Bride of the Moso Prince (29 page)

Her thought was interrupted as
Nobul
had slipped his hand into the opening of the robe and was feeling her breast.

Sharon
shuddered and was lost in words.

“Go on, I’m listening…” He said in husky voice.

“I can’t…you should stop doing what you’re so I could
think
.”

But when he stopped she was disappointed.

“I was a mountain girl…I loved the mountains…even though life was tough back then…it was always green around the house…but ocean seemed to be so much better…the view was broad and you couldn’t see the end of it…oh,” There his hand was on her thighs.

“That day we had dinner at a steak house and when my dad asked me how I liked the United States, I said I loved it, thinking that it would be ocean and cruise all the time…Um…But it didn’t take me long to find out the truth…I was angry, tell you the truth… I hated my dad for all those years…”

Nobul kissed her earlobe and whispered to her, “You could stay here for as long as you want,
sweetheart,
if that could make you forgive your dad.”

“Um, I wish I could
.” She looked at him with desire-filled eyes.

That look set Nobul’s heart to a wild dance. Instantly h
e lifted her legs and put them on the couch. Then he got off the couch and knelt on the ground.

“What are you going to do?” Her lips went dry in anticipating.

“To have some after-breakfast dessert.” He said, and buried his face in her thighs.

She trembled as his moist warm lips savored her flesh. “Oh, Nobul. You can’t. We’d better go back inside…”

He mumbled, “Why? What difference would it make? We’re alone on this island.”

“But the lake. There are boats going by. I can see them.”

“That’s ok,” he said, “they can’t see us.
Those
pine trees
are shielding
us.”

“What if someone comes?”

“No one will be here this early.”

She struggled with her sense of decency, and then gave up. He was simply too irresistible.

She was lying in the couch, the front of her silk robe felt open, held together only in the middle by the thin waist band. Sunshine filtered through the pine needles fell on her snowy skin. Her breasts were a pair of white peaches shimmering gold.  “You look delicious!” Nobul exclaimed softly.

His husky voice drowned her again. Circling his neck, she let him caress her, taste her, and eventually, enter her again.

They stayed together for the rest of the day. Whenever Nobul went down he carried her with him, even though Sharon could walk without his help. Sharon watched Nobul when he worked on carvings and helped him putting shelves on the walls.

Chapter 11

Days passed quickly on the beautiful island that was more or less the world of the two
lovers
. Sharon spent most of her days working with Nobul on the museum, although sometimes they would go to Shangarila. Charlene had resumed her busy schedule as soon as she had recovered from the vertigo, visiting nearby villages everyday, often accompanied by Urcher.

Sharon had stayed in the island for a week when the main exhibition room was ready for display. But before they started, Nobul suggested that they should go visit a museum in the neighboring city Lijiang, a World Cultural Heritage sightseeing city populated by the Nakhis, a closely related ethnicity of the Moso. Sharon was excited about it. She had heard about the place from Charlene, who had been there many times and had loved it. But she was somehow worried about the bus trip. Charlene said it would take a day’s bus just to get there, and the mountain roads were so tortuous that she almost got car sick. Besides, Sharon had at most a week left, and she wanted to make sure that she could set up the main exhibition room before she left.

When she was hesitating, Nobul assured her, “It takes
only a few
minutes to fly there.”

“Fly?” Sharon remembered the helicopter and grimaced. She hated flying on small planes and couldn’t imagine the ordeal of being in a helicopter.

Nobul saw her hesitation. “Don’t worry,” he patted her, “my mother had never seen an airplane before we put her into the helicopter. And guess what, she thought it was fun!”

“That’s because she spent all her life in the high mountains…”

“Come on, don’t be a mouse.”

“I’m not a mouse!”

Nobul called up his assistant in Chengdu and a helicopter arrived the next day.

Sharon’s legs trembled when she got to the entrance of the aircraft, but she clenched her fists and went in. The pilot, a middle aged Chinese smiled to her friendly, and assured her and told her that he had been flying in the area for two decades. Nobul held her hand and squeezed softly, “You will love it, I promise.”

Sharon sat stiffly and shut her eyes tightly as the helicopter took off. And when she opened her eyes she caught her breath. It was gorgeous outside. The green fields and blue lakes below them made up the finest piece of patch work of nature. The mountains scattered with
cotton balls of clouds looked almost unreal
.

After about fifteen minutes of flying above seemingly uninhabited mountains, they were above hills that had been made into terraces of rice paddies. These were evidence of how people had adapted to the life of mountains, how men made nature work for them, and in so doing, added beauty to it.

The outskirt of Lijiang city was composed of green forests and mountains. The one that stood out was a snowy top, called Jade Dragon mountain. The helicopter passed Jade Dragon so that Sharon could get a glimpse of the snowy mountain peak and the orange dots crawling below. Nobul told her that those were tourists in rented down coats. After mountains they encountered vast plains of land before getting to the sky above the ancient city Lijiang. Black tile roofs laid neatly next to each other below them. Occasionally shiny speckles were among them, indicating a river or a stream.

             
They landed Jade Dragon around noon. After the pilot flew back to Chengdu Sharon and Nobul took a taxi to the ancient town. A magnificent gate made of wood and brick and upturned roof marked the entrance of the town. Inside, the ground was paved by stone bricks.  As soon as they entered the town Sharon heard the murmur of the running water. Right by the entrance was a wooden waterwheel, the symbol of the town, turning above a canal. The town was famous for the waterways that channeled through every street to provide water for the residents. The source of the
water
was the
snow of the pristine
Jade Dragon Mountain and
was
highly
drinkable. As they were walking along the waterway that was lined with fresh green branches of the weeping willows and the red lanterns, Sharon looked down and saw that the water was indeed very clear.  The part of the town that was encircled by the waterway was packed by souvenir shops and art galleries, while restaurants took over the other side of the water way. Thus in front of every restaurant there was a bridge, either made of stone or made of wood planks.

“What about some lunch first?” Nobul asked as Sharon was gazing at the restaurants. There were not only Chinese restaurants but also French, Italian, and Japanese.

“Good idea!” Sharon nodded. She had a light breakfast since she was worrying about motion sickness in the helicopter. It was not yet noon but she was hungry. The air was filled with a mixture of aromas: fried onions, roasted garlic and Sichuan peppers, and steamed bread.

They crossed a narrow wood bridge and reached an outdoor restaurant named ‘Bamboo Garden,” and sat down at a table by the river. There were bamboos planted sparsely along the tables, giving them a feeling of being in an actual bamboo garden. The tables, chairs, cups, and plates were all made of bamboo. But the main reason for the name “Bamboo Garden” was because of the bamboo food they served, such as bamboo rice, bamboo mushroom, bamboo pith, bamboo partridge, bamboo fish, bamboo shrimp, bamboo wine, etc.

Among all items on the menu
, Sharon only knew of bamboo shrimps and bamboo piths. She remembered liking bamboo piths before, since her mother had often added them in stews or soups. They looked like sponges but tasted like mushrooms. She had no idea what other items on the menu were like.

“Want to try the bamboo partridge?” Nobul asked.

“Is it partridge made of bamboo shoots, like tofu chicken made of tofu?” Sharon was thinking about the vegetarian dishes that imitated the flavor of meat.

“Good guess, but no!” Nobul laughed, “It’s a rare type of chicken that prefer living in the bamboo forests. Their meat is tender and they’re prized for replenishing Ying.”

He had lowered his voice while speaking the park “replenishing Ying” with a mischievous smile.  Sharon blushed. Ying referred to female potency.

“Um,” she looked into his eyes, “would it make me wild?”

“We’ll find out soon, sweetheart.” Nobul’s
smiled at her through his ardent eyes.

Those eyes were enough to make her wild. Sharon hurriedly directed her attention back to the menu and voiced the first question that came to her mind, “What are bamboo nymphs?”

“Euphemism for bamboo worms.”

“Bamboo worms?” Sharon grimaced.

“Yes,” Nobul nodded, “larvae of moths that feed on bamboo trees.”

“People eat them?”

“Yes. It’s a popular food in this region. Don’t think of them as ‘worms,’ think of them as baby fish fed on bamboo instead of algae. They’re quite delicious and highly nutritious: high in protein, fiber, and low in fat. Years ago they were a delicacy that only the riches could afford to eat because of the rarity.”

“I don’t care how rare they are.” Sharon shook her head.

“They are especially good for your skin that’s why women love them.”

“I wouldn’t eat worms even if they would give me eternal youth.”

“No?” Nobul tilted his chin to the side and gave her a testing look.

“Absolutely not!”

“You wouldn’t be that sure once you tasted them.”

“I won’t taste them!”  Sharon cried, sensing what he was planning to do.

But Nobul had summoned the waitress. A plump girl with healthy tan approached them, and asked them in mandarin what they would like to have.

“First of all, a pot of bamboo leaf tea. Next, steamed rice in bamboo, bamboo partridge soup with bamboo pith, bamboo shoot stir-fried with bamboo shrimp, grilled bamboo fish, and roasted bamboo nymphs for appetizer, seasoned with Sichuan berry peppers!”

Sharon protested, but the waitress assured her, “It’s going to be good. Many tourists were scared at first but got addicted to the dish after they had tried it.”

“Does it mean we’ll come back for dinner?” Nobul feigned a worried look.

The waitress giggled and said in a coquettish voice, “If you come back I’ll give you a discount.”

“You aren’t kidding, are you, Ahchai?” Nobul said after checking the name tag on the waitress’ shirt.

“Of course not.” The waitress beamed a smiled at Noubl, “You can count on me.”

“What do you think?” Nobul smiled at Sharon after the waitress was gone, ignoring the fury in her eyes.

Sharon gave Nobul’s leg a hard kick under the table.

“Ouch!” He laughed. “What’s that for?”

“For flirting with Ahchai.” Sharon blurted out and regretted it at once.

Nobul’s laughter was pleasanter than ever, “I didn’t know you were a jealous type, Snow!”

“I’m not jealous…” Sharon tried in vain to deny, “It was for ordering the dish against my wish!”

“Y
ou are not happy with it? Ok, for dinner
I’ll take you to a beehive and treat you with bee larvae.”

Sharon covered her ears, “I won’t hear it.”

While waiting for their food they sat there and enjoy the leisure atmosphere of the town. The town was a combination of traditional elegance and modern panache.

Walking among the fancily dressed tourists were local Nakhis in their plain indigo costume. No one was in a hurry at all. People went in and out of the stores, stopped here and there to take photos or simply to rest.

While Sharon looked curiously at her surroundings, Nobul fixed his gaze on her. She looked different in a new, public setting, more lovely and alluring. That red dress printed with patterns of herbs and flowers was absolutely hot. From the ruffle-bordered V-neck he could see a bit of the white peaches that he had become so addicted to lately.  Whatever was on the menu wasn’t comparable to them. He wanted to savor them instead, those sweetest, juiciest fruits from heaven. He wanted to bury his face in the hollow between them, to inhale her
jasmine
fragrance. The thought made him restless. He wished he had taken her to a hotel instead. He wished they were alone in the island. What had gotten into him? He had never been possessed by any woman like this. He had never been a slave of his libido. Yet he couldn’t stop his wild thoughts, couldn’t even take his eyes off her. The fact that she was here for everyone to see irritated him. The v-neck was too low. He looked around. There were passers-by constantly, and most of them were looking curiously at the diners through the spaces between the bamboos. To Nobul it was obvious that there was only one diner that was worth looking at, and that was his Snow. How dare they looked at her! He glowered at a young man, who was no more than twenty, as he glanced over the bamboo enclosure, and the young man hurriedly looked away.