And the Bride Wore Red

by Lucy Gordon

  There seemed to be at least a dozen grown-up youngsters, young men who studied Lang’s lady with politely concealed admiration, and young girls who considered her with more open interest. The fact that Olivia had the figure to wear a cheongsam was particularly appreciated among her contemporaries.

  It was a warm evening, and the first part was to be spent in the courtyard flanked by the four houses. Here tables had been laid out with a variety of small edibles, a foretaste of the banquet to come. Before anything was served, Biyu led her into the south house where Lang lived with Wei, and opened the door to a bedroom with its own bathroom.

  ‘Should you wish to retire for a few moments alone,’ she said, ‘you will find this place useful.’ She saw Olivia glance around at the room’s functional, masculine appearance, and said, ‘When Lang stays with us, this is his room, but this evening it is yours.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll just refresh my face.’

  ‘I’ll be outside.’

  Left alone, Olivia was able to indulge her frank curiosity, although she learned little. There were several books, some medical, some about China, but nothing very personal. Lang had revealed as little as possible about himself.

  She went out to find that he had joined Biyu, and together they escorted her to where everyone was waiting. Now it was the turn of the children to crowd round. Just as she’d predicted, they called Lang ‘Uncle Mitch’, and even his adult relatives referred to him as Mitchell.

  Glancing up, she caught his eye and he nodded, reminding her of the moment on the first evening when she’d anticipated this.

  ‘The dragon lady always understands before anyone else,’ he said lightly.

  The children demanded to know what he meant by ‘dragon lady’. He explained that she’d been born in the year of the dragon, and they regarded her with awe. Her stock had definitely gone up.

  The children were frankly curious, competing to serve her and to ask questions about England. She answered them as fully as she could, they countered with more questions and the result was one of the most satisfying half-hours that she had ever spent. By the time they went inside to eat, the atmosphere was relaxed.

  Olivia soon understood what Lang had meant about a feud. From the start the food was laid out like a banquet being displayed to her, dumplings in the place of honour, and a multitude of fish dishes which Hai kept trying to nudge to the fore, only to be beaten back by fierce looks from Biyu. To please them both, Olivia ate everything on offer and was rewarded with warm looks of pleasure.

  Then she had a stroke of luck. Enquiring politely about Tao’s life, she learned that he had once been a farmer. It happened that one of her mother’s passing fancies had owned a small pig-farm where they had spent the summer. The relationship hadn’t lasted, her mother having been unable to endure the quiet country life, but the fourteen-year-old Olivia had loved it. Now she summoned memories of that happy time, and she and Tao were soon in animated discussion. Pigs had provided Tao with a good living, and Olivia had enjoyed feeding time.

  ‘There was a huge sow,’ she recalled. ‘She had a litter of fifteen, but only fourteen teats, and terrible fights would break out between the piglets over the last teat. I used to take a feeding bottle to make sure I could give something to the one who missed out. He’d just drink his fill and then go back to the fight.’

  Tao roared with laughter and countered with the tale of a vast pig he’d once owned, who’d fathered larger litters than any other pig, and whose services had been much in demand among his neighbours. Everyone else round the table watched them with delight, and Olivia knew she’d scored a success by impressing the head of the family.

  When the meal was over, Biyu showed her around the other houses. She was eager to know about her first meeting with Lang, and laughed at the story of the mischievous child.

  ‘We are so proud of Mitchell,’ Biyu said. ‘He works very hard, and he’s a big man at the hospital.’

  ‘What does he actually do there?’ Olivia asked. ‘He was taking a clinic when we met, but apparently he was just filling in because they were short-staffed. I understand that his real job is something quite different.’

  ‘That’s true. He’s a consultant.’

  ‘A consultant?’ Olivia echoed, amazed. ‘He’s young for that.’

  ‘Oh, yes, he’s only a junior consultant,’ Biyu amended hastily. ‘He keeps insisting on that. He gets cross if I make him sound too important-but I say he’s going to be very, very important, because they know he’s the best they have. There’s a big job coming soon.’

  She gave a knowing wink.

  ‘You think he’ll get it?’

  ‘He will if there’s any justice,’ Biyu said firmly. ‘But he’s superstitious. He thinks if he gets too confident then some great power above will punish him by taking the job away from him.’

  ‘Superstitious,’ Olivia mused. ‘You wouldn’t think it.’

  ‘Oh, he acts as if nothing could worry him,’ Biyu confided. ‘But don’t you be fooled.’

  It struck Olivia that this was shrewd advice. Lang’s air of cool confidence had cracks, some of which he’d allowed her to see. The rest he seemed to be keeping to himself while their mutual trust grew.

  ‘You’re very proud of him, aren’t you?’ she said.

  ‘Oh, yes. It was a great day for us when he came to China. We already knew a lot about him because Meihui had kept in touch, sending us news, and to see him was wonderful. The best thing of all was that he wanted to come, and then he wanted to stay. Some men from his country would have ignored their Chinese heritage, but he chose to find it and live with it, because it’s important to him.’

  ‘He’s going away soon, isn’t he, to do some exploring?’

  ‘Actually, I thought he’d be gone by now. He spoke as though-Well, anyway, I’m glad he decided to wait a little longer, or we might not have met you.’

  She tensed suddenly as Lang’s voice reached them from outside.

  ‘We’re here,’ she called back, showing Olivia out into the courtyard where he was waiting.

  ‘Grandfather wants to bring out the family photographs,’ he said. ‘He’s got hundreds of them, all ready to show Olivia.’

  ‘And I’m longing to see them,’ she said.

  The largest room in the north house had been laid out in preparation, with a table in the centre covered in photographs. To Olivia’s amazement the pictures stretched back sixty years to when Meihui had been a beautiful young girl. She must have been about sixteen in the first one, sitting in the curve of Tao’s arm. His face as he looked down on his little sister bore an expression of great pride, and Olivia thought she could still see it there now as he regarded her picture. He was almost in tears over the little sister who had meant the world to him, and who he’d last seen when she was eighteen, departing for ever with the man she loved.

  ‘And that’s him?’ Olivia asked as an Englishman appeared in the pictures.

  ‘That’s John Mitchell, my grandfather,’ Lang agreed.

  He seemed about twenty-three, not particularly handsome but with a broad, hearty face and a smile that beamed with good nature. Meihui’s eyes, as she gazed at him, were alight with joy.

  Then there were photographs that she had sent from England: herself and John Mitchell, proudly holding their new-born son, Lang’s father. Then the child growing up, standing between his parents, until his father vanished because death had taken him far too soon. After that it was just Meihui and her son, until he married, and soon his own son appeared, a toddler in his father’s arms.

  ‘Let’s leave them,’ Lang groaned.

  ‘But you were a delightful child!’ Olivia protested.

  He gave a grimace of pure masculine embarrassment, and she hastily controlled her mirth.

  It was true that he seemed to have been a pleasant youngster, but even then his face held a sense of resolution beyond his years, already heralding the man he would become.

  There were some pictures with his
parents, then with his mother after his father’s death, but mostly they showed the young Lang with Meihui. Then he appeared with his new family after his mother’s remarriage. Looking at them, Olivia understood what he’d meant about not having been at ease. His stepfather looked as though he had much good nature, but no subtlety, and his offspring were the same. Standing in their midst, the young Lang smiled with the courteous determination of a misfit.

  He grew older, graduated from school and passed his medical exams. One picture especially caught Olivia’s attention-it showed him sitting down while Meihui stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders, her face beaming with pride. At that moment she had been the happiest woman in the world. Instead of looking at the camera, Lang was glancing up, connecting with her.

  ‘No wonder your family recognised you at the airport,’ she murmured, drawing him slightly aside. ‘Thanks to Meihui, they’d been with you every step of the way while you were growing up.’

  ‘Yes, they said much the same. It made me feel very much at home.’

  He spoke just loud enough for Biyu to hear, making her glance up and smile. He smiled back, yet strangely Olivia sensed a hint of tension in him, the last thing she’d expected. Now she thought about it, she felt there was a watchfulness about him tonight that wasn’t usually there.

  She wondered if she was the cause of his concern, lest she make a bad impression, but his manner towards her was full of pride. What was troubling him, then? she wondered.

  As they left the room, Biyu announced, ‘Now I’m going to show you our special place, devoted to Jaio and Renshu. I know Lang has told you about them.’

  ‘Yes, it must be wonderful having such a great family tradition, going back so far.’

  ‘It is. We have mementoes of them which normally we keep locked away for safety, but in your honour we have brought them out.’ She gave a teasing smile. ‘Lang tells us that you may need a little convincing.’

  ‘Oh, did he? Just wait until I see him.’

  ‘You mean, it isn’t true?’ Biyu asked.

  ‘Of course-Well, I think it’s a lovely story.’

  ‘But perhaps a little unreal?’ Biyu sighed. ‘The world is so prosaic these days. People no longer believe in a love so great that it conquers everything. But few families have been as fortunate as we. We keep our mementoes because they are our treasures, not in the worldly way, but treasures of the heart. Come, let me show you our temple.’

  Crossing the courtyard, she entered the south house that would soon belong to Wei and his bride.

  ‘This is where we keep our temple,’ she said, opening the door to a room at the back. ‘Wei and his wife-to-be have promised to respect it.’

  It was a small room. In the centre was a table on which some papers were laid out, and a piece of jade.

  ‘These are our mementoes of them,’ Wei said.

  ‘Those papers,’ Olivia said. ‘They are actually the ones that-?’

  ‘The very ones that were discovered after their deaths.’

  ‘Two-thousand years ago,’ Olivia murmured.

  She tried to keep a touch of scepticism out of her voice. She liked Biyu, and didn’t wish to seem impolite, but surely nothing could be certain at such a distance of time?

  ‘Yes, two-thousand years,’ Biyu said. ‘We’ve had collectors offering us a lot of money for them, saying that they are valuable historical relics. They cannot understand why we will not sell. They say the money would make us rich.’

  ‘But these are beyond price,’ Olivia said.

  Biyu nodded, pleased at her understanding.

  ‘Their value is not in money,’ she agreed.

  ‘What do the papers say?’ Olivia asked. ‘Normally I can read Chinese but these are so faded.’

  ‘They say “We have shared the love that was our destiny. Whether long or short, our life together has been triumphant. They say that love is the shield that protects us from harm, and we know it to be true. Nothing matters but that”.’

  ‘Nothing matters but that,’ Olivia murmured.

  How would it feel to know a love so all-embracing that it extinguished everything else in the world? She tried to remember her feelings for Andy, and realised that she couldn’t recall his face. Now there was another face on the edge of her consciousness waiting to be allowed in, but only when she was ready.

  A man with the gift of endless patience could be comforting, fascinating, perhaps even alarming. She hadn’t yet decided.

  ‘I will never forget the day we showed these to Lang,’ her hostess said. ‘He had heard of them from Meihui, but the reality was very powerful to him. He held them in his hands and kept saying, “It is really true”.’

  ‘I love the way you all feel so close to Lang,’ Olivia said. ‘You don’t treat him differently at all.’

  ‘But should we? Oh, you mean because he’s a little bit English?’

  ‘Three-quarters English,’ Olivia said, laughing.

  Biyu shrugged as if to say ‘what is three quarters?’.

  ‘That is just on the surface,’ she said. ‘In here-’ she tapped her heart ‘-he is one of us.’

  Lang came in at that moment and Olivia wondered if he’d heard these last words. If he had they must surely have pleased him, but it was hard to tell.

  ‘There’s a little more,’ he said, indicating a side table where there were two wooden boxes and two large photographs which Olivia recognised as Meihui and John Mitchell.

  ‘The boxes are their ashes,’ Biyu confided, looking at Lang. ‘He brought them.’

  ‘Meihui kept John’s ashes,’ Lang said. ‘And when she died I promised her that I would bring them both here.’

  ‘We had a special ceremony in which we welcomed them both home and said that we would always keep them together,’ Biyu said. ‘And we laid them in this temple, so that Renshu and Jaio could always watch over them.’

  She spoke with such simple fervour that Olivia’s heart was touched. It didn’t matter, she realised, whether every detail of the legend was exactly true. The family had taken it as their faith, and perhaps a trust in the enduring power of love was the best faith anyone could choose.

  Silently, Biyu drew her attention to a hanging on the wall. It was a large sheet of parchment, and on it were written the words Jaio had spoken: love is the shield that protects us from harm.

  In the end their love hadn’t protected them from those who’d sought them out, but now Olivia knew that this wasn’t the harm Jaio had meant. To live a lonely, useless life, separated from the one who could give it meaning-that was a suffering neither she nor Renshu had ever known. And, if there had been a price, they did not complain.

  She began to understand a little more of the family’s pride in Lang, the man who through his grandmother embodied the legend in the present day.

  He was looking away at that moment so that she was able to observe him unseen. And it seemed to her that the mysterious ‘something’ in his face was now more evident than ever.

  CHAPTER SIX

  AS IT grew dark the lanterns came on in the courtyard and everyone gathered to hear Suyin sing. After a while Olivia slipped away and went to Lang’s room in the south house, glad of a moment alone to mull over what she’d learned tonight. She was beginning to understand Lang a little better-he was a man who hung back behind a quiet, even conventional mask, but who behind that mask was a dozen other men. Some of those men were fascinating, and some she should perhaps be wary of.

  After giving her hair a quick brush, she left the room and found him waiting in the hall outside. She faced him with an air of indignation that was not entirely assumed.

  ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you,’ she said.

  ‘Are you mad at me? I’ve offended you?’

  ‘Don’t you give me that deferential stuff. I see right through it. You can’t open your mouth without fooling me about something.’

  ‘What have I done now?’

  ‘I asked you about your job and you gave me the impr
ession that you were little more than the hospital porter. Now I find out you’re an important man.’

  ‘I deny it,’ he said at once.

  ‘A consultant.’

  ‘Junior consultant. It’s just a title that’s supposed to make me feel pleased with myself. The real big man is the senior consultant.’

  ‘Oh, really? And when is the big man going to retire and let you step into his shoes?’

  ‘That’s a long story. We should be getting back before they come looking for us.’

  He was still smiling, but she had a feeling that she’d touched a nerve. The hospital was one of the biggest and most important in Beijing. If he was seriously hoping for a major promotion after only three years, then he was more ambitious than he wanted anyone to know.

  ‘They’ve already come to seek us out. There they are,’ Lang said, indicating outside where Biyu could be seen watching, accompanied by Wei, Suyin and an assortment of children. ‘From where they’re standing, you can see in through the window, and they’re waiting to see if we fulfil expectations.’

  This was so plainly true that she chuckled. Some people would have found the blatant curiosity intrusive and dismaying, but Olivia-child of a fractured family where there had been much hysterical emoting but little genuine kindness-felt only the warmth of a large family welcoming her, similar to what Lang himself had felt, she guessed.

  ‘Then you’d better put your arm around my shoulders,’ she said.

  ‘Like that?’ His hand rested lightly on her shoulder.

  ‘I think you might manage to be a little more convincing,’ she reproved him. ‘We’re supposed to be giving them what they want, and I doubt if they can even see anything from there.’

  ‘You’re right,’ he agreed. ‘It has to look real.’

  Tightening his arm, he drew her closer to him. Slowly he lowered his head until his lips were just brushing hers.

  ‘Is this real enough?’ he murmured.

  ‘I think-I think we might try a little harder.’