Xu Xiaobin - Dunhuang Dream

“Is Xiang Wuye staying here?”

It was a woman’s voice. Although the knocking was in no way urgent, it raised goose bumps all the same. He leaped up. He felt disaster was upon him.

19

Consensus was never reached on how Pan Sumin managed to take Wuye away. Zhang Shu told me that when he realized Wuye had once again disappeared, he had called the relevant authorities at once. Then he had gone to see Old Guonu and Ahyuexi, hoping to learn something from them. Old Guonu was sick in bed. . she had been ill ever since the evening of that unfortunate banquet. Zhang Shu surmised that she had been unable to withstand such a grievous attack of nerves.

Zhang Shu expressed all his suspicions in a long letter to the Dunhuang Public Security Bureau, but for some reason he never received a reply. Six months later, he heard that Xiang Wuye had been condemned to death for stealing first-class national cultural relics.

He sat smoking for a whole night in his living room. He guessed that Xingxing, in some part of the world, had learned of this.

20

Actually, to this day, Xingxing has never heard about it. Later, she really did go to India. It that noon of intense sunlight, among those bronze Buddhas, she hesitated a moment and asked me, “You’re so close to Zhang Shu, did you ever hear him mention someone by the name of Xiang Wuye?”

I nodded as my heart pounded.

“How is he?” she asked, seemingly without a care.

“He’s. . doing well.” I don’t know why I lied. “He has probably already graduated.”

“Oh. .” She swallowed with some effort. She smiled like a little girl, “Give my regards to Zhang Shu. Next year, I’ll return to China for the Dunhuang conference.”

She wore that cap of hers as if she were being roasted by the sun. It was a very, very hot day.

21

The day Zhang Shu left Dunhuang, the only person to see him off was Chen Qing.

As usual, he rode that creaking bike of his, but the view was not as attractive as when he first arrived. The snow still glittered on the Qilian Mountains; the sky was still so high and far away.

Chen Qing had borrowed a bicycle. They chatted as they pedaled all the way to Yang Pass.

“Two brothers we meet, fated from a previous life.” Chen Qing took the little bottle of liquor that Zhang Shu had given him from his pocket and took a swig. Zhang Shu was a little taken aback when he heard the words two brothers . Later, thinking about what Old Guonu had said, he relaxed a bit. He wondered if he didn’t look very old.

The last Dunhuang story he heard was the Treasured Thoroughbred of Shouchang.

“It was in these parts, to the east of Yang Pass,” said Chen Qing as he dropped the kickstand and shaded his eyes with his right hand. The furrows on his brow deepened in the sunlight. “There was a city. The remnants of the mud walls are still visible today. In the past this was called Shouchang City. To the south of the city, there was a lake that was called Shouchang Sea.

“In the past, someone captured a treasured steed on its shores and presented it as a gift to the emperor. It was a majestic beast! It was shiny black, and its hoofs snow white. The emperor received the horse on his birthday and was so delighted that he called the animal the Thoroughbred of Shouchang. He gave it a golden halter and a jade bridle.

“Who could have foreseen that the horse would not eat or drink after entering the emperor’s stables. Every day as the sun set behind the mountains, the horse would neigh at the clouds of dusk, making people cry. The stable master was overcome and informed the emperor.

The emperor asked, “What ails the steed?”

“Your Highness, the steed suffers from homesickness.”

“Nonsense! How can a beast suffer from homesickness?”

“Beasts, like men, long for home. For example, the geese fly south in the autumn and the swallows return north in the spring. The horse is accustomed to the West and also has a hot temperament, so naturally it is attached to its home. I beg of Your Highness to let it go.”

The emperor lowered his head and thought for a while.

The stable master continued, “Everyone knows of the emperor’s love of horses, and only this steed has been recognized by the emperor. If you set this horse free and allow it to return home, then everyone will know that the if the emperor who so esteems horses let this one go, Your Highness will receive even better horses in the future. If this horse cannot return, then all horses under Heaven will avoid Your Highness. Please consider carefully.”

His Highness had no choice but to let the horse return home.

The horse neighed and then sped off to the west.

By the time the sun was about to set, it had returned to Yang Pass. Standing on the mountain summit, it saw that it still wore the halter bestowed by the emperor. With anger it shook its head, sending the halter flying one hundred and eighty li away. It landed on a peak, which was later called Dragon Halter Peak.

As he spoke, Chen Qing drained the little bottle. He laughed and clapped Zhang Shu on the back and said, “You look like a treasured steed that is homesick to me.”

Zhang Shu laughed. He clasped Chen Qing’s hand, then he mounted his rickety “treasured bike” and rode off.

Several years later, I was part of a Chinese Writers Association group that visited the Mogao Caves. We stayed at the Yueya Spring Guesthouse. At dusk I made my way alone to Sanwei Mountain nearby, but didn’t see any guesthouse around there. I vaguely heard from the locals about a time a few years back when there were some problems involving national cultural relics. There was also an incident of officials in charge of cultural relics and a temple abbot, who were involved in selling relics.

Sunset on Sanwei Mountain was indeed beautiful. Rays of light appeared and disappeared through the infinite layers of a sea of clouds. I thought of the “Sanwei Buddha light” Zhang Shu had described to me.

That evening, the entire group climbed Mingsha Mountain. The sand was still warm, having soaked up a day’s sunlight. From the summit we saw the solitary moon in the deep blue sky. I suddenly imagined a blond beauty sitting quietly on the summit, a painting scroll in hand, looking up at the moon. It was an irregular, diamond-shaped moon.

That moon was part and parcel of Zhang Shu’s mysterious dream.

The shape of the moon is forever changing. Everything under Heaven is constantly changing. People are being born, people are dying, but Heaven is always the same.

Heaven is eternal. Yesterday’s moon will never reappear in the sky. From this perspective, then, Zhang Shu’s dream is perhaps real.

1. A spiritual teacher who founded Buddhism.

2. Refers to the historical route in Gansu province of China. As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it used to be the most important passage from North China to Xinjiang and Central Asia for traders and the military.

3. Refers to a voluminous body of folklore-like literature native to India concerning the previous births (jãti) of the Buddha.

4. According to scriptures, Maitreya will be a successor of the historic Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

5. Female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

6. Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445–1510) was an Italian painter during the Early Renaissance, best known for his work of The Birth of Venus .

7. Dharma: the teachings of the Buddha.

8. Han Chinese are an ethnic group. Ninety-two percent of the population in China are Han Chinese.