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These generous words pouring from her mouth now sounded to me as enchanting as qin music! Holding bolts of floral satin against my skin, I felt weak with happiness. Jade Vase oohed and aahed and aii-ya-ed while her fingers ran over rolls of silk that cascaded before us like rainbowed waterfalls. Even Spring Moon’s sad, watery eyes now sparkled.
Half an hour later, when the shopping spree had finally come to an end, Mama asked cheerily, ‘All right, it’s hot, so do you girls want some ice cream to ease the heat before we go back?’
Ice cream? I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. Baba had tasted it only once – at the warlord’s house – and had told me it was something soft as silk and sweet as sugar. It melted so fast in your mouth that you had to lick it hard like you did a wound.
It took the three of us a few seconds to absorb the good news before we blurted out together, ‘Yes, Mama!’
Sauntering down the busy boulevard with the glittering star-studded sky on my head, visions of new dresses, and the ice cream melting tenderly in my mouth, I’d never felt luckier. The corners of my lips kept lifting despite my efforts to press them down – people on the street might think that I was crazy smiling to myself!
I delicately licked my ice cream, trying my best to prolong the enjoyment of its soothing coolness and sweetness. My eyes were taking in the colourful displays of merchandise behind shop windows. While watching, I noticed we were also being watched. Young girls stared at us with envy while suppressing giggles. Some men threw lewd glances in our direction. Workers blew whistles. Several tai tai pointed red-nailed fingers at us and whispered to each other, sneering.
I turned to ask Fang Rong, ‘Mama, why do these people keep staring at us?’
She put on an air like the Empress Dowager’s. ‘Ah, my daughter, what a silly question. Why? Because they’re jealous of you, that’s why!’ She pointed to a bony girl of ten in rags begging at the curb, ‘You think people will find her pretty?’ then to a middle-aged, stooped amah, ‘or her?’ finally to a flat-chested and plain-faced girl selling pancakes at a street stall, ‘or this bamboo pole?’
Mama burst out laughing. ‘Ha, ha, ha, my gorgeous little treasures,’ she paused to scan the three of us before turning to pinch my cheek, ‘especially you, Xiang Xiang, you’ll be the queen of attention soon, very soon!’
As she said this, it seemed now that all eyes were riveted on me. Feeling dazed and dreamy, I licked hard at the ice cream, savouring its fast-melting sweetness, while assuring myself that all this good luck did not merely exist in a dream. I touched my Guan Yin pendant and secretly prayed that this day would go on forever.
Just when I was relishing the tender softness on my tongue, suddenly I felt my arm being bumped. Before I knew what had happened, commotion stirred around me like oil hissing on a hot wok.
Mama’s voice clanged like a broken gong, shaking the air around her. ‘Catch the little thief!’
It was then that I realised my ice cream had gone. It was now tightly held in the filthy hand of a bony, ten-year-old boy. He was desperately licking it while trying to dash across the street infested with swishing cars.
‘Watch out!’ I screamed to him.
Mama smacked my star-studded sky while casting me a murderous glance. ‘Are you out of your mind? Don’t you think this brat deserves to be hit?’
When a gap appeared in the heavy traffic, the boy sprinted, followed by a cacophony of screeching, honking, shouting, and cursing.
‘Oh my heaven! He’s going to get killed!’ I yelled again.
Mama, after glaring at me with another killer look, hurried with the three of us to see what had happened.
To my great relief, the little boy was not killed – he was not even hit. But his feet seemed rooted to the ground, and his face was so pale that he looked like someone who had just emerged from the yin world, with ghosts still clinging to his legs to try to pull him back. The ice cream had spilled on the ground and was draining down the gutter like blood scared white.
The driver jumped out from the car and spat. ‘Fuck your mother’s cunt, you dog-fucked little bastard! Next time watch before you cross!’ With that, he shoved the dazed-looking boy back onto the pavement. Before the driver got back into the car, he again hollered, ‘Get out of the way! I’m driving to pick up the president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce!’ Then he slammed the door and sped away. After that, traffic immediately resumed.
Spring Moon clapped. ‘Mama, he’s fine!’
Now it was her head that was jolted by Mama’s slap. ‘Why do you feel so happy about this little piece of dirt? He should be smashed like ground beef!’
Then, to my surprise, she flung her big torso toward the boy and grabbed him. Mama was as strong as a bull. The boy, thrashing bony arms and legs, screamed like a chicken being slaughtered. Almost in no time, a few hooligans began to gather around us, cheering and hollering.
‘Yes, strangle that little beggar!’
‘Wah! A woman beating a man to death!’
‘Hey, come and watch Peking opera, free!’
Just when they were fanning up the fire of this street drama, a fortyish man with blonde hair and a white suit appeared from nowhere. He stepped toward the two blurs of jostling flesh and, with a move of his sinewy arms, disentangled them.
Silence instantly fell among the watching crowd. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the foreigner, waiting to see what direction the drama would take. To my surprise, instead of losing her temper and cursing this yanggui zi – foreign ghost – Mama squeezed a big grin and spoke in accented English. ‘Sorli, sorli, mister. Miss understanding, miss understanding.’
Still more to my surprise, the ‘barbarian’ spoke, in perfect Mandarin. ‘What happened?’
Mama replied in Mandarin, her grin stretching bigger and bigger, until it almost reached outside her face. ‘Meishi, meishi.’ Nothing, nothing.
‘Nothing?’
Right then Jade Vase chimed in, pointing to the little boy. ‘He tried to rob my sister Xiang Xiang’s ice cream.’
The man turned to scrutinise me. His eyes were two blue beads, strangely cool yet soothing – like my vanished ice cream. Just when I felt colour rising to my cheeks, he turned to look at the boy, who was shivering in his rags under the hot sun. ‘Are you very hungry?’
The boy nodded until his head almost dislocated from his neck. ‘My mother is sick and we haven’t had food for three days.’
To everybody’s surprise, the foreign devil took out his leather purse, pulled out several copper coins, and gave them to the boy. ‘Now buy some food for the family and go home.’
The boy snatched the money, plopped down on the ground and kowtowed, then scurried like a mouse across the busy boulevard.
Abruptly Jade Vase went up to the foreigner and grinned. ‘Mister, thank you for your kindness, please come and visit us in the pavilion.’
He frowned, scanning the three of us. ‘What pavilion?’
Mama, now looking very excited, piped up, ‘The Peach Blossom Pavilion in Si Malu.’
Instead of answering Mama, the foreign devil turned to look at me for long moments, his eyes sparkling with kindness, then, without saying another word, walked away. The onlookers ejected a few disappointed curses before they quickly dispersed.
To be sure to keep our new hairstyles in good condition, Mama hired a car to take us back to the pavilion. All the way, the little boy’s image kept flashing across my mind – his bloodless face, his emaciated body barely covered by his rags, the way he pathetically kowtowed when given a few coins. Suddenly I thought how lucky I was – housed, fed, clothed in Peach Blossom, for free! I must be living in paradise without knowing it.
I turned to Fang Rong and tried to lift the corners of my lips as high as the Heavenly Tune rooftop café. ‘Mama, thank you very much.’
‘Thank me by behaving like a good girl,’ she grinned, patting my arm affectionately.
Then she addressed the three of us. ‘If you behave, you’ll have all the nicest clothes, tastiest food, and prettiest hairdos in the world. But if you don’t, you’ll all end up like that little hungry ghost robbing scraps on the street, and eventually being hit by a car. Do you want to be like that little bastard soon to be smashed into ground beef?’
‘No!’ we roared collectively.
‘Will you behave?!’
‘Yes!’ Our high-pitched voices slashed the air, while Mama grinned mysteriously, her face shadowed by the shade of the rickshaw.
7 (#ulink_fc8be611-9241-52ba-bc50-1ec7c5f7cd79)
The Jade Stalk and the Golden Gate (#ulink_fc8be611-9241-52ba-bc50-1ec7c5f7cd79)
The next day when I woke up in the morning, I felt both happy and sad – happy because of my good life in Peach Blossom, sad because of my recollection of the little boy. His hollow cheeks and protruding eyes clung to my mind like snails. Then I also remembered the foreign devil, and the gaze of his pale blue eyes.
I took out my pipa and absent-mindedly started to play; my ears filled with the sweet murmurs of the instrument. Then in a moment, tears flooded my eyes. They ran down my cheeks and rained onto the pipa until it seemed to stare back at me with a tear-streaked face. I rocked it against my chest, imagining it to be my little sister who’d faithfully absorbed all my thoughts, feelings, and sadness.
‘Ma and Baba,’ I said to the pipa, ‘I miss you both. Wherever you are now, don’t worry about me. I promise you I’ll take very good care of myself. And believe me, I’ll be famous someday, very famous!’
While I was indulging in my monologue, suddenly I heard noises from outside the door. ‘Guigui? Come!’
Barely had I finished my sentence when the puppy plunged into my room. I put down the pipa and picked him up. He began to lick my face furiously.
‘All right. Enough, you bad boy. Have you been a good baby today?’
Guigui tilted his fat head, then started to kowtow and shake hands with me.
‘Good,’ I smoothed his fur, ‘I know you’re a good baby. Are you hungry? You want some goodies?’
He performed more kowtows.
Just when I was about to take him to the kitchen, the bead curtain was swept aside and this time in burst Fang Rong, balancing a big, steaming bowl on a tray between her hands. Her body, held in by her green silk gown, looked like swollen pork dumplings wrapped in greasy lotus leaves. When she moved, the rolls of fat seemed to be starting a revolution under her dress. Her bottom was just the right size for four sisters to play mahjong on. I almost chuckled at the sight.
Mama cast both me and Guigui a dirty look. ‘Xiang Xiang, take that dog outside!’
‘But Mama—’
‘I said take him outside. Or you want me to kick him out?’
I tried to shoo Guigui out, but he protested by thrusting his body against my legs.
Mama yelled. ‘Just push him out!’
Reluctantly I did.
‘Now close the door and come sit down.’
After I took my seat, she glanced at my pipa and said, making a great effort to soften her voice, ‘Xiang Xiang, stop practising for a while and have some tonic soup.’
I was surprised. It was always I who begged her to give me a break from practising the arts. She’d never spared me from labouring, let alone brought me soup.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Why? To celebrate your great day, silly girl.’
Carefully, she put the tray on the table, then swiftly pulled out a chair. After her big bottom had ensconced itself comfortably, Fang Rong squeezed a huge grin. ‘You’ll soon find out why. Now don’t ask any more questions. Drink this special soup while it’s still hot. When it gets cold, it won’t be nutritious any more.’ She picked up the bowl and sloshed its contents under my nose. A rich aroma wafted into my nostrils. I took a tentative sip.
‘It’s very tasty, what kind?’
‘Different herbs, lots of vinegar, and the best kind of black chicken. It took Ah Ping a whole day to cook it,’ said Mama; the big grin never left her face.
She eyed me – like a mother examining her newborn to check for deformities – until I drained the last drop. Then she put the bowl back onto the tray, picked it up, and stepped out of the room. I felt warmth spreading all over my body. It must be the tonic soup taking its effect. But I knew there was a better reason – I was lucky to be living in Peach Blossom Pavilion!
Just then, to my surprise, Fang Rong burst into the room again, this time throwing several books down on the table. ‘Ha,’ she chuckled, ‘see how absent-minded I was to have forgotten these? Now read them all to prepare yourself for your first guest.’
‘What guest?’ I asked, but Mama had already vanished like a whiff of smoke.
I scanned the titles – Variegated Patterns of the Flowery War; Secret Prescriptions for the Jade Chamber; The Plain Girl’s Classic; Romance of Genuine Cultivation …
I picked up one of them, flipped the pages, and ran into this:
When a man and a woman are making love for the first time, their bodies touch and their lips press against each other’s. The man sucks the woman’s lower lip and the woman sucks the man’s upper one. When sucking, they savour each other’s saliva … Then a thousand charms will spread and a hundred sorrows resolve. Now the woman’s left hand should hold the man’s jade stalk. The man will use his right hand to caress the woman’s jade gate. Thus the man will feel the yin energy and his jade stalk will be stirred. It thrusts high toward heaven, like a lonely peak towering toward the milky way. The woman feels the yang energy and her cinnabar crevice will become moist with the liquid flowing downward, like a river coursing from a deep valley. It is now that coupling can take place …
They savoured each other’s saliva? Aii-ya! With morbid fascination, I continued to read:
Thrusts, be they deep, shallow, slow, quick, straight, slant, east, west, are all based on different presumptions. Each has its own idiosyncrasies. The slow thrust is similar to a carp caught by a hook. A quick thrust is similar to birds flying against the wind …
Ha! These thrusts had certainly no comparison with those Baba had demonstrated in martial arts for defence. If someone attacked, what would happen to him if he thrust like ‘a carp caught by a hook’?
Just when I was on the verge of bursting out laughing at these absurd expressions, the phrase ‘nine ways of moving the jade stalk’ caught my attention:
It dives in and pulls out, like seagulls playing with waves … It plunges quickly or pokes hard, like a frightened mouse scurrying back into its burrow …
Then the ‘six ways of penetration’ forced themselves on my eyes:
First, the jade stalk pushes down, then moves back and forth resembling a saw, like prying open an oyster to get the shiny pearl …
Puzzled and distressed, I slapped the book shut and let out a heavy sigh. Pearl had told me Mama would give me books to read. But I’d never imagined they would be so strange, filled with words like jade stalk, jade gate, yang peak, cinnabar crevice.
I looked at the cover: The Art of Love, written by someone calling himself Master Dong Xuanzi, meaning Mysterious Hole. The Art of Love, by Mysterious Hole, I kept savouring the strange syllables in my mouth, as if by so doing I’d be enlightened to the profoundest mystery of the wind and moon domain.
But now my mind felt like a clear sky ambushed by dark clouds.
I felt blood coursing inside me. My face was hot and my mouth dry. I grabbed the books and ran all the way to Pearl’s room, only to find it empty. I hurried here and there but couldn’t catch a glimpse of her shadow, nor a whiff of her perfume. In the corridor leading to the garden, I was still thinking of all the strange things I’d just read when suddenly I bumped into soft flesh. I looked up and caught Fang Rong’s ominous gaze.
‘Xiang Xiang!’ she chided. ‘Where were you? I’ve been looking for you all over. Come!’ She led me back to my room, shoved me in, and slammed shut the door.
‘Have you studied the books and the classic?’ she asked in a heated whisper.
I chuckled. ‘Mama, there are only five classics, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Songs, the Book ofChanges, the—’
‘All right, enough. Stop that silly bragging of yours! And wipe that complacent smile off your face! You know what? I don’t care about the Book of Changes, I only care if my daughters can bring me lots of change! You understand?’
‘But Mama, how can one bring in money by reading The Plain Girl’s Classic?’
Now Fang Rong searched me, her eyes darting around like shooting marbles. ‘Ha ha, Xiang Xiang, you are, after all, not as smart as you look!’ Then she leant toward me and lowered her voice, as if to confide in me the deepest secret of the universe. ‘You know what’s the most precious thing about you?’
‘My talent in the arts.’ I wanted to add ‘and my beauty’ but decided to be modest.
Mama winked. ‘No! Your virginity, silly girl.’ She cast me a penetrating look. ‘Xiang Xiang, you’ve never been touched by a man, have you?’
‘Yes, I have.’
Now Fang Rong’s small eyes suddenly rounded into two fireballs. She gripped my blouse, choking me. ‘You little whore, who?’
