23
The Forbidden City, 1889
The day finally came when my daughter could no longer placate the emperor. According to her, he was fed up with being denied his rightful place on the throne. He even began throwing and breaking things in his palace out of frustration. He could not oust his Papa Dearest on his own, that would be unfilial, but his outbursts could no longer be contained. He was still quite young, but he was well-educated thanks to Tutor Weng and knew his rights. Empress Cixi could no longer hold the throne on his behalf and began making arrangements for his wedding and ascension to the Dragon Throne.
The empress knew this day would come eventually, so she already had the emperor’s consorts chosen. My daughter was not one of them. She chose the younger daughter of her brother and named her Empress Longyu. Since Empress Longyu was the daughter of Empress Cixi’s brother and Guangxu was the son of her sister, the new emperor and empress were even closer cousins than the emperor and Hulan. However, this fact did not seem to concern anyone.
By the time her wedding arrived, Longyu was already twenty-one years old, far older than most new consorts. She was also much older than the two women chosen to be Guangxu’s concubines: Jade, who was fourteen, and Pearl, who was only twelve.
Empress Cixi’s choices for consorts were shocking. Longyu was not only too old, she wasn’t very pretty. When I was sent to her home to prepare her wedding gowns, I couldn’t believe the difference between this plain creature and the astounding Alute I had made a gown for years before. Alute could seduce a man with a glance; this girl couldn’t seduce a pig farmer. I am too cruel. She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t the type of girl any man would pick if he could choose any girl in the country. Longyu was kind, well trained in manners and etiquette, and utterly devoted to her aunt, but she wasn’t very well educated. She could not read, write, sing, or play any instruments. Her personality was as dull as her face.
Pearl and Jade were not much better. Jade was pretty enough, though still forming. Her breasts were growing and her face was womanly and innocent at the same time. She would undoubtedly be a lovely woman. Pearl, though, was little more than a child. When she pinned her hair up, she looked so much like a boy one would only know she was a girl by the clothes she wore.
The emperor did not choose his consorts, which was a stark change from tradition. Even though the Empress Mother always had an influence on her son’s choice of empress, the emperor typically made the final choices. Empress Cixi did not allow her adoptive son this luxury and he did not have the will to fight her. He wanted to be on the throne, and if giving into his Papa Dearest’s choices for consorts was the price, so be it.
My daughter was ordered to leave the palace before the new empress and consorts arrived. But there was a complication.
“I am pregnant,” my daughter told me the night before she was to leave.
“How is that possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know exactly,” she said. “But he must have spilled inside me just enough.”
“Have you told the emperor?”
“No. I have told no one.”
“Good,” I said. “I think we should keep it that way.”
“Why?” she asked. “This could be the emperor’s first son. That has to mean something.”
“I don’t know that is does,” I said. “You are not a consort.”
“But the empress and the council had to know that this was a possibility when they allowed me to become his mistress. What was their plan?”
“I don’t know that they had a plan,” I said. “Maybe they just figured they would deal with that problem if it ever came up.”
“Well, it has happened now. Shouldn’t we tell them? Wouldn’t it at least allow me to stay in the palace and my child to be raised like a prince?”
“My darling, I fear for your safety at this point. If the child had come months or years ago, I would allow you to take the risk and perhaps be appointed an official consort, but I think it is too late now. The empress has been chosen and you are a complication.”
“What are you saying? You think they would kill me?”
“I think that killing you now would be easier than killing you later if you give birth to a son. They cannot allow you to supplant the new empress.”
“So you would deny my child his birthright? Just as you denied me?”
“To save his life? Yes.”
“Where will I go? What will I do?”
“Does the emperor know you are leaving? Has he given you any money?”
“He has never given me money. Any money for my household was given to my eunuch and he handled the accounts. But he has given me many gifts over the years, jewels and silks and such.”
“That will do. Take whatever you can. If you think anything will be too suspicious to move now, give it to me and I will send it to you later. I also have money I can give you, and embroidery you can sell. I will send word to your father. He will take you into his home.”
“That will be terrible,” she said. “All those women who are not my mother and all those cousins? And me, pregnant with no husband?”
“Hopefully it will only be temporary. We can try to set up a household for you of your own. Or I can talk to the empress and ask her to make a marriage for you.”
“I don’t want a marriage,” she said. “After what I have experienced with Guangxu, marriage is nothing to be envious of.”
“I won’t argue with that,” I said.
“I’m probably too old to make a match anyway,” she sighed. At twenty-four, she was probably right. How funny it was that my unmarried daughter was going to have a baby at the same age I did, also without a husband. I didn’t raise the girl, but she certainly turned out like me anyway.
That night, I sent a letter to Prince Gong and Lady Yun and asked them to take Hulan into their home. Their reply accepting my request came quickly. The next morning, Hulan left before the sun rose with as many jewels, clothes, and trinkets as she could carry.
Guangxu’s wedding, for all its splendor, was a disaster. The emperor was furious with his Papa Dearest’s choice of empress. He had not seen her before the wedding and was not told how old she was. He was cold to her and refused to kiss her or hold her hand. He feigned sickness and did not attend the marriage banquet. He thought little better of Jade, but he did seem to take a strange liking to little Pearl, the boyish child bride. I thought about his predecessor and cousin, Emperor Xianfeng, and how it was rumored that he also preferred the company of boys in his bed to that of his wife. I wondered how long it would be before similar rumors swirled around Guangxu.
Empress Cixi was similarly unhappy. She retired to the Sea Palace, which was situated on a lake within the Forbidden City. She was so close to the seat of power but couldn’t be further from it. The emperor refused to keep her informed about what was going on in the kingdom and did not solicit her advice. The grand councilors had no pretense to visit her and also could not communicate with her. She was bored and frustrated. Her only consolation was that now she could engage in her one true enjoyment – opera. The operas played day and night, the singing and clanging of symbols drowning out the misery that infected the palace.
I at least was able to feel some joy. Several months later, Prince Gong sent a messenger to me, since what she had to tell me was too sensitive to be written down.
“The Lady Hulan has given birth,” he told me. “The child was a boy. They have given him a Manchu name in honor of his father. His name is Arsalan.”