady Li said, motioning for Swan to retake her seat. “She mourned greatly for Lord Yun when he passed. She fasted for months. Her normal appetite seems to have never returned to her. But I am sure that once she has a new husband to warm her heart and her bed, a robust appetite—and hearty sons—will follow.”

  “And she is already twenty years old?” Gong Furen asked, looking for every opportunity to undermine Swan’s suitability as a wife.

  Lady Li forced her disgust at the conversation down her throat. This was actually the first time Lady Li had been involved in marriage negotiations. She did not arrange her own marriage or Swan’s, and her own daughters were not yet of a marrying age. She knew the general routine of the two families coming together to reach an agreement, but she didn’t realize how offensive the whole process was, as though they were bartering over the quality and price of a new heifer.

  “Yes,” Lady Li finally said. “She was only sixteen when my husband took her as a concubine, and that was four years ago.”

  “A concubine,” Gong Furen said. “Not a wife.”

  Lady Li did not respond but could not suppress her eyebrow from raising. What did Gong Furen expect? Lady Li was Lord Yun’s wife; he could not have another.

  “It is this matter of taking the girl to wife that has me the most concerned,” Gong Furen said, trying to explain her position. “The girl has already been a concubine, and is past a suitable marriage age. My husband and I believe that taking Lady Swan as a concubine would be more appropriate. That way, after our son has grown more amiable to the idea of having a family of his own, he will still be able to take a wife later…A Han wife.”

  While it was generally looked down upon, it was not uncommon for a man to take a concubine before taking a wife. It was a way for a man to have the benefits of having a wife without the legal constraints of one, though it generally only happened among lower class people, such as men who could not afford a wife but hoped to buy one later. For Gong Furen to suggest that Swan be given to Inspector Gong as a concubine and not a first wife was a grave insult. Normally, a family as privileged as Lady Li’s or Swan’s would reject such an offer handily. But Swan had few other options. In fact, she had no other marriage prospects. So Lady Li once again pushed her anger deep into the pit of her stomach and forced a smile to her face.

  “Lady Swan is the chaste widow of a great lord,” Lady Li said. “She has everything she could ever need here in my home, and I value her company. I would not let her leave my home as anything less than a proper wife. Besides, I have spoken to Inspector Gong on this matter already, and he gave me his word that he would take Lady Swan as his wife. And I know how much he values his word.”

  Gong Furen’s nostrils flared and she stared at Lady Li as though she could cow her with just a glance. But Lady Li did not budge. She did not show anger or fear. Her face was as emotionless as stone. Truly, she had nothing to gain or lose from the situation. Her only concern was doing the best she could by Swan, and right now, she wondered if calling of
f the match would be in Swan’s best interest. She couldn’t imagine being subjected to such an overbearing mother-in-law for the rest of her life. But she doubted Swan would ever thank her if she sabotaged her one chance at a new marriage.

  Finally, Gong Furen stood, and her husband followed suit. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said with a slight bend of her knees, one not deep enough to show Lady Li the respect her station deserved, but just enough for Gong Furen to display her general dissatisfaction with the situation. “We will speak once more with our son and let you know if further arrangements are to be made.”

  Lady Li gave the Gongs a polite bend of her neck. Swan stood from her seat and then kneeled as low as she could on her pot-bottom shoes.

  “I look forward to hearing from you soon,” Lady Li said, and then motioned for Eunuch Bai, who had been standing silently to one side the whole time, to escort her guests out.

  As soon as they were out of view, Lady Li collapsed back into her chair. “What an insufferable woman!” she said to Swan. “Are you sure you want to go through with this after meeting her?”

  “I think it went rather well,” Swan said, her face all smiles now that she didn’t have to play the part of a humble servant.

  “How can you think that?” Lady Li asked, kicking off her pot-bottom shoes and flexing her toes. “It was like haggling for fish at the market.”

  “But people only haggle over something they really want,” Swan said as she snuck to the doorway to make sure they had completely gone. “They are just hoping you’ll take a lower bride price, but they know they’ll have to accept the match.”

  Lady Li shook her head, surprised by Swan’s optimism and astuteness. “I think you may be right about that. If she wants Inspector Gong to marry, she’ll have to accept you. He said he wouldn’t marry anyone else.”

  Swan somehow managed to spin around on her tall shoes in a graceful twirl. “I can’t believe I am finally going to be married again!”

  Lady Li smiled but had to suppress a hint of her own sadness that tried to bubble up.

  What she wouldn’t give to be the one that Inspector Gong was wanting to marry.

  She could never admit it out loud, though, of course. Unlike Swan, she simply wasn’t in a position to marry. As a first wife, it was her duty to remain a chaste widow for the rest of her life. Even if she didn’t care about that, she didn’t want to hand over her immense wealth to a new husband and risk losing her daughters’ dowries or compromise their status. As of right now, her oldest daughter was on the short list of possible consorts for the young emperor when he came of age. One day she could be the mother of the next empress of China! No, she couldn’t marry. She had to stay the course that had been laid out for her.

  “There is going to be so much to do!” Swan said, still dreaming of her wedding day. “I need to work on my embroidery. I still have many pieces in my trunk from my first marriage, but I am sure Mother Gong would appreciate some new ones. And I’ll need a new wedding gown. Do you think Popo will let me take back the pots and cooking utensils I brought with me? And Mama and Baba will need new clothes as well. They will be so excited to know that I’m going to be a wife and not just a concubine anymore!”

  She droned on as she went back to her own room with her wish list and things to do. There would actually be very little for Swan to do other than work on her embroidery. Weddings were always planned by the parents, and while Lady Li wasn’t her mother, she was her guardian, so much of the responsibility would fall to her. She groaned at the idea of having to plan a wedding with Gong Furen. Maybe she should reach out to Swan’s mother and graciously offer her the chance to plan her daughter’s second wedding.

  “Mama! Mama!” her daughters cried out as they ran into the room waving a pamphlet in the air. They had just returned from visiting a nearby temple with Popo, their paternal grandmother.

  Popo slowly passed by the room, leaning on her cane, but there was a smile on her face. Just a few short months ago, when Popo was living alone, she never had the strength to visit the temple, much less with her granddaughters in tow. While others might look at Popo and see a weak and frail woman, she was much improved from before.

  “How was temple, Popo?” Lady Li asked.

  “So many beggars!” Popo said with a shake of her head. “Hard times are upon us. Hard times, indeed.”

  Lady Li nodded as Popo went on past to her own quarters for a rest.

  “What is this?” Lady Li asked as she returned her attention to her daughters as they fought over who got to climb up into her lap. Second Daughter won, though Lady Li thought that First Daughter must have let her win since she could have easily pushed her smaller sister out of the way.

  “There is going to be a great opera performance tonight!” First Daughter said as she showed her mother the pamphlet. “Can we go!”

  Lady Li opened the pamphlet and looked over the woodblock print of a Peking opera mask with information about the performance.

  “‘The Concubine’s Lover,’” Lady Li read, “‘will be performed at the White Lotus Theater tonight and feature the debut public performance by Wangshu in the role of the dan.’ Huh, well isn’t that something?”

  “Everyone at temple was excited about it,” First Daughter said, taking the pamphlet and turning it over in her hands. “What is so special about Wangshu?”

  “Wangshu is a woman,” Lady Li said. “Though you wouldn’t know it by her name.” She imagined the name had been specifically chosen by Wangshu for its ambiguous nature. “It says she is playing the dan, the female role. Quite novel, don’t you think?”

  “Women can perform in the opera?” Second Daughter asked, her mouth dramatically agape.

  “The empress did decree that women could perform opera publicly now,” Lady Li said as she gently closed her daughter’s mouth. “It had been announced months ago, but I hadn’t heard of any women taking to the stage until now. Wangshu has been performing in the empress’s private imperial troop for years.”

  “I’ve never seen a woman in the opera before,” First Daughter said dubiously, her eyebrow raised. She was already a little skeptic.

  “Well, just because it was legal didn’t mean anyone wanted to take the chance at being publicly ridiculed for it,” Lady Li said. “It can be very hard to get people to try something new.”

  “Can we go?” Second Daughter asked. “I want to see!”

  “Absolutely not!” Lady Li said, sliding her daughter off her lap as she stood. “A public opera house is no place for proper young ladies, and it will go well past your bedtime.”

  “Will you go?” First Daughter asked. “I heard several of the ladies at temple talking about going.”

  Lady Li ushered the girls toward the study to work on their reading lessons. “I haven’t had time to think about it,” she Li said. “I’ve been so preoccupied with helping Inspector Gong with the troubles in the legation and now negotiating Con—err, Swan’s marriage.”

  First Daughter sighed. “You’re always working.”

  “It’s no easy task to run a house all by yourself,” Lady Li scolded. “Just you wait until you have a family of your own.”

  First Daughter wrinkled her nose as if to argue, but then turned away. “Yes, mama,” she said.

  “What’s wrong?” Lady Li asked, tugging on her daughter’s sleeve.

  The little girl shook her head. “Nothing. I know you want me to be empress.”

  “It would be a great honor,” Lady Li said. “The most powerful woman in the country. Hundreds of servants. Countless beautiful gowns. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

  “I suppose,” First Daughter said, trying to turn away, but Lady Li held her fast.

  “What is it?” she asked. “What’s upsetting you?”

  “I…I don’t want to go to the palace to live,” she finally admitted, her eyes downcast but brimming with tears.

  Lady Li took her daughter in her arms. “What’s all this? You know you must marry someda
y. Wouldn’t it be best to marry an emperor?”

  “But Auntie Suyi went to the palace and she came back dead!” First Daughter said sharply.

  “I…I know,” Lady Li said. “But that was an accident.” It actually hadn’t been an accident, but she didn’t need to tell her daughters the brutal truth about that right now.

  “And you went to the Forbidden City as a girl and you almost got killed too!” First Daughter went on.

  “That…that was a very extreme circumstance,” Lady Li tried to explain. She had, of course, told her daughters about her time at the Forbidden City many times, and about how she and the imperial family had been forced to flee by the invading foreigners. But she never imagined the story had instilled terror in her daughters. She had meant to inspire them with the empress’s resilience at turning the invaders out and saving the throne for her young son.

  “I don’t want to go!” First Daughter said, stomping her foot.

  Lady Li stood upright and looked down at her child. She wanted to help her cope with her emotions, but she couldn’t let her think she could get her way by throwing a fit.

  “You are a lady,” Lady Li said. “And you do as you are told by your elders. If I decide that you are to go to the Forbidden City and marry the emperor, or go marry someone else, you will do it, do you understand?”

  First daughter sucked in a breath and wiped her face with her long sleeves. “Yes, mama,” she said.

  “Good,” Lady Li said. “Now, go clean your face and then come back to the study for your lesson.”

  First Daughter nodded as she headed to use the wash basin in her room. Lady Li then took Second Daughter by the hand and led her to the study room. Both girls did their lessons dutifully, but Lady Li could tell their hearts weren’t in it. And truth be told, her mind was elsewhere as well. She hadn’t realized how much the troubles of the court had upset her own children, and they had been shielded from the worst of it. Lady Li herself had been glad she was not chosen as an imperial consort. She was initially disappointed that her astrology chart did not align with the emperor’s, so she was dismissed without even being considered. But after she ended up as a lady-in-waiting for the empress, she saw just how lonely and rigid her life was and was glad she had been spared such a life.