Shi Po's eyes narrowed, but it had been a long time since she intimidated him. Kui Yu straightened, rolled his shoulders back and down, and allowed his chest to expand with the humid Shanghai air. He resolved himself.
"It is time we began, wife. Teach me."
She gaped at him. Rarely had he ordered her to do one thing or another, and not for many years. He almost trembled to see if she would obey.
It was a struggle for her. He could see that. She stared at him, her eyes flickering with indecision. But in the end, her wifely modesty and training won out. She dipped her head in acknowledgment of his position.
"Very well, husband, it shall be as you desire. Please remove all your clothing and set your mind upon silent and peaceful contemplation." She paused, allowing her gaze to rise in challenge. "No matter what I do to your body."
November 30, 1877
Lun Po—
Your essay had excellent points, but I fear you made a critical error. The Qing dynasty stems from Manchurian invaders. They will not give you a high position in their government if you write your examination paper in praise of our Han ancestors. Neither would they appreciate unfavorable comparisons to the most excellent Ming Dynasty. In order to succeed, you must learn more of the Manchu culture. Discover what makes their nomadic, horse-riding race so powerful, and help them adapt it to the current, sedentary life of our Emperor. I have made some suggestions. I know there are many, but I am sure you will find at least a few of them worthy.
Meanwhile, I am most unhappy you told your sister that I often think of her. I do not believe you that she laughed uproariously at my expense. She is too modest and refined a girl for such a reaction. You are teasing me as you so often do. But beware, my old friend, do not bear false tales to your sister regarding me. If you do, Heaven will punish you by making me your brother-in-law! Yes, I believe that got your attention; and naturally I jest. But sometimes, Heaven makes the most unusual things happen, so school your unguarded tongue.
At least I do not have to break my back any more in construction. Especially since I learned that the foreman was corrupt and would not let me advance for fear I would take his place. He was right to be afraid, for you know of my ambitions. But it turns out that I should thank him. Because he kept me in the lowest position, because he forbade me to come to the attention of the foreign bosses, I made it my plan to do just that.
Can you guess what I did? I let the foreign bosses know I speak English. They were suspicious anyway. Why else would I always be assigned to work where they stood talking if not to spy on them? They would have discovered my skill eventually, but when have I ever waited for Heaven's blessing when I could grasp it with my two hands? Especially since I have been practicing the strange language. I have even visited the missionaries just so I could talk English.
My plans have succeeded, Lun Po! I am to be a white man's "boy." I will be playing servant to a ghost barbarian, but he is rich, rich, rich! Who knows what I can learn from him? Who knows what I can buy with his cast-offs?
I have already bought something, Lun Po, in anticipation of my new fortune. The New Year fast approaches, and I know you struggle to find a gift for your sister. Pray, allow me to select it for you. I know it is most improper of me, but it is her image that brought me through those most terrible nights when my back burned like fire and my arms could not lift to chase away the flies. Only she kept me alive. Only her beauty inspired me to rise for work again. So in this I beg, please allow me to select your New Year's gift for Shi Po.
Your devoted friend,
Kui Yu
A Taoist teacher told his students that mastering even one or two of Confucius's sayings was enough. A young man stepped forward and said, "I couldn't agree more. I've benefited quite a lot from mastering two sentences of Confucius."
"What sentences are those?" the teacher asked.
"He did not mind to have his rice finely prepared, nor to have his meat finely minced."
Chapter 3
Shi Po saw her husband's eyes widen with fear at her instruction, but she didn't care. For years she had scrupulously kept him out of her religion, away from her students, and blissfully ignorant of what she did. She had repeatedly dismissed the intimacy shared by partners as irrelevant, for according to the sacred texts, emotional intimacy was an earthly attachment that distracted from the heavenly goal.
He had accepted that. He had seen her students, paid for the large compound that served as both home and school, had even once walked in during a lesson. She had been explaining the various states of a man's dragon, using pictures. Kui Yu had blushed a fiery red and walked directly out again. He had no interest in seeing what she did, he'd told her. It only mattered that her students seemed happier after her training, and that she loved to teach.
Until today. Today she had abandoned all hope of happiness on Earth. She had accepted her Heavenly destination and the loss of all she held dear in the physical plane. And now Kui Yu wanted to join her, to practice with her, to learn what she did.
It was obviously a stalling tactic. He was not prepared to lose her. But as his wife, she had to honor his ridiculous request. And as a woman, she couldn't deny that he was still attractive to her in many different ways.
Very well. He would learn of the control a man in her religion must exercise, of the agonies they experienced in pursuit of immortality. He would learn; and when he abandoned it as too difficult, he would appreciate what she had achieved. He would value her great accomplishment in finally joining other Immortals in Heaven. This was her plan, so she stood back and watched as he slowly undressed.
The mandarin jacket came off first. It was the blue one she had given him upon the birth of their first son. Rich in color, exquisite in design, it covered him in the flying cranes of long life. She was pleased when he folded it carefully before setting it aside.
Next came his robe—a simple garment of cotton, oddly unstained by sweat on this hot, hot day. He unbuttoned it quickly, stripping it off with clear anger and embarrassment. She said nothing, but merely watched. Surprisingly, her mouth and throat moistened with desire at the sight of his broad, muscular chest.
How long had it been since she'd last seen her husband's lean form in the bright light of day? She remembered watching him labor as a poor coolie so many years ago. She was not supposed to be there—the rich protected daughter of a nobleman—but she had escaped to stand in the shade and watch Tan Kui Yu as he labored in the hot sun. How his muscles had bulged. She'd stared and stared at his broad shoulders and tight buttocks. But she'd also noticed how the other men deferred to him. Though he was nothing but a poor laborer, other men—older, more experienced men—looked to him for direction.
Now here he was, two decades later, still broad and muscular, still tight of body and lean of face. Good food had somewhat softened his harsh angles. And with fortune had come a wide smile on his features rather than coolie exhaustion. Except he wasn't smiling now. He was watching her, letting her fill her vision with his glorious form while his eyes dared her to demand more. After all, this meditation chamber had open windows no longer covered by paper over the elaborate latticework. Any servant or student could look in.
But a Tigress was often watched in her work. Dragons as well. So Shi Po would give him no relief. "Your chest has not diminished," she said, admiration in her tone. "But I said you must remove all your clothing—including your pants."
He arched a single dark eyebrow. His hands went to the tie at his waist, releasing it with quick jerks. His long black queue slid over his shoulder as he worked, and her fingers twitched with the desire to touch the dark braid. What a contrast it made to his beautiful skin. How she longed to run her fingers along it, to touch him as she once had so long ago.
His pants slid away to reveal his dragon. It was thick and heavy with arousal. There was no embarrassment in his eyes, merely a dark challenge, a question that asked how far she would go to humiliate him.
Shi Po paused. Panic shivered thr
ough her body as she looked at her husband. Or, more accurately, as she looked at his red and swelling dragon. He was pulling off his shoes, casting the last of his clothing aside, his gestures unusually short.
"Now what, my wife?" he demanded.
She softened. Despite her resolve, she did not want to poison what had been a peaceful and calming relationship. "Are you sure, Kui Yu?" she pressed, giving him a last chance to change their course. "You have never wanted to learn this before."
"You have never threatened to go to your immortality before." He looked up, and she saw a flash of hope in his eyes. "Would you now abandon that plan?"
She shook her head. "I cannot."
"Then I will understand what steals my wife from me and takes a mother from my children."
Shi Po swallowed, unable to speak. She could only stare at her gloriously naked husband, the fading sunlight touching his skin with rose and gold.
She held her breath as he dropped his hands to his hips, drawing her gaze to his jutting dragon. Her Tigress mind assessed his health with mechanical precision. The dragon head was full and pleasantly formed, the mushroom shape of lighter color, indicating a wholeness that came from years of healthy food and purifying teas—a course she had begun with him the first day of their marriage. The dragon's shaft curved only slightly to the right, a defect easily corrected within a few weeks of exercise. Beyond that she could not see, for hair shielded all from view.
"You must shave," she told him. "Every day."
He jerked slightly, making his dragon bob.
"It is for health reasons," she explained. "And be sure to maintain your regimen of bathing." Many Chinese women were plagued with men who passed on disease or vermin with every carnal act. That was why her students were required to bathe and shave their partners for even the briefest encounter.
But her husband was not like that, and so while these thoughts flashed through her head, they did little to distract her arousal. And Kui Yu's was growing. His dragon was of average length and girth, well-suited for her own rather modest cinnabar cave. But his dragon stretched up tall—straighter than normal for a man his age—and she was pleased with his vitality.
She lifted her gaze to his eyes. Surprised, she said, "Your qi flows strongly. You will have a long and healthy old age. You need not learn Dragon secrets to extend your life—"
"I think there is nothing to your practice but talk, wife," he interrupted. "Is this all a Tigress does with her partner? Stare? And comment?"
She lifted her chin, mirroring his challenge with a strength that surprised her. "I have spent decades learning my practice. Do not seek to insult it within your first moments of exposure."
"I am exposed," he growled at her. "What more is to come?"
"You are exposed so that you grow comfortable with your body and your dragon," she explained. "Perhaps you will discover pride in your form."
His expression lightened, and she caught a flash of a smile. "Boys are proud of their dragons," he said. "Men know that it is an organ—no more, no less. Not an indication of virility or power."
"That is where you are wrong, young cub," she returned, slipping into her teacher persona. It was strange, acting so before her husband, and yet it made some things easier. By ignoring their shared past—their movement from poverty to wealth, their three children, and a glorious future—she could look at him as just another man, another dragon, another soul in search of enlightenment.
"A dragon reveals a man's health. Your organ, as you put it, is the seat of your yang strength; and a more powerful substance cannot be found on this earth."
"My dragon," he repeated.
"Yes. Your penis—that which creates and delivers yang power in its emissions."
After a moment Kui Yu nodded, and she believed he understood. He could not have lived so long with her and not learned something of what she did.
"Your next exercise is meant to strengthen your yang, to heat the internal cauldron of creation so that you burn with yang power—"
"But do not release it," he interrupted.
She nodded, startled. He truly did know some of what she taught. And when she narrowed her eyes to study his expression, she watched his cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"I have read your sacred texts," he finally admitted. "Many years ago, when you first began to teach."
She said nothing, but her mind reeled. She had begun to teach in secret because they needed the money. Her aunt had a steady supply of new prostitutes in need of a basic education. She hadn't thought Kui Yu noticed what she did. After all, he was busy fixing their destroyed building and then selling it. And then doing it again with other buildings while the money poured in.
But he had read her texts? In secret? She wasn't sure what she thought of such a thing. "I will show you exercises, the handhold and stroke. You must do these things twice a day." She glared hard at him, emphasizing her next point. "And you must never release your dragon seed during the process."
"I understand," he said, his voice flat, giving no hint of his thoughts.
"And do you understand why you do this?"
"To gain immortality," he answered. "But I do not understand the full process."
"Female yin and male yang are like two strong horses. They must combine their strength together to carry you to heaven. The tigress..." She pointed to herself. "Or the dragon..." She pointed to him. "Must store these two essences until the time when they are excited."
"When we are about to have sex?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Sex is like two horses running wild. The tigress and the dragon learn to harness the horses. Yin and yang must be directed to heaven."
"And how does one direct yin and yang?"
"With the mind, my husband. There is a feeling when the horses begin to rim. We call them two circles. You can think of them as two tracks, one for each horse."
"Your female yin and my male yang."
She smiled gently at him. "All people have both yin and yang. Male and female exist in everyone. It is merely a matter of degree."
"But you have a great deal of yang," he pushed. "You have stored it from other men."
She nodded. She would not lie to him. He pressed his lips together, and she eventually continued her lecture. "The yang horse runs on a larger track, the larger circle. The yin horse on the smaller one rims in the opposite direction. Once both horses are running at great speeds, the energy of the spirit is churned. The spirit grows more excited, more powerful, more..."
"Immortal?"
She smiled. He did understand. "Yes. More immortal. And after a great deal of practice, the spirit is strengthened enough to reach Heaven."
"So the exercises you do are to strengthen the spirit?"
She widened her fingers across his still jutting dragon. "These exercises are to purify your yang. It will take practice with a partner for you to gather more yin. And even more practice to strengthen your spirit enough that it can touch the Immortal Realm."
He frowned. "But you have been practicing alone. How is this possible?"
"As you said, I have stored much yang. The circles can be established between partners or within a single person. It is merely harder when one works alone."
"I understand."
"Then I will begin. Remain still throughout."
He nodded, and she watched his muscles ripple in anxiety. It was a small reaction, completely normal, and nothing compared with her violent turmoil. Her stomach churned and her muscles quivered. She was glad to sink to her knees in front of him, because her legs would not support her.
What was happening? Why was she shaking? They had conceived three children together. Why should this simple act unbalance her so? She had no idea. She could only force herself to continue.
Reaching out, she touched her husband's dragon. It was thick and heavy. The color had darkened slightly, the dragon pushing far out of its sheath. "Grasp the dragon like so," she said, her hand going to the correct position, fingers curled aroun
d the stem, her thumb pulling the ridged foreskin down and away.
Kui Yu didn't move as she began the stroke, but Shi Po did. Her belly quivered and her cinnabar cave released its dew. She was more aroused than she'd been in a long time.
She tightened her grip. "You must stretch this side more than the other to straighten out your right-hand tilt."
He didn't answer, but a glance at his face showed he understood. One glance also brought a girlish yin flush to her cheeks. Completely illogical, given that she was no untried virgin.
"I will perform forty-nine strokes with my right hand. Some texts say seventy-two, but I can sense that your yang is already very pure." She swallowed. "Are you ready?"
"I have been ready for ten minutes, wife. It is you who seem hesitant." Was there a teasing note in his voice?
She glanced up. "I was checking for deformities."
He arched an eyebrow. "Are there any?"
She was caught by his bright eyes. "If there were, I would never have become your bride," she snapped.
He drew back in surprise. "But... but how would you know?"
She felt her lips curve in memory. "Do you recall when my brother begged you to go swimming? That he was most insistent?"
Her husband nodded. "You had him look?"
Her smile widened. "Of course." Then she pretended to go unconcernedly back to her task. "But even then I did not trust Lun Po's honesty. Certainly not on something so important." She delivered her final comment at the same time as she began to stroke his dragon. "And so I hid in the bushes to watch."
Kui Yu pulled back, but not far enough to jerk himself out of her hand. "You were there? The whole time?"
"I had to see all my suitors. This was the most efficient way." She gave a second stroke, and his body quivered in reaction.
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