Breaking Bamboo (33 page)

Cao glanced sideways. She was too sincere a woman to pretend the news was not welcome. How could she be comfortable with someone who made her afraid?

‘It will not be for long,’ she said.

‘It will not be at
all
!’ he replied, flushing. Then he added with grave significance: ‘Madam, I must tell you. . . what I said once before still applies.’

He waited for a reply. When she remained silent, he grew angry. ‘Must I state it openly?’ He hesitated, held back by a thousand kindnesses and gestures of affection.

The excited cries of Lan Tien and her brother as they played ball entered from the courtyard. Cao realised she was clutching the counter.

‘It seems I must be plain,’ he said, heavily. ‘If I cannot continue as Dr Shih’s apprentice then I must find another master.

A master with influence, who can protect me.’

Had fear shaken his mind? What other doctor would be so forbearing as Shih? Who else would ignore Chung’s lazy ways and half-learned lessons?

‘Such a one might be hard to find,’ she said, cautiously.

‘Hah! Not so, Madam! You see, there are those who would offer me a position in return for. . . certain information.’ Breath quickening, he rubbed his forehead. ‘I do not want any of this!

You know how I honour Dr Shih. You have been a mother to me. And he a father. But I love my life and making poison bombs will kill me as surely as it did Dr Liang’s apprentice. Can you not urge Captain Xiao to intercede on my behalf? Then we shall live as we did before.’

Cao’s head remained low.

‘You refer to something I once confided in you,’ she whispered. ‘Thinking you a friend.’

Chung could not meet her eye.

‘I do refer to the circumstances of your marriage,’ he muttered.

‘And I give you until this evening, Madam, because I have been ordered to report to the Bureau of Righteous Fire by sunset.’

The familiar shop blurred through tears.

‘Very well, I shall ask Captain Xiao today,’ she said, wiping her eyes. ‘This afternoon I shall see him. Yes, I shall.’

Chung bowed and walked stiffly to his room. Yet she glimpsed a look of triumph on his once-dear face as he left. It frightened her more than his words.

*

Cao hurried towards Swallow Gate. Many noticed her sorrowful expression, but in that she was unremarkable.

Who did not grieve as they wandered through these days?

Uncertainty might be glimpsed in every corner of the Twin Cities. Public wells guarded day and night in case spies poisoned them. Splendid mansions empty, their noble occupants having gone over to the Great Khan. Silent markets and restaurants –who knew when they might re-open? Cherished sons walked out to take their turn on the ramparts and returned in wheelbarrows, head or limbs broken.

As she walked Cao endured a siege of her own. Wounded thoughts surrounded her. She and her husband had gazed on Chung’s sleeping face when he was a boy, glancing at each other and smiling shyly. His smell had been of purest bean curd. They had saved him from the utmost poverty! How could he repay her with threats?

Most of all Cao feared Shih would never forgive her. Her stupidity had put everything in danger. He risked being revealed as the seducer of his master’s daughter and might even be denounced as a thief. Cao did not care about her own reputation, but she knew that Shih, already so uncertain in himself, would wilt before the world’s scorn. Then he might cast around for someone to punish. It would be natural.

If only she could make time rush backward and undo what she had done! But Shih might find a more realistic remedy.

Assuming they were even married in the law’s eyes, a most questionable thing, he had every justification for a divorce.

Lord Yun’s command to divorce her could be cited. It hovered above her head like raised bamboo – and it might even come to the bamboo stick for both of them if their false marriage reached the magistrate’s attention.

Such thoughts hastened her steps until she approached Swallow Gate, Captain Xiao’s customary station of command.

High battlements rose above the rooftops and Cao became aware she had chosen a poor moment to beg for help. Black dots arched through the sky between columns of smoke.

Alarms and shouting could be heard ahead. A handcart containing sheaves of arrows trundled towards the ramparts and the porter looked at her in surprise.

‘Hey, lady! Get away from here! Go home while you can!’

Cao pressed onwards. Chung had demanded an answer that very evening. If she perished, so much the better. His threats could not harm Shih then.

When she reached the cleared ground behind Swallow Gate, her courage faltered. A dozen catapult crews were hauling ropes, urged on by bellowing officers. Among them were many peasant women, wearing the same grimy clothes as their men.

A house was on fire, filling the air with acrid smoke, and a human chain passed buckets from the nearby canal. Hundreds of armoured men crouched in the ramparts’ shadow in case the Mongols broke through. As Cao watched, a rock descended lazily from the sky, crushing a man pulling a catapult rope. It happened quite suddenly. A crowd gathered round him and she caught a glimpse of his caved-in chest and sightless eyes. Then his body was dragged away.

She darted through the siege engines to Swallow Gate. There she met a familiar face, hurrying down the steps with a rolled-up order. The officer wore splendid lamellar armour and carried a Mongol bow. They stared at each other in surprise.

She recognised him as Chen Song, her brother-in-law’s dear friend. The man frowned.

‘Madam! Are you not Yun Guang’s sister-in-law?’

His question was drowned by roars from the catapult crews as they loosed a dozen missiles at the enemy.

‘Sir, I must speak with him!’

‘This is no place for you,’ said the officer.

‘I have news concerning Yun Guang’s brother. Please take me to him.’

A ragged flight of burning arrows came back over the wall.

By some miracle they struck only earth.

‘The news is urgent?’

‘It is.’

He hesitated, then sighed.

‘I will lead you to him, but whether he will speak with you, I cannot say.’

She followed him up the steep steps until they reached the middle parapet of Swallow Gate. Chen Song waved her to a sheltered embrasure from which she could survey the battlefield through a slit and summoned over an orderly.

‘Inform Captain Xiao his Honoured Sister-in-law is here. She carries an urgent message.’

Then he bowed to Cao.

‘I forbid you to go further,’ he said. ‘Wait here until Commander Yun Guang summons you. You should be safe.’

He vanished the way they had come, his horseman’s boots clattering. Cao was left alone, fearfully looking out.

Though she did not know it, the unfolding battle was a pin-prick compared to General A-ku’s previous assaults. One might wonder what the Mongols hoped to achieve by it.

A thousand foot soldiers had deployed in the open ground before the ramparts and moats. Tall shields on wheels, known as wooden donkeys or goose wagons, protected many from the defenders’ arrows and crossbow bolts. Less fortunate warriors lay face down on the muddy earth. Cao’s eye was drawn to a high wooden tower on wheels, decorated with defiant c haracters and carved dragon heads. Slaves pushed and dragged it across the churned earth before Swallow Gate. On its topmost parapet observers waved coloured flags to direct the Mongol catapults, for the movable tower allowed a clear view of the city below. Certainly their aim was accurate. As Cao watched, a boulder struck one of the giant crossbows on a nearby turret, splintering the weapon and scattering its crew.

Then Cao noticed Guang on the highest parapet of Swallow Gate.

He stood in full view, with only a low rail between him and the attacking horde. He seemed more statue than man, full-chested in his bulky armour, leaning on a halberd decorated with a vermilion pennant. Standard bearers crouched around him, each carrying a collection of signal flags. Guang stepped aside to address a lieutenant and a boulder fell where he had been standing a moment before. It bounced and hit a standard bearer with a heavy crump. His scream tore the air. Guang’s flinch was momentary. A clamour rose from those around him.

‘Captain Xiao! You must move! They have your range.’

To Cao’s astonishment, Guang climbed stiffly onto a foot-stool, making himself even more exposed. His reply came in the form of a defiant taunt, so loud all the defenders of Swallow Gate heard him clearly.

‘That would not be proper. If I move, the hearts of my men will move as well!’

All eyes were upon Captain Xiao. A wild cheer spread from rampart to rampart as his words passed from man to man. If courage is a spell its magic worked. Guang ordered a flutter of pink flags and boulders rose from the city, curving down, down, until by some miracle one struck the mobile tower’s parapet, quite destroying it. Men and signal flags tumbled to the earth fifty feet below. Another boulder struck the base of the wobbling tower, breaking a huge wooden wheel.

Suddenly the movable castle toppled, slowly at first, then rushing towards the earth. It fell with a crash. Hundreds of slaves fled for their lives. One by one the Mongol companies retreated back to the safety of their camp, dragging goose wagons and wooden donkeys stubbled with arrows.

Soon the battlefield was silent, except for the pleas and cries of the wounded. Guang stood upright as before, ignoring the delight around him. He seemed duty’s expressionless creature, barely a man at all. His shoulders sagged briefly then stiffened again. Turning, he pushed past bowing subordinates to the stairs. There he encountered Madam Cao, peeping out like a child from her embrasure in the parapet.

His harsh face melted in astonishment. Stepping forward swiftly, he gripped her arm with a gauntleted hand. Cao winced, but did not wish him to let go.

‘Sister-in-law! What madness is this?’ he whispered.

‘Forgive me, I had to see you. . .’

‘They are targeting me! It is not safe to be near me on the ramparts. General A-ku has declared a reward for any who brings me down.’

He looked around, waving aside his orderlies so they could speak unheard.

‘Is Shih in danger? Or Father? Is that why you have come?’

She could not match this flustered, anxious man with the ineffable figure who stood unmoved while boulders fell around him. Then Cao realised how unseemly it would be to mention Chung. How shameful after all the sacrifices she had witnessed.

He let go of her arm and she noticed his hands were unsteady, that he squeezed them together to hide his weakness.

‘Brother-in-law,’ she said. ‘I know it was wrong to come here. I wished you to know that they have demoted Shih. One of Dr Du Mau’s relatives holds his position in the Relief Bureau.’

He blinked, struggling to comprehend her words, as though the world beyond Swallow Gate was somehow unreal.

‘Demote. That is bad. I’ll speak to Chen Song about it.

Enquiries. Yes, he must make enquiries for me. . . Why didn’t Youngest Brother tell me himself? Could you not send a message?’

He looked at her suspiciously.

‘Shih does not know you are here, does he?’

Cao shook her head like a naughty girl.

‘I thought. . . Oh, forgive me, Guang! Do not tell him I came! I know he is too proud to ask for your help so I came myself. I did not understand how dangerous it would be.’

‘Leave us!’ Captain Xiao commanded an underling with the temerity to approach. ‘These are family matters, damn you!’

He turned back to her.

‘Please do not tell him,’ she repeated.

Guang sighed, rubbing eyes circled by shadow.

‘Very well, I will not. And I shall do what I can to help him.

But I must tell you in confidence, Sister-in-law, I will not be around to see the matter through.’

‘You are leaving us?’

‘My departure is a great secret, yet it is very imminent. The safety of the Twin Cities depends on our mission. I know you are always discreet. I shall be gone for a few months.’

She bowed her head.

‘Do not be afraid!’ he chuckled. ‘These are matters a woman cannot comprehend. In any case, a little absence is good for me.

You saw how close things came today.’

She nodded submissively.

‘Go home now. I shall visit you in Apricot Corner Court before I go and pay my respects to Father.’

‘You will not tell Shih that I came here?’

Again he frowned.

‘Yes, though it is a fault in me. Nevertheless, I promised.

Enough. Go home.’

He walked down the steps and mounted a fine horse tethered to Swallow Gate. Half a dozen cavalry waited as his escort.

Their hooves clattered on flagstones, then they had gone. Cao ached inside as she walked through the exhausted catapult crews. Chung’s face danced across her inward eye – and it was angry.

‘It is not without reason that Nancheng Province is known as ‘the land of fish and rice’. Rivers and lakes in abundance fill the central plain. One may look West, North, East and see ranges of snow-capped mountains. When I was a young man I travelled through an endless bamboo forest unvisited by man. It lay several days walk from the Twin Cities and teemed with peculiar animals and birds.

Yet its strangest denizen was a monk who had lived for two hundred and fifty-three years, sustained by a diet of sunbeams and dew. . .’

From
Dream Pool Essays
by Shen Kua 

Apricot Corner Court, Nancheng. Spring, 1267.

Midnight had become a dull hour in Water Basin Ward since the curfew. The drifting crowds of revellers who once haunted its streets had vanished, replaced by patrols of Watchmen.

Shih sat in the tower room he used for preparing medicines, hands flat on his knees, eyes half-closed, mind fluttering between one place and the next. Though he had learned the
dao
of meditation from his orderly, Mung Po, it would not come. Peace would not come. Perhaps the former monk had taught him badly. But Shih seldom blamed others for his own failures and did not now.

An unpleasant farewell had driven him inwards. That dusk had seen Chung’s departure for the barracks attached to the Bureau of Righteous Fire. His apprentice had been ordered to report there before the curfew bells tolled across the city. A melancholy parting. Cao had felt it, too, showing womanly frailty by hiding in their bedchamber until the lad had gone.