by Jeremy Han
Memories of Lei and him, young men a lifetime ago filled his mind. He saw the two of them filled with fear, uncertain, trying to survive. They only had each other against the evil that had turned their world upside down. Their young voices filled his mind, recalled from the depths of the past like a pail of water emerging out of the darkness of a deep, deep well.
Kong remembered he had been moving furtively out of the kitchen with steamed buns hidden inside his loose sleeves when a strong arm hauled him aside. He had thought he was caught by the kitchen supervisor.
“What are you doing? Smuggling food out of the kitchen!?” Lei hissed, dragging his friend into a corridor so that no one could hear them. Taller than Kong but skinnier, he towered over his friend. Concern stretched his face. Times were bad after the civil war, and the eunuchs who survived the executions tried their best to make life in the burnt palace seemed as normal as possible. Food had been controlled then, and Lei noticed his friend taking what he should not.
“You...you are going to report me?” Kong stammered, eyes widening when he saw it was his best friend. Relief and fear mixed like a stew in him. Lei was like a brother to him, and he could trust the skinny eunuch with his life but these were difficult times. The usurper was paranoid, and anyone, even the most insignificant eunuch, would not be spared if he was caught.
Lei sighed with frustration, nerves as frayed as his friends were. “Of course not, Brother! But something is going on. Tell me where you are bringing that food to. You must have a good reason for stealing buns, putting your head on the line.”
Kong peeked down the corridor, but there was no one. “Come,” he whispered to Lei, and they shuffled through lonely corridors lined with walls charred from the flames. Only lowly castrates could move so surely, like rats in sewers through the maze of corridors of the vast palace complex.
“Where are you taking me?” Lei pressed, getting impatient.
“Not now. Just follow,” Kong said without looking back. They were silent, the only sound the shuffling of feet on cold, cracked marble tiles. They finally came to a square and Lei looked around. They were in a deserted yard far away from the main buildings of the palace. White walls stained grey with soot ringed the space, and amidst the debris of broken furniture stood a shack. It was no more than a shed to keep firewood, but the door was locked.
Kong walked over and knocked, whispering “Majesty....”
Lei got the biggest shock of his life when the door slowly opened, and the frightened pale face of a beautiful woman appeared. Initially, her features relaxed at the sight of Kong, who must have been feeding them, but when she saw a stranger behind the eunuch, she yelped, and dropped the buns.
Lei was just as surprised, but a lifetime of bowing and scraping before royalty brought him to his knees. “Ten thousand years!” he said, lowering his forehead to the cold, hard ground before he realised he could be executed for having seen the ousted royal family. He did not know what to do, so he looked at his friend.
“I can explain, brother.” Kong was not sure what his friend would do. For all he knew, Lei could bolt and scream for the guards to come.
Lei squeaked meekly, fingers gesturing, “Her...her Majesty!” He sounded like a man who had seen a ghost.
“Yes.”
“They are fugitives!” Lei started to lose his composure. “We will be killed if they discover us with them!”
“Please, no!” the deposed empress begged. To add weight to the plea a baby cried, mewing like a cat and a boy, the two year old crown prince, poked his head out to see what had frightened his mother. Lei’s jaw dropped when he saw the prince. The child’s eyes were red from crying, and his chubby, pinkish cheeks were dirty. He had never dreamt that he would see the royal family in this vulnerable a state.
“Tian! ‘Heavens’!” Turning back to Kong he had wanted to yell, but he controlled his feelings for fear of discovery, repeating gravely, “We will be killed if we are found out!”
“No...please...I beg you,” the mother of two said as she knelt before the young man, touching his feet. “Don’t report us. We have already lost everything except out lives. The emperor Jian Wen is gone, leaving us to fend for ourselves. If not for Kong, we would be dead. Please...please...!”
Lei did not know what to do. It was beyond his wildest dreams, or nightmares, that an empress would beg him. Time stood still, and he could hear his heart thumping like a signal to run. He looked at Kong, who was almost hyperventilating, and the boy, who was born to rule but was now a fugitive. The young mother’s obvious agony broke his heart but every second longer he stayed the closer he crept to feeling as though he could be found out. If he reported them he could save himself, maybe earn a reward, but if he kept his silence he would be committing treason against the tyrant. Fear filled him, and he found himself quaking.
Go and tell your supervisor! one part of him screamed.
They don’t deserve this... another advised. Especially the children....
Then something happened. Kong knelt and tugged his hand, “Please, brother. Please, I beg you! I beg you!”
A lowly eunuch surrounded by supplicants, some with royal blood with their fate in his hands. Lei Xiang had felt as though Mt Tai, the tallest mountain in the Middle Kingdom had fallen on top of him.
That night, they had had a long talk. Lei was not sure if he had made the right decision and Kong continued to plead with his friend not to expose the fugitives.
“They can’t stay here,” Lei concluded. He was tired. His conscience and his survival instincts had wrestled without rest the whole day.
“I know," Kong said slowly, his voice flat, devoid of emotions, "but where can they go?”
“I can keep quiet about what I saw today, but they can’t be here forever!" Lei snapped at his friend. "They will be found out sooner or later, and then it will be out heads on the floor!”
“But where can they go?” Kong repeated.
“Somewhere far away, where they will not be recognised,” Lei suggested. Silence filled the air, the two men brooding over the question.
“There is somewhere I can take them to,” Kong finally said.
Lei jumped out of his chair. “Take them? You? Just send them! Your head will roll if you are caught with them.”
“They can’t do this on their own, can’t you see that?” Kong retorted. “A grieving woman and her young ones won’t go far.”
“Better their heads on the ground than ours,” Lei said, folding his arms stubbornly.
“I have a plan, but you must help me.”
“No.”
“We are in this together,” Kong said sharply. “The minute you walked away without reporting about them you become a conspirator like me.”
“You dragged me into this,” Lei retorted. “Go to hell, damn you!” He waved his hand as though flies were buzzing around him.
“You should not have stopped me when you saw me carrying the buns.”
“I don’t want to see you dead!” Lei rasped. He was getting exasperated.
“Then help me!" Kong pleaded. "The sooner we help them escape, the faster our lives will go back to normal.” He clasped his hand on Lei’s shoulder to press the point.
Lei frowned as a pain slowly filled his head like hot water pouring into a jar. He knew that it was true. The existence of the empress and her sons was something he could not erase from his memory or his knowledge. He could not pretend they were not there, and simply get on with life. As long as they remained, each day could be the day the guards would arrest him.
He bit his lip in frustration. He could not live with it. Someday he would make a slip, and it would be his end. Kong could read his friend’s mind, and he grabbed Lei’s arm as he spoke.
“Help me get them out!" he pleaded. "I can’t do it alone. Help me once more, and we will be free!”
53
Three days later, just before the sun had risen, Kong held out his hand to support her majesty. He had noticed that she was frownin
g with worry.
He had spoken to her two nights before about the escape, and reluctantly she had seen his point, although she was frightened of leaving her hiding place. She climbed up into the cart and balanced unsteadily as she tried to hide inside a massive cupboard. Kong felt a jolt of electricity as her lily white hand held his, as she tried to balance on her little bound feet that had remained the same size since she was five.
It is so soft!
Immediately his heart melted and warmth spread through him as though the sun was shining from his heart.
She touched me! The empress held my hand.
Then Lei carried the children up one by one and the three royals huddled inside the massive wood furniture as Kong secured the doors. They would pretend that they were disposing off damaged furniture. After an intense discussion the two castrates had decided that the best way of going about their plan would be to take them out before dawn through a gate that was used only by servants. They expected it to be unguarded, and there would be no one to ask questions. Once they were out, Lei would return to the palace and inform the supervisor that Kong was ill while the eunuch escorted them to a village he knew.
Kong closed the door slowly, and as the shadows fell onto her majesty’s face Kong mouthed the words, “It will be fine.” He tried to smile to reassure her, but his guts had turned to water. Then slowly Lei pulled the cart, and Kong followed behind with both hands on the cupboard to make sure it wouldn't topple over. The wooden wheels ground against the gravel, drowning out his heart’s drumming.
They made their way slowly so as not to arouse suspicion, passing eunuchs and servants who were reporting for duty, none of which paid them any heed. After the civil war the sight of servants disposing of furniture was common for the palace had bore the brunt of the fighting. They crunched on, making their way to the gate. It was not far away, and once they cleared that obstacle they would be free.
The empress held her son’s hand with her left and her infant with her right. The pale gray light of the morning streamed through the slits of the cupboard, and the shadows shifted as the cart moved. She shut her eyes tightly with tension, almost hyperventilating.
Merciful Buddha, please spare us! Give us an uneventful escape! she prayed.
But her prayer was not answered. Her deity had favoured the usurper more than her husband and her.
“Halt!” someone shouted, and the cart came to a stop. Instinctively, she hugged her children tighter as she heard footsteps approach.
“Guanye. ‘Officer’.” Lei and Kong greeted the guard with a bow. They were as shocked as the empress. They had not expect the gate to be guarded, and Kong started to shiver while Lei swallowed nervously.
“Where are you going?” the soldier asked. He sounded like a northerner, one of the usurper’s men posted to guard the palace. He was alone.
“We…we are disposing this damaged furniture, Sir,” Kong replied, keeping his eyes to the ground. The guard, who had a sabre sheathed at his waist, circled the cart casually. Servants disposing of things were not unusual, but he must be vigilant.
He rapped the door of the cupboard. “Still feels solid,” he said, and glancing at them from the side he eyed them suspiciously, thinking they were thieves. Kong felt his bladder almost leaking.
The empress cringed at the knocking. Her baby mewed softly, and her heart almost leapt out of her mouth. Her older son’s eyes were wide with fear as mother and child looked at each other. She put a finger to her lips, signalling to her son to be quiet.
“Sir, his Excellency, the Prince of Yan said that anything associated with the royal family must be thrown away, so….”
“This belonged to the Emperor Jian Wen?” the soldier asked with hands on his hips. "Must be worth a lot of money huh?”
“Sir, I do not know…I merely follow orders.”
“Hmmm…open it.” The guard pointed at the doors.
“There’s nothing inside, Sir,” Kong pleaded. Lei swallowed visibly as he started to tremble.
“I said OPEN IT!” the guard shouted.
His sharp voice startled everyone, and at that moment the baby wailed.
“What the-!” The guard’s eyes went wide as saucers. His hand reached for his sabre, and Kong raised both hands to plead.
“No, please! Please!”
To everyone’s surprise it was Lei Xiang, the skinny eunuch, who reacted. He leapt at the guard from the back, grabbing the man and pinning his arms so he could not draw the sabre.
“Get him! Get him now!” Lei yelled like a demon, his face red from fear and exertion. The guard was surprisingly strong, and he pushed Lei’s arms away. Kong picked up a stone the size of an eggplant and jumped forward, smashing it on the man’s head just as he pulled the blade halfway out.
Crack!
The soldier screamed as blood streamed over his face like a red web, but his hand was still on the sabre, pulling it out and Lei pushed the man forward, forcing him into the handle of the cart. The handle was made of hard timber, and it struck the soldier like a battering ram. His hand went off the sabre handle as he clutched his throbbing chest, dropping like a stone to the ground as he groaned in pain.
The two eunuchs panted and pondered what to do next. Kong looked at Lei, and Lei nodded his agreement as their eyes communicated the unspeakable.
He has to die.
Both of them picked up a stone and bashed the soldier to death. When they had finished the man’s blood had splattered all over them. They stared at each other in disbelief, feeling shocked and disgusted at the blood that coated them. Kong retched, while Lei had shivered uncontrollably. From that day on, they had been brothers in murder and treason.
So many years ago.
Kong sighed as the memory flashed before his eyes in total clarity. From that day the two of them were bonded by a secret, and they had risen together through the eunuch hierarchy. Lei had continued to help him with his quest, despite the chamberlain’s misgivings.
Lei is a liability if he weakens, he thought, yet he knew that Lei had always come through for him. Was it not his lanky friend who saved them by his quick action that fateful day almost thirty years ago? I love him like a brother, but sentiments would only get in the way.
A plan slowly formed in his head. He would create a plan within a plan so that Ji Gang and his dogs would have a red herring to chase after. He would toss them a bone and watch them as they ran after it. Hopefully, he could vanquish the Eastern Depot and Lei and he would not lose their lives. But if he failed….
We have come too far to fail, but in an operation of this magnitude, anything can happen. I’m sorry brother... but if I am prepared to forfeit my own life, I am ready to sacrifice anyone’s.
Including yours.
54
“Majesty, you summoned?” Kong Wei said as he rose to his feet before the empress dowager, who was seated on a gold-plated elevated chair embedded with precious stones in a chamber used for informal audiences. She was dressed in a coat lined with rabbit fur to ward off the cold. That morning, the first snow had fallen and The Forbidden City, with its red walls lined with white. looked like a cake with powdered sugar icing.
“We have many things to discuss, Grand Eunuch.”
Kong dipped his head in acknowledgement, but did not speak. She, as the sovereign, would decide the topic. He was the perfect servant.
“You know what happened.” It was a statement delivered in a cold, flat voice.
“Yes, Majesty. I heard about the horrible assault on his Majesty and you,” he replied, sounding concern. “I heard that the Eastern Depot failed to detect the threat.” He shook his fist to emphasise his point.
She nodded in grave silence, her face taut. “The Dong Chang is supposed to be the protector of the throne," she spoke slowly, "but they did not live up to their name.”
“Commander Ji Gang has a sterling reputation,” Kong said. “I’m sure-”
She cut him off. “The secret service was sent south to investi
gate two things, and both yielded no results.” After a pause, she continued, “The investigation into the murder of General Wang produced nothing, and the search for the resurrected crown prince Zhu Wenkui was futile. What was worse, it led to an attack on me!” She shook her head.
“Majesty, may I suggest something? Perhaps, it is not fair to blame the Eastern Depot after all?”
“Why?” she demanded.
“A woman with many hands, a crown prince from hell... they don’t sound like your common rebel or criminal.”
“What are you trying to say?” she asked as she leaned forward.
“I am saying, Majesty, perhaps Commander Ji Gang needs help,” he said in a tone filled with empathy for the commander’s plight. “Ji Gang has never failed in both duty and loyalty. To blame him now,” he shook his head, “is not doing him justice.”
“What should I do then?”
He took a deep breath, as though he was about to announce a matter of great importance. “Majesty the Directorate of Ceremonies, as you know, deal with supernatural matters as well. We staff the ling tai ‘Divine Terrace’, where the stars are studied and ceremonies are held to ward off ill-fortune. The eunuchs there are trained by experts in dao and fo jing ‘Tao and Buddhist scriptures’. Perhaps, an agency should be set up under the Directorate of Ceremonies to deal with security issues that have a…supernatural element to them.”
“Manned by eunuchs?”
“Eunuchs, your Majesty, are most loyal to the throne because they have nowhere else to go.” He spread his hands to emphasise their utter surrender. “And the eunuch battalions have very able commanders and men. We have the expertise to compliment the Dong Chang.”
“Very well," she said. "Let me think about it.”
“Yes, Majesty,” Kong replied as he bowed.
