The Emperor's Seal

by Amanda Roberts

  “I’m sure we will be fine,” Zhihao said with a smile. “Nothing to worry about. Come on, let’s get moving.”

  The small party once again mounted their horses. They were still moving very slowly. The quality of the road was poor—uneven ruts, holes, and mud puddles prevented them from gaining any real speed.

  “I didn’t expect the road to be so bad,” Zhihao commented. “I would think a road used for imperial processions would be well-worn.”

  “It hasn’t been used for imperial processions in decades,” Jiayi said. “The empress hates Jehol. She hasn’t been there since the death of her husband. She prefers the Summer Palace at Yuan Ming Yuan, to the west.”

  “Yes, we are all aware of her fondness for Yuan Ming Yuan,” Zhihao quipped.

  The British had destroyed Yuan Ming Yuan when they occupied Peking over forty years ago. The empress had spent the rest of her life—and an untold amount of money—attempting to rebuild it. Yuan Ming Yuan was a sore point for people dissatisfied with Manchu rule.

  “The empress doesn’t go on extended hunting trips like the emperors who ruled before her,” Jiayi said. “She doesn’t take official visits around the country or to other lands like some kings and emperors do. She stays home and rules China day in and day out, and she is nearly seventy years old! She should be enjoying her graying years. Yet she is still up before dawn every day, working for her country. Should she not have a place of rest?”

  Zhihao laughed. “For someone who considers herself the empress’s pet, you are sure defensive of her,” he said. “Perhaps some time away from her has altered your perception.”

  Jiayi blushed, but she supposed he was right. She did feel different, and she had only left the Forbidden City barely a day before. She felt stronger, energized. She felt free to speak her mind. Was it the fresh air? The new clothes? Being in the company of a man who valued what she had to say and listened to her? She wasn’t sure. But she knew her life would not be the same after this trip. Would she be able to go back to the Forbidden City? Back to her caged little world? She was almost certain she would not. But what would she be able to do about it? The empress would not let her go. And if she could get away from the empress, where would she go? How would she take care of herself? If only she knew how much her stash of pilfered items was worth and how to sell it. Jiayi sighed to herself and thought of the items she had hidden in her bag. She was afraid to leave them behind in case someone snooped around her room while she was gone. It was dangerous to be traveling with them, but what else could she do? But those were all problems for another day. For now, she needed to enjoy this little excursion.

  Finally, they came to a small town that was surrounded by a brick wall. They presented their travel documents from the capital that stated they were scholars on a research trip and had no problem gaining entrance to the town. The town had several homes, a few businesses, and one inn. They rented two rooms for the night—one for Zhihao and one for Jiayi and Eunuch Lo. They also purchased hot baths for each of them.

  That evening, while Eunuch Lo was resting in their room while Jiayi and Zhihao were eating bowls of noodles in the dining hall, another group of men arrived—Chinese men and foreigners. Although their clothes were filthy, Jiayi could see they were dressed similarly to Zhihao. They loudly ordered baths and bowls of food. They were overly friendly to the women who were serving food—even touching them—and their voices boomed. They made Jiayi nervous. She looked at her bowl, hoping they would go away, and Zhihao nervously tapped his fingers on the table.

  “Who are they?” Jiayi whispered.

  “British treasure hunters,” Zhihao said.

  “And those Chinese men?” she asked.

  “Men who went to school in England as well,” Zhihao said, irritated.

  “You mean they were your classmates?” Jiayi asked.

  “No,” Zhihao explained. “They were a few years older than me.”

  Just then, the men saw them. They walked over and said something to the group, but it was in English. Jiayi didn’t understand everything they said, though, to her surprise, she had a general idea.

  One of the white men sat down next to Jiayi and tried to put his arm around her.

  “I didn’t expect to see someone so pretty way out here,” he said in English.

  Jiayi understood what he said, but she didn’t know how to respond, so she just said, “Hello,” while not taking her eyes off her bowl.

  The men laughed. Then the one sitting next to her said, in Chinese, “Very good! Though you could learn a lot more English from a natural speaker, don’t you think?”

  Jiayi couldn’t help but look at him in surprise. “You speak Chinese?” she asked in Chinese.

  He laughed again. “Of course. You cannot spend years among heathens without learning some of their ways.” He and his whole party laughed as though he had just made a great joke.

  “Leave my…sister alone, Marcus,” Zhihao said, in Chinese.

  “Oh, your sister. My mistake, Mister High and Mighty,” Marcus replied to Zhihao. Marcus then leaned over to Jiayi and said, “You wouldn’t believe how uptight this guy is. I think he has a pole shoved straight up his arse.”

  Jiayi pursed her lips to keep from smiling, but Marcus must have sensed her strain.

  “I guess you would know better than I, Little Miss Teddy, having to live with the poor bastard.”

  “Teddy?” Jiayi asked, thinking it was some sort of slang term.

  “His English name,” Marcus said. “He called himself Theodore, but everyone else called him Teddy.”

  “Not everyone,” Zhihao said through gritted teeth. “Just inconsiderate boors like you.”

  “Ted-dy,” Jiayi repeated slowly, causing the men to laugh.

  “She’s got it!” Marcus said, slapping his hand on the table to another round of laughter.

  Jiayi knew she should be cautious around such men, but she found their happiness infectious. She wished she could be so carefree.

  “What are you doing out here?” Zhihao asked.

  “What we always do, Teddy,” Marcus said. “Looking for gold.” At that, he reached into his pocket and plunked a worn gold artifact on the table. It was small, but looked carved.

  “Where did you find that?” Zhihao asked.

  “There’s a wee cave a ways back,” Marcus said. “Not much there, but we found a few trinkets. It’s along the path to the old Mountain Palace. But if we did a more substantial dig, we could find more.”

  “I found a coin there,” Jiayi said.

  “Look at you!” Marcus said, squeezing her arms. “You’re a little archeologist in the making, aren’t you?”

  Jiayi blushed, but she didn’t push him away.

  “Here,” he said, offering her the little hunk of gold. “Take a closer look.”

  Jiayi shook her head, afraid of what would happen if she touched it. She had taken off her gloves before eating. “I couldn’t.”

  “It won’t bite,” he said. “But look here.” He held the artifact up and pointed at it. “See how it is narrow at the top and then gets wide here in the middle. I think this might be an old fertility statue. See, these little indentations are the face, and these are her hands, then ample breasts and thighs.”

  Jiayi was a little worried he was teasing her again, trying to make her uncomfortable by speaking of such things, but once he pointed them out, she was able to see the statue’s features. She was amazed by what he was able to discern from the figure with his trained eye. She looked at Marcus, trying to see if he was lying or joking, but his interest in the statue seemed genuine.

  “That’s fascinating,” she finally said.

  “It is!” he said. “Glad you appreciate such things. I can get a lot of money for something like this back in England.”

  “You are going to sell it?” Jiayi asked, using a napkin to wipe her mouth.

  “Of course he is,” Zhihao snapped. “He’s not an archeologist. He’s a treasure hunter. He just pilfer
s tombs for things he can sell.”

  “Make a good living at it. The English are mad for Chinese kitsch,” he said.

  “What is kitsch?” Jiayi asked.

  “Oh, bits and bobbles. Anything Oriental. Statues, vases, porcelain, jewelry, paintings, embroidery. Anything exotic people can display in their homes.”

  “And you dig up this…kitsch and then sell it in England?” she asked.

  “Not always. Sometimes I just buy it from people for a low price and mark it up a hundred times when I get it to England. People have no idea what their old junk is worth.”

  “Heirlooms,” Zhihao corrected. “You steal people’s heirlooms, their family history, and mark it up for your own gain.”

  “Hey, I don’t steal anything. Everything I have, I bought fair and square or dug out of the ground myself.”

  “Out of Chinese ground,” Zhihao spat. “The Chinese government didn’t give you permission to collect and sell our history. Those items should stay in China.”

  “The Chinese aren’t doing anything to protect them. Without us, this stuff would just be lost to time. At least this way the stuff could end up in museums or proper households.”

  “And will you burn the houses and temples when you are done raiding them, like your country did to Yuan Ming Yuan?”

  “Hey, that was a long time ago, Teddy—”

  “I remember. We all remember.”

  The mood of the room had darkened. Marcus and Zhihao stared at each other, not saying a word. Jiayi wanted to know more about selling the artifacts. She wondered if Marcus would be interested in buying the items she had stashed away, but she couldn’t mention them here, in front of Zhihao. She did have one question, though.

  “Egypt,” she said. The men all looked at her as if she had just spoken French. “Egypt,” she said again. “Zhihao, you said you went on a dig to Egypt.”

  “Yes?” he said, confused.

  “Did you have permission from the Egyptian government to dig for items? What happened to the things that you dug up?”

  “Oh-ho-ho,” said Marcus. “Such a clever little lass! Yes, Zhihao, what did happen to the things you dug up in Egypt?”

  “That…that was different…” he stammered. “I was just a student. That was still British interference.”

  “You’re never wrong, are you, Teddy?” Marcus asked, but he didn’t bother waiting for an answer. “So, where is your little party headed?” Marcus asked.

  “Nowhere particular,” Zhihao said.

  “I see,” Marcus said, elbowing Jiayi. “Secret mission? Hot tip on a big stash? I understand. Have to keep quiet.”

  Jiayi looked away, not wanting her face to confirm what he was saying.

  “Well, good luck to you, old friends…and new ones,” Marcus said. He took Jiayi’s hand and kissed the back of it. She felt her cheeks heat again and quickly pulled her hand away. She could almost feel Zhihao glaring at her.

  Marcus and his group then tromped to the back of the building where the bathhouse was. Jiayi returned to her now cold noodles, avoiding Zhihao’s gaze.

  “You shouldn’t have encouraged him,” he finally said.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she mumbled. “But do you think he or his men were the ones in our camp? He said he was in the same area. And someone had been camping in the cave where I found the coin.”

  “Not sure what reason he would have for being in our camp,” Zhihao said. “But it is possible. Be sure to lock your door tonight.”

  Jiayi clenched her teeth to keep from arguing. She was, of course, going to lock her door. She also had Eunuch Lo with her, and he would not let anyone enter. While she did not hope that Marcus would try to sneak into her room that night, she did hope to see him again. As she palmed the gold statue, safely wrapped in her napkin, she had a feeling Marcus would be able to help her escape.

  Eleven

  Zhihao tossed and turned all night in a huff. He couldn’t believe the way Marcus was so friendly to Jiayi. And she did nothing to discourage him! In fact, she was encouraging him with the way she smiled demurely and asked questions and made reasonable arguments…How dare she! Well, once they found that stupid seal and this insane quest was at an end, he’d leave her to rot in that stuffy palace. He’d never have to see her again.

  What was Marcus really doing out here anyway? He knew that Marcus had already made a lot of money selling artifacts he had dug up the previous year in Chang’an, one of China’s historical capital cities. Why would he be here, in the middle of nowhere collecting cheap trinkets off the ground? As he admitted, he could make more money in Peking buying family heirlooms and never once having to use a shovel. It didn’t make sense. He must have had a lead on something important in the area. He couldn’t know about the seal, could he?

  It seemed like a lot of people knew about the seal. If the empress knew, she must have learned about it from her husband, the Xianfeng Emperor. But the emperor had other wives and concubines. The Daoguang Emperor’s other women could have known as well, and possibly his top magistrates. Had Prince Gong known? How many men in the know had women who knew also? How many people had those gossips told over the years? Somehow, Hu Xiaosheng knew. The legend of the lost seal had traveled so far and wide, it would be impossible to know who knew what and when. If more people knew about the lost seal than Zhihao first realized, how many people also knew more to the story? Knew about the ambush? Knew about Lady Cai? What if Zhihao wasn’t the only person looking for the seal?

  By morning, Zhihao was anxious to get started. Any wasted moment could mean someone else getting closer to finding the seal. As the party gathered at their horses, everyone looked refreshed and ready to go. A warm bath, a hearty meal, and a good sleep had reenergized them. Only Zhihao seemed to be out of sorts. Even though he had fumed over Jiayi and Marcus all night, as soon as he saw her in her silly outfit, he couldn’t help but smile.

  “Did you not sleep well, Zhihao?” she asked kindly.

  “No,” he admitted. “I am ready to get going. We need to find the seal. I have a feeling we are not the only ones looking for it.”

  “Do you think Marcus is looking for it?” Jiayi asked, her voice low even though no one else was around.

  Zhihao nodded. “I do. Or he could be looking for something else and come across it. I just have a bad feeling.”

  The group headed toward the pass. The roads were drier today, so they made better time. They finally arrived at the Conghua Pass in the early evening when there was still light. As they rounded a corner and the pass spread out before them, Jiayi gasped.

  “I…I’ve been here before,” she said. “This is where the battle was.”

  “What can you tell us?” Zhihao asked.

  She pointed to a wide open area with a stream running through it. “There were many tents set up here for people who were traveling with the imperial family. The attackers charged through the tents, waving their weapons and killing people as they tried to escape.”

  She got down off her horse and walked around the area, looking for something. “There was a trail…” She looked around. “There, to the west, that led from the lower camp up here to the level we are at. Up here is where the emperor’s tent was. The generals could watch the battle below and better protect the emperor from here.”

  “That makes sense,” Zhihao said. “The higher vantage point would be easier to defend. We should set up our own camp here.”

  After they finished setting up the tents and building a fire, the group was at a bit of a loss as to what to do.

  “So, what now?” Jiayi asked. “If this is where the tent was, if this is where the emperor gave the seal to Lady Cai, what do we do now?”

  “Let’s survey the area,” Zhihao said. “Look for abandoned paths, caves, any markers. Anything that looks unnatural or manmade.”

  Zhihao and Jiayi each grabbed a water canteen and Zhihao took a small haversack with maps and binoculars. Eunuch Lo stayed to keep an eye on the
camp. As soon as they crested a small hill where they had a good view of the area, Zhihao opened his pack and pulled out a piece of red silk.

  “Jiayi, can you touch this and tell me if you see anything?”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It is the silk lining from the box that contained the seal. The empress wouldn’t let me bring the whole box, but since this also touched the seal, I thought it might work to spur your visions.”

  “I suppose,” she said as she removed one of her gloves. “But I can’t promise I will see anything from the time period we need.”

  “I know,” he said. “But we have to try. We don’t have anything else to go on right now.”

  Jiayi nodded her head and found a flat rock to sit on. “Will you keep me from falling over?” she asked.

  Zhihao nodded and sat next to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. She took a deep breath as she reached for the silk. She lost consciousness almost instantly, going limp. Zhihao leaned her against the tree and then stood to take in his surroundings. The area was dry and rocky. There were not many trees, and the trees he could see looked as brown as the dusty ground. One rock looked pretty much like the next. He wasn’t sure if they would be able to find anything out here. But Jiayi had recognized the area where the battle and camp were. Maybe she would be able to recognize more of the area from her vision.

  He pulled out his binoculars to survey the area. On his map, he began to mark areas that were probably cave openings. He was lost in thought, enjoying his work, so he did not hear the footsteps approach until it was too late.

  “Well, what do we have here?” a gruff voice asked from behind him.

  “Are you having a little private time with that pretty girl?” another asked.

  Zhihao turned and saw two men he didn’t recognize. They were dressed rough and their hair was a mess. They both held large knives. “Who are you?” he asked. “What do you want?”

  “Any money or valuables you have on you, for start,” the first man said.

  “And that little sweet thing for seconds,” the second man said, motioning to Jiayi as he deftly bounced his knife from one hand to the other.