Shi approached the pond. The paper lanterns were gleaming on its still surface. The fish were already sleeping, and only one of them, by habit, approached Shi in a lazy, lethargic manner. Its gold side flashed in the light of a lantern, and the fish disappeared in the cool depth. Shi was sitting motionless, trying to keep his consciousness clear of any thought, but the bright images of the past day were tearing his mind.
All of a sudden he quite clearly smelled ylang-ylang. From instinct, he stretched out his hand and his fingers touched a piece of the lightest, softest silk. Now he was sure that it was the smell that had been accompanying him throughout the entire day. A faint smile touched his lips. Now his morning adventure seemed amusing to him. After so many self-confident women had been casting their eager glances at him, he found his morning hesitance and escape simply funny. Of course, if he could swap the events, he would not have missed his morning chance. The astrologists are going to identify the best match for him, but who knows if the chosen one is going to be to his liking? What if he cannot love her? Of course, he is allowed to have a number of wives and concubines. But the first one…
At the moment Shi heard his Tutor calling him to go to his room.
Shi was lying and gazing at the stars, holding the little warm piece of fine silk close to his cheek. All of sudden a misty golden spot emerged from the dark. It drew nearer, and Van emerged from it. She was wearing the same, still torn, pale pink dress made of the finest silk, a piece of which Shi was holding in his fingers. The girl was standing and watching Shi with a tender smile. Slowly, she undid her belt, which caused the embroidered cape to slip down, leaving her in her pink undergarment torn in such a way that Shi could see her breasts, and even her navel. Taking off her sandals and putting aside the black laces that fixed her pale-jade harem pants right above her ankles, she sat herself down right next to Shi, and started gently caressing his naked body.
Shi was lying motionless, in the same position as before. He saw it, but he was watching it as though he were an onlooker. He could see his room, its walls decorated with pieces of cloth embroidered with fancy birds and flying women with a lotus flower in their hands. He could see the silk cushions scattered about, and he could also observe himself, lying in his bed and holding the piece of silk close to his cheek. He did not move, and he did not wish to move.
The smell of ylang-ylang filled the air in the room. Van’s touches were delicate and cool, just like swallows of cool water in the middle of a hot day. His body was imbued with peace, trust and power. Van lowered her head onto his pillow and placed her hand on Shi’s stomach. But suddenly many women were coming from every corner; they were stretching their arms towards Shi, caressing him, hiding their faces behind their fans and laughing. Then Van rushed up to them, chasing them away, and covered Shi’s body with hers. Her body was weightless, as if it were only a breeze. An acute desire to proceed overwhelmed Shi. He tried to move and embrace Van, but his arms felt leaden, and when he made an effort, he saw nothing, but a tiny piece of silk and a fragile beam of the sun in his hand. He could sense, like the whispers of grass, the featherlike steps of the servants outside who were making preparations for the new day.
Having stretched his body, and tying his belt, Shi headed to the garden where he had a special place arranged for his practice. All of a sudden he saw his Tutor following him. Taken aback, Shi stopped.
“My Illustrious Lord, you are not allowed to see anyone, or to talk to anyone before your marriage. And no one can see you either. Your Father said I’m staking my life on this.”
“But why, Tutor, can’t I even see my parents?” asked Shi, trying to look naive.
“This is the moment when your destiny is being determined, and nothing should affect it. Any odd look can let an evil spirit harm your marriage. It may be envy or some other bad feelings. You have stepped onto the road of change, and this road will open the way for contacts between you and your deceased ancestors. Right now they have to decide among themselves who will come into this world with your first baby. You have to spend your time in meditation and peace to make sure that the best among the best will come to you. Your food should be restrained and your prayers prolonged.”
Bewildered, Shi went back to his rooms. As of that moment, no one would be allowed to even approach that part of the house. Only the Tutor could bring Shi food once a day, just because the Tutor was a monk.
In the remaining part of the mansion the servants were rushing about, the guests were waking up, the granddames were happily chatting, and the rarest, absolutely white peacocks were gracefully wandering in the garden. Maidens stood near small trees and using squirrel fur brushes to carefully apply the pollen to the pistils of the crimson flowers with a syrupy fragrance, then covered each pollinated flower with a tiny sack made of the finest white silk.
Men were picking up the flowers from the trees along the alleys that had fallen at night. The flowers looked like rhododendrons, but were much bigger, and their colours and smells were reminiscent of lilies. Each of the flowers had the shape, the hue and the note of fragrance that made a perfect harmony, and was a model of how to learn good taste, which is why it was especially valued by the Head of the Nan Song family. The fallen flowers were picked up and used to prepare the most valuable incenses with the finest fragrances, while the opening flowers were harvested to make a special honey potion, served only on special occasions, as it was believed to be able to open the way to the fine worlds.
The Tea Ceremony Hall was filled with great agitation. The room was being prepared for the announcement of the astrologists’ conclusion.
Women were not allowed to take part in the Tea Ceremony, as during one of the rituals, called ‘Introduction to Tea’, tea was to rest on the palm of the hand for some time. Woman, who possessed the Yin nature and were closer to earth, might have lowered the energy and the status of the ceremony. This is why, following the advice of the Tutor, the Head of the Nan Song house, allowing his first wife and his favourite daughter to attend the ceremony, decided not to allow other women into the sacrament of the Tea Ceremony. Having a Tea Ceremony was risky as it was: the presence of heads of other influential clans at the Tea Ceremony could be charged with problems.
It was decided that the women would be offered a healing drink ‘for all seasons’, which would be served in another ‘small’ hall, and from there, later, they would leave for home. The tea was, actually, not just tea. It was a blend of fine components, each of them symbolizing one of the five elements – earth, water, wood, fire, metal – or, correspondingly, the organs of the body – the spleen, the kidneys, the heart, the lungs – or, in another projection, the seasons —Indian summer, winter, spring, summer, autumn. The drink was made from a cherry-like fruit, a flower resembling an aster, a nut, the skin of which when soaked in hot water would produce a most refined flavour, from a little crystal, which in the boiling water would turn into a stinging jelly-fish, and from the tea leaves themselves. The drink was intended to give the guests strength to restore the energy they had spent at night and to endure the long way back home.
The men were offered a three-hour tea ceremony as a shortened morning variant. It was decided to serve only two kinds of tea – the Yunnan peach tea, a blend of fresh moist tender spring leaves, and tea harvested a bit later in the highlands by maiden beauties, who used their delicate thin fingers to roll up the leaves and their saliva to glue them into rolls. The Yunnan peach tea did not have peach leaves at all, but the peach trees that enclosed the secret tea plantation shared with the cultivated tea their special peach flavour, which would bloom only after the second brewing.
The bamboo flutes started, followed by ‘shen’, the wind instruments, the divine harps, the citharas and little ceremonial drums. To soften the atmosphere of the men’s gathering, the female Yu mode had been chosen. The most refined, tender plays of the tunes were suggestive of the coolness of a mountain stream, or of a tranquil movement of water in a valley river. In the context of female absence, it was a hymn to that water, which was delivered from a special spring up in the mountains in the vicinity of the Celestial Masters’ Small Temple.
The Tea Ceremony was a covert event; even the musicians sat behind a special partition made