by Poon, Alice;
On the rebel side, Wu Shifan was having a hard time leading his late grandfather’s soldiers, who viewed him with distrust and disdain. Had the rebels been more united, the provincial capital of Kunming would have stood a good chance of resisting the Qing onslaught. But within a couple of months of the launch of attacks, the Green Standard Army breached the rebel lines at Mount Wuhua, the main defensive position, and laid siege to Kunming. Wu Shifan, young and inexperienced, had no one to turn to for advice as his army crumbled into total disarray. He was convinced his end was close but was anxious to first warn his foster grandmother, Madam Chen Yuanyuan, to take flight. She was his only close relative left and she had always been kind to him, regularly bringing him fresh fruit and vegetables that she grew in her garden.
He changed into peasant clothes, smeared dirt on his face and headed on foot towards Anfu Garden, two days’ walk away. When he saw the aging nun’s stooped silhouette by the side of the lotus pond, he felt a sting in his heart. Yuanyuan’s face sagged as she saw him. He stepped forward and went down on his knees.
“Grandmother, the Qing Army has laid siege to the town,” he wailed. “It is only a matter of days before they attack. I have come to tell you to leave while you still can…”
“No matter, no matter, Shifan,” she interrupted him, and helped him back onto his feet. “No need to worry about me. What are you going to do now?”
“I will fight to the end with my soldiers,” he replied as convincingly as possible.
Her legs felt weak and she had to sit down on the stone ledge of the pond. She tried to think but her thoughts were all tangled up. There was nothing she could do to save Wu’s grandson. Her face went ashen white.
“It is the will of the heavens,” she said feebly. “You are still so young. It’s not fair for you….”
She took the young man into her arms and patted him on the back.
“I won’t go anywhere, Shifan. This is my home, my only home.”
When they had both exhausted all comforting words and tears, Wu Shifan bade farewell and left. He made his way to the small hill where he had buried his grandfather, knelt down before it and bowed three times. Then he took a vial from his sleeve, removed the lid and drank all its liquid content in one gulp.
With Wu Shifan gone, Yuanyuan stared absent-mindedly into the lotus pond, which was now dismally barren of flowers. After what seemed like a long time, she slipped quietly into her bed chamber, making sure not to be noticed. She took out the same rope from the wooden chest in which she kept her beddings. She was aware that both the novice nuns were in the garden outside her window tending vegetables, but she knew that this time her feat would not be bungled.
The next day, Wu Shifan’s lifeless body was discovered by a soldier who had come to pay respects to Wu Sangui’s tomb. He immediately reported the death to his superior and on the following day the rebel army waved flags of surrender on the look-out terrace of the fortress. The soldiers then opened the gates to the Green Standard Army and the eight-year long insurrection of the Warlords finally ended. In the aftermath, Wu Shifan’s severed head was placed on a pike for public display in the main execution ground of Beijing. Wu Sangui’s tomb was broken open and his corpse chopped into little pieces and placed on public display in all the southwestern provinces where the revolt had taken place. The Qing soldiers tried in vain to locate Chen Yuanyuan or her corpse.
Twenty-nine
With peace finally restored, Kangxi was considering promoting Noble Consort Tunggiya to the position of Imperial Noble Consort as a gesture of gratitude for her hard work in managing the Inner Palaces. When he went to his Nana to ask for permission, he had no idea that he was about to engage in his first-ever fight with her.
He found his Nana in her Palace garden tending to the lilies. After making obeisance, he told her that he wanted to grant his cousin the title of Imperial Noble Consort. She responded with a vexed expression.
“Why, Xuanye? In what way has she displeased you? I would have thought she deserved no less than the Empress title.” She scanned her grandson’s face for clues as to the reason for his inexplicable unfairness towards his beloved companion.
He winced at the retort and was lost for words, as he obviously was not prepared for such a question. He was reluctant to give the true reason, for fear that his Nana might think him silly.
“Well? What is the problem with making Hexian your Empress? The Inner Palaces have never been this orderly and peaceful as far as I can remember, and it is all due to her hard work and her wise diplomacy. She deserves the title. If you have someone else in mind, I would definitely forbid it.” Her face hardened as she spoke.
“Nana, no, I don’t have anyone else in mind. It’s just that…. the others are being promoted by one rank only. If I make Hexian Empress, it would a promotion of two ranks up for her. The others might see that as favoritism.” It was a reasonable excuse.
“Xuanye, it is not that I wish to meddle with your Inner Palaces. I’m getting too old to care about these trivial things. But my judgment of people has not been impaired. All I want to say is that Hexian is an intelligent and generous woman and you need her right by your side for as long as you live. She deserves to be treated right.”
“I know she does. No one values her more than I do. Trust me, Nana.”
“The Empress post has been empty for three years now, and that is inappropriate. I have nothing further to say.” She waved him away in exasperation.
It broke his heart to see her so upset. In his memory, she had never before shown disappointment in him.
“Nana, please believe me, there is no woman I love and respect more than Hexian. I know what I’m doing.” He was desolate.
“I hope so, Xuanye. A great woman is not easy to find. By the way, have they found Chen Yuanyuan yet? Doesn’t anybody know her whereabouts or what happened to her?”
“No, Nana. There is no news of her. But the search continues.” He was glad that she had changed the subject.
“If she’s still alive, I would very much like to meet her. I have heard that she is a brave woman with a mind of her own.”
“My guess is that she probably killed herself out of loyalty to Wu Sangui.”
“Oh, that reminds me. Xuanye, please summon the monk Yu Lin to come to the South Park Retreat to meet with me. I heard that he was a teacher to Chen. He should know what happened to her. I would like to talk to him.”
“I will do so at once, Nana. If Chen is still alive, you would want to spare her life?”
“Yes, Xuanye, I would want that. She has had an unspeakably tragic life.”
“You are right, Nana. We should spare her. Oh, before I forget, there is one more thing that I came to talk to you about. The Court and I have decided that you should be honored with two prefixes to your title for your invaluable advice during the rebellions.” He was hoping this would improve his Nana’s mood somewhat.
She looked tenderly into his eyes, her heart aching with love.
“Xuanye, over these eight years, you have sweated and toiled,” she said. “With your wit and your careful strategies, you succeeded in ending the rebellions. If anyone should be honored, it is you. You must not forget to properly reward your generals and soldiers, especially those who lost their lives for you and the Empire. Please thank the Court on my behalf. My role has always been simply supportive and my place is in the Inner Palaces.”
Kangxi was speechless at the consistency of her humility in spirit, words and actions. He could not but prostrate himself before her.
It was a long time since Bumbutai had last visited the South Park Retreat and she was elated to be back. It was a clear cold day in winter. Her meeting with Yu Lin was fixed for the following day and she had come a day early to savor the serene ambience of the vast expanses of snow-covered forest against a speckless cerulean sky. In a couple of months, she would be turning s
ixty-nine, but many of the events of her life seemed to have happened only a short while ago. It was hard for her to believe that she had aged so much.
She remembered most vividly that day she had come here with Little Jade. She had still been nimble and full of life then. This time, Sumalagu was with her, and they travelled together in a carriage instead of on horseback.
Upon arrival at the Park Retreat, they had a short rest and then headed out for a stroll together. They strolled slowly toward the spot where the elaphures were kept, on the riverbank. The snow made the walking a lot harder than it was in more clement weather, and when they reached the fences holding in the animals, Bumbutai was quite out of breath. Sumalagu, who had a stronger constitution, would have no problem with the walking if it was not for the formal attire she now wore. Several years earlier, Bumbutai had made her a princess and ever since she had been complaining about having to wear the stiff Manchu robes and how they impeded her movements. In her heart, though, she could not be more grateful, as it was the highest honor a maid could ever dream of receiving. Still she saw an opportunity to jest with her mistress.
“Your Highness, now you know why I prefer wearing maids’ clothes! Don’t you faint on me, now. I am not going to be able to carry you back to the Retreat in this stupid robe.”
“Don’t you worry, Suma. I’m quite alright. I only need… to catch… my breath. But you must dress… according to your….status.” She spouted her words intermittently, making a face at her beloved companion.
“Maybe we could borrow two horses from the forest wardens,” Sumalagu suggested. “Riding should be easier than walking. What do you think?”
“That’s a good idea. Go ahead and ask them. I’ll wait here.”
The old maid was soon back with two saddled horses, and having mounted them, mistress and maid trotted slowly side-by-side upstream along the riverbank, which sloped gently upwards into the densely forested hills. There was a vast aviary tucked away deep near a waterfall where gyrfalcons were kept and trained. Sufficiently trained falcons would be let free in the Park Retreat and as their horses plodded on leisurely, some of these majestic birds hovered in a playful frolic over their heads.
“I’m so glad that Dorgon had built this beautiful hunting park,” Bumbutai said. She was feeling talkative than she had for a long while. “It is here that I feel closest to Eternal Blue Sky. This place always welcomes me with open arms.”
“You still miss him, don’t you?” Sumalagu said in a half probing way, shooting an oblique glance at her mistress.
“I would be lying if I said I no longer do. A part of me will always miss him.”
“He loved you to his last breath, although he was always too proud to show it.”
“I guess he was torn between his love for me and his hatred of me. I never blamed him, because I understood better than anyone else why he was always so bitter. Sadly, I was part of the cause for that bitterness.”
“Yes. Eternal Blue Sky sometimes plays jokes on lovers. If you two had been born in commoners’ families, things would have turned out so differently.” Sumalagu was the only one who knew Bumbutai’s life inside out, or almost.
“Sometimes I still wonder what would have happened if you hadn’t let Hong Taiji take away Dorgon’s letter and brought it to me. Would I have eloped with him?”
“I dare say that you would have, at your age then. But Eternal Blue Sky had other plans for you. Everything was meant to be.” The old maid was secretly proud that she had had a hand in deciding her mistress’s fate, but allowed Eternal Blue Sky to take the credit, or the blame.
“After all is said and done, I’m grateful to Eternal Blue Sky for letting me keep a part of Dorgon…..”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to?”
“My second daughter… Princess Shuhui… was… by him.”
“Is that….. really true… Bumbutai? Oh my Buddha!” Sumalagu’s sturdy body almost keeled over on hearing her mistress’s shocking revelation.
“Swear on your life, Suma, that your lips are sealed on this,” Bumbutai warned sternly.
“Yes, yes, I swear, I swear. But may I say that I’m happy for you?”
Sumalagu understood how much this daughter must mean to Bumbutai, especially when her eldest daughter had passed away three years earlier, and her youngest one had died in childhood. More importantly for her, Shuhui was Dorgon’s flesh and blood.
“Suma, I’m just glad to have unloaded this burden of a secret at long last. I gave him a daughter, but I let him pass on without ever knowing it. That is why I feel I owe him so much.” A cloud of deep contrition swept across her face.
“Bumbutai, you did a lot for him too. You protected him… And you did become his wife after all, didn’t you?”
“He did make some big mistakes. But I also let my own interests guide me…”
“It was the timing and circumstances that tormented you two so. Neither one should take the blame. It was the will of Eternal Blue Sky.”
“Sometimes I do feel that there are invisible forces that have pushed me along a pre-laid path. But I would be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t make active choices in some situations.”
“If you don’t want to go insane, you’ve got to believe in something, be it Eternal Blue Sky, or Buddha, or the Tao.”
“My only wish is for Shuhui to live happily in Mongolia with her husband. I will never burden her with my generation’s miseries. I will pray to Eternal Blue Sky to keep her in its care.”
“Sometimes it is best for a secret to forever remain a secret. Bumbutai, you had heavy obligations on your shoulders and you did all in your power to fulfill them. Mongolia and the Qing Empire cannot ask any more of you. They should take pride in you and honor you for what you’ve done.”
“Speaking of pride, Xuanye is truly the pride of my life. I have to thank you, Suma, for playing a part in raising him.”
Her face lit up the moment she talked about her grandson.
“He owes that to his hard work and talent,” said the humble maid proudly. “I take no credit. He will be the greatest Emperor in history.”
When they reached a clearing, they dismounted and sat resting on a flat boulder. As they chatted, the sun was preparing to take a rest. Both felt refreshed from the mountain air and the aura of the natural habitat. But a stinging evening chill began to graze their faces and they mounted their horses and cantered back to the Retreat.
The next day, Bumbutai met Yu Lin in the main reception hall of the Retreat. She had met him once before when he had appeared to report on his successful prohibition of Shunzhi being ordained as a monk. But she was surprised to see his radiant features despite his graying hair. He had about him an air that was tinged with poetic melancholy. When the etiquette of greetings was over, she asked him the direct question.
“Master Yu, the reason I asked to see you is that I would like to know the whereabouts of Chen Yuanyuan. I heard that you were a teacher to her for a while and thought you might have news of her.”
“Venerable Highness, I am afraid I cannot be of much help, as I have been out of touch with her for a few years now,” he said circumspectly, not daring to speak the truth lest the rulers had malevolent intent to desecrate Yuanyuan’s remains.
Bumbutai’s sharp skills of observation told her at once that he was lying. So she tried another approach.
“I have recently read the popular narrative poem Song of Yuanyuan by the poet Wu Weiye and am very much impressed. I think she is a remarkably strong woman who stood up to the worst of afflictions. I also heard that she is a gifted poet. So I was thinking that perhaps we might make her a study companion for the Emperor’s Consorts.”
The Empress Dowager’s sincere tone had a disarming effect on Yu Lin and made him feel a lot more at ease.
“Venerable Highness, I beg your forgiveness,” he replied in a choked
voice. “I refrained from telling the truth because I wanted to protect Yuanyuan’s remains.” He couldn’t hold back his tears as he prostrated himself. Bumbutai gently bade him rise and speak, saying there was no need for formality.
Then he told her all that had happened, starting from the day Wu Sangui first visited Yuanyuan in Anfu Garden up to the day she hanged herself for the second time. He did not forget to mention that she had tried her best to dissuade Wu from inciting the revolt. Yu Lin said he had buried her inside Anfu Garden, beneath the largest cherry blossom tree.
When he came to the end of the story, he took out a scroll on which Yuanyuan had penned her own elegy and showed it to the Empress Dowager. She read it eagerly, savoring every word. Her eyes became red-rimmed and she gave out a deep sigh.
“Life was cruel to Chen Yuanyuan. She was very much a victim of a bigoted society. But there was little she could have done to change things. She did nothing that was ignoble. In the end, she had the courage to live up to her principles. In my opinion, she was a much more respectable person than Wu Sangui.”
She was in a pensive mood, recalling how Kangxi had tried to liberate Han women from the torturous and deforming practice of foot-binding. But his good intentions were no match for deeply entrenched ignorance that had calcified with time.
Then she turned to Yu Lin.
“Master Yu, you can rest assured that I will not reveal her burial place to anyone. I will order a halt to the search for her. She deserves to have a peaceful resting place.”
“Venerable Highness, I bow to you on behalf of Yuanyuan for your great kindness.”
“Master Yu, there was another thing that I wanted to speak to you about. I am interested in Laozi’s Daodejing. Would you care to give me and the Emperor’s Consorts Taoism lessons here, say four times a month? I would love so much to escape the Palaces and come out here for the fresh air.”
“Venerable Highness, I would be too honored to be of such service.” He greatly admired the Empress Dowager for her thirst for knowledge even at such an advanced age. He had been similarly amazed at Shunzhi’s sharp intelligence, and knew now where it had come from. Never in his life had he encountered a more open-minded and more cultured woman. No wonder the Emperor loved and respected his grandmother so much. The Aisin Gioro clan, he thought, was fortunate to have such an enlightened educator and mentor for the reigning Emperor.
