Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck Read Free Book Online

afraid, stooped and gathered the minute beast into her arms.
    “I will take him,” she cried, and stamped her foot.
    “No!” Li Lien-ying bellowed again.
    “Oh, Lord of Hell,” the serving woman roared in distraction, “let her take the dog, you piece of cobbler’s wax! If you cross her, she will refuse to go, and where are we all then?”
    Thus it was that Yehonala went to the Emperor at midnight, bearing in her arms her little lion, her toy dog, and from that day on Li Lien-ying, who was indeed apprenticed to a cobbler before he cut himself into a eunuch, was nicknamed Cobbler’s Wax by those who feared and hated him.
    In the dark softness of the summer night Yehonala followed Li Lien-ying through the narrow passageways of the city. He held an oiled paper lantern, and the candle within it threw a dim circle of light to guide her. Behind her came her serving woman. The stones upon which they walked were damp with dew and this dew, like light hoar frost, lay upon the small weeds between. Silence surrounded them, except that somewhere a woman wailed.
    Though she had never been to the Emperor’s palace, yet Yehonala knew, as did every concubine, that it was in the heart of the Forbidden City in the midst of imperial gardens, and in the shadows of the triple shrine, the Tower of Rain and Flowers, whose roofs were upheld by pillars of gold, circled with dragons. In this shrine stood three altars where the Emperor worshipped the gods alone, and so all emperors had worshipped since the time of the great K’ang Hsi and the gods protected them.
    She passed the shrine and came to the gate of the entrance courtyard of the Emperor’s private palace. It opened silently before her and the eunuch led her through a vast inner courtyard and into a great hall and through this hall again by passageways, silent and empty, except for watchful eunuchs, until at last she reached high double gates, carved with golden dragons. Here the Chief Eunuch, An Teh-hai himself, stood waiting, a tall and splendid figure, his proud face set, his arms folded. His long robe of purple brocaded satin, girdled about the middle with gold, glittered in the light of the candles flaring in high candlesticks of carved and polished wood. He did not speak to Yehonala or make a sign of recognition as she came near, but by a gesture of his right hand he dismissed Li Lien-ying, who fell back in deference.
    Now suddenly the Chief Eunuch saw the head of the toy dog peering out from Yehonala’s sleeve. “You may not take the dog into the Emperor’s bedchamber,” he said sternly.
    Yehonala lifted her head and fixed her great eyes upon him. “Then I will not enter, either,” she said.
    The words were brave but she spoke them in a soft indifferent voice, as though she did not care whether she entered or did not.
    An Teh-hai looked his surprise. “Can you defy the Son of Heaven?” he demanded.
    She made no reply, and stroked the little dog’s smooth head with her other hand.
    “Elder Brother,” Li Lien-ying now said, “this concubine is very troublesome. She speaks like a child but she is more fierce than a female tiger. We all fear her. If she does not wish to enter, it is better to send her home. Truly it is not worth while to compel her, for her mind is more stubborn than a stone.”
    A curtain behind An Teh-hai was now pulled aside with a jerk and a eunuch’s face thrust itself out. “It is asked why there is delay,” he cried. “It is asked if he himself must come and settle affairs!”
    “Elder Brother, let her go in with the dog,” Li Lien-ying urged. “She can hide it in her sleeve. If the beast is a nuisance, it can be taken away and given to the serving woman who will sit here outside the door.”
    The Chief Eunuch scowled, but Yehonala continued to gaze at him with her great eyes wide and innocent and what could he do but yield? He grunted and quarreled under his breath but he yielded, and again she followed through yet another room, at one