My Soul is in the Sky

by Summer Murong

  Ponu and I look at each other. That is good enough. We are just two of the thousands fans of the General Wei. Being able to see him makes my heart race.

  “Papa, when should we go?” I can’t wait.

  Papa must feel helpless by my persistence. “We can go to capital Chang’an before mid-Autumn festival. This way, we can prepare some gifts to give General Wei for the festival.”

  “I know, I know.” I raise my hand as if I am still in the classroom. “I will make some delicious mooncakes.” My grandma has taught me how to make perfect mooncakes.

  “What is mooncake?” Ponu asks me.

  “Uh…..” It seems like there is no mooncake yet in this world. “Well, I call them mooncakes because they are round like moon.”

  Actually, mooncakes don’t need to be round. They can be in square shape too. They are called mooncakes because they have been served only around mid-autumn festival, which is also called Moon Festival. It is celebrated on fifteenth day of August. It is said the moon at this day is the biggest and brightest during the whole year.

  “That is a great idea.” Niang smiles and finally joins our conversation. “If Shiaonu says mooncakes are delicious. They must be very good.”

  “But Niang I need help in making the wood mold. Do you know anybody who can carve the wood?”

  “If it’s not too fancy, I can do it.” Papa says.

  “That is excellent.” I quickly explain to him the size and the patterns I’d like to have for the mold.

  “This is very simple.” Papa nods his head. “I can carve some flowers if you’d like.”

  My eyes wide open. “Papa, can you make a set then? I can make mooncakes with different stuffings and different wrappers. “

  “Not a problem at all. I just need to go find my tools tomorrow. After sharpen them, I should be able to start.”

  I applaud happily. “This is excellent. I am sure General Wei will love them. I can’t believe I am going to make some mooncakes for my hero.”

  The corners of my mouth must have reached all the way to my ears. Everyone laughs at me.

  3 an injured man

  I have never seen Niang so radiant. Even Ponu notices that.

  “Shiaonu,” he says to me while we are having breakfast after Niang waltzed out of kitchen. “Don’t you think Niang is very nice to me today? She did not yell at me even when I forgot about getting the water for the water jar.” As if it is not enough yet, he continues. “I think it is because of Papa.”

  I stifle a laugh with my chopsticks still in my mouth. “Ponu, watch out. If Niang hears this, she will beat you up.”

  Ponu rolls his eyes. “She never really hits me that hard anyway.”

  I hand him a hard-boiled egg.

  “Eat more eggs instead of congee and buns. There is not much nutritional value. If you really want to build up your body, you should modify your diet.” I try to pass on some dietary knowledge to him.

  “Right, you reminded me. We should go get those duck eggs.” He starts peeling the egg. “I have told Papa about this. He would like to come with us. He is getting some baskets.”

  “Shiaonu, Can you come here?” Papa calls me from back yard.

  “Coming.” I grab my apron and put on my wooden clogs. I carefully walk to the back yard since I can easily stumble with the shoes.

  “What is this?” Standing next to the fence at back yard, Papa points to a bamboo sign with a carved skeleton and bones on it.

  “Oh, this is where our earthworm farm is.” I kneel down on the ground and remove the bamboo woven lid right in front of the sign. It is a hole about three feet long, one feet in width and in depth. There are hundreds or maybe even thousands live earthworms swarming inside. I watch Papa, who immediately stiffens up by the scene.

  Ponu and I love to do this to others. Every time when we show the earthworms to others, we got a kick out of their reaction. I still remember Niang screaming and would never get close to them again.

  “Ha ha ha ha ha….” Ponu’s laughter comes from my back.

  “What are they for?” Papa quickly composes himself and asks us curiously.

  “They are high protein food for chickens and fish.” Ponu explains without realizing he is using the words way too advanced for this time. After all, he does remember what I said. “Our chickens started laying eggs daily after we fed them with the earthworms. “

  “What do you feed these worms?” Papa seems very interested.

  “These worms eat almost anything: left overs, scraps, wet straws, even drops from ducks and chickens.” I explain. “It’s easy to grow them, if you do not mind their disgusting look.” It is the most eco-friendly way feeding animals.

  Niang would never feed chicken with these worms, no matter how much we explain to her the advantage of doing so.

  “I’ve never heard such things. But if it works, why not then?” Papa nods. Then he asks another question. “What do you mean you feed fish with these worms too?”

  We then take Papa to the swamp area, where we have built a secret pond by placing bamboo woven fences around it. It is not very big or very fancy, since we don’t want to attract any attention. Jinu actually built most of the fences. He splits bamboos into long slices and wove them into a dense fence. Ponu and I then located the best spot to place the fences, where it is deep enough to retain all the trapped fish but shallow enough for us to capture them.

  Papa examines the place with a huge interest. “It looks like a funnel”.

  “Yes, that’s why fish can swim in, but can never swim out.” Ponu dumps in a small bamboo jar of earthworms in to the pond. It is actually a native Indian way trapping and retaining fish in the river. With a long narrow funnel like entrance, and some earthworms along the way, fish swim in easily. Sometimes when it gets too crowded in the trap, we even close the entrance for a while. We feed the fish with earthworms and leftovers too.

  I hand Papa a fish scoop. “We have been eating fish a lot. Papa, do you want to have some fish tonight?”

  With the fresh earthworms dumped in, it caused a lot of splashing in the pond. Fish jump right out to the surface fighting for the food. Papa looks totally amazed by what we have done.

  “Your kids are very smart.” he says. “I have lived here all my life and never thought of doing something like this.”

  “Actually, there are something else we want to show you and we need you help in making a bamboo raft. Do you see that little island in the middle, we need to go there for our duck eggs. We just found out that our ducks go there laying eggs all these time. We don’t know how many are there, but there should be plenty.” I say to him.

  “Let’s find out then.” Papa rolls up his sleeves.

  With the help of Papa, we quickly put a raft together. They insist on me staying behind while they row to the island with a long bamboo stick.

  “Oh, my, my” I hear Ponu’s voice.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “Shiaonu, there are hundreds eggs.” Ponu tells me.

  “Daughter, go back home and get more baskets. We will need a lot of them. Tell your Niang to come to help.”

  We collected over four hundred eggs. Not all from our own eighteen ducks, but from wild ducks and wild geese.

  “What are we going to do with all these eggs?” Niang still cannot believe all the eggs we have collected.

  “Shiaonu, Ponu, what do you think?” Papa turns to us. “You two did all these. Do you have any plans?”

  “Shiaonu, you tell them.” Ponu nudges me.

  “I am thinking that we should divide them into three groups. First we pick the eggs can be hatched for more ducks, then we sell some for money. For the rest, we can make salted eggs. They can be sold later for higher price.”

  Everyone seems in agreement.

  “But there are a few challenges: First, I don’t know how we can hatch so many ducklings. I used hatching hens to hatch ducks before, but I don’t know how to find more hatching hens. Second, we will need some money
to buy salt and clay jars. Third, which is not quite urgent at this time, but we still need to think about how to sell them. There should be restaurants and shops willing to buy eggs, ducks and chickens from us. But we don’t know any of them. “

  “Hmm…” Papa finally says, “I think I get what you just said. We will have them separated into three groups, for hatch, for sell and for salted eggs. But we have to take care of something first before we get more ducks. We need to buy the property around the swamps. I believe it is still a public property. That’s why we have not heard anybody complain yet. But if we are going to make it big, others will complain. “

  Papa is talking about upscaling the whole idea of farming. I suddenly realize Papa is a natural business man. As soon as he sees the opportunity, he seizes it right away.

  “I will go talk with the head of village right away. Hopefully it won’t cost that much. Ponu, you go with me.”

  Papa and Ponu change their clothes and go to see head of village. Niang hands them a basket of chicken eggs as a gift.

  I am very satisfied with all the progress today. I have only thought about having nutritious food on the table, but Papa is turning it into a business. For some strange reason, professional business men in Han have been despised by society. They have been stereotyped as greedy, petty and with low moral standards. In Han, business men have money, but they don’t have respect.

  To me, none of this concerns me. I will appreciate it if my life in this world becomes better. Maybe after Papa has some money, I can suggest a new house with a toilet and shower.

  I have continued my running routing even after Papa comes home. But I don’t dare to run late at night or run on the same route any more. That night I stopped in front of a house at the other end of the village and waved goodbye to the guy who have chased me for miles. Only after he rode off, I then ran back home. I don’t think he will come back looking for me or anything like that, plus he might think I am a lunatic, but I don’t want any unnecessary trouble. So I changed the time and route of my running. Stay here, stay low and stay alive is my only goal at this time.

  I try to finish my run by the ponds, where Papa and Ponu are supposed to be. They were trying to catch the fish and prepare them to be sold tomorrow. Papa has decided to sell all the fish we kept in our trap. We are still short in money to buy the property. But the head of village agrees on us using the land and pay off the rest when we save enough.

  When I see a leisurely wondering horse at the area of ponds, I stop my running. It is a tall, beautiful, black horse. It only has a blanket on the back without saddles. I wonder how anybody can ride like this.

  With Papa and Ponu not far from the swamp, I decide to satisfy my curiosity by checking it out closer. And then I see somebody lying down on his stomach on the ground. His back is soaked with blood.

  I run to him while calling Papa and Ponu loudly. He is not moving at all. For a second, I think he is dead. I kneel down by his side and put my index and middle fingers on his carotid artery on one side of his neck. I get a weak pulse. Then I check on his breath, it’s there. I dare not move him.

  “Sir, Can you hear me? Please wake up.”

  I raise my head and call for Papa and Ponu again. Still, there is no reply.

  Then I feel the man move. He is trying to say something. I lower myself next to his mouth.

  “Shut up.” That’s what he says.

  “Good, you are awake. Other than the injury to your back, do you have any other injury?” I ask him.

  He doesn’t answer me.

  “I need to check your injury.” I search him for anything can cut through clothes. A dagger hanging on his waist seems like a good one. I pull it out and cut open his clothes at his right shoulder. Somebody must have cut him from his back. The wound is from right shoulder to the lower back. It looks very deep and long. With the tissue rolling open, I can see the bone.

  Apparently he needs stitches. But first, I have to help stop the bleeding.

  Using his dagger, I cut off my skirt in pieces and press the cloth on the top of the wound layer after layer until I don’t see any blood leaking out. Then I cut longer pieces and wrap them around him tightly.

  I know he is awake. I can hear his curse. But he is too weak to stop me.

  “Your wound is too deep and too long. You need stitches. You should feel lucky I know a little about urgent care. But I need to go fetch some help.” I finish wrapping. By now my whole skirt is gone and I only have my running shorts on.

  “Don’t go.” He says to me.

  “I will be right back. My Papa and my brother should not be far.” I thought he was worrying about me leaving him alone there.

  “Don’t do it.” He says.

  “Why not? Because you are a Xiongnu?” I have already figured that out when I see the patterns on the dagger.

  He stays silent.

  “So what?” I say to him.

  The war between Han and Xiongnu has lasted for years. Even before Han Dynasty, there was Qin Dynasty fighting with Xiongnu. Great Wall was built to keep Xiongnu outside.

  After Han lost battle to Xiongnu on Mount Baiden, about 70 years ago, Han was complaisant to Xiongnu Empire. Han Emperors have sent beautiful women, including the princesses, to marry Chanyu, the Emperor of Xiongnu. And they have also provided Xiongnu with large amount of gifts every year, including grains, silk, salt, sugar and other necessities. There have been less raids from Xiongnu tribes and less slaughter of Han people along the border. It gave Han enough time to recover psychologically and economically.

  However, Han, under the ruling of Emperor Wu, who has built a strong cavalry, fought back. By now the war between Han and Xiongnu, the so called Han-Xiongnu war, has already been about nine years. As far as I know, it will continue.

  “Don’t worry.” I tell the injured guy. “I will go get some help.” How will he know after another two hundred years, Xiongnu will disappear forever.

  “Can you hold me up against the tree?” He says to me weakly.

  “Of course.” Anything can make him comfortable. I help him up. To my surprise, he decides to stand up instead of just sit up. He digs into a pocket in the front, pulls out a small black ball and swallows it.

  “Now,” He pulls his sword out and rests it on my shoulder. “You need to take a trip with me.”

  I am speechless and awestruck, but mostly I think it’s funny. This Xiongnu apparently is not quite clear on the situation. He can barely stand up. And he thinks he can threaten me?

  “Do you seriously think you can force me to go with you?” I giggle.

  “Ugh….” He utters out a groan and admits the situation unwillingly. “Not likely.”

  “Then don’t act stupidly.” I pull away his sword with my thumb and index finger. I can smell the steel mixed with blood from the blaze. ”Do you have a place to go? “

  “Yes, my friend is waiting for me. But with my condition, I do not think I can get there.” He looks like he is in pain.

  “How far is it from here?”

  “About 5 li.” That’s only about one and half miles.

  “Can you ride on your horse?” I ask again.

  “I think so.”

  “Then let’s go.” I tell him. “You ride the horse and I will run.”

  His friend, an old gentleman with long gray beard, lives in a large compound, which has been heavily guarded. We were ushered into a room through a winding veranda. Xiongnu passes out conveniently.

  Another long beard old guy, with a wooden case in his hand, comes in and checks on Xiongnu’s wound. I hear people call him Doctor Liu. I was shocked when I hear what he said next.

  “The wound is too deep and he lost too much blood. There is nothing I can do.”

  “What? Are you sure?” I ask him. Xiongnu still breathes, with good heart beat. How can he say that?

  “Yes, I am positive.”

  Realizing I might know more about this situation from my mom, I decide to take the matter in my own hands. After all
, the earliest recorded surgery is not going to happen for another 200 years.

  “Then let me work on him. Please boil lots of water. And please find me a pair of sharp scissors, a forceps, a sharp knife, a small sewing needle, preferably bended one, and some silk threads. Boil them all in hot water in different containers. A bottle of Dukang Wine is also needed. By the way, I also need lots of clean silk fabric, the one that has been washed in boiling water.” I turns to the first old guy without explain anything. He signals his men to get those things.

  I then turn to Doctor Liu. “Do you have anything that can help with the pain?”

  “Yes. I do. I have something can help with the pain.” He then gives out a lot of plant names. The only one I recognize is Marijuana. Then he asks me. “What do you plan to do?”

  “I am going to sew up his wound.” I believe I need to sew up two layers: tissue layer and the superficial layer. I don’t worry about the sewing part, I worry about the infection. The only sanitizing liquid I can think of is DuKang wine, with the highest ethanol concentration I know of. Without distilled water, without iodine, I hope this guy will be able to survive.

  “Have you done it before?” His eyes wide open.

  “Not on human.” Or not on live one. My dad has taught me how to suture and how to tie a perfect surgical knot on pork feet.

  I know it’s too daring, but If I don’t do it. This Xiongnu is going to die.

  After the last stitch, I feel exhausted. The only thing in my mind is to have a hot shower and lie down in bed. After running for almost ten miles and then sewing up Xiongnu, I don’t even want to eat any more.

  “This is amazing. Where did you learn all this?” Doctor Liu has been by my side all the time. I explained everything I know to him while I was working on Xiongnu.

  “Some of my relatives used to be doctors.” I vaguely explained and then switch to the topic on post care.

  I know I need to leave fast. The place gives me a creepy feeling. There are a lot of people in the compound, but I don’t hear too much noises. Those people look like well-trained Ninjas.