Page 60 - Vol. VII #7

New Work in New China (continued from preceding page)
“You don’t know? You haven’t heard the news?”
ears protruding from the side, and opens the door. He swings his hand carelessly at the chambermaids and walks through the courtyard in small, mincing steps with his hands tucked behind his back. He passes peach trees and fountains and he forgets that it’s winter and that he’s in a desert. The entire courtyard is a greenhouse, under gigantic panels of glass.
“No,” she says. “I’ve been cooking lunch.” She stops fanning the furnace. “What’s wrong?” she asks again.
“Nothing,” he says, calming down. “Everything is where it should be.” ~
He makes his way out of the courtyard and into the main palace. He walks past rolls of identical rooms until he comes to a red door with “Lady Jing” in- scribed on it. Lady Jing is the newest concubine in the palace. The young emperor has recently returned from Henan province where he picked the sixteen- year old Lady Jing from one of the poorest villages
The emperor Huli knows that gong-gongs serve as much as they are served. He understands that those who serve the powerful are also powerful themselves, that this is the way it had always been in imperial China. Because Zhang saved his life, the emperor has made him the head of his band of personal eunuchs. The emperor has read of a trend in Romance of the Three Kingdoms where eunuchs given to concubines aren’t used as servants at all, but are played with like pets. The concubines dress them in female clothing, and have them perform tricks and feed them treats. The emperor is careful not to put Zhang into this kind of humiliating situation. He respects Zhang’s opin- ions, and has given him a large mansion within the palace walls.
in the country. He told the people of Henan that he picked Lady Jing “because of her beauty, grace, and excellent acumen for law and justice.”
Inside his mansion, Zhang claps his hands twice. Two chambermaids enter the room carrying his cell phone and a pot of steaming water. They take off his clothes and scrub his body. He lifts the phone to his ear and calls his cousin.
“I’ve been waiting for you all night!” she says. “I had to make a call,” Zhang says.
“Just come for a visit,” he tells Pei. “Take a look at how extravagantly I am living.”
She stops brushing her hair, walks over to where Zhang is sitting, and starts playing with his title hat, flicking the rabbit ears back and forth. “There isn’t one thing to do in this forsaken place!” she says. “Not one man between fourteen and forty” She sighs. She is kneeling on the floor next to where Zhang is sit- ting, looking up at him as if she was his daughter. “So where are you taking me to tonight?” she asks.
“Give me some more time,” Pei Pei says.
“Nowhere,” Zhang says. “I’m here to tell you that the emperor’s going to want you tonight.”
“I can’t give you any more time,” Zhang says. He stares at the chambermaids wiping off his body. They are wearing traditional Chinese dresses, pink with color- ful jasmine designs, folded over at the waist and then buckled with a black belt. He touches one of the girls’ hair, and then reaches into her dress and feels her breast. He tries to remember what he felt like before he became a eunuch. He regrets not being able to do anything with her, but touching her breast, he man- ages to convince himself that he is in a better circum- stance, give or take.
“Oh, curse the emperor! He’s so hairy, and he stinks. Tell me again about this cousin Pei of yours. Tell me again how handsome he is.”
“If you’re even considering this position,” he says, “you need to come for a visit.” The chambermaids put his clothes back on. “The emperor, and the concubine you’re to be serving, want to see you. I can’t convince them just by running my mouth.”
Zhang looks down at the girl sitting at his feet, and wonders how she is ever supposed to represent an entire province. How could she ever symbolize fifty million people? She is naïve and immature, just like everyone else in Henan. Maybe that’s it, he thinks, maybe it takes someone who is naïve to represent those who are also naïve.
He hangs up. He puts on his title hat, a black top hat with a topaz in the middle and two long rabbit-like
“I can’t wait until he comes,” she continues. “These maids are so boring! They look at you as if you had knives for eyes. I don’t have any friends here.” She looks down.
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“What about the other concubines?” Zhang says. “Lady Xiu lives down the hall. Have you tried making
The chambermaid leads Zhang into the interior, where the young girl is brushing her hair. Immedi- ately she turns around and smiles.