Scarring Jasmine-Chapter Twenty Seven Inquietude

09/13/2024 Friday 56-84F Sunny

When Jasmine awoke, through the curtains she saw outside was broadly bright. She sat up and looked around: It was a medium sized blue-stone room. The wood windowsills and doors were painted red, carved with exquisite floral patterns. The bed was made with sandalwood, large and heavy, covered by two layers of silk curtain—The exterior curtain was green, printed with a theme of children playing in the garden: Some were catching crickets, some were flying kites, and some were playing the game of go. The print was so fine that each hair on the crickets’ legs could be vividly seen. The interior was a white sheer which functioned as a mosquito net. The pillows, blankets all were soft and delicate, made with silk.

Jasmine got out of the bed and found one new pair of woman’s embroidered slippers by the bedside. “They must be for me.” She put them on, the size of which was just right. She walked to the window. What a surprise! She could clearly see a lotus pond. Thousands of white lotus buds stood out from the water; they were not open yet, but the air had already been scented with their charming fragrance. Jasmine took a deep breath. Everything here was tasteful and luxurious, but very different from Wang’s: Wang’s house was a Western-styled marble mansion; this was a traditional Chinese garden--If you didn’t have the chance to enter it, you could never imagine its exquisiteness behind those humble white walls and black doors.

“Good morning Third Madam,” a maid showed up. “Master told me that once you got up this morning, I should take you to meet our First Madam.” 

“Ok, thank you. Where is master?” Jasmine asked. 

“Master left early this morning. As usual he won’t be home until evening.” 

Jasmine nodded. To her, that man, her husband, was just a vague image; she never had a chance to see him clearly last night. All she knew about him were: Medium height, oval face, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

“Madam, please follow me for washing and dressing.” The maid directed her to the next room. Before she entered the door, a strong smell of camphor invaded her nose. In front of her was a large wood dresser; on both sides of it ten armoires and eight trunks were lined up. All were made with camphor wood. 

From the armoires, Jasmine picked a grey-pink striped dress to wear. She figured that she shouldn’t wear something too plain considering she just wedded, and that if the color was too bright it might make her look aggressive. She was just a concubine going to see her husband’s legal wife, who would be her boss lady from now on.

After walking through endless corridors, and passing dozens of courtyards, finally the maid led her to the First Madam’s place. While walking along the hallway, coincidentally Jasmine heard someone speaking from the inside: “Gee, the new younger sister gets up so late! It is almost nine o’clock! Elder sister, she should have shown more respect for you!” No-one responded. Then that voice spoke again: “Our master really didn’t think the whole thing through! I heard people say that she divorced once. Given that, our master still bought her so many clothes and housed her in the best place!” Again, there was no response, and Jasmine stepped in.

It was a very spacious high-ceilinged room. Facing the door, an elder thin lady was sitting on a sandalwood daybed, sipping tea from a china blue teacup. On the left side of the daybed sat one pair of armchairs and a matching square table; a big bunch of pink roses was blooming in a white blue vase on the table. In the chair closer to that elder lady sat another younger lady, whose face was wearing an irritated look. Opposite the armchairs and on the other side of the daybed was a large three-foot tall bronze incense burner; faint eaglewood smoke coiled up from inside it.

“Wow, you must be our new sister!” The younger lady saw Jasmine, immediately changed both her expression and the tone of her voice to a much nicer level. She came to Jasmine, picked up her hand and looked about her with a grin. The lady on the daybed didn’t move.

“Let me introduce our elder sister to you, you should kneel down and kowtow to her!” she advised, seeing Jasmine just bowed to that elder lady. 

Jasmine was hesitant. That elder lady must have perceived Jasmine’s reluctance; she smiled, “It is ok, the present time isn’t like the old days. We all should forget about those rotten disciplines. Take a seat, may I know your name?” Her voice was soft yet calm, and she spoke in a slow dignified way.

That younger lady insisted Jasmine on sitting in her seat, then she took the other one. “Thanks elder sister,” Jasmine’s face turned red while she was speaking. The lady looked like she was her mother’s age, but she had to call her “sister”— “my name is Jasmine.” 

The elder lady nodded. The younger one followed at once: “I like your name, it is just like you! You can call me either Bitao, or second sister. It is up to you.” She gave Jasmine a strange wink. 

The First Madam, Qian’s wife, didn’t like to talk that much; but under her dignified appearance, for some reason, Jasmine felt close to her. Unlike Bitao, the second sister and the concubine; Jasmine instinctively didn’t like her. Not only because of the comments which she made about Jasmine right before she came in, but also because she laughed incessantly, and her laughter was very insincere.

After the first round of tea, Jasmine noticed that First Madam looked tired, thus she bid her leave. “Now here is your home,” First Madam said, “Make yourself comfortable. Come to see me whenever you are available, which doesn’t have to be in the morning. I don’t like to restrain people. Especially, as you are much younger, you should enjoy yourself. Same as us, the kitchen will deliver two meals daily to your room, plus extra fruit and snacks. Whatever you like to eat, tell your maids and they will forward your words to the kitchen. Usually master doesn’t dine at home. If you need something, just let me or master know. I have two sons who also live in this house. But I think master has his own plan about when you will meet them.” 

Jasmine thanked her. Bitao rose from her seat as well: “Elder sister, I will accompany the younger sister to her place. I am very curious about how it looks now.” Then she turned to Jasmine, grinning: “You don’t know but the place you are living in was master’s private study, the best building in this house. I always wanted to move there but he never agreed to it. Our master is so nuts about you! Do you mind showing me your place?” 

“Certainly not.” Jasmine felt very uncomfortable; she liked to keep her little privacy and space rather than exposing them to others. But to be polite, she couldn’t say no.

Jasmine lived in a two storied small building, built with blue stones. According to what Bitao told her thereafter, the second floor was a fully screened undivided area. In Summer when the four sides’ screens were removed, the breezes rose from the lotus pond could pass through the whole floor, thus whoever stayed there wouldn’t sweat at all. 

“So far in this house, only master could sleep upstairs, not even elder sister! Gee, what a love for you! He told me that he only met you once about three weeks ago, is that true? Where did you meet him? What is your family doing?”

Jasmine kept her silence; all she wished was that Bitao would leave her alone as soon as possible.

Finally Bitao left; the breezes blew away her excessive questionable admiration toward Jasmine right after. Jasmine had her brunch, took a nap, then walked to the upper floor. The screens were closed, perhaps because the weather wasn’t that hot yet. She asked the maid to open two south panels for her so she could sit by the railings. It was late afternoon already. The sloping sun still shone brightly over the pond; the breezes rose now and then, as did the croaks of frogs. Beyond the pond, Jasmine saw black roofs peeping out among the trees and flowers. Light purple haze began to fall over the far mountains, which blocked Jasmine’s southern view—It was the direction of Suzhou. Jasmine missed her home, that small shabby house in the Little Rock Lane where her mother and brother were living. “What are they doing now? What will be their today’s dinner? Have they found a nanny so she can pick up mother’s medicine?” Jasmine wondered. 

Then a man wearing a straw hat appeared from the other side of the pond. He crossed the long stone bridge heading toward her little building. His figure became clearer in the sun as he came closer—Oval face, golden rimmed glasses, and the bottom hems of his Summer white gown were flying in the wind, exposing his grey pants underneath. 

He walked hurriedly, holding something in his hand, and without looking up. Jasmine wasn’t sure whether he saw her or not. “He is my husband, the man who provided twenty thousand silver coins to my family; the man who gave me a place that from now on can be called ‘my home’; the man on whom I will rely on to gain a stable life and raise my own children. So I should be grateful to him.” She rested her hand on the railings, pondering.

Qian entered the downstairs. Jasmine heard him speak to a maid: “Go tell the kitchen that I will dine here today!” Then there were footsteps on the stairs. Jasmine’s heartbeat started to speed up, and her face was burning. She pretended she was watching the garden view when that emerald fingered hand laid on her shoulder, and unsurprisingly followed that familiar baritone voice: “I am back, how was your day?” 

Jasmine’s body instantly stiffened; but she knew that she was expected to turn her head and give him a smile. So she did. Her smile encouraged him. He bent down, put a little narrow wood box on Jasmine’s knees, “Open it, I bought a gift for you.” Jasmine obeyed—In the box covered by red silk was one pair of emerald bangles. The color of the emerald was a shiny green, and the continuous cloudy texture throughout each bangle also showed the great value of the gift. He squatted down, took out the bangles and slid them on her wrists. “Do you like them?” He asked, fixing his eyes on her face from behind his lens; he was trying to read her mind. 

“Yes, I like them, thanks very much.” Jasmine answered and moved her eyes away. By chance, her sight caught a few grey hairs at his temple. 

The dinner was brought in. Apparently, Qian was in quite a high spirit. He ordered the servants to unfold all the screens and had the dinner with Jasmine upstairs. He drank a lot yet wasn’t drunk. 

Before the dinner was over, he suddenly seized Jasmine’s hand, saying: “I am very fond of you. That day since I saw you from my palanquin, I couldn’t forget about your face. I was willing to pay more for you if your family negotiated.” Jasmine blushed. A southern evening breeze crept in and caressed her forehead, as if it tried to tell her not to feel sorrowful. 

That night they slept on the second floor. Since that day, Jasmine became Qian’s emerald lady; and that pair of bangles was the symbol of his ownership of her.