“The Emperor is having a meeting with his astrologer,” Plum whispered to me while we walked to the wardrobe chamber. The corridors were quieter than usual. “The two have been locked in his library since dawn. Do you know what they are discussing?”
“I don’t.” I reached the wardrobe chamber and pushed the door open. “Do you?”
The astrologer, a Taoist who claimed to be the listener of Heaven’s murmurs, was an important man. The Emperor often consulted him regarding many matters such as calendar, harvest, drought, worship, crowning, war, or even dreams. Once, the astrologer had climbed the ladder of blades to reach the door of Heaven. The blades, all honed and whetted as thin as a maple leaf, could have sliced a man’s feet, but he ascended barefoot, his hands holding nothing but a scroll and a brush, and reached the top without shedding a single drop of blood. It was rumored that he drank only rainwater and ate ginseng shaped like an infant. On the drought days, the Emperor summoned him to call the rain. After each performance, the rain always came.
He was, no doubt, also a dangerous man.
Plum cupped her hand around my ear. “You will not believe what I am going to tell you, Mei. They said the astrologer interpreted the signs and revealed a prophecy.”
“A prophecy?” I remembered the Buddhist monk, Tripitaka, had predicted my future by reading my face. That had been a long time ago. The Taoists also made predictions, but they often observed Heaven’s signs to reach their conclusions. “About what?”
I did not want to tell Plum, but I was worried. If the imperial astrologer revealed a prophecy, then all the sign watchers on the street would certainly know about it and talk about it, and then the rebels and those who harbored hatred toward the Emperor would use the words to revolt. The Western Turks had kept quiet after the demise of the King of Gaochang, but who knew what else would happen if more rebels rose to plot against the Emperor?
“This is what I heard.” She went to close the chamber’s door. Fortunately, the Beauties had not arrived yet, and we could speak freely. “The astrologer said a certain man would end the Emperor’s reign, and he is coming.”
I was shocked. “Are you certain? Who is the man?”
She made a face. “I would be an astrologer too, if I knew.”
I peered at the sky. It was still early. The sun had just come out. I wished I could listen to the astrologer as he spoke to the Emperor. But the Emperor’s library was located inside the Outer Palace, and I was not allowed to wander there without permission. The Beauties arrived, and Plum and I busied ourselves with our tasks. Later, when I delivered laundry to the laundry women on the other side of the Inner Court, I heard some men’s voices from the street outside. I stopped at the entrance of the Inner Court and peered out from behind the gate.
The Emperor was returning from the library with the astrologer and other ministers. He nodded grimly as the astrologer, dressed in a white robe embroidered with moons and stars that many Taoist priests donned, said something. He was an old man, with a long, silvery beard that reached his knees and long, gray hair speckled with black dots like sesames. He wore no hat or boots.
The Emperor came closer, and I hurried to leave, thinking about what Plum had told me. If it was true the astrologer believed a man would end the Emperor’s reign, then whoever that man was, he was doomed. The Emperor would not let him live.
? ? ?
A few days later, I went to the garden to meet Pheasant at night. The rock near the garden’s entrance lay flat. I turned around. Pheasant was busy tonight. For the next few weeks, we were unable to meet. The Gold Bird Guards had tightened their patrols around the palace, as a thief had been caught stealing a horse in an imperial stable at midnight. He was killed instantly, penetrated by an arrow. Later he was identified as a palace guard nicknamed Black Boy. I remembered him. He was one of the two Palace Escorts who had brought me to the palace a few years before.
I wondered why a palace guard would risk his life stealing a horse. It did not make sense to me. No one with a brain would attempt to steal an imperial horse inside the palace. Many people gossiped about it too, including some guards, but then, for some reason, the gossip seemed to die overnight, as though there never had been a horse thief.
It was clear to me someone had ordered the cease of gossip, and I could not get it out of my mind. I wondered if it had something to do with the prophecy.
AD 642
the Sixteenth Year of Emperor Taizong’s Reign of Peaceful Prospect
AUTUMN
21
I had just collected the Emperor’s robes from the seamstress when Eunuch Ming beckoned to me from behind a cinnamon tree.
“What is it?” I looked around to ensure we were alone. “Did you give the money to my mother?”
“I couldn’t find her.”
“I gave you the ward’s name.” I frowned. With the names of the ward and my family, he should not have had trouble locating Qing’s house.
“Your mother has disappeared.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your half brother banished her.”
I gasped. “What? Why?”