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‘Aii-ya, Spring Moon, don’t you find these sickening?’
She blushed, yet her voice turned vehement. ‘No, of course not! They are the most pleasurable things in the world!’
Judging from her vehemence, there might be some truth to what she’d said, but somehow I had to deny it. ‘No, it’s sickening,’ I spat, ‘and perverse!’
‘Then your parents did sickening and perverse things, too.’
My ears on fire, I felt obliged to defend my parents’ honour. ‘No, they did not!’
‘If they didn’t, then what do you think you came from? Unless you didn’t crawl out of your mother, but burst from a stone, or were picked up from a rubbish bin.’
This was exactly what Little Red had said.
As I was struggling to think of a clever reply, images of my parents flashed through my mind. On the Wu Mountain, my quiet, demure mother and my scholarly, elegant father were passionately sucking each other’s tongue, tasting each other’s saliva, and then … that stalk of my father’s was nearing that crevice of my mother’s.
While my whole body felt hot, another image forced itself into my mind – I, a baby, without a single thread on my semened and secretioned bloody body, crawling out from that valley of my mother – like a crab scurrying out from a crevice. Instantly my parents picked me up and huge grins broke out on their faces. I had never seen them look happier.
Spring Moon’s voice woke me from my reverie. ‘Xiang Xiang, what are you thinking about?’
Now I felt like a punctured frog. ‘Maybe you’re right after all.’ A silence, then I asked, ‘Where’s your fiancé now?’
‘I heard that he is engaged to someone else. He comes from a respectable scholarly family, but they’re very poor. So I don’t think he has the money to pay my debt to leave Peach Blossom. And even if he did, how could he disgrace his family by bringing a flower girl into its household?’
Seeing that she was on the edge of crying, I hastily said, ‘It’s too hot here, so let’s go out!’
Spring Moon remained silent while twisting her handkerchief. Then she changed the subject. ‘Xiang Xiang, has Mama told you who is going to chop open your melon?’
‘I think it’s the old and all-wrinkled Big Master Fung.’ I made a face. ‘What about you?’
‘There’s some rich businessman … anyway, I’ll find out next week. Mama said he wanted me the moment he saw my feet.’
I looked down – Spring Moon did have the tiniest feet of all the sisters in the pavilion. Pearl had told me some customers liked to kiss, even suck their women’s feet. And the smaller the feet, the more desirable, since these perverse chou nanren could stuff the whole ‘three inches golden lily’ into their mouth to savour its taste.
‘Aii-ya!’ I spat.
‘Something wrong, Xiang Xiang?’
‘Oh no.’ I quickly changed the subject. ‘But I thought you’re not a … virgin anymore.’
‘But I am.’
‘Then what about all those things you did with your fiancé?’
Spring Moon blushed. ‘His jade stalk never entered my jade gate. He mostly used his other stalk.’
I nodded knowingly, although I had no idea what ‘his other stalk’ was. Since I felt too intimidated to further inquire, I asked instead, ‘Spring Moon, why don’t we go out now?’
‘But we can’t leave this place without Mama’s permission.’
‘We can go to that old temple in the garden. Since no one goes there, no one will see us there.’
‘Because it’s haunted! One time they stripped a sister naked, then hung her upside down and whipped her thirty times till her bottom rotted. Then they cut her down and left her in the garden. The next day Mama found her body, in a red dress, dangling over the altar in the temple.’
‘But you told me she’d been stripped naked.’
‘Mama didn’t whip her to death. The sister was so humiliated that she committed suicide.’ Now Spring Moon lowered her voice as if there were an invisible third party in the room. ‘People said she deliberately wore a crimson outfit on her way to the Yellow Springs to see the King of Hell so she’d return as a bloodthirsty ghost!’
My heart began to pound. Spring Moon went on, ‘Another time when a sister was pregnant by her secret lover, she went and jumped into the garden’s well. I heard Mama felt very sorry when she died.’
‘Was Mama specially fond of her?’
‘No. But because right after she died, a customer came and asked for a pregnant sister.’ Spring Moon lowered her voice. ‘Over the years at least three sisters have ended their lives there.’
‘But Sister Pearl told me that since Mama can’t bear to lose her investments, she won’t let the sisters die.’
‘Exactly. That’s why they killed themselves – to spite her.’
A long, ghostly silence fell in the room. Finally I spoke. ‘I don’t think there are any ghosts anyway.’
‘Xiang Xiang, you must be really out of your mind!’
‘Spring Moon, don’t be a coward. Let’s go!’
‘Then what if there really are ghosts?’
‘Then I’ll protect you. I know kung fu.’ I shot up from the bed and did a high kick.
The moon was luminous and the stars burned glittering holes in the sky. Spring Moon and I held hands as we inched cautiously along the meandering path through the bamboo groves. The night noises of the pavilion – chatting, singing, laughing, pipa playing – receded as we walked deeper and deeper into the heavy-foliaged alley leading to the haunted garden. After fifteen minutes, all we could hear were cries of insects, the rustling of leaves, and faint, mysterious sounds. The moon was half-veiled by bands of clouds – like wisps of long hair streaking the face of a woman ghost. The air was hot like Mama’s tonic soup; I felt Spring Moon’s palm sweating in mine.
‘Xiang Xiang,’ her voice came out as a whisper, ‘I’m scared; why don’t we go back?’
‘Too late now.’
‘Xiang Xiang! I thought you knew your way!’
‘No, I’ve never been here. I only heard about it from Pearl and the other sisters.’
‘Xiang Xiang, take me back, right now!’
‘But Spring Moon,’ I lied, ‘you can’t turn back midway.’
‘Why not?’
I racked my brain for a good reason. ‘Because … because I was told those who’d turned back all died a mysterious death. Once you’re on the way, you have to follow the qi leading you to the garden. You can’t walk back against the qi.’
‘Oh heaven, then what are we going to do?’
‘Go to the garden first before we decide.’
We continued to walk in a silence as heavy as our hearts. Now Spring Moon held my arm so tightly that her fingernails cut into my flesh. But I didn’t dare utter the slightest complaint. The path was moist, smelling of a mixture of fresh and rotting vegetation. From time to time, we had to sweep aside overgrown branches and leaves. My five senses were achingly aware of the lightest sound, smell, and movement. I could hear Spring Moon’s heavy breathing punctuating the dense night air.
‘Xiang Xiang,’ finally Spring Moon broke the silence, ‘you really don’t think there are ghosts?’
‘Maybe there are; I don’t know.’
Her voice trembled a little. ‘What about if we do run into one?’
‘Since there’s no turning back, we can only face it and maybe even ask, “How are you, pretty ghost, should we sit down to have a cup of tea and chat?”’
Several beats passed before we burst into nervous laughter.
‘I like you, Xiang Xiang. Not only that you’re so pretty, you’re funny.’
Before I had a chance to reply, I noticed we’d already reached an opening. ‘Spring Moon, look, we’ve made it.’
The underbrush opened to a level field flooded with silvery moonlight. In the distance rose a small temple with upturned eaves from which dangled two big, unlit lanterns. Swaying in the breeze, they peered through the foliage like the blinking of two sightless eyes. In front of the temple gate, leaves of ancient trees rustled like someone whispering, or crying, desperately trying to tell a woeful tale.
I felt my elbow nudged. ‘Xiang Xiang, what’s glittering on the ground?’
‘I don’t know. Let’s go and take a look,’ I said, pulling Spring Moon forward.
To my surprise, the glitterings were reflections of the moon in puddles.
Spring Moon danced around, chanting. ‘How wonderful, moon in a puddle.’ Then she screamed, startling me. ‘Xiang Xiang, what’s that?’
I followed her finger and saw clusters of light floating here and there. A silence, then I said, ‘Don’t worry; they’re fireflies.’ But I didn’t go on to explain that I’d been told the favourite places for fireflies were cemeteries. My breath was chilled as I exhaled.
Spring Moon now looked up to gaze at the heavenly disc. Long moments passed before she asked, ‘Xiang Xiang, do you remember that poem about the moon—’
I gazed at the moon and recited, ‘One moon is reflected on all the waters, all waters are embraced by one moon.’
‘I like that. I like you, too, Xiang Xiang; you’re so smart. Oh, I’m so happy here.’
‘Me, too,’ I responded, ‘I feel free here. No Mama, no De, no dark room, no favoured guests—’
‘But also no food, no fragrant tea. Oh, I’m starving.’ She put her hand on her belly. ‘And I have to pee.’
‘Me, too,’ I said, then an idea hit me, ‘Spring Moon, let’s pee on the moon.’
She chuckled.
I said in a singsong tone, ‘I’m Chang E, regretting swallowing the elixir I stole from my husband; I flew to the moon …’
‘Stop that, Xiang Xiang, you’re not Chang E; you can’t pee on the moon!’
I walked to one of the puddles, squatted down, pulled down my pants, and peed on the reflection of the moon. When I finished, I cocked an eye at Spring Moon. ‘See?’
She chased and hit me with her fist. ‘You cunning fox! I should have thought of that first!’
I was running and panting. ‘But you didn’t!’
Finally we reached the temple.
‘All right, Spring Moon,’ I said, ‘now tell me about you and your fiancé.’
Spring Moon pressed her finger tightly against her lips. ‘Shhhh … Xiang Xiang, do you hear something?’
I strained my ears to listen. ‘It’s just the wind.’
‘No, listen more carefully.’
‘Some cats crying?’
‘No.’
‘Oh, maybe it’s the ghost of that sister who hung herself after she’d been stripped naked and whipped till her bottom rotted! Listen, it’s screaming like she’s being slashed!’
‘But Xiang Xiang, if a ghost is dead, how can it scream?’
‘From a nightmare, I guess.’
‘Do ghosts dream?’
‘How do I know? I’m not dead yet!’
‘Oh,’ Spring Moon nudged me harder, while still whispering, ‘Listen, Xiang Xiang, now the ghost moans, and gasps.’
‘Then this one must be a hungry ghost!’
To my surprise, now Spring Moon giggled, ‘I think maybe it’s not a ghost, but someone’s stirring up the clouds and the rain.’
‘But this is not the Wu Mountain.’
Spring Moon took my hand. ‘Don’t be silly. Now let’s go and take a look.’
‘You’re not afraid of ghosts anymore?’
‘Shhh, be quiet. I’m sure it’s not a ghost. Come, follow me.’
We walked around for a moment, then she pointed to a gap in the temple wall. Spring Moon stooped to walk in and I followed her. We felt our way along, trying very carefully not to bump into anything. After a while, it seemed we were getting closer to the source of the sound. Finally Spring Moon stopped by a doorway from which heavy sighs poured.
Feeling fear deep in my stomach, I squeezed her hand and whispered, ‘Spring Moon, let’s go back.’
I was both surprised and embarrassed that now she was the calm one. Again, when I was about to urge her to leave, she shot me a ‘shut up’ glance. Then she went up to one of the windows, licked her finger, poked a small hole through the rice paper covering the lattice, and peeked.
I whispered, ‘Spring Moon, what is it?’
But she completely ignored me.
