Mingmei Yip - Song of the Silk Road

As I stood up to walk, I felt a lead weighing on my heart. Would my meager one thousand really save a child’s life? I couldn’t help but take the bracelet out of its silk pouch to take another look at it. Now the red streak conjured in my mind the image of the desert’s setting sun, the blood from a wounded prince on a battlefield, one of Lop Nor’s most treasured herbs….

The next day I took a train, then a donkey cart back to the little village. Once home, I hid the two fakes inside the tire, then got a bucket of water from the communal tap and washed myself. Feeling refreshed, I took out my bracelet to appreciate, caressing the ivory’s texture, marveling at the streak of red, admiring the exquisite craftsmanship of the antique silver clasp. As I enjoyed my new treasure, my exhaustion and fear seemed to vanish into thin air.

I slipped the bracelet onto my right wrist, then swung it around to feel its solid weight and silky texture. In a happy mood, I brewed tea, ensconced myself on the tire sofa to comfortably sip the steaming amber liquid, then studied my map to plan my trip to the fortune-teller.

A few minutes later, however, I found myself unable to concentrate with a slight headache coming on. I sipped more tea, massaged my temples, took several deep breaths, and resumed reading. But now I couldn’t focus at all. Words on the pages blurred together, like dead ants floating on an oil-filled wok. And my headache escalated. I sensed an anxiety attack coming on, but this time it was real, not surreal like the one at Floating Cloud’s temple.

A loud sneeze, “Haqiiiiii!” exploded from my nose and mouth, followed by my eyes and nose running, then by more “Haqiiiiii! Haqiiiiii!” like a musical motif.

I tried to go to bed, but as soon as I stood up my stomach was ambushed by pangs so severe that I had to plunge back down on the tire. Worse, I also started to cough violently, and my temples throbbed like a ghost frantically knocking as it tried to re-enter the yang world. In less than ten minutes I had become a complete mess! Then an unspeakable fear seized me: Had I caught some horrible, contagious disease from the bazaar?

“Please, I don’t want to die. My worldly business is not yet finished!” My voice sounded desperate in the desert air, which remained adamantly unresponsive.

Despite my extreme discomfort, I rummaged around in my backpack and managed to find the small bottle of medicinal oil. Once I had rubbed the strong, mint-smelling liquid on my temples I felt a little better. I decided to ask Keku for help.

Keku’s expression looked as if she were encountering not me, but my departed soul.

As she led me inside her cottage, she exclaimed, “Oh, heavens, what happened? Did you just have an interview with the King of Hell?!”

I was dizzy; my voice came out weak and breathless. “I don’t know, I just don’t feel well. Do I really look that bad?”

“Yes, your face is as white as a ghost!”

Now Keku’s three women friends all dashed up to gather around me, their strong fingers probing my forehead and cheeks and pinching my third eye. One held her fingers under my nose to see if I was breathing and alive—or a ghost. Thrown off balance by the sudden, overwhelming hormonal attention, my legs gave out and I collapsed onto the floor. Screams and confusion flew around me like bees buzzing in all directions. In my semiconscious state, I felt my body being lifted onto the bed. After that, medicinal oil and hot towels were passed and applied, hot tea was forced down my throat, and thick blankets were thrown over my shivering body. Their improvised movements were surprisingly orchestrated.

While they fussed over me like vultures over a dead body, a loud scream “Oh, heavens, no!” shot out from Keku’s lips and exploded in the room, followed by a succession of rapid mutterings in the same manner from the other women.

I tried to get up but was immediately pressed down by eight strong arms. One pair rubbed something extremely pungent under my nose and onto my third eye, another made small chopping movements up and down my torso, yet another gesticulated wildly while emitting unintelligible utterings.

“Why…?” I started to ask, but before I could finish my sentence, I fell into a deep sleep.

It was night when I woke up. The house was eerily quiet, except for some soft banging of pots and pans. While Keku must have been busy preparing dinner, her son, Mito, was sitting on a chair next to me, watching me intently with his innocent brown eyes.

As soon as those dutiful eyes saw that their exotic Chinese friend was coming back to life, the little boy began to scream at the top of his voice. “Mama! Mama!” I wondered how such a loud, high-pitched voice could possibly be generated from such a tiny body.

Something dropped in the corner with a metallic bang, then Keku’s face appeared in front of me, her fleshy hand on my forehead, and her finger across her mouth. “Shhh…”

After a few moments, she asked tentatively, “You OK now?”

I nodded.

“Thank heavens that the spirit finally left you! Evil spirit!”

I looked around the small house. Besides Keku and her son, there were no other people. “What spirit? What are you talking about?”

“Those dirty things. Puuuuhhhh, gone!”

“Keku, can you explain to me what happened?”

Instead of answering, she spoke to Mito and the child suddenly thrust out his arm and pinched my cheek hard with his chubby fingers!

This took me by such surprise that I let out a loud “Aiiiya!” I turned to my landlady. “Keku, how can you let a four-year-old do this to me?”

To my surprise, instead of turning to scold her son, she rubbed his head affectionately. “Good job, Mito.” Then to me: “Miss Lin, Mito is doing you big favor!”

“Are you kidding me? How?”

“You react, so you OK.” She laughed. “Ha, ha, we make sure you alive. A child has purest qi to sense yours.”

Before I could respond, she asked, “You really feeling better now?”

I collected my scattered qi , recalling my earlier discomforts. “Yes, I think I’m pretty much back to normal now.”

“You sure?”

I nodded emphatically. “The headache and stomachache are gone, and so are my runny nose and teary eyes. Yes, I definitely feel fine. Thank you and your friends.”

She pointed upward. “Don’t thank me, thank heaven.”

“Where’s the dirty thing?” I almost chuckled out loud.

She pointed to my wrist.

I lifted my hand and realized my ivory bracelet was gone! I screamed to Keku’s face, “Oh, my God, where’s my bracelet? I paid one thousand renminbi for it!” I wished I could have taken my words back because I didn’t want them to think I was rich—by their standards.

But it was too late. Her eyes were rounded like two lanterns. “Did you say one thousand?”

I didn’t respond.

She laughed triumphantly. “So I just threw one thousand renminbi away. Ha! I can’t believe…”

“What? How could you do that? Why didn’t you ask my permission first? It’s one thousand, not one hundred, you understand?”

“Of course I can tell difference between one hundred and one thousand.” Then suddenly she laughed like a drunk lifted up by a hurricane. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, one thousand! Miss Lin”—she started to count her fingers—“one thousand can buy three sheep, dozen chickens, new bicycle for Mito, new cooking pan for me, new—”

I cut her off. “Why did you throw my bracelet away?”

“To save you!”

I tried to get up. “Where did you throw it away? I’m going to get it back.”