Chương 9: Chapter 7 (R)

Lianhua sets me on my bed after changing me out of the clothes I'd been put in for my second birthday party. Once she leaves, I sigh and compare the party I've just had with the one for my first birthday. It was much smaller and simpler, with only my mother, a few women with their children, none of whom were my half-brothers, and fortunately, no trace of my father. Which is only natural considering the debacle of my previous party after the stunt I pulled.

I still remember my father's face, his usual dignity shattering into one of total surprise. Seeing my father in that state, everyone bowed their heads and stared at the floor while kneeling, barely daring to breathe, as Jiangjun Han Xin burst out laughing. After a moment my father set me back in the little chair and swiftly left the hall, followed by Jiangjun Han Xin, who kept chuckling under his breath the whole way out.

After my father's departure, my mother quickly rose and, telling everyone present that I was tired and needed to rest, a more than obvious excuse to end the party, scooped me up and hurried out of the hall while Fei Yi Lingxi stayed behind, presumably to deal with the uproar I saw beginning to build as we left. After that, everyone in the house was on edge, as though some kind of celestial punishment might appear at any moment and obliterate them all.

Even Lianhua stopped taking me to the park, and my few hours of entertainment vanished. Fortunately, after a couple of weeks in which nothing happened, everything returned to normal. And in this past year I have never once heard any reference to what occurred that day. It's as though the Emperor had never been at that party, or as though the party had never taken place at all. Clearly, they've all agreed to institute a kind of code of silence.

After those days, life returned to its routine, and even my father resumed his old habit of visiting us on certain nights. Of course, I didn't forget to keep saying words. I now call my mother 'mama,' Lianhua 'Runu,' and after several months of single words I've started saying short phrases. Soon I'm going to look for a way to get them to teach me how to ask to use the toilet, since I can't go by myself. I am sick of diapers.

And I've finally uncovered the famous mystery of the perfect skin and the soldier carrying the bed. One day in the park a nursemaid appeared to talk with Lianhua; she looked after a girl of about eight or nine who the week before hadn't had perfect skin but now suddenly did. They started chatting, and Lianhua congratulated the nursemaid on the girl's success, after which they began discussing something called cultivation.

From what I could understand, having perfect skin was called Skin Tempering, then there was something called Muscle Tempering that made you stronger, and lastly they briefly mentioned something called Tempering of Bones and Tendons, though they didn't go into much detail about it.

Since that day I've tried to review every conversation I overhear to see if I can glean anything more about the subject, but to my frustration, and despite hearing the terms mentioned briefly from time to time, they always discuss it as though everyone already knows what it's about. And I have no idea what the supposed subject is about, which makes me want to scream at them to explain it to me, but since I don't want some priest attempting an exorcism, I have no choice but to bite my tongue.

While I'm trying to fall asleep, I see Lianhua come back in carrying something in her hands. And what she's holding takes my breath away, an object that, in my situation, means my future will be brighter and more luminous. Something that right now is worthy of my worship and reverence. A book.

"Zhāohuán Wen, this is one of your birthday presents. This is called a book", she tells me as she approaches and sits on the edge of the bed. When I see the book so close I can't help reaching out to try to grab it, but Lianhua pulls it away so I can't reach.

"Easy, Zhāohuán Wen, you can't hold it, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it when I read it to you." She opens it so I can see the contents from where I'm lying and begins reading me the story. The upper part of each page is taken up by clearly hand-drawn illustrations of exceptional quality. The lower part is filled with characters I don't recognize but that are plainly similar to Mandarin Chinese. Lianhua starts reading to me, pointing to the corresponding part of the illustration as she speaks.

The story has a distinctly mythological flavor reminiscent of ancient China, telling the tale of a bird that is born on a mountain and finds a monk who teaches it to speak, after which it goes on adventures that make it stronger until it finally leaves the mountain. Strangely, as she reads the text and points at the illustrations, I find myself learning the characters. At an abnormally fast rate I begin to understand the text and to read it on my own.

Granted, the characters are very similar to Mandarin Chinese, and some of them I might even have worked out by myself through their resemblance, as though the two languages descended from some root language the way the Romance languages derive from Latin, but even so my learning speed is far too fast. Perplexed by the matter, I decide to set the mystery aside until I'm in a position to do something about it and take advantage of the moment to learn as much as I can.

But what I can do right now is create the opportunity to keep from going mad with boredom over the coming years. It's time for the world to believe I'm a genius capable of learning to read at an early age. If it's happened on occasion in my old world, why not in this world full of strange things? Lianhua finishes reading me the story and asks "What did you think, Zhāohuán Wen? Did you like it?" I seize the moment and point at the illustration on the last page of the book "Bird."

"Yes, Zhāohuán Wen, it's a bird", Lianhua replies. I point at the book in general "Book."

"Yes, it's a book", she answers as she closes it and rises to leave.

"Another book", I tell her, looking at her with what many would call puppy-dog eyes.

"No, Zhāohuán Wen. I'll read you another book tomorrow", she replies. I quickly put on my pouting face and in a quavering voice say again "Another book." Lianhua stares at me in surprise, since this is the first time I've thrown a tantrum over anything. I capitalize on having caught her off guard and press the attack, bursting into tears while continuing to say "Another book." Lianhua sets the book on a nearby table and comes over to take me in her arms.

I keep up the performance, squirming in her arms while stretching my hands toward the book visible on the table and whimpering "Want book." This goes on for a while as Lianhua tries to calm me down and I refuse to stop making noise. The racket I'm creating soon brings several maids to peer through the doorway, but they scatter the moment my mother appears. She enters the room and looks at us with concern.

"What happened?" she asks Lianhua.

"Furen, Zhāohuán…" Lianhua begins to answer, but I cut her off, gesturing toward my mother and the book while saying "Mama, want book." My mother arches a surprised eyebrow, looking from me to the book and back. After a moment's hesitation she picks up the book and brings it closer to me. I try to grab it, though it's clearly too heavy for me. As any child who can't hold an object would do, when it becomes obvious I can't manage it I start crying again to see what they'll do this time.

My mother quickly takes me and seats me in the little chair where they feed me, leaving the book on the table in front of it where I can reach it with my hands. I stop crying and start laughing as I begin clumsily turning pages, as though it were the first time I'd ever done it. While they think I'm absorbed with the book, out of the corner of my eye I see them step into the corridor, and I smile to myself thinking of the quantity of books being an imperial princess can provide me.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As I look through the children's book in front of me, I can't help but feel glad about the decision I made a couple of months ago when I put on the show with the book. Since that day they read me a storybook every day and then leave me to play with a book like the one before me now, one of those with pictures and symbols alongside them so you learn to recognize the characters.

The other day I finally had the chance to demonstrate that I could recognize some of the symbols, and it caused quite a stir. Nearly all the discussions that provoked must have taken place outside my presence, but from what I've been able to pick up from conversations among the maids and Lianhua, they're thinking of assigning me a personal tutor to teach me and to assess how Blessed by the Heavens I am, which appears to be what they call gifted children around here.

While I'm entertaining myself browsing the book, I start hearing several voices outside my room and hurried footsteps moving throughout the residence. I try to sharpen my hearing to catch what's happening, since Lianhua isn't with me at the moment, when the door suddenly opens and my mother rushes in, asking a Nei Wei behind her "Is it really necessary to bring her? She's still small and won't understand anything that happens."

"The Son of Heaven has decreed that all his consorts and their children must be present, without exception", the Nei Wei replies. Sighing in defeat, my mother picks me up while I look at both of them with curiosity, wondering what could have happened for my father to have apparently summoned the entire court. My mother steps into the corridor with the Nei Wei, where Fei Yi Lingxi joins us, and the three of them hurry out of the Pavilion with me in tow, heading toward the throne room where my Man Yue was held.

As we make our way there I see several other people moving in the same direction, just as hurried as we are. Whatever has happened, it looks serious. We enter the majestic throne room, which is far less decorated than during my Man Yue but packed to the last corner. As the Nei Wei escorts us to one side where I can see the other consorts have already gathered, murmurs ripple through the chamber and I can't help noticing that several of those present keep staring at both my mother and me.

When we reach the other consorts, to my surprise I see that in addition to some of the children who attended my first birthday, there are several teenagers and even about ten men who appear to be in their twenties. Given that we're standing in what seems to be the section reserved for the Emperor's family, I assume they must be my half-brothers, but seeing the age gap between them I can't help wondering: just how old is my father?

As we take our place beside the rest of the imperial consorts, the ones nearest to us stop whispering to stare at us. I even see a couple of the men watching us, more specifically, watching me, while frowning, and I feel like telling them I wouldn't touch the position of Empress with a ten-foot pole, since even with my father telling me that night they wouldn't see me as a threat, I'm certain that with all the fuss my father has made over me, they view me as a potential rival despite my disability.

We don't have to wait long. At the top of the throne's staircase appears the eunuch I'd always seen accompanying my father, and in his customary ceremonial tone he announces the arrival of the Son of Heaven to preside over a trial. The moment the introduction ends, my father enters and sits on his throne. When I see his face I'm frightened: I've never seen him this serious. No, more than serious, I think he is genuinely furious about something. And when he speaks, his tone silences the entire hall.

"Taijian Li Ming, we shall handle this matter ourselves. You may withdraw", he tells the eunuch, whose name I finally learn, before speaking again.

"Bring in Fei Zhi and the poor Xiang." I don't have time to reflect on what he's said before two Nei Wei enter from a side of the hall holding a woman I remember seeing among my father's group of consorts and make her kneel at the foot of the staircase. But what draws every eye in the room is a stretcher carried by two Jin Wei, the sight of which makes everyone in the hall flinch. On it lies what I think is a sleeping child, but his condition nearly makes me retch.

I can see that his body is completely deformed: one of his arms is larger than the other, one side of his head is visibly swollen, and his skin is covered in protuberances, as though parts of his flesh had grown abnormally. My father begins to speak in a tone that makes it unmistakable he is furious "Fei Zhi, which part of our orders that none of our children may cultivate before the age of eight was unclear to you, beyond the risks that everyone is aware of?

Or did you perhaps believe your rank made the consequences irrelevant for our son or for yourself should it fail?" The consort Fei Zhi, prostrate on the floor, remains silent without raising her head. My father continues, staring at her "And despite the risks everyone knows and our orders, our seven-year-old son has not only begun Body Tempering but has completed Skin Tempering and started Muscle Tempering, with the consequences we are now witnessing and which our orders were meant to prevent.

Now tell us the truth: at what age did he begin Body Tempering?" The consort Fei Zhi raises her head to look at my father and answers in a trembling voice "I do not know, Son of Heaven. I discovered it about a year ago. I ordered him to stop even though he insisted he was fine. I even had some handmaidens watch him for a time, and since they reported nothing, I believed he had obeyed me." My father narrows his eyes as he looks at her "And it did not occur to you to inform us?

Or were you blinded by the thought that our son had a supposed advantage over the others?" The consort Fei Zhi only looks back at the floor without answering, as good as confirming my father's words. My father continues speaking, but instead of addressing Fei Zhi, he directs his words to the hall at large "There will be an investigation into this matter. We have already ordered the Yushi to find everyone who was aware of the situation." At this, everyone in the hall starts, visibly nervous.

But my father ignores them and continues "And we hereby pass sentence. All those who knew what was happening and said nothing shall be condemned to death." A sepulchral silence descends upon the hall, and I am startled by the sentence. Its harshness, especially if there are people who were ordered not to speak, strikes me as excessive.

But I have to remind myself that ancient China, on which this culture appears to be based, could sentence entire families to death simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While I reflect, my father turns back to the consort Fei Zhi and addresses her directly "As for you, we sentence you to ten years of exile in the city of Jìnyáng." I notice the murmuring in the hall intensify, for the sentence is clear and irrevocable.

Fei Zhi, who until now had been maintaining her kneeling posture with a carefully calculated dignity, turns pale.

"You are confined to your quarters until the sentence is carried out", my father's words fall like a hammer, sealing her fate. I watch Fei Zhi draw a deep breath and, for the first time, her mask of serenity cracks. Her body tenses, her fingers clench the sleeves of her elegant dress, and she raises her gaze to fix it on the Emperor with a mixture of disbelief and contained fury.

"Your Majesty…" Her voice, though low, carries a dangerous edge, as though she were about to play some kind of last card to pressure him. Yet upon seeing my father's unbreakable expression, any attempt to appeal dies before it is born. I can see the desperation overtaking her in the way her eyelashes tremble, in the rigidity with which she holds herself. But there are no pleas. No screams. Only a bitter whisper, nearly inaudible, as she says quietly "I understand."

My father, indifferent to her reaction, then directs his gaze to the figure on the stretcher and speaks in a voice that is cold, cutting, and implacable "As for our son, take him to the physicians and let them put an end to his suffering." The silence that follows is suffocating. Fei Zhi, restrained until now, staggers as though she has been struck. Her eyes fly open in horror as she instinctively tries to rise, but the Nei Wei hold her back with gentle yet unyielding firmness.

"No… No, please…" her lips seem to whisper, but the sound barely makes it past her throat. Without anything more to add, my father makes a gesture with his hand. Taijian Li Ming steps forward and declares solemnly "The trial has concluded." With the sentence passed, my father rises from the throne and leaves without looking back. The hall remains in a heavy silence as the Nei Wei escort Fei Zhi out, her trembling figure barely able to hold itself upright.

Meanwhile, the Jin Wei lift the stretcher and carry my half-brother away, followed by the lost gaze of a mother who has just lost everything. And considering the politics of the court, she truly has lost everything. Ten years in exile, far from the court, will make her completely irrelevant.

And not only that: if she has other sons, which I don't know, they will probably have to accompany her into exile, and with that she'll lose whatever chance they had, not just of being the heir but of holding any position of high responsibility in the government. And for the kind of mentality that prevails in this type of culture, that is something worse than death. And as expected, after everyone has gone the hall erupts into a maelstrom of conversations about what has just occurred.

My mother makes a move to approach the rest of the consorts and my father's children, but the looks and gestures from the group make it clear she is not welcome. With a sigh she turns away, still carrying me in her arms, and slowly makes her way back to our Pavilion. Although I had suspected it from the details I'd seen or heard up to this point, this has made it undeniable. My mother is little short of a pariah among the other consorts, and all of it probably because of me.

And I can't help but admire her, because she has always treated me well despite all the difficulties my existence must have brought to her life, and despite the custom among nobles in ancient Chinese culture of leaving children to the care of nursemaids. On another note, I reflect on what I've learned about what they call Body Tempering. I had intended to gradually find out what it was and investigate on my own, but that is now a resounding no.

The mere thought of what happened to my half-brother happening to me is enough to give me nightmares. Let's simply wait until I'm eight while discreetly asking about the whole matter whenever someone brings it up in my presence, and depending on what they tell me, we'll improvise from there.