She gave me a deep bow. “I’m coming to offer my gratitude, Luminous Lady. I would like to thank you in person for your gifts. You’re most kind and generous.” Her voice was soft, and her etiquette was impeccable.
“Oh, you must not mention them,” I said. Her manner was somehow distant, but that was to be expected, and she was also wary of me, and that had to be respected. “I do hope you will not tire yourself with your duty. How is this year’s silk harvest?”
A massive mudslide in spring had demolished many mulberry farms in the north of Chang’an, I had heard, and the leaf supply to the Imperial Silkworm Workshops was somewhat affected, but I did not know the details.
“Oh, it is worrisome,” the Lady replied, but she did not elaborate. It was part of her duty to guard the secret of the silkworms in the workshops, I knew, and also a privilege. “I would be honored if you would like to meet my son,” she said, and nodded at the boy beside her.
I smiled. That was certainly a gesture to make peace with me. “The honor is mine, Pure Lady. I am most delighted to meet your son.” I lowered myself to look into the boy’s eyes. I had heard so much about him. He possessed extraordinary literary talent, Apricot had said. “So you are the prodigy Sujie? Will you honor me by reciting a poem?”
He threw his sleeves behind him with a dramatic flare. And then to my astonishment, he recited the entire “The Preface to the Orchid Pavilion.”
“Indeed, a prodigy!” I exclaimed, shocked by his talent. He was only four years old! His mother had raised him well, and I hoped my child would be as talented as him when he grew up. “Have you learned how to compose a poem yourself?”
“I have,” he said in his childish but solemn voice. “I composed a poem about the Empress.”
“Will you recite it to me?”
The Pure Lady coughed and pulled the boy’s sleeve. She looked uneasy, glancing at the ministers behind me.
The poem must not speak of the Empress favorably. I liked the boy even more. “Perhaps you will recite it to me another day,” I said, smiling.
Pheasant called me.
“Come, Sujie, you must meet your brother.” I took the mother and the son to my table. Coolly, Sujie nodded his head at Lion in Apricot’s arms, and Lion responded by drooling. We all laughed.
When the full moon revealed itself behind the clouds, it was the moment to compose a poem.
I began first.
Looking at all the guests around me, I raised my goblet and said:
“Misty lanes,
Inky doors,
A garden of wines, fragrances, and much more.
“Golden ceilings,
Rainbow floors,
Bright, fluffy, silky dreams galore.
“What are you waiting for,
My friends,
It’s time
To climb the stairs of the moonlight,
And sing a new song.”
Thunderous applause rose around me, and I bowed deeply to show my appreciation. I wondered how the Empress would react when she heard this poem. Would she have another fiery outburst?
Pheasant, laughing, raised his goblet and composed his poem. He was followed by Prince Ke, Minister Xu Jingzong, and the other ministers.
The night breeze sweeping my face, I sipped my wine. I enjoyed celebrating the moment with all the people who came to support me, and now that the Empress’s power was waning in the court, I hoped there would be many more moments like that in the future.
• • •
A few days later, I received a request from the Regent, who asked to meet Sujie, my son, the Pure Lady, and me in a building near the Taiji Hall. I was surprised and also excited. Since my son’s birth, the Regent had never made an effort to meet him. Could this meeting have something to do with the Empress’s barrenness?
When the Pure Lady and I arrived, Pheasant was sitting on a stool in the center of the building; near him was the Empress, wearing her golden gown and the phoenix crown. Her head dropped low, and her crown tipped precariously.
Sitting on the right side of the hall, the Regent nodded at the Pure Lady, the children, and me as we greeted him. He was squinting, and I was reminded that he had said he was getting old and his eyesight was failing him. Indeed, he looked frail. His back was stooped, his face was covered with many age spots, his hawkish nose appeared thinner, and he had a tendency to open his mouth and pause, as though his mind was addled and he had trouble remembering his words.
He had not attended audiences since Pheasant recalled Prince Ke and the other ministers, and he came to the palace only when Pheasant needed to consult with him about important matters. I wondered what he wished to discuss today.
“These are fine, fine children.” The Regent wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, watching the two children: Sujie pacing in front of him like a learned scholar and Lion biting a hand drum, his favorite toy, in my lap. “It is my greatest pleasure to see the imperial progeny of the Li Family. I am greatly pleased, Nephew. I am certain your father would be proud.”
He did not acknowledge the Empress or even look at her, as though she did not exist.
“I’m pleased to hear that from you too, Uncle. They are only children, and they need much tutoring,” Pheasant said courteously. He was always respectful to his uncle, careful not to say anything to upset him.
“Certainly, Nephew, I cannot agree more. Tutoring children is an important matter, as we must decide what they will learn and who they will grow to be. I shall be glad to offer my suggestion if Nephew wishes. However”—he coughed to clear his throat—“I would like to bring a few important issues to your attention today.”
“What may be of your concern, Uncle?”
“Your Majesty.” The Regent sighed. “I would rather not bother you, but I’m most perturbed by recent reports of corruption and negligence in the palace. The matters have been dealt with. I know you have been aware of that. But some ministers, to my dismay, have come to me and spoken of another matter that concerns them. They expressed that they were worried about our kingdom’s future and stated that it was a shame our dynasty, the great dynasty your father and grandfather had founded, would be subject to such a humiliation.”
“Humiliation?” Pheasant asked.
The Regent blinked his eyes slowly, as though he could not remember what he had just said. “As you know, Nephew, we are all aware that it is a man’s first and foremost duty to have a son who will carry the family’s bloodline, as our sage teacher Confucius has instructed us for hundreds of years, and it has been the principle all nobles and honored men have followed, but now, regrettably, our Empress, the mother of the kingdom,” he said without turning his head in the Empress’s direction, “has failed us. Eight years, and she is unable to give us a male heir, and many are concerned that she is unable to conceive.”
The Empress jerked. “I’m not barren!”
The Regent glanced at her, and I could see he was displeased that she had interrupted him. “If the Empress is fertile, as she claims, then perhaps she should conceive a male heir as soon as possible.”
The Empress turned her head toward the wall. She was biting her lips hard.
I caught the gaze of the Pure Lady, who sat next to me. She was smiling. She too enjoyed seeing the Empress in disgrace.
“But, Nephew, I did not come here today just to ask our Empress to fulfill a woman’s duty, as clearly, may I state this frankly, she has failed another duty as well.”
“What duty are you speaking of, Uncle?”
The Regent sighed again. “I do believe you are aware of this. Nephew, the silk production by the Imperial Silkworm Workshops has been alarmingly low this year, and it is many people’s belief that this is due to our Empress and her ill effect on the silkworms. As you know, silkworms are most delicate creatures.”
The poor production of the silk actually
had much to do with the mudslide that had damaged many mulberry tree farms. But I could see this was the Regent’s, and the ministers’, excuse to kick the Empress aside. I held Lion tightly in my arms, listening with concentration.
Pheasant nodded. “Silk. I see, Uncle. I was going to talk to you about this.”
The Regent wiped his mouth with his handkerchief and put it in his pocket. “Our kingdom’s prosperity depends on the silk trade, Nephew. I cannot stress how important silk is to our kingdom. Thus I urge you, Nephew, for the sake of our kingdom’s welfare, to take a proper measure, a drastic measure, if necessary, to ensure our kingdom’s prosperity.”
“Drastic measure?”
I felt my heart race faster in excitement. I had never dared to dream of this moment. But it was true. He was proposing to strip the Empress of her power in the workshops.
“You…you…” The Empress was shaking—her hands, her body, and even her crown.
The Regent sighed. He did not look in my direction, but I knew the old man’s attitude toward me had changed considerably. Even though he was not yet warm to me, his old hostility and coldness had thawed a great deal. “I am afraid so, Nephew, and this is, after all, your decision to make. I trust you will choose whoever you see fit to oversee the most important venture in our kingdom.”
Pheasant glanced at me, and I knew he would appoint me if I nodded. This was a perfect opportunity for me to rise in the palace. I was Most Adored, ranked only lower than the Empress, and if I took the most important position of supervising the workshops, my status in the court would be solidified, and many ministers would flock to me and support me.
But I turned toward the Pure Lady instead. I had never worked in the workshops, and she had been reviewing the records every year. If anyone was ready to take the control of the silkworms, it was the Pure Lady, and I could not fight against her simply because of my own selfish reasons.
Pheasant, reading my thoughts, smiled and turned toward the Pure Lady. “Pure Lady, would you consider taking over the duty of overseeing the workshops?”
The Pure Lady glanced at me, her eyes lit with happiness and gratitude. “I shall be greatly honored, Your Majesty.”
“So it is settled.” Pheasant turned to the Regent. “Are you pleased, Uncle?”
The old man nodded. “Of course, Nephew.”
I smiled to congratulate the Pure Lady, truly happy for her, and I was not worried about the Empress anymore, for I knew her power in the court would soon come to an end. Some of her family members had lost their posts in the court, her uncle was suspended, and now she had lost the most important position in the Inner Court.
The Empress’s golden gown swept beside me as she rushed out of the hall. And even though she raised her sleeve to shield her face and covered her mouth, I could hear her sobs, loud and furious, escaping from her throat.
AD 653
The Fourth Year of Emperor Gaozong’s Reign of Eternal Glory
AUTUMN
15
The Empress’s order came to me with a grave warning. All the titled ladies must gather in the Chengxiang Hall immediately. Anyone who failed to appear on time would be punished.
I left my son to Apricot and my maids and went to the hall without delay. What was so important that the Empress must see all of us so urgently? It was not time for fruit or silk distribution, and most items I needed were delivered to my garden directly.
I wondered whether the Empress, having lost control of the workshops, had found some excuse to clamp her hands on me and the other ladies.
Gaoyang, who happened to visit me, decided to come with me. “That mad cow cannot be trusted,” she said.
With Gaoyang by my side, I walked as fast as I could. When we arrived at the courtyard, it was crowded with servants and some ministers holding scrolls and calligraphy brushes. So whatever the Empress wished to let us know must have been worthy of making a court record.
No guards. A good sign. She would not resort to violence.
I stood in the corridor, waiting for the eunuch to announce my arrival. Princess Gaoyang turned her head left and right, watching everyone who passed. A moment later, the Four Ladies and the other titled ladies entered the courtyard.
“Did we do something wrong?” the Noble Lady said to me in her faint voice. Today the three Ladies were wearing purple gowns with round medallions and black fur shawls with golden trim. Despite the cold, they looked slim and warm. “Is she going to punish us?”
The other ladies all bore the same expression of fear on their faces, except the Pure Lady, who looked thoughtful.
“Not while I am here,” Princess Gaoyang said.
I put a hand on the princess’s arm to quiet her and said to the Noble Lady, “Don’t worry. If she wished to harm us, she would not need to gather us all together and bring the ministers.”
The Pure Lady nodded. “I think so too.”
“All ladies enter!” a eunuch announced at the entrance of the hall.
I hurried up the stone stairs to step inside the building. Princess Gaoyang followed me, and the other ladies entered behind us, according to their ranks.
Inside, more ministers had lined up against the wall. In the center of the hall were two stools set on a raised platform, where the Empress and a scrawny youngster sat. The youth slumped a little in his seat. His skin was pale, his nose red, and his eyes narrow and slanted. He reminded me of someone… Rain. He had to be Rain’s son, Zhong. I had seen him only once during a feast Emperor Taizong held to celebrate his birth, and Zhong had been only a few months old. He had been living outside the palace with Pheasant when Emperor Taizong punished Pheasant and ordered him to leave the palace. When Pheasant became the heir, Zhong had moved to the Eastern Palace with Rain, but after Pheasant became the Emperor, Empress Wang had kicked Zhong back to the house in the city, claiming her future son would be the heir, thus the Eastern Palace was his residence. And I had also heard that the barren Empress, worried Zhong would become the heir, had forced him to live in isolation, forbidding him to come to the palace or meet the ministers.
He was about ten years old, and he should have been living in his house outside the palace. What was he doing sitting next to the Empress?
“All kneel,” the Empress ordered, blinking her closely set eyes slowly. She was wearing her usual phoenix crown and the voluminous yellow regalia that draped on her shoulders like a shapeless bag. Her broad forehead bore more wrinkles than I remembered, and her flat face, covered with too much white powder, spread out like a snow-dusted graveyard.
She looked pathetic, weak, and old, but she was still dangerous. I stepped forward and knelt as ordered. I was so close to her, I could see the golden threads on her embroidered shoes and smell the pungent herb odor from her sachet. “Greetings, Empress.”
I was not sure how to address the boy. Although he was Pheasant’s son, his position was low because of his mother’s low rank, and according to the hierarchy, I was of a higher rank than him.
The Empress raised her head. “I’m certain you all have heard that the Regent was concerned about the kingdom’s future. I assure you, such a concern is not needed, for today I have summoned all of you to make an important announcement,” she said, her voice loud. “I have decided to adopt this child.”
Adopt Rain’s child?
“And why not?” her voice rose, louder now, as though she had sensed my objection. “This child bears imperial blood, and his mother was an honorable woman, a good friend of mine. And for that reason I have decided to accept him as my own and raise him as my son.”
But she was not just raising him as her own. She was using him to secure her power. She must have been desperate after losing her position of overseeing the workshops, and her family must have helped her find the solution.
“I shall make this adoption legal, and by law, he shall become the heir of our kingdom.�
� She nodded at the ministers near the wall. “I now order this to be written in our imperial family’s record.”
My back stiffened. The Regent had said she must produce a male heir, and we had thought she would conceive one, not adopt. She was very cunning indeed. But the adoption could not happen. The child could not become her son.
“Does our emperor know of this?” I asked, frowning.
“The Emperor has been consulted, of course, and he has agreed.”
“The Emperor has agreed?” I did not believe her. If Pheasant knew of the adoption, he would have told me, but he would never agree to it. Oftentimes he had told me he was concerned about Zhong. He was so young, and alone without his mother’s protection. For his own safety, he had to stay away from the palace, Pheasant had said.
“I don’t believe you,” Princess Gaoyang said. “Pheasant would never agree to this.”
“Gongzhu.” The Empress’s voice was cold. “You must watch your words. This is not your place to speak. I will decide when the Emperor will know of this adoption.”
So she was lying! I raised my head.
She stared at me triumphantly, a cold smile on her face. “And I must remind you,” she continued. “Zhong bears the imperial blood, and this is the reason why he will be my child. I have summoned the Secretary, who has agreed to come to the Outer Palace to draft the adoption papers as we speak, and when we finish this formal adoption ceremony, I shall inform the Regent of my decision, and he will see to it that Zhong will become my son. Now, ministers, prepare to conduct the ceremony.”
I wanted to walk out, yet I was unable to move. An empress adopting a child of a concubine and using him to secure her own crown was not common, but it had been done a few dynasties back.
I lowered my head. Empress Wang had made a vital move to secure her own position. With the adoption, the ministers who doubted her would stay with her again, and those who were not with her would be inclined to come to her side as well. She had solidified her crown and gained even stronger support in the court.
Empress of Bright Moon Page 14