I agreed. She was very sensible. It was almost six o’clock, and I should not waste time. “Are we finished?”
“Almost,” she said, her eyes on me. She seemed to watch me, expecting something, and Eunuch Ming was staring at me too. His eyes were sharp and unkind. I did not like him. “Are you certain you do not need my help to please the Emperor?”
“Yes.” It was so hot. I wiped my face again. I could hardly breathe.
“Then let him rinse you.”
The deaf eunuch poured water over my head, and I sighed. It felt good to have cold water on my scalp. But I wished I had not drunk the wine. It was giving me a headache. I leaned back and gazed at the ceiling, where mists surged from the tub and clung there. Lightly and tenaciously. I could see that someday a crack would appear in the wood, and then the moisture would rot the whole ceiling. I blinked. The mists seemed to drift, and slowly, they converged to form a familiar face. Father’s.
I reached out, but how strange. I could not raise my hand. I tried again. My hand, stiff, remained under the water.
“This is odd,” I said. Hot steam ran across my forehead and flowed into my eyes. I shook my head. The house seemed to whirl around me. The roof wavered, slowly driving toward me like an enormous net.
“Is something wrong?” Jewel’s voice sounded far away.
She looked strange too, her limbs twisting like ropes and her head bouncing like a ball. “Jewel?” I struggled. “What’s happening…”
“Steady.” A pair of slippery arms held me. It was Jewel’s voice. “We can’t let her drown… Get her out… Put her on the towels here…”
“No…wait…why…” My eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Then I could no longer see or speak.
? ? ?
I awoke to eerie silence. Jewel and Eunuch Ming were not there. It was only the deaf eunuch and me. I sat up, looking for the water clock. It was reaching the line of seven. I should have gone to the Emperor’s bedchamber an hour ago.
I leaped to my feet, but I stumbled, my legs weak and my head dazed. I could not understand what had happened to me. But the summons!
“Wake up.” I nudged the eunuch, dozing on a step stool. “We’re late.”
He rubbed his bleary eyes. Then he grabbed a cover from a peg and wrapped me from head to toe. Carrying me above his chest like a bundle of firewood, he headed into the dark night.
“Stop.” The guards outside the Yeting Court blocked us. “What is the purpose of your leaving the court?”
“Ah…ah…ah-ah…” the deaf eunuch answered.
“The Emperor’s order?” one asked.
They hesitated. Then they whispered among themselves for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the heavy gates opened. The eunuch continued to walk. More guards and more questions. At last, a voice announced we were to enter the Inner Court.
My heart pounded. Pulling away the folds around my head, I peered out. Nothing, save the starless night, dark as the bottom of an abandoned well.
I wiggled more determinedly. But the wrapping wound tightly around me, and I grew tired, my neck hurting from straining below the eunuch’s shoulder. I was going to give up when the eunuch flipped me around as if to ease his arms, and the wrapping loosened.
I pulled down the folds and turned my head.
The Inner Court looked like a deep cavern, with many buildings sitting around like small mountains. The buildings’ flying eaves protruded like ragged cliffs while the red rays from glowing lanterns streamed like a river of rubies. The eunuch walked up a platform, stepped down into a courtyard, and then entered a hallway. Then another platform, another courtyard, and another hallway. It seemed he would never stop walking.
Sometimes, I heard murmurs of women from the chambers, their light footsteps, their labored coughs, and their heavy sighs. I wished I could see their faces. Were any of them the Four Ladies, the highest-ranking ladies?
Finally, we arrived at a large courtyard adorned by a single tree. The eunuch put me down. Gesturing at the central chamber, he mumbled something and left me.
This must be the Emperor’s quarters.
I stared at the latticed windows, where warm, yellow lights illuminated the opaque window covers. Some soft shuffling came from inside, but no one greeted me. And there were no bookkeeper or helpers.
I was alone.
Gripping the cover, I ascended the stone stairs flanked by a pair of stone kylins, the mythical unicorns. When I arrived in front of the chamber, I pushed open the door. There, I hesitated for a moment and stepped across the high threshold.
In front of me stood a bed, the largest and most ornate bed I had ever seen. The headboard and footboard were encrusted with jade and rubies, and red cloth draped across the frame held by four round posts. On top of the posts sat dragons, whose heads raised skyward, each holding a green ball in its mouth. The bed was empty and bare. There were no quilts or pillows, as though no one had ever slept on it.