“He says he needs a payment to take you. Even though he is going that way, the stubborn ass says he is not a free donkey cart.”
“Of course,” Jiayi said. She had no idea how much she should pay him out of the money Marcus had given her. She had not bought anything in years. She reached into her bag and pulled out one of the gold coins.
“Is this enough?” she asked.
The man took the coin quickly and bit it between his teeth. He nodded.
Jiayi then reached into her bag and pulled out two more coins. She slipped them to the innkeeper and then hugged her.
“Little sister!” the innkeeper gasped. “I cannot take this! People will think I stole it.”
Jiayi wrapped her hands around the coins. “It is less than you deserve,” she said.
The woman started to protest, as was only polite, but they didn’t have time. The horses were growing restless, and the cart driver was impatient. Jiayi turned around and climbed up into the cart.
“Thank you for your help,” Jiayi said. The woman nodded and the two held hands for as long as they could as the cart pulled away. Jiayi had been shown kindness from so few people in the world, she was certain she would never forget this woman.
The cart driver was shipping precious cargo. So precious, he could not rest. If he left his cart for even a moment, thieves could swoop in and steal the expensive silk. Because of this, they did not stop to sleep at night. They only stopped twice along the way to get fresh horses. He was kind enough to let Jiayi sleep in the back with the bolts of silk, when her emotions were calm enough to let her rest anyway. He did not sleep, but he did let Jiayi take the reins and drive the horses a few times, which she enjoyed.
When they arrived at the port, she checked her bag for the card with Marcus’s information on it and could not find it.
“I must have dropped it or left it with the innkeeper,” Jiayi said.
“No trouble,” the silk cart driver said. “I remember what it was called. The ship you want was called the Pandora. It is at East Dock.”
“Thank you so much!” she said and headed east.
The dock was bustling with activity. There were thousands of people, donkeys and horses pulling carts, towers of boxes, even cages full of animals. She was shocked to see large birds, much taller than a man, with long rope-like necks and huge glass eyes. They would bite people who got too close. In another cage, she saw a tiger pacing. The bars were too close together for him to stick his paws through, but he roared ferociously. She was surprised to see so many women around her. Some of them were selling food or other goods to the sailors, some of them were trying to get the men to follow them somewhere, and some of the women Jiayi could swear were sailors themselves, working to ready the ships to sail. She even saw foreign women. White women in tight gowns holding umbrellas and dark brown women in long flowing robes.
The ships themselves were what amazed Jiayi more than anything. Even in her dreams, she had never seen ships like these. They were as large as buildings with spires that reached up to the sky. She couldn’t wait to climb aboard one. Her heart beat fast in her chest. A whole new adventure was awaiting her!
She still wasn’t sure where the ship was, so she asked a few people as she made her way down the dock. Finally, she saw Marcus himself. He was hard to miss! He was standing on a large crate, barking orders to the coolies around him who were moving bags and boxes onto the ship. She waved, and Marcus saw her. He smiled as he jumped down and approached.
“You came!” he said. “I was beginning to worry.”
“It was harder to get away from Zhi…Teddy than I expected,” she said.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “We failed.”
“Will you tell me what you were looking for, then?” he asked.
“Once we are on the ship,” she said. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything.”
His expression darkened for a moment, but then he smiled and placed his hand on her arm. “Well, right this way,” he said, motioning to the ship.
Now that she took a moment to look at the ship, she was a little disappointed. It was rather small compared to the other ships along the dock. It also seemed to be in a bit of disrepair. It needed a paint job and some of the sails were ratty. As she neared the gangplank, though, she froze. She was able to see through some of the portholes below deck and knew something was wrong. Through the portholes, women were screaming and waving their arms. They were calling for help.
“What…what is the meaning of this?” Jiayi asked, stepping away from Marcus.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just a bit of side business.”
“Nothing?” she asked. “Women are nothing?”
“It is nothing that needs to concern you,” he said, then he turned and yelled at the women. “Shut up, you bitches!” The women quieted…for a moment.
“But what are you doing with them?” she asked. “A…side business? What do you mean?”
“It’s just some brides bound for America,” he said. “They are just scared of their new lives. Come on. I can explain more later, just as you can explain more.” He gripped her arm and pulled her toward the gangplank.
Her heart beat fast, but this time from fear. If she fought him, he could forcibly take her, and then consider her an enemy. If she went willingly, he could still live up to his end of the bargain. But why should she trust him at all? She was such an idiot!
She looked up on the deck and saw a Chinese man in a crisp white suit looking down at her. When their eyes met, he quickly moved out of sight. Why would a man like that be on the ship?
Just then, a white man walked up to the gangplank with several Chinese women in tow, all chained together.
“Why are they in chains?” Jiayi asked frantically.
“Help us!” one of the women yelled when she saw Jiayi, and the others then chimed in.
“Help me!”
“I’ve been kidnapped!”
“Where am I?”
They reached out to her with shackled wrists, tears streaming down their faces.
Jiayi knew then that she had to escape. She didn’t think she could help the women since their wrists and ankles were clapped in irons, but she could help herself. She had to run.
She turned away from Marcus, trying to slip from his grasp, but he was too strong. He held her wrist tightly and then gripped her forearm with his other hand.
A memory flashed in her mind. She looked Marcus in the face, her eyes narrow and her jaw set tight. She placed her free hand on his arm and used his body as leverage. She swung her right leg up in the air, putting the weight of her whole body behind the kick. Her heel connected with Marcus’s face with such force, and he was in such shock, that he immediately let her go and stumbled back. Jiayi landed on her feet and turned to run.
She collided with Zhihao.
“Jiayi!” he exclaimed. “What was…how did…” he sputtered, unable to put his thoughts into words.
She tried to run past him, but he held her arm. She quickly spun her arm in a circle, releasing it from his grip. As he tried to grab her again, she lifted her hand and deflected him. He looked at her, confused, and she narrowed her gaze, telling him with her eyes not to grab her again. He seemed to get the message because he held up his hands in defeat.
“Please, just listen to me,” he said. “Don’t run. Let me help you.”
A large hand then landed on Zhihao’s shoulder. He turned around and Marcus was standing there.
“I don’t know what the hell’s going on,” Marcus yelled. “But we had an agreement. The girl comes with me.”
“No way, Marcus!” Zhihao said. “Let her go or you’ll lose all your cargo.” He motioned to the women who were being dragged up the gangplank. “Would be terrible if someone alerted customs before you had a chance to raise anchor.”
“You better both get out of here,” Marcus growled. “But you’ve made a
powerful enemy today, friends.”
He didn’t have to tell Jiayi twice. She quickly slipped through the crowd. She chanced a glance back to make sure Marcus wasn’t following her and saw that Zhihao was nearly on her heels. Over her shoulder, she looked back at the Pandora. The man in a white suit had rushed down the plank and was arguing with Marcus. The more she thought about it, the more stupid and terrified she felt. She had almost made a fatal error. The only thing worse was that Zhihao had been present to learn about what she had done. She was sure he would never let her live it down.
Nineteen
As they left the dock and ended up back on the main cobbled stone road, Zhihao placed his hand on Jiayi’s back.
“What are you doing here?” she finally asked.
“I came to rescue you,” he said.
“I can handle myself,” she said. “I had already decided to leave before you showed up.”
“I noticed,” he said. “What was that anyway? How did you learn to do that?”
“Remember how I told you that I sometimes remembered languages from my dreams? Sometimes I remember…other things as well.”
“You learned how to fight in one of your dreams?” he asked. “I thought you could only be women in your dreams.”
“Women can fight too,” she said indignantly, “as you just saw. I was once a woman who studied Wushu on Song Mountain.”
Zhihao could hardly believe what he was hearing, but he had seen her kick Marcus in the face with his own eyes. What other abilities had she picked up?
“For someone with no education, plans, or prospects, you are quite adept at survival. How did you even know Marcus would be here?” Zhihao asked.
Jiayi sighed and shook her head. “I’ll never tell you everything, Zhihao,” she said. “Secrets keep me safe. They keep me alive.”
“Look,” Zhihao said, turning her toward him, but she still refused to look him in the face. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know I was terrible to you. I’m sorry. I…I enjoyed working with you, and I had come to consider you a friend. I betrayed that friendship. I was wrong.”
Jiayi didn’t respond, but she at least looked less angry than she did before. She sighed and looked longingly back toward the port.
“I can’t help you get on a ship,” Zhihao said. “But if you come with me, we will figure out a way to help you.”
Jiayi nodded. “It would seem I have no choice,” she said.
Zhihao took her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Jiayi,” he said. “I don’t want you to come with me as a last resort, as your only alternative to certain death or poverty. I want you to come with me because I am your friend. I know I do not deserve your trust, but if you come with me, I will do everything in my power to earn that trust back.”
Jiayi nodded and gave him a wan smile. “I…I know. I am still hurt, but I will go with you so we can figure this out together—as a team.”
If it had been socially acceptable, Zhihao would have hugged her.
“I cannot believe you brought her here,” Zhihao’s mother scolded as they looked through a window into the courtyard of their home and watched Jiayi sketch.
“I had nowhere else to go, Mother,” Zhihao said. “I couldn’t take her to an inn, or anywhere else alone. The empress would never believe she was…as I found her when she returned.”
“So, you bring her here? Endanger all of our lives? What will the empress do when she finds her here?” his mother asked frantically.
“I don’t know,” Zhihao said, rubbing his forehead. “I have no idea how to find the seal and no way to get her out of the country.”
“You should put yourself and your family first,” his mother said. “Let the empress have her maid back and do not worry yourself.”
“I cannot do that, Mother,” he said. “I promised I would protect her.”
His mother sighed and teetered over to the stove to remove a teapot from atop a small flame. Like most Han women of high class, her feet were bound. Zhihao had told her everything—almost. He didn’t tell her about Jiayi’s powers, but he did tell her about the seal and his failure to find it. He was his mother’s youngest child, so she doted on him. His father had been ill when he was a boy, so he was closest with his mother. When he was separated from her at age twelve to study abroad, he grieved the separation heavily. The one thing that made him happy about returning to China was seeing his mother again. He had to admit that he was not sure he could leave China again as long as she was alive.
“What if you married her?” his mother asked. “Then her ownership would transfer to you. You could protect her then.”
“She is Manchu,” Zhihao said. “Manchu are forbidden from marrying Han Chinese.”
“The empress recently issued an edict stating that intermarriage was now legal,” his mother said.
“And how many people have taken advantage of that pronouncement?” Zhihao asked. “It might be law on paper, but not in practice yet. I’m not sure I want to be the first to test that new law just to steal her maid. Besides, as the empress’s property, the empress has to approve her marriage. I would be a thief, and worse, a traitor if I married her.”
“You have gotten yourself into quite a predicament,” his mother said as she prepared a tea tray.
“I can’t believe you would allow me to marry a maid anyway,” Zhihao said with a smirk.
“It could be worse,” his mother said. “At your age, my fear of you never marrying is stronger than my need for a good match. At least she is beautiful. And Chinese…”
Zhihao pursed his lips. He was not the first—or only—man educated in England to fall in love with a foreign girl. At least he had the good sense not to marry Rebecca and bring her home as some other men had, much to the horror of their families. Not that he didn’t want to. But there was just too much pain, too much history between them. Where was she now? What was she doing? Did she think about him as much as he thought about her? He couldn’t believe that Jiayi had seen through her eyes, felt what she felt. Could she do it again? Could she see what Rebecca was doing now? Would he ever get the courage to write to her? To get over her?
“Here, take this out to her,” his mother said, breaking into his thoughts. “See what she thinks you should do.”
Zhihao nodded and took the tray outside. As he approached Jiayi, he was struck by how lovely she looked. She was once again wearing a Manchu style gown, but still wore her hair in a simple braid. She was sitting on a bench under a cherry blossom tree hunched over her drawing pages. Her cheek was smudged with charcoal and some strands of hair fell around her face. For the first time in days, she looked at peace.
“Can I help you?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Oh, sorry, yes. My mother thought you would enjoy some tea,” he said.
“Your mother is so kind,” Jiayi said as she straightened her papers and closed her notebook.
Zhihao sat next to her and placed the tea tray between them. He dropped some tea leaves into two cups and then poured hot water over them. He handed her a cup and she held it gently in her fingers as she waited for the leaves to steep and the water to cool.
“I hope your mother does not mind my presence,” Jiayi said. “I am very grateful she is allowing me to stay here.”
“She likes you very much,” Zhihao said. “She even suggested I marry you.”
Jiayi let out a small laugh. “So silly, yet kind.”
Zhihao wasn’t sure what she meant by that. Of course, there were half a dozen reasons why they could not marry, but he wasn’t sure if she was calling the reasons why they could not marry silly or the whole idea of them marrying. He wasn’t sure himself. They barely knew each other, they certainly weren’t in love, and there would be no benefits for his family if he married her. She had no family connections or money. But still, he couldn’t help but feel slightly disheartened at her dismissal of the idea.
“Silly,” Zhihao repeated as he looked into his teacup. “Indeed.”
<
br /> “So,” Jiayi began, “what is the plan?”
“I…I still have no plan,” Zhihao said. “I have spoken to a few friends I could trust and none of them think they could help smuggle you to the West safely. You would most likely be caught and sent back. The empress would certainly find out about your attempt. There are some smugglers who specialize in ‘paper daughters,’ but that is very risky, expensive, and difficult, with no guarantee of success…”
“Maybe we should just keep looking for the seal,” Jiayi said. “I feel like we were so close. If we keep looking—”
“Jiayi,” Zhihao said with a sigh. “I agree that finding the seal would be the best way out of this situation, but I have no idea where to begin.”
“Maybe…maybe I should return to the empress after all,” Jiayi said. “You said that there are no records of the details of the Inner Court, yet I know they exist. The Ministry of Household Affairs takes meticulous notes on everything from every coin spent to when each woman is in her moon phase. I believe it has always been so. Those records have to be somewhere.”
“They could have just been destroyed,” Zhihao said. “What purpose would the ministry have for keeping them?”
“I don’t know, but destroying them seems such a waste,” Jiayi said, becoming more animated. “Perhaps they are not in any public archive because many people see them as useless. But maybe they are just locked away, forgotten somewhere in the Forbidden City. The palace has ten thousand rooms. There are endless places where something could be forgotten or lost. If I can find the records dating back to the Daoguang Emperor, maybe I can learn more about Lady Cai and her family.”
“You said, that night at the inn, that you couldn’t read,” Zhihao said as gently as he could. “How will you find the right records if you can’t read?”
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