The Crystal Ribbon

by Celeste Lim

  “But you have no tail,” I couldn’t help pointing out.

  Kaizhen made an impatient sound. “It’s just an expression.”

  I fished out one of the shenxian fruits from my bag and studied it. “So that’s why you refused to eat it, Koko,” I murmured, then turned to Kaizhen. “Did you know about this, too?”

  The boy shrugged. “I just never liked sweet things.”

  “But I ate a whole fruit; do you think it’d do anything to me?”

  Koko shook his head. “Not if it’s only one, I believe. The villagers of Daolin have been eating this for years. I’d reckon it’s supposed to be a slow death.”

  “Although I’m almost certain we’re quite close to the truth, how are we going to be absolutely sure the Shenxian Tree is an evil jing as we suspect?” I asked, stroking my chin like a professional yamen detective.

  But Kaizhen was looking at me as though I had tofu for brains. “Why do you need to be absolutely sure? Don’t tell me you plan to stick around and find out,” he said. “Now that we know something suspicious is afoot, it is in our best interest to leave as soon as possible.”

  I gasped. “Don’t tell me you mean to leave an entire village of people to their deaths?”

  Kaizhen crossed his arms. “It’s none of our business,” he said matter-of-factly, then turned to Koko. “Surely you don’t approve of this madness she’s suggesting?” Koko shrugged his little shoulders. He knew how stubborn I could be, but Kaizhen wasn’t finished. “Besides, even if things do turn out as well as we hope, this is still too dangerous for a couple of children and a little bird jing.”

  “But by the time we reveal the Renmian Tree for what it really is, we’ll have the entire village on our side,” I argued. My conscience simply wouldn’t allow me to turn my back on people who have shown us nothing but kindness. Now that I finally had the freedom to make my own decisions, I would stick with them and make them count, no matter how much I hated disagreeing with Kaizhen. After all, he was only worried about our safety.

  I gave his sleeve a beseeching tug. “Please, Kaizhen; could you live with yourself if you had knowingly walked out on a dying village without even trying to help?”

  Kaizhen rolled his eyes again to tell me that he most certainly could, but seemed to relent nonetheless. “And how do you plan to reveal the tree’s identity?”

  I played with the ends of my ribbon, trying to recall the details of the lore. “Because the Renmian Tree feeds on humans, it would actually bleed human blood when hurt. In the folktale, a brave warrior shaman plunged a sword into the tree’s trunk and drew blood.”

  “So we’re going to stick something in it and see if it bleeds,” Kaizhen concluded, making it sound as though I had suggested we give the Renmian Tree a kiss. I pretended not to catch on.

  “Yes, but we can’t do it in the morning. The tree is sacred to the villagers, and we don’t want to offend them by doing anything that might seem disrespectful.” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “I think it’s best if we stay another day and do it tonight.”

  Kaizhen’s eyes narrowed. “I really don’t like this idea of yours. But if we have to do this, you must promise me to leave everything to the villagers once we’ve done our part.” He laid down his condition, and I nodded so hard it made me dizzy.

  Chief Sun and his wife were more than happy to have us stay for another night. In fact, the chief’s wife was so thrilled that she spent the entire late afternoon in the kitchen preparing a feast.

  “I heard from my husband how much you enjoyed the shenxian fruit, Jing. So I figured I’d cook some for tonight,” she said, laying out a plate of the fruit, diced and fried with minced pork. “I find that it goes really well with meat.” Then she turned to Kaizhen. “I know you don’t fancy anything too sweet, my boy, so I’ve cooked it with my special homemade sauce. It creates this tangy flavor that’s simply enchanting.”

  To be honest, the dish smelled absolutely mouthwatering, but I felt differently toward the questionable fruit now. Somehow, it didn’t seem as appetizing as it had that morning. Perhaps I could just stick to the side dishes of chicken soup, onion bread, and garlic-fried bamboo shoots for the night. But Kaizhen was politely thanking Mrs. Sun for her efforts and picking up his chopsticks without any hesitation, and I realized that there would be a lot of explaining to do if the kind couple noticed that I had suddenly changed my mind about the fruit in just under a day. So I followed Kaizhen’s example and promptly helped myself to the main dish.

  It ought to have been wonderful. But to me, it now had a sinister taste. The sweetness of the fruit had somehow developed a sharpness to it that left a peculiar aftertaste in my mouth. Therefore, with every spoonful of the dish, I shoveled in mouthfuls of rice to cover up its taste. Kaizhen, on the other hand, seemed not the least bit perturbed, and ate as though the food did not bother him at all. He even praised Mrs. Sun’s cooking when she had asked him whether the dish was to his liking.

  That night, right after we had sneaked out of the house to carry out our plan, I threw away all the fruits in the monsoon drain outside the village.

  “Remember that our plan is to alert the villagers the moment we verify that it’s the Renmian Tree,” Koko reminded me again. “Absolutely no sticking around.”

  “All right, I know,” I muttered, trying to keep up with Kaizhen and at the same time maintain my balance on the uneven pathway in the dark. I knew Koko was just worried for our safety, but if I had bothered to count, this was probably no less than the fifth time he was repeating this.

  We slunk along the sides of the main road in the village, keeping as much to the shadows as possible. We had stolen out of the chief’s house only well after midnight, taking our belongings with us. I pulled Chang Er’s cloak tighter around my neck. How could Kaizhen withstand this weather with so little on?

  It was dark, and even darker in the shadows, but the moon provided just enough light for us to make out obstacles in our way. I had a lantern in my hands, but we agreed to light it only at a safe distance, in case anyone should see us. After climbing over the back fences of the village, I lit the lantern before we headed up the hill toward the tree. From a distance, the Shenxian Tree still looked ethereal, even during the night. The moon cast its silvery beam upon it, making it look like a sparkling diamond tree. When we came close enough, I turned to Kaizhen.

  “I’ll do it.” I removed from my hair the fan-shaped hairpin that Chang Er had given me. Kaizhen seemed about to protest, but I had already pressed the handle of the lantern into his hand. This was my idea, so I was going to do this.

  He muttered something and held out his dagger. “Use this.”

  I smiled and took it from him, replacing my hairpin. The flames from our lantern cast a garish orange light upon the tree, and at that moment, somehow, it didn’t look so beautiful anymore. I held up the dagger, and with a grunt, stabbed with all my might.

  Almost as soon as the blade pierced the surface of the trunk, a shrill, unearthly scream cut through the night. Startled half out of my wits, I jumped back at the same time that Koko gave a warning cry, and when the dagger was wrenched out of the golden bark, dark, rich red blood started oozing from the open wound.

  I should’ve been able to hear the entire village awakening, coming out of their homes and rushing to the back of the village. I should’ve been able to hear the shouts, the sounds of metal clanging, and rapid footsteps as villagers dashed up the hill toward us, but I didn’t, because right before us, the once beautiful Shenxian Tree was shuddering violently, and a horrible, grotesque face was beginning to surface on its trunk.

  A pair of eyeballs crawling with veins rolled into the craters that had formed on the bark. A huge slit appeared beneath the eyes, and opened to reveal rows of teeth that looked eerily human. I could only stare, transfixed, at the deformed face on the trunk that was contorted in rage.

  This was the true form of the Renmian Tree.

  The burly hawker we had met the day before was
the first to recover. “Chief Sun, what is happening to the Shenxian Tree?”

  It was clear that none of the villagers had ever seen the jing in its true form. But before the chief could even respond, the eyeballs of the tree rolled in their sockets and fixed on one person.

  “Give me the girl, and I shall spare your village!” the Renmian Tree screeched at the village chief, its leaves rustling fiercely as it shook its branches.

  Immediately, the hands belonging to the skewer hawker landed firmly on my shoulders. I froze. Were these hands here to shield me from harm, or to keep me from running away? Chief Sun looked completely dumbstruck, and from how firmly he was gripping his spade and the way his eyes darted between me, the villagers, and then the tree, it was obvious he was torn.

  Torn? I wanted to scream. Were they going to sacrifice me after all? To give me away, just like how the Guos, the baomu, and my family did? How could they! But just as I was about to begin struggling, the chief spoke.

  “No…”

  His trembling hands, which were gripping the wooden handle of the spade, were turning white from the force.

  “No?” the Renmian Tree echoed through its bared teeth. “Do you realize what you are saying to me, beloved chief?”

  But it seemed Chief Sun did not need another confirmation.

  “Enough! You shall not have the girl!” He cast his spade roughly upon the ground and pointed an accusing finger at the tree. “You promised never to demand another human sacrifice and to continue bearing fruit for the village!”

  “Yes, but that was more than ten years ago,” the tree drawled. “Surely, after all these years of helping your little community prosper, I’m long overdue for my second serving?”

  Second serving? A murmur rippled across the crowd as people whispered and shifted disconcertedly.

  “What?” the hawker behind me asked. “Chief Sun, what is this?”

  “Yes, what is the Shenxian Tree speaking of? What second serving?”

  “The chief knows something…”

  Then came the screechy voice of the tree. “Yes, your chief has been hiding something from you all this time. Ask him; ask him what he’s done.”

  Chief Sun was about to say something when a scream erupted from the back of the crowd.

  “No!”

  Everyone turned around to see the chief’s wife stumbling through the people, and when she reached her husband, she clung to his arms, tears soaking his sleeves. “No, Bingyu, don’t tell them! Don’t bring back the past. I have lived each day trying to forget; don’t bring it back, please…” But the resolve in the tired lines upon her husband’s face was clear, and Mrs. Sun could do nothing other than break into hysterical sobs. As though for support, the chief held her close as he lifted his gaze and addressed the entire crowd.

  “A few days before the Shenxian Tree first appeared on this hilltop, it had revealed itself to me in the forests where I had been hunting alone. At that time, the village was suffering the worst of the drought…there had been no food for almost a fortnight. The tree fed me its fruits and claimed to have been sent by the gods in heaven to save our village from this calamity, which was to last for another whole year. I—I knew there was no way that the village could outlast the drought, so I fell to my knees at its roots and thanked it for coming to save us…” Chief Sun swallowed something that seemed to have stuck in his throat. “And this was when the Shenxian Tree said that its help had to come with a price.”

  Mrs. Sun, who had been reduced to hiccups, let out a howl. “Bingyu, please!” she beseeched him, hardly noticing his trembling arm around her.

  A dull pain was spreading across my chest, for I had forgotten to breathe. What could the price be? What sort of sacrifice could cause such pain and sorrow for a man and woman? I glanced over at Kaizhen, who had his arms pinned behind his back by another villager. He was glowering at the chief, his lips pressed into a hard line.

  Chief Sun’s jaw tightened as he spoke again. “I’m sure everyone still remembers our children. My boy Po, and little Miyu.”

  The crowd murmured again.

  “Yes, of course, died from illness…all the children were weak from starving.”

  “They were so young.”

  “Yes, only six and three. So tragic…”

  “But what do Po and Miyu have to do with this, Chief?” someone asked.

  There was a pause, and when the chief spoke again, only a crack in his voice betrayed his emotions. “The tree allowed me three days to consider its deal. And in the end, for the sake of the village, I drew a pact with the Shenxian Tree…that in exchange for the sacrifice of my two children, it would ensure the survival of Daolin for all time.”

  The crowd gasped. My hands flew to my mouth. What did the chief mean? What had he done? Surely he didn’t…

  “But…but that’s impossible, Chief!” exclaimed the farmer who had been holding Kaizhen, so shocked that he did not realize he had let go. “We buried Po and Miyu in the village cemetery! I lowered their caskets into the ground myself!”

  The chief looked away. “The caskets were empty, weighed down with sand. My, my children were—”

  “Buried alive under the roots of this tree!” Mrs. Sun screamed as she wrung her hair. “I dug the hole with my own two hands.” And the woman gazed at her hands with such hatred, as though seeing the blood of her children on them. “Po…he suddenly woke up from his induced sleep and found himself in the pit. But he just lay there, too weak to crawl out. I remember his gaze when he opened his one unburied eye and looked up at me…looked up at his own baba and mama. Shoveling. Shoveling soil into his face, all over him, burying him alive!”

  Time seemed to have stopped as we listened to this horrific story. Chief Sun and his wife couldn’t really have sacrificed their own children. Didn’t they love them? How could any parent give up their own child in such a manner? My head started to throb.

  How similar we were. Our fates.

  We’ve all been sacrificed for the benefit of others. And in my mind, I saw the faces of Mrs. Guo, Aunt Mei, and even my own father.

  But on the other hand, how much grief and guilt this couple had had to bear since then. Yes, Po’s and Miyu’s fates were sad and undeserved, but did the chief and his wife really have it better? The children were dead, and had perhaps even now been reincarnated into a better life. But their parents still had to live on, and live each day in the painful knowledge of having done such a horrible deed. Sometimes, it seemed, it could be harder for the ones giving up a loved one than the ones being given up.

  Perhaps—maybe—that was how Baba felt as well?

  “I’m sorry to say that you have been deceived, Chief,” said Kaizhen. “A benevolent jing would never ask for a human sacrifice.”

  “Yes!” My voice cracked as I cried. This wicked tree was the cause of all this hurt and sorrow. Well, I wasn’t going to let it thrive on people’s grief any longer. I would reveal to the chief and his village the demon that it was. “This is a demon, an evil jing that you have been worshipping, Chief Sun! Not a deity at all! It’s called the Renmian Tree, and it’s going to kill the entire village!”

  But my revelation only caused some to gasp in astonishment and a few others to raise their eyebrows.

  “But that’s not true, little girl,” the skewer hawker said. “We lived on its fruits and survived the drought for a year. Without it, the entire village would’ve perished.”

  “Yes, but don’t you understand? It’s a trick!” I stomped my feet. They had to understand, they had to! “The Renmian Tree is an incredibly cunning jing that absorbs the chi of humans by tempting them with its life-absorbing fruits! Haven’t you noticed your deteriorating health, all of you, despite having survived the drought? Don’t you see what your village has become?”

  “A larder of spiritual food for the Renmian Tree,” Kaizhen answered for them. “And it’s not going to stop until it has sucked the entire community dry of chi, and then it will move on to find another villag
e as gullible as yours.”

  “It’s a slow death, but a certain one!” My heart skipped a few beats when the tree finally let out a deep shuddering laugh and spoke.

  “Insignificant children…do you think it does any good now to reveal the truth to this dying village? It has grown so weak that it will perish whenever I wish it to! Daolin was doomed to die the moment its foolish chief invited me, a Renmian Tree, into his village to become a so-called tutelary spirit.”

  The tree rolled its eyes back in their sockets as it laughed. This was my chance! I grabbed two lanterns from among the villagers and hurled them at the tree with all my might.

  The Renmian Tree must not have expected this at all, for the moment the lanterns crashed into its branches, it let out an earsplitting screech and started to thrash wildly. The fire had caught immediately and its leaves were going up in wild, hungry flames.

  “Burn, you evil tree!” I grabbed the urn of lantern oil we had bought and splashed it at the tree. The flames went even higher.

  The earth beneath us began to shake as the tree yanked its gigantic roots up from the ground. When the tree stood at its full height, with one side of its leaves on fire, it began to stomp about wildly, thrashing all the time, and that was when everyone started to panic, scream, and run. Then the Renmian Tree suddenly lashed out with one of its branches and seized my right ankle.

  “Jing!” Kaizhen yelled as he tried to grab my hands. I screamed and tried to reach out, but we were too late. In a whir of movement, I was dangling upside down from a dangerous height.

  “You!” the tree shrieked, shaking me like ragdoll. “Even if I should die, you shall accompany me in death!”

  I was going to die. Was everything over? Then I heard a familiar screech and lifted my gaze.

  “Koko!” My brave little friend was flying toward me. “Koko, eyes! Aim for the eyes!” I reached upward toward my ankle and, with Kaizhen’s dagger, began to hack at the branch that gripped me.

  Koko didn’t need to be told twice. He zipped straight through the branches of the tree like an arrow and struck the tree directly in its left eye. The tree let out another piercing shriek, blood immediately spurting from its wound, and with a single careless swipe of its branches, it hit Koko.