Their favourite pastime was to play a game called ‘Bride’. Some girls would climb into red sedan chairs, designed like little rooms with windows, decorate them with their dolls, toy birds, images of saints, multicoloured flags and ribbons with pompoms, and cover them with embroidered table cloths with colourful tassels on the sides. Then, having applied make-up and put on dresses of vibrant colours, they asked their servants to carry them in the sedan chairs along the alleys of the garden, while other sisters and servants were expected to play various musical instruments or pretend to be the bride-groom and his family.

That day they found somewhere a huge dusty cloth dragon, and climbed on it in order to scare the servants. The servants prostrated themselves; they were doing their best to demonstrate their sacred awe. It was not clear who enjoyed the game more.

At that very moment the main gate of the estate opened and a procession entered the courtyard. The stablemen rushed to the horses, the servants hurried to bring the sedan chair to take Missus Fan to her room. Mister Chen, darker than the night, went to his library, silent. He stopped, though, when he saw the little ones playing with the dragon, and gave a faint smile, but soon it gave way to a frown, and a tear slowly went down his dusty cheek. He bit his lip and hastened to the library.

“Once Missus Fan is ready, let her join me here.”

The servants hurriedly took the travel ‘armour’ off their master. He proceeded into his bathroom, where there was a cool rosemary bath waiting for him. It looked like a little swimming pool at the level of the floor, and the man slowly sank into it. The comforting, warm bitter smell of the ‘heart herb’ took away the weariness of the journey and set his heart at ease. The feelings of illness and uncertainty went away, but the anxiety remained.

Now Fan entered the bathroom. Chen signalled her to join him. The servants helped her to undress and descend into the bath by the slippery golden steps. From above, through the blue-and-purple-and-pink stained glass of the skylight which featured a lotus flower on still water, light filtered into the bathroom. A candle in a flat candlestick, was positioned in a little polygonal mirror niche, was filling the room with a special, joyful lighting enhanced in the reflection of several mirrors positioned at certain angles to each other.

The lengthy travel and their nervous tension whetted their feelings. Chen slowly raised his eyes and looked at Fan. His eyes were caught by Fan’s breezing. Her fluttering eyelashes were gently repeating the ups and downs of her chest. Rosemary helped increase blood circulation in her heart.

Soon their breaths merged into soft waves. Fan’s lips parted and her eyes dropped. Then Chen inhaled her breath and gently touched her hand. A slight blush suffused the pale cheeks of his wife. Her eyelids started trembling, but Chen was not hurrying to grant her his satisfying touch. Watching the tender waves of passion going over her delicate body made him smile with delight.

Suddenly Fan gripped her husband’s hand, digging with her sharp nails into it, and went still. Some moments later her lips parted again and a gentle smile shone on her face. Her body became soft and yielding. Chen drew her near and she embraced him with her legs, slightly slanting back and holding onto the gilded bars with her hands. Slowly and tenderly the jade baton touched upon its flower. The entry gate trembled, as if under an electric current, and welcomingly parted. The labia, like the palms of two hands, enfolded the gentle soft jade baton, pulling it deeper and deeper inside. Having swallowed the whole of it, they firmly enveloped it at its root, sending soft waves from the base to the top of the heavenly palace. The jade baton started growing bigger and stronger, tenderly screwing deeper and visiting every corner of his home. “Hello, my dear little hollow, how nice to see you, my lovely little hill. I am back home at last, my precious lips. I am back today, won’t you let me in? Ah, you are not willing today. That’s not nice, I am leaving…”

“Don’t leave!”

“No, now you have to wait. A little bit. However, yes, you softened my heart, I forgive you. I am coming back in …”

Incense and candles were noiselessly replaced by the servants. The water was as warm as new milk, but the time of Yin was coming, and the water was acquiring its dark force. Still embracing, they slowly moved to the cushions. The bath was emptied, capped with mosaic tiles and covered with a carpet. Servants, like bodiless ghosts, anointed the bodies of their master and mistress with rose oil and disappeared into the shadows. It was the beginning of a night of love…

The morning broke with loud warbling of birds. That morning’s cacophony could not be called bird singing – so many different birds were trying to outsing the other. Chen lay on the pillows and watched Fan smiling in her sleep. He signalled for tea to be brought. The nuns always recommended a small cup of tea at dawn. Fan opened her eyes.

In a little while they were sitting on cushions in their soft silk dressing gowns, a tiny tea table with two little cups made of paper-thin porcelain between them.

“In fifteen days Bao and Shi will have to unite in matrimony,” said Chen.

Fan turned pale, and her weakened body began to sink onto the pillows. The servants knew what to do, as faints were not unusual with their mistress. However, this time it was much worse. It was decided to send for the sisters from the cloister, urgently.

“According to the astrologists’ forecast, their marriage will be long and happy. She is to bear a son, who will be conceived during their first matrimonial night. If this does not happen, you know what will be done to Bao and all the rest of us.”

“But she hasn’t turned fifteen yet, and the red dragon hasn’t visited her. She is not able to conceive.”

The cloister was located high up in the mountains, which, however, were not far away from Chen Li Hong’s home.

....

Having left Shi under the solicitous care of his Monk Tutor, I did not worry for him. At that moment I was much more concerned about his future bride, whom I was eager to meet. Having assessed the situation, I realized that it was most favourable. Entering the cloister I introduced myself as a ‘nun, who knows all herbs’, and willingly volunteered to leave for the first ‘call’, which, I was sure, would allow me to enter the home of Li Hong without arousing anybody’s suspicion.

Sister Fu (Talisman) was Master of the Art of the Emptiness of Love, Master of Internal Alchemy, of Herbal Healing and Surgery. She was the private counsellor of Missus Fan and taught the elder girls ‘The Art of Delights’. She was happy to have a new counterpart. She had a warm smile. Sisters from the cloister treated her with reverent awe. There were rumours that she could take away youth and energy from young lads and lasses through casting a glance at them. She welcomed me and treated me well, happy to have a travelling companion and an aide, which meant she could take more books, herbs and other things she needed for that visit.

The news that beautiful Bao, the favourite daughter of Missus Fan, had been chosen to become the wife of the son of the Illustrious Lord, instantly spread over the cloister, as many sisters had been involved in her life. The number of items and messages was gathering like a snowball, but we had to hurry, and sister Fu and I left the cloister.

The cobblestone road that we were following was, in fact, a giant, gently sloping staircase rounded at the top with mossy curbs, built in the dense forest that was covering the slope of the mountain.

Oaks, planes, acacias, larches and pine-trees with long silky needles lined this road. Around a bend we suddenly saw a little waterfall with crystal-clear water, the beginning of a little stream, where the willows were bathing their slender twigs.

Suddenly a little rock fell right in front of me. I raised my head and saw white goats walking in the water upstream. The one closest to me turned its head and stared at me in curiosity. When approaching Chen Li Hong’s mansion, we made a stop near a partially destroyed octagonal swimming pool. In the centre was a statue of a dragon carved from stone, which had kind eyes and an open mouth.

Sister Fu took out a little pebble from her basket and gracefully threw it into the mouth of the dragon.

“He accepted the gift. Everything will be fine,” said she smiling, addressing either me, or someone far away.

At the entrance there were people waiting for us. Servants rushed towards us to offer us sedan chairs. I had not been used to such kind of travel, but I had no choice. It was pleasant to observe the two strong handsome men running along the cobblestone path carrying the chair so skilfully that I didn’t feel any lurches at all! The sedan chair which sister Fu was riding in was decorated with a little gold bell, giving out melodic chimes and glittering in the rays of the midday sun.

The servants brought us straight into the library of the Master, where Missus Fan was still lying. Sister Fu introduced me, “This is the One Who Knows All Herbs.”

Then she took out of her basket everything she needed and started examining Missus Fan. Having taken Fan by her frail wrist, she sank deep in thought, and was looking at me without seeing me, which made me feel quite ill at ease.

“What can you say, One Who Knows All Herbs?” she asked me, as if it were I who was taking the pulse. I replied, “Lavender, rose, mint, anise, geranium, and neroli.”

“Well done! Make the drink!”

While I was making the drink, she took out two metal bowls with rounded thick edges covered with wood. One was a bit smaller, and the other one slightly larger. She helped the Mistress to lie down on her back and signalled to bring her candles. She laid bare Fan’s left arm and chest down to the navel. Holding the small cup in one hand, she took the candle, and swiftly, so that that the candle even did not go out, covered the candle with the bowl and put the bowl, its hollow down-side, on the left arm of the Mistress, somewhere (about one palm’s width) above the wrist. The second bowl, the larger one, was put in the same way in the centre of the woman’s chest, between her breasts, to the point, which obviously was the centre for the heart joint. She took a miniature hourglass out of her basket and sank further into meditation.

Yes, one did not need to take Missus Fan’s pulse to state that the woman had a weak heart. Her refined paleness resulted not from her high breed, but from a heart disease, and the same was the reason for the bluish shadows under her eyes, which made them look sad and appealing. All these were symptoms of a serious disease.

Right when the last bit of sand sank into the lower part of the hourglass, Sister Fu opened her eyes, removed the bowls and signalled me to serve the drink. Fan took a couple of swallows and fell asleep. Her cheeks acquired a pink tint, which put us at ease, and we proceeded to the library.

Mister Chen had already been waiting for us.

“Sisters, I really need your advice. You know that our daughter Bao has been chosen as a bride for Shi from the Nan Song family. We teach all our daughters to make good wives. But Bao’s health is weak, and we did not expect that it would be she, who would leave us. But this is not all. When Bao was born, astrologists predicted her departure right after she turned fifteen. Fan asked the astrologists to calculate another date, which would allow our daughter to live a happier life, and she convinced me to enter that date into the family book as the date of birth of our daughter. And this is why the astrologists of the Nan Song’s house selected Bao. If this is revealed, Bao will be executed, as well as all my family. I cannot bear the thought of having to kill my beloved daughter right after the wedding party to save the lives of the other children. If I could, I would rather kill myself, but without me everyone would surely die.”

His words and thoughts were frantic.

“Mister Chen,” I started gently, “if Bao is doomed to die at the age of fifteen, how old is she actually now?”

“Now she is fourteen and a half.”

“So, why to kill her, why to rush things?”

“The matter is that according to the astrologists’ predictions, she has to bear a son, who will become the heir to the throne. But this is not possible. The red dragon has not visited her yet, and she has got only half a year to live before she turns fifteen. Maybe, I will talk to her and ask her to take in poison by herself? I don’t know what I am talking about. I don’t know what can be done.”

Now we understood the reason of Chen’s anxiety.

“Please, allow us to examine Bao.”

Chen clapped his hands and ordered to bring in Bao. The youthfulness and the beauty of the girl wrung my heart. She was beautiful in the way only children could be, who arouse your desire to take them into your arms. Her cheeks pink from running, her smile happy and with not a single thought about the upcoming misfortune. However, what did she have to do with the predictions of the astrologists? She happily greeted everyone.

“Bao, the sisters want to have a word with you,” said Chen and left the room.

Sister Fu opened the basket to present her with all the gifts sent by the sisters from the cloister. Bao, just like all the other people in the home, was still unaware that she had been chosen to become the bride. She was happy to get so many gifts, and she was thanking every sister, calling her by name.

“Sister Fu, but why so many gifts?” asked Bao.

“There may be some changes to your life. May I ask you some questions?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Please, tell me, has the red dragon visited you?”

“No, it hasn’t, Sister Fu. I did everything you had told me, but there has been no change.”

“Can we examine you?”

Her skin was tender and delicate. I was just admiring her youthfulness and beauty, but Sister Fu was becoming more and more grave. And when I managed to focus on Bao’s body through the mist of admiration, I was surprised too and looked at Sister Fu in astonishment. Could what I have seen, or, rather, failed to see, be true? Fu kept her hand on the abdomen of Bao, and, frowning, was trying to gently press on her stomach here and there, but then she regained control over herself, gave Bao a smile and allowed her to get dressed and go to call servants, who would bring the gifts to her room. We exchanged understanding looks. Sister Fu broke the silence.

“The red dragon won’t come within fifteen days. Everything is too calm.”

I realized that she had failed to notice everything. The true situation was still worse. Bao lacked jade cluster at all! Just little bare pedicels, the size like of those of a squirrel. Sister Fu interpreted it as a development retardation, but I clearly saw that her ovarian reserve was empty. Suddenly a bold idea struck my mind.

“Sister Fu, let me help Bao. My Tutor knew this disease, he taught me to make a drink form chicken entrails and field mushrooms, which, I know for sure, will cure Bao.”

‘Talisman’ gave me a glance, or rather looked through me, which made me feel cold in the pit of my stomach. Then she smiled and said, “Well, this is why you came here. Very well, let it be the way you want it.” And she slowly started packing her things into the basket. Then she looked at me again and said, “I invite you to attend my lecture. The pupils here are sweet.”

We decided to postpone the talk with the parents of Bao and with Bao herself until the night. Mister Chen ordered us not to disturb him until night too. Missus Fan was still sleeping. Sister Fu ordered us to invite Bao to attend the lecture too.

Chapter Five

Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat

The elder girls got together in the practicing room. They were cheerfully chatting. I noticed little sachets filled with rather big – the size of a dove’s egg – burnished pebbles of various colours. Everyone had five pebbles: blue, red, yellow, green and white.

The most challenging task was to correctly locate the pebbles in their jade chambers – so that each pebble matched the associated organ. The sensitivity of the jade chamber had to be such that each girl could feel the ‘energy’ of the pebbles.

The blue pebble (however, not always was it of really blue colour, as each girl had a unique date of birth, and the pebbles where chosen to match her Zodiac sign, and to match the amount of energy of each organ, reducing or re-enforcing it), had to be located right at the entrance to the jade chamber, in the place where the outer petals of the bud open and embrace the energy of the pebble. The next was to be the green pebble – the eyes of the liver, and still further the yellow one, which embodied the golden trabeculae of the spleen; still further, closer to the inner gate of the jade chamber, on both the sides of the entrance, was the place for the red and the white pebbles, like flame, which added pink tint to a white lily and turned it into a lotus (the heart which gives love, and the lungs, which give life).