Murder in the Forbidden City (Qing Dynasty Mysteries Book 1)

by Amanda Roberts

“Teach me! Teach me!” she said as she started running around wildly.

  “Okay, okay,” he said. He walked to the koi pond and pulled out two reeds. He handed one to Second Daughter. “Here, hold this in your right hand. Hold it straight out in front of you. Now, swing left! Swing right! Hold it in front of you to block my attack. Here I come!”

  The two of them chased each other around, swiping at one another with their reed swords while First Daughter laughed so hard she fell to the ground. This was the state of chaos her garden was in when Lady Li returned.

  “What is going on here?” she demanded.

  “Inspector Gong is teaching me to be a great warrior!” Second Daughter declared.

  “Is he?” she asked, cocking one of her eyebrows at him. “Well, too bad he has to leave us before you can complete your training.”

  Both of the girls groaned in complaint.

  “That is enough,” Lady Li said. “Go find Madam Ling and get cleaned up before dinner. Both of you are like little pigs.”

  “Yes, Mama,” they said as Second Daughter chased First Daughter across the garden and down one of the hallways.

  When they were alone, Inspector Gong said, “Second Daughter has the makings of a warrior princess.”

  “Don’t put such ideas in her head,” Lady Li replied. “She is a lady, not a wild monkey.”

  “Come now,” he said. “Manchu women were born on the steppes and rode and fought alongside men. Wouldn’t you love to see your daughter bravely shooting an arrow from the back of a muscled steed across the plains as her foremothers did?”

  “I don’t need a Han to teach me about Manchu history,” Lady Li replied curtly. “And I’d appreciate it if you would leave my family alone.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” he said, returning to seriousness. “I am under orders to find out what happened to Yun Suyi. I know you want me to find out what happened to her as well.”

  “We don’t know anything,” Lady Li said, exasperated. “You come here, bringing bad news and dragging up old, painful memories, all for what? Is it not enough that we have lost Suyi?”

  “I take it your visit with your mother-in-law did not go well?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “It did not. She has now lost both of her children. I have asked her to come and live with me. Hopefully my children and I can give her some comfort in her graying years.”

  “But you are sure nothing she told you could have anything to do with what happened to Suyi?”

  “I am sure,” she said.

  “Do you need to tell me?” he asked. “Let me be the judge?”

  Lady Li shook her head.

  Inspector Gong decided not to push her. “Then there is only one thing left to do,” he said. “I have to get inside the Inner Court.”

  “As I said,” Lady Li reminded him, “you won’t get inside, and the eunuchs will only lie to you.”

  “I know,” he said. “But you could get inside.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “You could get inside. You served the empress once, you could volunteer to do so again. And you know how all the politics of court life work. You could get all the information for me.”

  She shook her head and waved him away. “You need to leave,” she said. “I’m not going to discuss this with you.”

  “Lady Li…” he started, but she interrupted him.

  “No,” she said. “I am tired. I am sad. I am angry. I cannot even look at you right now. You need to go!”

  Inspector Gong did not reply. She was right. It had been a long day for her, full of sorrow. He gave her a polite bow and then exited the courtyard. He did not even wait for Eunuch Bai to see him out. He mounted his horse and left without a glance back.

  Lady Li’s mansion, like many estates of the elite Manchu class, was located in the green, hilly area north of the Forbidden City, quite a distance from the Chinese—Han—City south of the Forbidden City. Like many of the Han Chinese of Peking, Inspector Gong lived among the endless hutongs that snaked around the Chinese City in an endless maze.

  Inspector Gong rode back toward southern Peking slowly. He was in no rush, but needed to figure out his next move. This case was unlike anything he had investigated before. He had seen many murders, caught many criminals, but nothing inside the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was exactly that—a city cut off from the rest of the world. It had its own rules, its own way of functioning. While he wasn’t surprised a murder had taken place within the walls—he had learned that wherever people gather, crimes will take place—he was surprised that no one knew who did it and that they needed him, an outsider, to try and find out what happened. Justice often held a different meaning for the ruling Manchus.

  Inspector Gong stopped by the Forbidden City and talked to the head guardsman on duty. He asked if there was any way in or out without the guards knowing.

  “Of course there are,” he said.

  His blunt honesty surprised the inspector. “Why don’t you close them off?” he asked.

  “I don’t know where they are,” he said. “Only that they exist. I know that sometimes eunuchs and court officials slip in and out of the palace at night, but I have no idea how.”

  “That is unbelievable,” the inspector said. “Isn’t the empress worried about her safety?”

  “Of course,” the guard said. “But she has her own guards and her eunuchs are armed.”

  “Can the guards be bought?” he asked.

  “Naturally,” he said. “That is how most of the women sneak their lovers in at night.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Inspector Gong said. “The Forbidden City practically has an open door for anyone who wants to walk in or out.”

  The guard nodded. “I don’t want it to sound quite that easy, or that I am shirking my duties,” he said. “My men patrol the outer wall day and night, constantly. We use torches at night so we can see. If any of the guards are caught taking bribes to look the other way, they are executed. Getting in and out is difficult. But humans are like rats, they find ways to get where they want to go.”

  “What can you tell me about the girl’s murder?” he asked. “Who found her? Where was she?”

  “She was found her at first light, in one of the gardens. She had been killed sometime during the night. One of the ladies found her in the morning and reported it to a eunuch.”

  “I’ll need to know which lady it was. I’ll need to talk to her.”

  “I think her name was Lady Kwon, but you can’t speak with her. She is one of the widows.”

  “Did she say anything about the scene? Did she describe it or say if there was anything unusual about it?”

  “Not that I know of,” the guard said. “She said she covered the girl’s face with a white cloth and then went to find a guard. The guards took the body to the audience hall while the eunuch went to the empress. She sent for Prince Kung, and then he sent for you. That’s all I know.”

  Inspector Gong sighed. His outside investigation was going nowhere. He had to get inside. He wondered if he should bribe one of the guards to let him in. It would probably work, but what would he do once he got inside? The Forbidden City was huge. He wouldn’t know where to find the murder scene, and he wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone. He needed help. He needed Lady Li. But how could he convince her?

  He still needed to talk to Dr. Xue, who would be examining the body, but it was late and he was also tired. He decided to make his way home.

  While his home was small compared to Lady Li’s, it was nothing to spit on. It was one of the largest compounds in the southwest section. As he rode up to a gate, a male servant—not a eunuch—ran out to take the reins. The large wooden gate was opened for him automatically by another servant. Inside the compound, everything seemed alive. The family had already eaten dinner, so everyone was seated around the garden laughing, playing games, and talking loudly. Lanterns were hanging every few feet, giving the garden a warm glow. Several men—his father,
uncles, and cousins—were playing mahjong around a square table. His mother, aunties, and sisters were sitting under an awning, fanning themselves in the warm night air. When his mother saw him, she stood and slowly walked his way. Her feet were bound, so she moved slowly and gracefully. When she reached him, she pulled him down to her and kissed him on the cheek.

  “There is my beautiful son,” she said. “Where have you been?”

  “I had a busy day, Mama.”

  “You must be hungry,” she said.

  “Not really,” he said. “Just tired.”

  “Nonsense,” she decided. “All growing boys need to eat good meals.”

  “I’m not a boy, Mama,” he said.

  “Until you are married, you are a boy,” she said as she led him to a table. “So unless you’ve hidden a wife under that chaopao, you’re a boy.”

  She was right that he was old enough to be married, long past the age of marriage for most men, but he was in no hurry. Between his mother and his father’s other wives and concubines, he had three brothers, two of whom were already married. He also had six sisters, but they didn’t really matter. He was glad his brothers had been more eager to marry and start their own families. It took the pressure off of him and allowed him to live the carefree life of a bachelor he wanted. Well, as carefree as a man with such a stressful job could live. His services were constantly in need, and seemingly more often. China was undergoing many changes, and with change comes instability and crime. There were rebellions in the south and warlords to the west. The foreigners were constantly imposing their own rules and laws wherever they decided they wanted to live. The gangs in the poorer areas of the city were slowly encroaching on the more prosperous areas. And young people were always getting into trouble. While it was good that he had a constant stream of work, keeping him employed meant that someone else had suffered a great loss, and that could be hard to deal with day in and day out. Often, after finishing a case, he would unwind at a flower house with a bottle of baijiu on his lips and a whore on his lap. He would drink and enjoy the women until he passed out and couldn’t remember the horrors of whatever he had seen and heard.

  But drinking and whoring were far off in the distance tonight. He had to solve the case first. He didn’t know how, but he didn’t want to imagine what the empress would do to him if he failed.

  The cook, an elderly woman from the countryside who didn’t have bound feet, brought him a bowl of rice and several plates of food—fried fish, sliced potatoes, spicy pork. He took a few bites of each one, savoring the flavors. His mother sat down beside him.

  “So, I heard your new case took you to court,” she said.

  He nodded. “I don’t suppose I need to tell you why.”

  She shook her head. Word about the murder in the Forbidden City was already spreading. It would probably even be in the English newspapers by morning.

  “What is the empress like?” she asked.

  “She is how everyone says she is: a beautiful dragon. Watch out for her claws.” They both laughed.

  “What I wouldn’t give to see inside the Forbidden City,” she said.

  “It is not so great,” he said. “It is big, but cold. Nothing like this,” he said motioning to the happy sounds from his large family.

  “It is strange how the family with the largest house is also the smallest,” she remarked. Indeed, it was strange. The Xianfeng Emperor had a dozen wives and concubines and was known to spend time with bound-foot Han whores. Yet he had only one daughter and one son. In all of the Forbidden City, the royal family was made up of the Dowager Empress, her stepdaughter, and her son, the little emperor. The Xianfeng’s emperor’s other ladies, and the widows of the emperors who came before him, all resided deep within the Forbidden City, but they were nearly forgotten, doomed to spend the rest of their days alone and childless.

  “Money and power cannot always bring love and happiness,” he mused.

  His mother smiled. “I raised a scholar!” She laughed. “You say the word, little tiger, and I will find you a wife with big breasts!”

  “Mama!” he said. “Don’t say such things!”

  “Why not? That is how you like them, yes?”

  “I can’t think about such things. I’m investigating an important case for the empress! I need to concentrate.”

  “Oh, of course,” she said. “So tell me about this murder. Who was the girl?”

  “I can’t tell you anything, you know that.”

  “I can keep asking,” she said. “Tell me, how can I help?”

  “Actually,” he said. “You can help me. The girl was murdered in the Inner Court, but I can’t go there. I can’t talk to the maids or the ladies-in-waiting. I can’t even see where she was killed.”

  “Oh,” his mother said, thoughtfully. “This is a problem.”

  “I need someone, a woman, to go inside and find information for me. Then she can report back.”

  “Do you need help finding a girl to do this work?” his mother asked.

  “No,” he said. “I already found one. She is related to the dead girl, and she used to be a lady-in-waiting to the empress. I thought she would want to help me, want to find the murderer of her kin. But when I ordered her to go, she refused!”

  “You ordered her to go?” his mother asked.

  “Yes, and she said no! Can you believe it?” he asked. He shook his head in disbelief.

  Before he could react, his mother stood up and slapped him across the head. “You stupid boy!” she yelled.

  He dropped his chopsticks and flinched from the pain. “Ow! Mama! What was that for?”

  “What is wrong with you?” she asked as she sat back down. “Is this how you always treat women?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I guess. Women are supposed to do as they are told.”

  “You are an idiot,” she said. “Did I raise you? This woman is not your wife. She is not your whore. She is not a slave. You said she served at court. She is a Manchu lady! She doesn’t answer to some piece of shit like you.”

  “I thought you loved me,” he nearly whined.

  “I don’t like you much at all right now,” she said. “And I doubt this woman, this lady, does either. So you went to this woman’s house. Uninvited. Unannounced. You told her a young girl from her family had been butchered, and then you ordered her to go into the devil’s mouth?” She swatted her hand at him as though he were a fly in her way. “Idiot boy.”

  “It didn’t exactly happen like that,” he said, though she wasn’t very far off the mark. He did tell her that her sister-in-law had been murdered and then ordered her to deliver the news to her mother-in-law, which could not have been easy. He had completely left that part out of the version he had told his mother. He was certain his mother would never forgive him if she ever found that little bit out.

  Lady Li barely had time to process what had happened and was probably scared, and yet he ordered her to drop everything and go to the very place her sister-in-law had been killed. She probably wanted to be with her children. She said she had loved Suyi like a daughter. Her death was a great pain and a great loss. She still had to plan the funeral.

  He had been an ass.

  “So what do I do now?” he asked.

  His mother calmed down, placated by the fact that he was asking her advice. “Let her rest tonight. She will need the sleep to give her strength. Tomorrow, you go back and you beg her for her help.”

  “Yes, Mama,” he said. “That is a good idea. I think I need a good night of sleep too.” He kissed his mother on the cheek, waved to his family, and made his way to his own room where he stumbled into bed and was quickly snoring.

  6

  Lady Li could not wait for Inspector Gong to leave. He was insufferable. Cruel. He had no sympathy for what she had been through. She was still in shock and had completely lost her head in the situation, but after she returned home and saw him with her daughters, she woke as if from a fog. Her daughters! She had to protect th
em. She had already lost Suyi, she could not let something awful happen to them. She wanted to hold them tight and never let them go. She thought Suyi would be safe in the Forbidden City, under the ever-watchful eye of the empress. But she was wrong. If Suyi had not been safe at court, then nowhere was safe.

  How dare that Inspector Gong force himself into her home, her world, and order her around. She should not have gone to see her mother-in-law, not then. Of course, she would have told her eventually, and she was glad she invited Popo to live with her, but it shouldn’t have been then, not while she was still so emotional. Thank goodness Popo had been so strong.

  As soon as Inspector Gong had left, Lady Li went to her room, shut the door, and hid her face in her pillows as she wept. She wept and wept as if she had never cried before. She had to get all the tears out because she didn’t want her daughters to know what had happened. She had to protect them. She would tell them someday. They would miss their auntie. But not today, maybe not tomorrow either.

  When she had finally cried out all she could, she sat up straight and called her maid to help her dress. Her maid redid her hair and helped her change her chaopao. She even added a few jewels to her hair and a long string of jade beads. When she went to dinner, she maintained her poise and instructed her daughters to sit up and hold their chopsticks correctly, as she did every evening. She acted as though nothing was wrong.

  When Concubine Swan finally joined the meal, her eyes were heavy and she seemed drowsy. She picked at her rice and swayed back and forth as if she were listening to her own private musician. This was nothing new, but was becoming far too frequent. Lady Li knew Concubine Swan had been drowning her sorrows in opium, but she wasn’t sure how she was getting it. She decided to ignore it for the time being. At least she wasn’t sneaking out of the house to lounge in a dirty opium house.

  “How are you, Concubine Swan?” Lady Li asked.

  “I am well, my lady,” she said in a soft and dreamy voice. “I saw the most handsome man today. Here! In our home. Can you believe it? Did you see him?”