My Splendid Concubine (17 page)

“
Go early in the morning while it is still dark. Before we return to Shanghai, I have to know what happened.”

After Ayaou left, the days dragged. Robert rested the revolver on his stomach and dozed. It was hot and stuffy inside that hut. It was difficult to sleep. A jar of water sat on his right side, and the food was on his left. Flies crawled on the leaves Ayaou had used to cover the food.

He pried back the makes
hift bandages to discover the sword wound down his side had not been deep. She’d packed the wound with what looked like spider webs and ground pepper. There was no sign of infection. He was healing.

Idle thoughts
led him to realize he hadn’t attended a church service since leaving Ningpo. The minister from the Church of England, who Robert had trusted with his Belfast sins, would ask questions. Since Robert had confided in the man, what was he to say about his life now? Was he to tell this minister that he’d fallen overboard and was drowning in adulterous sin with a woman the minister considered a savage because she wasn’t a Christian? No, Robert couldn’t imagine himself sharing intimate information like that with any man of his kind.

Ayaou returned early in the night. She knelt beside Robert and felt his head and the back of his neck. Her touch woke him. She said, “You aren’t eating enough. That worries me.”

She went to the rice paddies where she caught several frogs. Back in the
hut, she pulled off their heads and skinned them. After sprinkling salt on the raw meat, she told him to eat.

“
I don’t eat raw meat,” he said, “and not a bloody frog that looks like a small human with four limbs.”

“
But I insist. You have to get well by eating, because I can’t carry you to Shanghai. I’ve caught mice too. Mice are a Chinese delicacy—delicious.”

Oh god
, Robert thought,
I’m going to retch
. She couldn’t seriously expect him to eat raw mice. “Tell me what you heard about Ward.” Robert tried to avoid watching Ayaou spitting out mice bones. He wondered if he could still kiss her after seeing her do that.

“
It was easy,” she said. “Everyone in Shanghai was talking about it. When the survivors from Ward’s army reached Shanghai, they collected their pay and deserted. Ward survived without a wound. He vowed revenge against the Taipings and is recruiting a second army. His posters are everywhere.”

This wasn
’t what Robert wanted to hear. “Help me get outside,” he said, and struggled to stand. “I have to do something to get my strength back. When we reach Shanghai, I want to confront Ward.” He didn’t have much hope of defeating the mercenary general. Now that Robert had Ayaou, he wasn’t going to let her go. He’d die first.

It was cool and shadowy in the straw hut the next day, and Ayaou slept beside him. Robert couldn
’t sleep, so he watched the peasants working the rice paddies like others had done for centuries—maybe for millennia. In the distance he saw a waterwheel moving water from a stream or canal into the fields.

A man wearing a high, cone-shaped bamboo hat was turning the wheel with his legs. He sat high on top of the water wheel as if it were a unicycle. The wheel was made of rectangular buckets, which scooped the water out of the stream to lift over the dike and dump into the rice paddy. Robert watched the way the light reflected off the man
’s muscular, bare legs as he turned the pedals.

China had been preserved like one of those thousand-year-old eggs he
’d refused to eat soon after arriving in Hong Kong. The printing press, the compass, the crossbow and gunpowder had been invented centuries before they appeared in Europe, but China had never used them as Europe had.

Robert had always thought of farmers a
s honest, hardworking people that lived simple lives. Because of the simplicity of what he was watching take place outside the hut, he wanted to capture the scene in a painting so he could preserve it.

Robert pondered the possibility of Ayaou and
him taking up such a life but of course, life wasn’t that easy. However poor or powerful you were, tragedy and hardships had a way of finding you.

A poem he
’d read by the eighteenth century Chinese poet Yuan Mei came to mind:

On the Road to T’ien-T-Ai

Wrapped, surrounded by ten thousand mou
ntains

Cut off, no place to go
—

Until you
’re here, there is no way to get here.

Once you
’re here, there is no way to go.

Robert wondered if he had any place to go—if his life was about to end before it had a chance to begin.

At night, Ayaou started to help Robert take short walks. It was slow progress at first. By the middle of August, the pain left and his appetite returned. As the long days progressed, he resolved that whatever it took to keep Ayaou from Ward, he’d do it. If there were a way, he was determined to find it. Maybe they could flee to India, but how would he earn a living there? If he returned to Ireland, his parents would never understand a Chinese girl like Ayaou. Besides, Ayaou wouldn’t be able to adjust. She would be lost outside China. This was her country. It would be selfish to take her away from her people.

After one long, exhausting walk, he propped himself against the inside wall of the hut. Ayaou sat beside him.
“Move closer so I can put my arm around you,” he said. “I like holding you. It reminds me of why I want to stay alive.”

She leaned over and fed sweet, pale-yellow pieces of baked yam into his mouth. He didn
’t question how she got the yams. She must’ve stolen them from someone’s kitchen. After all, they couldn’t risk a fire, and they didn’t have money. What other way did she have to get cooked food?

She touched his hair.
“I love your funny accent. You are everything an ordinary Chinese man thinks ugly—big nose, hairy body, and pink skin, but I can’t have enough of you. In China it’s stupid for a woman to dream, but I dared to dream of belonging to you. I wouldn’t mind being your foot warmer in the winter and a cool breeze for you in summer.” She cast her eyes downward. “I miss my sister, Shao-mei. It was bad luck she had to be sold to a man like Captain Patridge.”

Robert stiffened. He
’d forgotten Shao-mei. He felt heat filling his face and knew it was turning red. Why couldn’t he hide such a response when he felt guilt or shame?

“
Are you all right?” Ayaou asked, concern showing in her eyes.

“
We have to leave for Shanghai,” he said.

“
You’re not ready.”

“
We have no choice. We must go.”

“
What’s the hurry?”

“
It’s for Shao-mei. I must speak with Captain Patridge.”

She shook her head.
“My sister’s fate has already been decided with Lan’s. They belong to Captain Patridge now.”

“
No, not Shao-mei. Not anymore.”

Ayaou blinked.
“What do you mean
not anymore
?”

“
Stick that roll of cloth behind me, Ayaou.” She did as he requested. “I’m going to tell you a story.” He had no choice. He had to tell her about Shao-mei even if it meant losing her.

After she helped prop him up, he took a deep breath against the dread growing in his stomach and started.
“After I failed in buying you from your father, I was crushed and fell into a depression. Captain Patridge wanted to cheer me up. He offered Shao-mei to me for the price he paid.”

“
Did you accept?” Her voice was calm.

He couldn
’t read her expression. It frightened him. For a moment, his tongue didn’t want to work. He glanced away from her not wanting to see the hurt in her eyes.

“
So, you bought Shao-mei to replace me.” She stared at him. Her face stayed unreadable. Robert’s heart constricted with fear and felt as if it were attached to a heavy anchor that had just been dropped into the sea.

He grabbed her right hand
and held it in both of his. “I offered three times as much for you. I was willing to pay your father more. However, you were already Ward’s property. I would never have accepted Captain Patridge’s offer if you had been available.”

“
I understand,” she said. She took her hand back. Her eyes avoided his.

Robert thought she was collapsing and was desperate to pull her back. He didn
’t want to lose her. “I have not had Shao-mei,” he said. “You are thinking I did.”

With tears rolling down her cheeks, she said,
“Look what you’ve done to me. You’ve spoiled me with pleasure to have me discover that I don’t deserve it.”

“
Ayaou, Ayaou—” He found himself unable to respond.

“
I lied to Ward about my monthly cycle,” she said. “And then you were there at the house asking for me. I couldn’t believe it. I thought you were planning to steal me from him.”

“
Are you telling me that Ward hasn’t touched you yet?” he asked, feeling thrilled that no other man had been with her but him. As quickly as the words left his mouth, he felt terrible. He had always hated people who lived a double standard. It wasn’t right to have such thoughts. Hadn’t he been with many women? Hadn’t he had syphilis? Not that he wanted her to contract a disease from having intercourse with other men. That wasn’t what he meant. If Ward had already used her, Robert would still have forced himself to make every effort to take her away from that monster. If he could’ve stuffed his spoken words back onto his mouth, he would have.

“
Not yet,” she said. “But he’ll soon learn that I’ve already been
kai-bao
, peeled like a corncob. He’ll toss me to his men. He’ll demand his money back from my father. He’ll beat me to death himself.” She moved a few inches from Robert. Her eyes glowed like a cat’s at night. “I am not sorry. I could’ve lived and died like a hen. I’m glad that you have Shao-mei.”

“
Shao-mei now has a chance to avoid life with Captain Patridge,” Robert said, grasping at slippery strands of straw.

“
Yes.” She turned to him. “Keep her. She’ll be good for you. I’m happy for Shao-mei. Fate will tear us apart, because Ward will not let me go. He is a powerful man. How can anyone stand alone against him?”

“
I’ll hide you from him.” His thoughts were stubborn and unyielding. Robert knew he’d do anything to keep her.

“
That will not work,” Ayaou said. “Once Ward knows you are alive, he will send someone to ask for me.”

“
I’ll handle that when the time comes. Right now I’m concerned about Shao-mei. If Captain Patridge thinks I’m dead, he will take her back.” He had doubts about handling Ward, but he wasn’t going to let her know that he was worried.

She looked at Robert with gentle eyes.
“You care about my sister?”

“
Why not? Unless you have a problem.”

“
No, you don’t understand. My sister and I are like a hand and a foot of the same body. When sisters are sold or married off, they seldom see each other again. It is common for a man in China to take sisters of the same family to be his wives or concubines. If you—”

“
No, Ayaou, you do not understand. We will save Shao-mei and find her a good man to marry.” Her words gave him hope. He didn’t want to lose her. If he didn’t succeed, he’d tear his tongue out.

“
No man is going to be more decent than you, Robert,” she said. “Shao-mei is a prize. She is more beautiful than I am. All my relatives wanted to adopt her.” Ayaou put her hand over Robert’s mouth to prevent him from arguing. “If I am your happiness, by having her you will achieve double happiness.”

“
Ayaou, you are thinking crazy.”

Ayaou got down on her knees.
“Robert, if you love me the way you say you do, take my sister as proof. I want her to belong to you.”

“
I don’t want Shao-mei as my concubine.”

“
But you aren’t going to give her back to Captain Patridge are you?”

“
No!”

“
I can’t give you enough, Robert,” she said, pressing her lips to his, which aroused him to the bursting point. She gently pushed him down, pulled his trousers off, stripped, straddled him and took his erection inside her. She stretched her arms above her head pulling all the muscles in her body taut and remained still as if to preserve the moment. The sight of her naked body in that pose excited him. His hungry hands reached for her breasts.

Chapter 11

A few days later Ayaou and Robert started the journey to Shanghai and the ill-fated confrontation with Ward. When the lovers reached the banks of Soochow Creek, Ayaou saw two old women in a flat-bottomed riverboat tied to a bush.