Dreaming of Zhou Gong

by Traci Harding

  Fen served his eldest brother a hate-face for her lack of compassion. ‘He Nuan does not belong in such a place,’ he insisted, and the deadly look in his eye warned Hudan to keep her derogatory opinion to herself. ‘If this is a house of ill-repute, then why are there bars on the windows?’

  ‘To keep the whores in and prevent customers slipping away without paying,’ Hudan snapped. ‘You are delaying the Xibo’s journey and jeopardising his safety for a —’

  ‘Do not call her that again.’ The once-passive gardener-cum-musician was more agitated and tense than Dan had ever seen him. ‘I’m not asking any of you to stop. I’ll handle this on my own.’

  Fen pushed forward, but Hudan waylaid him. ‘You have no idea how the world works —’ she began.

  ‘Please, brothers,’ Dan intervened. ‘This does not have to delay us long. Allow me.’ The lord headed into the dilapidated double-storey dwelling, and was met in the service foyer by a chubby woman, who bowed low upon recognising him.

  ‘My lord, welcome. We are so honoured by your presence in our house.’

  ‘The woman we saw calling out from upstairs, just a moment ago. Where is she?’ Dan got straight to the point.

  ‘I apologise for the insult, lord,’ she said. ‘We’ve quietened her down. She won’t be any more bother.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’ Fen was concerned, but Dan urged him to be patient.

  ‘I wish to purchase that woman from you.’ Dan tossed a jade piece on the table in front of the aging proprietor which was worth enough to buy every woman in the house. Despite the exceptional price, the woman’s reaction seemed to indicate the offer posed a dilemma for her. ‘Respectfully, I advise my lord that we have many more girls who are younger and more beautiful than this woman,’ she offered.

  ‘In that case, to sell this woman to us shall be no great loss to your business,’ Dan insisted.

  ‘So true,’ she agreed. ‘However, please allow us some time to clean her up before presenting her to you.’

  ‘No!’ Fen took charge of the negotiation, sensing the woman was stalling. ‘You will take us to her now.’

  Brows drawn with worry, the old proprietor finally nodded. ‘If that is your wish, but I warn you, she has not been well. Follow me —’ She turned to lead the way, but Fen pushed past her and headed for the stairs.

  ‘He Nuan!’ he called, scaling the stairs quickly, with Dan and Hudan in hot pursuit. There were a couple of young women at the top of the stairway who wished to waylay Fen, but he bypassed their advances by jumping the rails straight onto the open landing above, where the upstairs rooms were located.

  When the scantily clad ladies spotted Dan in pursuit, they were even more excited, but as Hudan let loose an unearthly snarl of disapproval from beneath her hood, both the girls fled in fear. Dan was grateful to avoid the scene and to have their path cleared to pursue Fen.

  ‘He Nuan!’ Fen called again, and when he received no answer, he stopped dead still, closed his eyes and took three deep breaths, before looking to one door in particular.

  ‘Fen, wait —’ Dan called in warning, but the lad was already charging the room.

  ‘What do you want, little girl?’ Dan heard another man grumble as he approached the open doorway and perceived the horrendous scene within.

  A woman sat on the floor, her arms extended over her head and tied to the bars of the window above. Her clothes had been torn open down the front, and hung off her in rags, covering nothing of her modesty. Her long body was skeletal thin, and she was badly bruised all over. The man leaning over her, who had beaten her nearly unconscious, was double Fen’s size. Still, as he rose to confront the lad, Fen charged at the burly fellow and gripped hold of his throat.

  Dan was horrified, expecting the larger man would throw Fen off like a rag doll, but instead the thug buckled to his knees. He became short of breath and his face began to turn bright red — he appeared fit to explode!

  ‘No, Fen!’ Hudan pushed past Dan, flinging her hood back to speak with her brother. ‘If you waste your energy killing him, you’ll never be able to save her.’

  Fen began seething with conflict: his hate for this man versus his love for Nuan.

  ‘Stop now or they will both die!’ Hudan reasoned. ‘Love or hate, you cannot accommodate both successfully.’

  Fen threw the man backward, out of the way, and the fellow gasped for breath.

  ‘Yield,’ Dan commanded the stranger, ‘or I shall have you arrested. This woman has just been purchased by the House of Ji.’

  ‘You are welcome to her!’ The man hauled himself to his feet. ‘She may look like a weak bag of bones, but she has a will of bloody iron.’

  ‘Cut her loose.’ Dan noted the man carried a large knife. He must be an employee of the house and not a customer, as customers would have to leave weapons at the door. With a grumble of resentment the man cut his prisoner’s bonds, and she fell unconscious into Fen’s arms.

  ‘Leave us!’ Fen demanded through gritted teeth.

  Dan closed the door behind the fellow as Fen laid He Nuan on the floor. As her own clothes were in such a state of disrepair, Dan removed his cloak, covered the patient with it and knelt down beside her. He was no doctor, but the woman was obviously having trouble breathing and was in a very bad way. In fact, she didn’t look like she’d survive the journey to Haojing, but he wanted to offer the services of the court physicians. ‘We could —’

  ‘Shhh,’ both Hudan and Fen requested at once, as they completed lying the patient flat on her back.

  Their reaction was puzzling to Dan, but as he knew little about the Wu, he was silent and observed. Instead of crying over his lover’s injuries and near-death state, Fen had calmed himself. He knelt close to He Nuan, breathing deeply, his eyes closed; then he smiled and brought his hands together at his chest.

  Hudan grabbed Dan by the wrist and quietly guided him back to standing. He wanted to ask what was happening, but in response to his quizzical frown, Hudan only referred him back to Fen.

  In between the lad’s palms an illumination now flared — as if he held a tiny sun inside his hands. Fen bent forward and laid his palms between He Nuan’s breasts, at which point the light disappeared inside her and the woman’s injuries began to heal and vanish. Dan had seen the Wu heal themselves, but had no idea they could heal others in the same fashion. Or was it only Fen who could do this? Yi Wu had referred to the lad as a healer and now it was clear why.

  ‘No wonder your house was loathe to let Fen go,’ Dan uttered aside to Hudan.

  ‘A great boon for the House of Ji,’ Hudan confirmed.

  ‘Indeed.’ Dan was so overcome with excitement it momentarily left him breathless — he had secured himself a far more gifted teacher than he’d imagined.

  When Fen’s patient showed signs of coming around, he scooped her up into a supported, seated position to welcome her back to consciousness. ‘Nuan?’

  It took her a moment to focus on his face. ‘Fen?’ she rasped, and he nodded eagerly, tears filling his eyes as she smiled. ‘You’re alive!’ She shed tears of relief, although still weak from lack of food and water. ‘I was devastated when that old witch said she was going to burn you.’

  ‘Old witch?’ Hudan protested, but one glare from Fen and Hudan lapsed into silence.

  ‘I offered myself in your place,’ Nuan wept, caressing his cheek with her trembling hand, ‘but she said I was not worthy.’

  ‘Yi Wu freed me,’ Fen told Nuan to encourage her to stop worrying. ‘I am an honoured son of the House of Ji now, and free to take a wife of my choosing.’ His announcement brought tears of joy to Nuan’s eyes, but Hudan could only roll hers. ‘And I choose you, He Nuan,’ Fen whispered.

  ‘Oh, brother,’ Hudan muttered to herself, shaking her head in disapproval.

  ‘I have died, Fen,’ Nuan gasped through her sobs, as Fen scooped her up to carry her out of her prison, ‘and this is heaven.’ She leant her head upon his shoulder and closed her eyes. />
  The gushing love talk and heightened emotions made Hudan very uncomfortable. ‘Can we leave, please?’ She placed the hood over her head, opened the door and led the way outside.

  As they emerged from the house of jun ji, the tigress gave a roar which sent the villagers running for their lives.

  ‘Shut up!’ Hudan growled back at her sister, in a mood.

  Dan repressed a smile of amusement and only shrugged at the tiger, who returned to her reclining position. When he was again seated on his horse beside Jiang Hudan, Dan felt satisfied to have been able to fulfil his end of the bargain with Fen.

  ‘What are you looking so happy about?’ Hudan queried. ‘Now your new teacher has the distraction of a lover.’ She dug her heels into her horse and galloped off down the road after their party.

  Perhaps he hadn’t entirely thought that bargain through. Because of He Nuan’s association with Fen, Dan’s happiness was again running contrary to Jiang Hudan’s. ‘Damn.’

  A little way down the road a soldier riding at the head of the party came back to advise Dan that the Xibo would like a word with him.

  ‘We found the banished Wu, I gather?’ Ji Fa commented as Dan joined him.

  ‘It would seem so,’ Dan glanced back at his new ward, whose arms were filled with a bundle of woman — he’d never seen a lad so happy. ‘But I do not think Jiang Hudan is very pleased about the event.’

  ‘Brother Hudan has no say in Fen Gong’s life any longer,’ Ji Fa said, seeking to cheer up his brother. ‘He is your ward now.’

  ‘An enviable position,’ Dan replied sarcastically, and Ji Fa saw his point.

  ‘Ah well, we are all on the same side and want the best for brother Fen, so I’m sure the situation will work itself out. The hint of a wedding turns any woman to mush.’

  Dan was a realist. ‘Not Jiang Hudan.’

  ‘I fear you might be right,’ Ji Fa quietly chuckled.

  ‘Is our new acquaintance the reason you wanted to speak with me?’ Dan queried.

  ‘No,’ Fa admitted. ‘The Great Mother was very impressed by your performance this morning,’ he began, a little awkwardly. ‘She wanted me to pass on her desire that you play for our troops to rouse them before battle.’

  It felt as if someone suddenly reached down Dan’s throat and yanked his heart into his windpipe — he couldn’t breathe.

  ‘I know that you have found playing the qin difficult since our brother’s death, which is why I am going commission a new instrument for you, with a seventh string, and its tone shall be joyous!’

  Dan had promised the Great Mother that he would try to set aside his grief in order that he might share his gift with others, and Yi Wu had vowed that heaven would aid him to do this. Was this new instrument the answer?

  ‘Thank you. I eagerly await your gift.’ Dan resolved to remain open to the possibilities inherent in a new instrument. He had truly adored playing the qin once, and he wished to find the joy in it again.

  ‘Then you will do it?’ Ji Fa concluded, seemingly surprised by the lack of argument.

  ‘I shall do my best,’ Dan conceded, his gut churning with inner resistance. If the Great Mother was intent on him overcoming his musical block, then Dan knew that the challenge was important and he must endure; he did not wish not give Yi Wu a reason to think him unworthy of her tutelage.

  Their party was greeted with a mixed reaction in the open courtyard at the Ji family residence in Haojing. Most notably, Jiang Huxin caused a commotion as she paced beside the Xibo through the courtyard toward the steps to the interior where the household were assembled.

  Ji Song was obviously delighted to see the Wu again, but as he opened his mouth, his father held a finger to his own lips to urge Song to keep silent for the moment.

  Fa had decided that how much his subjects were told about their guests would be based on a need-to-know basis. So their family members, including Fa’s wife and three of their most trusted brothers, Zhenduo, Wu and Shi, were told that the tiger was Fa’s personal protector, given to him by Yi Wu; that Fen was Dan’s new ward; and Hudan was a gift to Dan from Yi Wu, in appreciation for his performance.

  ‘Such a gift is surely wasted on Dan,’ commented Zhenduo, brother number six. ‘What does she look like under there?’

  As Zhenduo neared to draw back her hood, Hudan let loose her unearthly snarl, and the warrior decided he was no longer curious, much to the amusement of the rest of the menfolk.

  ‘What a beauteous specimen!’ Shi, brother number nine, who looked to be a younger twin of Ji Fa — even though they did not share the same birth mother — was fascinated by the tiger. Shi kept a couple of tigers that he’d raised from cubs, and he was by far the biggest animal lover among Xibo Chang’s sons. ‘The tigress is tame?’ he asked, excited to see that she was not on a leash.

  ‘That really depends on whether she likes you,’ Fa replied.

  ‘May I?’ Shi decided to try his luck, as he was not as fearful as most.

  Fa gave a laugh and shrugged. ‘They’re your limbs.’ The Xibo patted Huxin’s head. ‘My little brother has a bit of an obsession with tigers. He’s raised orphaned cubs, who are still thriving in our garden.’

  ‘I have never seen a white tigress before!’ Shi’s wide eyes were fixed on Huxin as he stepped forward and then slowly sank onto his haunches. Shi bowed his head submissively, and holding his hands out before him, palms up, he inched closer.

  ‘This is madness,’ uttered the Xibo’s wife, but Fa hushed her to silence, intrigued.

  As Shi got closer, a sound began to reverberate from deep in the tigress’ throat, and there was a gasp from the court, as most thought the sound was a warning that the animal was about to strike. As Shi’s hands were now right under Huxin’s nose, the sound she was making increased and she began to purr loudly. Shi ventured to touch her fur, and gave a sigh of delight. ‘You are amazing, girl.’

  Huxin nudged her head against his, and the next thing Shi knew he was being bowled over and having his face licked.

  ‘Well,’ exclaimed Fa, rather surprised by the outcome, ‘it seems Baihu will protect me from everyone but you, Shi.’ Fa could not refer to the tigress by her real name, as it was known far and wide.

  The tigress suddenly returned to Fa’s side — as if she realised she’d got carried away.

  ‘May I try?’ Ji Fa’s wife asked, thinking she’d test where she stood with her husband’s new pet. She’d barely taken one step toward Huxin before the tiger let loose a roar that sent every woman and child fleeing for the house interior, including Ji Fa’s wife.

  Huxin sat back on her haunches, obviously pleased with the chaos she’d created, and most of the men found the scene highly amusing.

  ‘She really looks like she’s about to attack,’ Shi exclaimed, still seated on the ground before the tiger, laughing at the scene.

  Fa agreed with a nod. ‘However, Baihu, if you don’t want my wife to have you locked up, best keep your opinion of her to yourself,’ he remonstrated, a chuckle still in his voice.

  ‘You are always welcome in my part of the house, Baihu,’ Shi declared and crawled over to give her another pat.

  ‘Odd!’ Fa watched their fond interaction with some bemusement. ‘She has not let anyone else get near her besides me.’ Obviously Huxin felt Shi was very trustworthy. ‘You always did have a way with wild creatures, Shi.’

  ‘They have a way with me,’ Shi corrected. ‘They make so much more sense than people do.’ He got a lick up the side of the face for that comment. ‘See, she understands me.’

  ‘More than you could possibly know.’ Fa was perturbed that Huxin was so taken with their much younger brother, but Huxin again withdrew from her cuddle with Shi to return to Fa’s side.

  ‘That growl was fierce!’ Ji Song came forward to express his opinion, but he was not game enough to actually pat the tigress.

  ‘You and I need to talk, son,’ said Fa, indicating that Song should follow him to somewhere quiet. Fa wanted t
o explain their strategy, and ensure his heir remained tightlipped about the Wu.

  Huxin rose to accompany Fa inside the house, but could not resist looking back to Shi, who sat gazing at her with total love and adoration.

  ‘Just what we need,’ Hudan muttered, under her breath. ‘Another distraction.’

  ‘City life is full of them, I’m afraid,’ Dan said to acknowledge her concerns.

  ‘Then, with Tian’s grace, we shall not be forced to linger here long.’ Hudan was already craving solitude and a chance to practise Dao Yin.

  ‘Indeed.’ Dan could not have been more in agreement. ‘Still, I think you will find my rooms quiet and conducive to st —’

  ‘Your rooms!’ Hudan protested.

  ‘Your cover denotes,’ Dan whispered to her, ‘that you are my respons —’

  ‘I shall not be shut up with the rest of your women!’ Hudan had lowered her voice to a stressed whisper.

  ‘I do not have any other women,’ he hissed in reply, and as Hudan remained silent beneath her hood, he continued. ‘There is only me, the interior house staff and now Fen, Nuan and you.’ Hudan was still quiet, and Dan could feel her resistance to being put in his charge — if only covertly. ‘Allow me to show you around, and you can make up your own mind,’ he proffered.

  Finally, she nodded, resigned. ‘Lead the way,’ Hudan said, so that she could trail him through the house as a ‘gift’ might.

  En route, Dan instructed one of the house staff to fetch the physicians to his quarters to see to He Nuan.

  ‘I realise this is awkward for you,’ Dan said, waiting for her to catch up and, insisting on walking beside her despite her cover. ‘I am not accustomed to sharing my space either, so … we’ll just have to make the best of it.’

  He pushed open the double doors at the end of the hallway and they entered a huge Hall of Records, complete with a few writing desks near the windows in the sunlight and a vast amount of floor space.

  ‘What do you think?’ he asked, with a hopeful frown.