#5 Love Life's Longing!

LuiFei had taken Wu under her wing, gladly. So along with 9 other girls in about the same age group as hers, Wu began her training. The first morning after Wu had been taken in LuiFei introduced YinHe as Wu's own consort and companion during her stay at the harem. Wu was initially taken aback by YinHe's broad structure.

Wu soon realised that along with the hoards of the trainee concubines and veterans there were an equal number of Eunuchs living in the Emperor's harem. In the war that had ensued between the Mongols and The Emperor's army during the Mutiny, the adult offenders were brutally butchered but the young Mongol boys were only castrated and brought home as prisoners of war. As many as 70, 000 sexless mongol boys had been taken in. Thousands of these Mongol boys who had lost their penis and testicles before puberty were sent to the Emperor's harem.  These eunuchs maintained strict vigilance over the imperial ladies acting as the harem watch dogs. The irony was such that these eunuchs were viciously loyal to the very same Emperor Lao Zhung who was responsible for the loss of their vital organs.

Only these sexless  beings could act as personal servants to the harem's ladies and besides the Emperor, were the only others to be allowed into 'The Great Within' . Thus it was ensured that the imperial concubines only bore the emperor's children!

YinHe was one such lesser being. His name was Xyung Chan when he was a broad shouldered, tanned Mongol male soldier of 14 with deep set eyes. YinHe appeared far elder for his age. Wu and YinHe got along very well. Since they were of the same age and new to the harem's ways, Wu found a confidante in YinHe. Co-incidentally YinHe had been castrated at Kunming. Thus YinHe had also made a new beginning from the same village where Wu hailed from. Wu and YinHe were soon bound together in a sharing of their sorrows.

With each passing year Wu and YinHe became thick pals. YinHe protected his little girlfriend from the politics of the harem. He saw that LuiFei's training was well imbibed. He secretly groomed Wu in the army discipline he was brought up with. YinHe was quick to chide Wu for even a single slip-up. While LuiFei was teaching Wu the feminine charms that lured the men, softening her beauty and rearing her like the daintiest of flowers in the garden, YinHe taught Wu to stregthen herself from within.
"A strong mind in a healthy body was the key to success!", YinHe had said and Wu had kept these words close to her heart.

When the moon shone bright over the silver lined silhouette of the palace walls and when the Emperor had not come visiting, YinHe and Wu whispered to each other late into the night. It was almost a decade into the ritual of those long drawn conversations between Wu and YinHe, held secretly in the confines of Wu's personal chamber, by the window, in the silence of the night.

Wu wasn't a teenager any more but the  Imperial concubine,Wu Zhung and YinHe had grown into a  seasoned and trusted servant to the harem. Since he was almost always at Wu Zhung's side, it hadn't gone unnoticed that there was a stark difference in Wu Zhung's way of speaking of the Emperor. YinHe was in on the change that was slowly taking over Wu Zhung. YinHe's keen eyes had caught her avoiding the Emperor's advances more than once.

So when he found Wu Zhung at her desk, pen in hand, poised over a piece of poetry he snatched it up and read it...

Love life’s longing

Hearts aflutter, minds restless,

Souls mated in strife; Strife in mated souls

Restless minds, aflutter hearts

Longing life’s love!

YinHe had only a few words of advise for her, "One teapot is usually accompanied by four cups. But have you ever seen one cup with four teapots?"

Wu Zhung very well knew what YinHe had meant. 

Men need multiple women but women are expected to stay committed to just one man.