Twelve trees of gold set with pearls and diamonds, twelve carved flowers, and two phoenixes with their wings outstretched were pinned to my topknot that was two cubits high and crafted over many hours by the imperial hairdressers. My head weighed down on my shoulders like a palace, a mountain, a star. As I climbed the steps to the top of the Gate of Serene Loyalty, I saw the immaculate blue of the sky draw nearer. The music played by three thousand musicians and the cheers from dignitaries who had come from the four corners of the Empire faded as I rose up. Suddenly I stepped into the silence of vastness. Up there, there was not a breath of wind; eternity spread its wings like a giant bird. An intense heat and a proud, dazzling light emanated from the sun. Beside Little Phoenix, I could see the earth unfolding like a painting: the fields, rivers, mountains, and the millions of Chinese souls prostrating themselves at my feet and begging for my protection.
I was thirty years old, and my second life was beginning. I had no more fears or worries. A new path appeared for me at the top of the Gate of Serene Loyalty, inviting me to reach heights not known to any man. With Little Phoenix, I would build the greatest dynasty of all time; I would beget the most beautiful civilization.
On that day I knew that I would face other difficulties, that loneliness would be my faithful companion, that this new life would be a succession of deaths and rebirths, and that intense joy would be born from the depths of suffering and despair. I, the ordinary restless child, the plain adolescent, the commoner who had been a nun twice, would prove to be a Daughter of Heaven.
WITH THE NEW Year, a new cosmic cycle began. May the nightmares of the past be erased forever! May the Empire know peace and prosperity! Convinced that words had magical benedictory powers, I advised Little Phoenix to inaugurate an era named Dazzling Prosperity.
Plants germinated in the depths of the soil. Rivers wakened to the call of spring. Trees covered themselves in green veils. At the ministers’ insistence, Loyalty was discharged from the position of heir, and Splendor was named Supreme Son. I freed the prisoners in the Cold Palace and shut up the former Empress and the Resplendent Wife there, having stripped them of their titles.
I was right to be wary of my husband’s capricious heart. My people intercepted a poem that the Resplendent Wife had written to him, using her own blood as ink and a piece of her dress as paper.
I questioned the sovereign: “I’ve heard that you have been to see those two commoners in their cell. Their tears and their lies moved you, and you have promised them your mercy. Have you forgotten their dark plots that disturbed the peace of your Palace? Do you want me to abandon the imperial seal and give myself up to them once more? Your pity is a dangerous thing: It puts the Empire in danger!”
Little Phoenix had never seen me angry, and he was quite dumbstruck like a child seeing his mother’s rage for the first time.
I had always despised fits of jealousy but-by raising my voice, by playing the wounded wife and the cruel stepmother-I realized that this device that millions of women had been using since the dawn of time was more effective than a considered conversation. Paralyzed by my angry screams and my blazing eyes, he tried to justify the weakness he had demonstrated by saying that he had been put under a spell by the two women. I pretended to believe him: “Both those commoners are familiar with black magic; it is hardly surprising if they cast evil spells on you from the depths of their dungeon. I can see only one way of exorcising you. According to the laws of the Inner Court, any criminal who tries to put spells on the sovereign instead of repenting is condemned to one hundred lashings with a wooden plank.”
I immediately wrote out the order for this to be carried out and affixed my seal as Mistress of the Palace. Little Phoenix was silent and ashamed, letting me act as I saw fit and lacking the courage to intervene. To be sure that the punishment would be severely enforced, I sent Ruby and Emerald to watch the procedure. It was not long before they reported that Wang, the dethroned sovereign, had prostrated herself three times in the direction of the Middle Court and wished the Emperor a long life and the Empress much happiness before being reduced to a seething mass of meat. The demoted Resplendent Wife had sworn that in her next life, she would be reincarnated as a cat and I as a rat, and she would drink my blood and tear me into a thousand pieces. Her voice soon stuck in her throat as the black lacquered planks tore off her skin and broke her bones. Her blood, flesh, and excrement mingled together, and she had her last breath after twenty strokes.
I had the bodies thrown into the leopards’ den. I forbade the two criminals’ families to bear the names Wang and Xiao. From then on they would be called Python and Stray Cat.
I slept fitfully in the Forbidden City: My rivals appeared to me in my dreams with their hair torn out and their flesh bloodied. I was haunted by the thought that their supporters would want revenge. But I decided to preempt any reprisals. To demonstrate my generosity, I requested promotions for Han Yuan and Lai Ji who had dared to write to the sovereign, and I praised their sense of responsibility and the courage they had shown in being so candid. Ashamed and frightened, they refused the titles the Emperor offered them and left Court.
Chu Sui Liang and Liu Shi, the uncle of the deposed Empress, received orders to go into exile at the ends of Earth. But Wu Ji was still chancellor. The old man, furious in his isolation, publicly contested my every decision. I had to wait for years to orchestrate his downfall. Wu Ji was indicted in the fourth year of Dazzling Prosperity. In a letter of accusation that covered a full three scrolls of paper, the imperial magistrates demonstrated that the Great Chancellor had been the instigator of my daughter’s death: Through Liu Shi, he had supplied the then sovereign lady with a phial of aconite.
Little Phoenix wept when he heard these shocking revelations. Then he was gripped by anger, and he exiled him from the Capital. On his journey, the former chancellor received orders to kill himself: He hanged himself from the rafters of an inn. The death of Wu Ji-the previous Empress’s brother, and the sovereign’s uncle, who had been a chancellor for two reigns-announced a new era. This man who had been feared and venerated as a demi-god had proved to be fragile as a clay statue. His demise would serve as an example to anyone who might dare wish me harm.
Even though they had retired, Han Yuan and Lai Ji did not escape capital punishment. Chu Sui Liang was already dead, but the deposed Empress’s uncle was called back from exile and decapitated at Long Peace. The Court confiscated the assets and lands that these noble clans had accumulated through a succession of dynasties: I distributed this fabulous fortune to the commoners who were now ministers and who would be devoted to my cause.
In his tomb, Father received the posthumous title of Master of the Kingdom of Zhou. His funeral stone was now in the temple of the Emperor Eternal Ancestor, and the Court made daily offerings to him. An imperial decree raised Mother to the rank of Lady of the Kingdom of Dai, and Elder Sister to Lady of the Kingdom of Han.
In this world beneath the Heavens, no one could fail to know the glory of the Wu family. My brothers and cousins hastened to Court to offer me their obsequious congratulations. The men of the clan had aged. They groveled before the sovereign and prostrated themselves at my feet in the hopes that I would promise them elevated positions. In the annals of other dynasties, there were many empresses who had granted the men of their own clan command of the armies and key posts in government. Once in Court, these relations from the outside helped to defend the sovereign’s authority against ambitious princes and powerful ministers. My brothers and cousins had neither the political vision nor the necessary education to take on any administrative responsibility. I could not forget the misery they had inflicted on us. They were shameless, thankless creatures; they would never set an example as men of State. Little Phoenix was prepared to welcome them to Court for the sake of my prestige and his imperial dignity: It was hardly fitting for close relations of an empress to remain simple administrators. But I was reluctant to include these worthless individuals in the government simply because they were lucky enough to be born my brothers and cousins. If men like that were granted promotions without earning them, without any effort, would they swear unfailing loyalty to me, would they prove perfectly obedient? After weighing up the arguments for and against, I decided to raise the men of my clan to a symbolic rank within the hierarchy, and I accorded them modest responsibilities that would mean they could take part in the morning salutation.