China by Edward Rutherfurd (historical books to read TXT) 📕

scare off the bad spirits. But in Mr. Chen’s entrance, one had to pass between a pair of door-god statues, fully armed and looking as if they’d destroy anything, body or spirit, that dared enter without permission. They were so impressive, they almost belonged in a bigger mansion. I suppose he’d got a good deal on them.

But the message was clear enough. Mr. Chen showed a modest face to the world, but he’d kill you if you tried to hurt his family. I followed the servant, first left along the passageway, then right into the courtyard.

The first thing I noticed in the courtyard was the stone beneath my feet. Not a speck of dust. It must have been swept a dozen times a day. The wooden pillars and panels on the walls glowed in the soft light from the tasseled red lamps that hung around them. At the far end stood a pair of beautiful Ming vases with plants in them. Valuable. Then I was ushered into an office where the merchant awaited me.

Mr. Chen was sitting on a square-framed wooden armchair behind a carved rosewood table. He was dressed in a long grey silk gown, very simple, best quality, and wearing a black skullcap. I bowed low. He indicated I should take a chair on the other side of the table. I sat down. Then I stared in surprise.

Mr. Chen was the eunuch I’d met.

“You are Mr. Chen?” I asked stupidly.

“I am,” he acknowledged. “You had not guessed?”

I shook my head.

“Well, I’ll tell you something,” he continued. “Neither have any of my neighbors. They only know Mr. Chen, the merchant, and my wife and children.”

“They don’t know you’re a palace person?”

“They have no idea. They see me come and go, dressed as a merchant, but they’re not sure what my business is. I change my clothes at the palace, you see. Only one of our servants, a woman, is aware of the truth. She’s known me all my life, and she will never tell.”

He rose from the table, indicated I should follow him, and led the way into a handsome room where a lady was sitting on a wide sofa. There was a girl—about seventeen, I thought—sitting beside her, who was reading aloud, but paused as we entered. At a writing desk on the other side of the room, a young man of about twenty was making notes.

“This is my wife, and these are my two children,” said Mr. Chen, as I bowed low. “What are you reading, my child?” he asked the girl.

“Journey to the West, Father,” she replied.

“My daughter reads well,” Mr. Chen said to me with pride. “Her mother does not read, but she likes to listen. Journey to the West is a great classic and an entertaining story, but it’s awfully long, and my daughter’s to be married in a few months. She won’t possibly finish it before she leaves us. Do you know the book? Could you read it?”

Journey to the West was very famous, so I knew a bit about it. The huge tale of how Monkey helps a priest on his journey to find the Buddhist Scriptures, and the demons and dangers they encounter along the way, would certainly have taken months to get through.

“I can read a bit, Mr. Chen,” I answered honestly, “but not nearly well enough for that.”

“I couldn’t do it, either,” Mr. Chen replied. “And my son is too busy working for a distinguished merchant to spend his time reading novels.” He smiled kindly at his wife. “So when our daughter’s left the home, I suppose I shall have to engage a poor young student to read us the rest of it.”

After this little exchange, telling his family that we had business to complete, he led me back into his office. “So you have seen my family and how I live. I work in the catering department in charge of buying all the groceries for the palace. I am allowed to take a small cut from every purchase, so you can imagine, I make a lot of money from my position. It took me over fifteen years before I got this house. But you could work in the palace for thirty years and have nothing. There’s no way of knowing. Some men are lucky. It’s their destiny. Some are not.”

“Do you think I’m lucky, Mr. Chen?”

“I had a feeling that you were from the moment that I met you. Your karma, if you like. I wouldn’t have suggested that you came here otherwise. Also,” he said, smiling, “you are quite good-looking. They don’t want ugly people in the palace, you know.”

I don’t believe I answered at first. But I do remember thinking about the scene I’d just witnessed with his children, and realizing that what this man had was everything I desired in the world. I wasn’t sure about being lucky. Losing my job didn’t seem like good luck. But then again, it might have been fate’s way of taking me from my humble village to the imperial palace in Beijing. You can never tell.

But I did know one thing. I knew it so completely that I think I must have been a rich person in a former life: A house like this, with all the finer things in life it contained, was where I belonged.

“I’ll do it,” I said.

“You must wait three days,” he told me. “During that time, I shall make the necessary arrangements. Strictly speaking, to get employment as a palace person, you should supply forms from your family, your relatives, and the chief of your village, which has to be notarized by the local authorities. However, I have some influence, and I can take care of all that. But you must take care never, at any time, to speak of any dishonesty on your father’s part. The operation itself is not without danger, especially for a grown man. The surgeons in the establishment run by a gentleman named Mr. Bi are the best, and