Dreaming of Zhou Gong

by Traci Harding

  Ji Song, as Fa’s heir, had been left to be Master of Ceremonies on New Year’s Eve in Haojing. The festival would run from the new moon until the full moon, so the Xibo would only be absent from his family for the first day of the two-week festival.

  The sun had only just set in the hour of the rooster when they arrived and lit the jetty torches to summon the Wu. The Xibo’s guard were ordered to leave and return the following day.

  ‘Alone at last!’ Ji Fa threw his arms wide and took a deep breath of mountain air, which was tinged by the warm humidity rising off the thermal lake. ‘If not for the Great Mother’s heavenly gift this morning, I would never have heard the end of this from my wife.’

  ‘I gather she does not approve of you leaving the family at festival time?’ Dan offered a sympathetic ear.

  ‘She is fearful and opposed to my association with the Wu.’ Fa was obviously annoyed by this, but then his mood took an upswing. ‘Yet the gift from the Great Mother now has the woman thinking twice about rejecting divine assistance. And it gave me justification to leave the city and family on the eve of the New Year, because I must thank Yi Wu personally. But then, I am sure Yi Wu foresaw that.’

  ‘I think it is Huxin you wish to thank personally,’ Dan bantered.

  Fa had a chuckle at this, something Dan had not heard him do since they were lads. ‘But seriously …’ the Xibo chose not to comment further on that subject ‘… this visit is much more than just a social call. I have important acquisitions to collect, and our proposal to deliver.’

  ‘Acquisitions?’ queried Dan.

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ Fa replied, spirits soaring, until he spied Dan’s excess luggage, in the form of a long wooden case. ‘You brought your qin,’ he uttered, stunned.

  Dan had only played the instrument on a couple of occasions since their brother’s death, when their father had commissioned that a sixth string be added to the instrument to mourn the loss of Bo Yi Kao, who had been the greatest master of the qin. The sixth string was sorrowful, and Dan found it emotionally disturbing to play.

  ‘As the Wu are not interested in material tribute, I thought a performance might please the Great Mother.’ Dan forced a smile. ‘Still, I have not played in so long that I hope I do not cause more offence than favour.’

  ‘I hardly think so.’ Fa was delighted. ‘You are as great as Bo —’

  ‘No,’ Dan insisted, ‘there will never be a greater qin master then Bo Yi Kao.’ Even now, the loss of their eldest brother still hit a raw nerve. ‘But I thank you for the compliment and the faith you place in my ability.’

  ‘I fear that too often you sell yourself short, Dan, so that those around you — even the dead — appear to shine more brightly,’ Fa said gravely.

  Dan was touched by his brother’s appraisal, and would have said so had the sound of lapping water not drawn their attention to the lake, where the ferry, bearing its hooded occupants, could be seen approaching through the mist.

  It was not Jiang Hudan wearing the white robe who greeted them this day, but Huxin and Ji Fa was beside himself with delight.

  ‘Brother Huxin, what a wonderful surprise,’ he exclaimed when she disembarked at the jetty.

  ‘The pleasure is all mine, brother Fa.’ She inclined her head slightly in greeting.

  ‘But where is Jiang Hudan?’ Dan asked — with a tinge too much disappointment for his own comfort.

  ‘She has fled our order, never to return,’ Jiang Huxin told him coolly. His horror must have reflected on his face, for she smiled suddenly. ‘Forgive me, brother Dan, I am just teasing you. Brother Hudan is in vigil with our brother Fen …’ the humour slipped from her face ‘… who shall be leaving us this night.’

  ‘Of course.’ Dan quietly damned his own impetuosity, and was forced to admit to himself that it was Jiang Hudan whom he was really here for. What was disturbing to him was that there was no purpose behind wanting to see her in particular, but he craved her company more than anyone he’d ever met, despite how she confused and humbled him on many levels.

  ‘Fear not, brother Dan,’ his hostess said, forcing a smile to disperse the heavy mood, ‘you shall surely see brother Hudan, for she is eager to speak with you.’

  ‘Really?’ The news shocked him out of his melancholy. ‘Why is that, brother Huxin? Have I done something else to offend her?’

  Brother Huxin’s smile became altogether more sincere. ‘Quite the contrary, I would think. I told you she’d come to you eventually.’ Dan found Huxin’s words mind-boggling, and wondered what he might have done to earn Jiang Hudan’s favour.

  Jiang Huxin turned her attention back to his brother to escort him onto the ferry.

  Whatever Jiang Hudan’s interest, Dan was grateful she was now willing to converse with him, and this time he would show the proper humility and not undermine his purpose. He’d never considered himself as particularly conceited before he’d met Jiang Hudan, but since meeting her he’d become acutely aware that true wisdom lay in knowing that he knew next to nothing, compared to everything there was to know and learn under heaven. In that new belief, Dan was truly humbled and hoped to fare better among the Wu.

  Upon their arrival at the House of Yi Wu, the Ji brothers were shown to their rooms to refresh themselves. As the Xibo was the guest of highest honour, he was shown to his room first — although that was probably not the order Fa would have preferred. Dan was grateful, however, as once she had opened up his quarters he had a moment alone with Jiang Huxin.

  ‘Is there any way I might be able to see Wu Fen Gong before …’ Dan tipped his head, not wanting to mention this evening’s event out loud. ‘I have a gift for him.’ From his qin case he pulled a beautifully crafted jade dizi. ‘I know he will have little time to play it —’

  ‘A very generous gift!’ Jade was more valued than gold and Huxin seemed a little torn over the situation. She had a peek out the door to see if the way to the kitchen was clear — most of the brothers were decorating the temple, and collecting wood for the sacrificial fire. ‘You know Hudan is with Fen. She will surely disapprove of your meeting, when Fen is in shame and the Great Mother has not given permission.’ She gave Dan fair warning.

  Dan was not thrilled that his short-term wish was contrary to his long-term ambition. He’d seen thousands of young men die, but for some inexplicable reason, he felt a connection to this one; even though Fen would not be Dan’s Shifu as hoped.

  ‘In that case, would you give brother Fen this for me?’ He handed over the dizi to Huxin. ‘When Fen stands before Tian he will have a fine instrument to play for heaven’s favour.’ His hostess was almost moved to tears, but she did not shed them. ‘Tell him that I will keep my promise to him, even though he cannot return the favour in this life.’ Fen’s love, the banished Wu, had proven elusive so far, but Dan had men out searching for her. If Fen could not be his Shifu, perhaps Nuan could? ‘Tell brother Fen that the wheels are in motion.’

  Brother Huxin appeared a little surprised that Fen and Dan had obviously already met for long enough to have a private understanding. ‘I will tell him,’ she vowed without asking questions and immediately left to deliver the missive.

  When Huxin returned to the kitchen where she had left her siblings, Fen and Hudan were still there. Fen was finishing off the arrangement of a beautiful wreath of azalea, peony, water lily, narcissus and pussy willow. He was running his hands over the barely budding stems of these flowers, whereby they burst into full bloom and he added them to the wreath.

  ‘That is beautiful work, Fen.’ Huxin admired the arrangement. Fen went about his task solemnly, with great care and eye for detail.

  ‘This is my death wreath,’ he told Huxin without looking up. ‘I want it to be a thing of perfection, so that when I stand before Tian he will know that I was good for something.’

  Huxin looked to Hudan, who was leaning against the wall, seemingly distant and unmoved as she rolled her eyes.

  ‘He still won’t consider repenting and begging
the forgiveness and mercy of Shifu Yi,’ Hudan explained, annoyed.

  ‘I cannot ask for forgiveness for something I am not sorry for,’ Fen barked, and then nearly collapsed into tears. ‘Please, I don’t want spend my last hours in this world arguing with my only family.’

  ‘I don’t want you to depart this world at all,’ Hudan stressed, ‘but you seem resigned to the notion.’ She gave his wreath a nudge to emphasise her point. ‘Where is your fight?’

  ‘It left with Nuan,’ he said sadly, and Huxin had to intervene to prevent Hudan from hitting him. Fen didn’t flinch.

  ‘Spit on heaven’s gifts to you then,’ Hudan jeered, at her wits’ end. ‘Die for the egotistical illusion that is the love of other! Your sacrifice will make no difference to Nuan’s plight —’

  ‘I never want her to learn that I regretted us,’ Fen insisted. ‘I would rather die.’ He went back to work, and Hudan, fuming, left the kitchen.

  ‘I have a gift for you from Ji Dan,’ Huxin uttered quietly to Fen once Hudan had left, and the jade dizi certainly served to get Fen’s attention.

  ‘Dear heavens!’ Fen smiled for the first time in a month as he took possession of the treasure.

  ‘And I have a message,’ she advised, peering about to ensure no one could overhear before she conveyed it. The news came as a great relief to Fen.

  ‘Then Tian has already blessed me.’ He went back to work on his wreath. ‘I have nothing to fear from death now.’

  Huxin had mixed feelings about making her little brother feel more relaxed as a prelude to his impending doom. Like Hudan, she would have preferred to see Fen trying to escape the fire, as he had done every year since he’d been there. But today was not about Huxin or Hudan. It was about Fen, and she could only support his wishes.

  The sound of drums summoned everyone at the house to the large platform outside the temple of Tian, where the sacrificial bonfire had been erected and now lit the entire area with the light from its blaze. The throne of the Great Mother was positioned at the top of the exterior steps to the temple and there her veiled person sat, surrounded by her Wu brothers, awaiting the arrival of her sacrificial offering.

  Dan and his brother stood apart from the proceedings, as they were outsiders and only present to observe. As they waited for Wu Fen Gong and his sisters to arrive, Dan got curious. ‘What is that you have tucked under your arm?’

  ‘Clothes,’ Fa replied.

  ‘Where you expecting to be cold?’ Dan queried.

  Fa shrugged, nodding toward the stairs that ascended from the courtyard to alert Dan that Jiang Hudan had arrived.

  As opposed to her usual lightness of being, today Jiang Hudan appeared as hard as the stone platform beneath them. She fronted up to kneel before the Great Mother and slammed her clenched right fist into the open palm of her left hand — as a soldier might yield before his commanding officer or king. ‘Shifu Yi, I deliver to you my ward, Wu Fen Gong, as promised and beg that you will show mercy and spare him from the fire of Tian.’

  Fen followed Hudan onto the platform and came to a standstill while Hudan pleaded his case to the Great Mother. Jiang Huxin came to stand alongside Fen, and placed an arm around him in support.

  ‘Has your ward repented his sins against this house?’ Yi Wu asked, and Hudan was clearly vexed by the question.

  ‘No, Great Mother, he has not,’ Hudan was pained to say, ‘but —’

  ‘Sh!’ Yi Wu held up a single finger and Hudan bowed her head in obedience. ‘You may step back.’

  She rose and backed up, slightly sideways, to grant Yi Wu line of sight to the accused. Hudan finally came to a stop beside Dan. This was just a happy accident Dan realised when Hudan looked aside to see him and maintained the same stony glare she’d worn into the gathering. She may have been as cold as ice on the outside, but inside she was fit to explode. Without comment or even a nod of recognition she looked back to the proceedings as Fen was called forth and knelt before their Shifu.

  ‘What say you, Wu Fen Gong? Are you not sorry that you have broken our creed and in so doing offended and hurt those who have kept you alive all these years?’ The Great Mother acknowledged Fen directly for the first time since he’d been led before her at the age of three.

  ‘My sorrow has as many levels and branching paths as a river in the wet season, Great Mother.’ He took the flower wreath from around his neck and, placing it on the ground before his Shifu, he remained kneeling, head bowed in shame. ‘I am sorry for the harm and offence I have caused you Shifu Yi, my sisters and everyone in this house. But I am not sorry that I love He Nuan, and I shall never be sorry for receiving her love,’ he stated bravely, sealing his own fate.

  ‘So … you are a man, after all,’ she said with some humour, having ignored the fact for years, but at the same time she was emphasising that their creed, and men, didn’t mix. ‘But, if that is how you feel, then you leave me no choice. Remove your clothes, Fen Gong, for you are Wu no longer.’

  As the lad stripped, Dan glanced aside to Hudan, who was visibly shaking from restraint, her eyes moist with panic.

  Fen stood, clothes in one hand, jade dizi in the other.

  ‘Yours was a crime of passion, Fen Gong, but it is not how much we loved that Tian will measure us by, but by how much we were loved.’ The Great Mother looked up from Fen to address the gathering. ‘Is there anyone present who does not love this man and would see him fed to the fire?’

  There was a great gasp from everyone; then all that could be heard on the plateau was the sound of wind and flames.

  ‘Hear that, brother Fen? See how you are loved and treasured by those who have known you. It would seem that others cherish your existence far more than you do.’ The Great Mother stood and came down the stairs to confront Fen Gong. When she removed her veil to speak with him, Dan nearly died from shock. He was honoured — maybe Yi Wu had forgotten he was present? The Great Mother was very beautiful, and her face was rather ageless, neither young nor old. Her appearance certainly did not betray the number of years she had reportedly been on earth.

  Fen Gong was also astounded to be looking at the woman who had kept him for most of his life. ‘Great Mother …’ he began and his eyes bulged momentarily as they drank in her image, and then he dropped to his knees before her, ‘I am not worthy.’

  Yi Wu dropped to her knees before him and forced him to look her in the eyes. ‘You are most worthy, my dearest only son,’ she told him, and Fen was moved to tears. ‘There is no one sorrier than I to be losing you this day. Your talent is rare and will be sorely missed, but a soul as beautiful as yours is even more hard to come by. I shall miss you, Fen Gong.’ Yi Wu kissed his forehead and stood once more, leaving Fen completely shellshocked with delight, pride, and confusion.

  Yi Wu addressed the gathering. ‘Who claims this man?’

  ‘I do!’ Fa and Dan were quick to say at once, but when Dan noticed Fa holding up the clothes he’d been carrying, Dan realised he was speaking out of turn. ‘Actually, he does,’ and Dan motioned to Fa with some embarrassment while his brother went forth to claim Fen Gong.

  ‘I claim your son for the House of Ji.’ Fa came to stand by Fen Gong. ‘He shall be treated well and will be prized by my house as the honoured son of Yi Wu Li Shan that he is.’

  ‘Throw your old clothes into the flames and with them your old life, Fen Gong,’ Yi Wu instructed the lad. ‘They are the only things that shall burn this day.’

  ‘But Great Mother,’ Fen said, wondering if this outcome was too good to be true. ‘I have sinned, I —’

  ‘— have done nothing that any boy your age would not have done,’ Yi Wu explained. ‘I knew the time would come when you would have to leave, and now an opportunity in the wider world has opened up to you. Tian has spoken, Fen Gong; this is what heaven wants for you.’

  As Dan watched Fen Gong toss his old clothes into the flames and don his new attire, he was simply bursting with happiness and relief. The atmosphere was electric with goodwill.
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  When Fen was dressed and ready to embark on his new life, his sisters were called forth to kneel beside him before their Shifu.

  ‘Are you both still angry at your Shifu?’ she queried them light-heartedly.

  ‘No, Shifu,’ they said as one.

  ‘Yet you will both miss your little brother. Am I right?’ she proffered.

  ‘Yes, Shifu,’ they chanted, looking at Fen fondly.

  ‘Wrong,’ Yi Wu contradicted. ‘You will both accompany Ji Fa back to Haojing, and may return to Li Shan once the Shang emperor and Su Daji have been deposed. You have Tian’s permission to use your abilities to their fullest extent to bring about heaven’s will.’

  ‘Yes, Shifu,’ Jiang Huxin replied, much keener to confirm her obedience than Jiang Hudan.

  ‘If it pleases Tian,’ Hudan said, accepting the assignment with some reluctance.

  ‘Ji Fa, you have my best oracle, my best warrior and my best healer to aid your mission,’ Yi Wu advised. ‘May they serve you well and bring you ultimate victory.’

  Dan assumed Hudan was the oracle and Huxin was the warrior, but he was rather surprised to hear Fen’s greatest attribute was healing.

  ‘It is my greatest wish to rid this land of tyranny and restore order and peace,’ Ji Fa said, humbled. ‘With the support of your house and these three masters, I feel far more confident of achieving that vision.’

  ‘Our business here is done.’ Yi Wu motioned to the temple doors behind her, which opened wide with no visible assistance. ‘A celebration awaits!’

  The Wu responded with loud chattering wails of approval, and they migrated into the temple of Tian to celebrate the passing of the old year.

  Hudan and Huxin lingered beside the fire as their freshly acquitted brother picked up his death wreath and, throwing it on the fire, he played upon his new jade dizi as he watched his offering burn.

  ‘I guess Tian shall have to wait just a bit longer to have you tend heaven’s gardens,’ Hudan commented to Fen once his tune was done. ‘I am so very happy about that.’ She smiled and embraced her little brother.