Peach Blossom Pavilion (5 page)

The Dark Room

Tith the "Wu! Wu! " sound of the train still ringing in my ears, _ I hired a rickshaw to go back to Peach Blossom. When I got off the vehicle and started to walk, I felt both the bitter cold wind and my own tears stinging my cheeks.

To my surprise, as I sneaked up to the main gate, I saw Fang Rong standing there, thrusting forward her fat, wrinkled neck. Once she spotted me, she hollered, "Catch this little bitch!"

Immediately, a huge lump of a man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed me. His hold was so tight that his fingers pinched deeply into my flesh. Before I could scream, I felt blows on my head and slaps on my face.

Then Fang Rong's voice screeched next to my ear like an out-oftune fiddle. "I told you that you can't go out by yourself! Where have you been?! "

"To ... see my mother off to Peking."

"See your mother off? Are you blind? Don't you see your mama is right here in front of you?" More slaps on my face, then, "To the dark room!"

I was immediately blindfolded, lifted up, and carried away. Although the man walked fast, it still seemed a long time before he dropped me down and removed my blindfold. I was thrown into a dim, airless cubicle, and immediately I knew that people didn't have to die to go to hell. It was right here on earth.

The stench of the damp, rotten floor pierced my nostrils. Although I could hardly see anything in the dark, I could hear squealing, which made me aware that I was not alone.

I banged on the iron door. "Mama, let me out! Please let me out! "

Fang Rong's voice sneered, "Mama? Haven't you just told me that your mama has already left for Peking?" A deafening pause, then, "Now see whether you dare to run away again!" followed by a peal of chilling laughter and footsteps marching triumphantly away.

I didn't know how long I'd been banging on the door before I felt so exhausted that I groped around and slumped on a wobbly cot.

It was then that I noticed the squealing again.

My heart flipped. Was there another person here? Or were there ghosts?

I quickly pulled the filthy blanket over my head. Then I felt something cool and hairy brushing against my hand. I screamed and jumped off the bed.

Rats.

They were everywhere-to keep me company!

I vomited though I hadn't had food in my stomach for hours. Suddenly a frenzied squealing almost froze my heart-the rats were swarming to vie for my vomit!

Another wave of nausea sloshed in my stomach, but this time nothing came out of my mouth. My throat felt scorched. I wrapped the blanket tightly around myself and tried to forget my fear in sleep, but the coldness of the room made my teeth chatter, freezing me awake. Finally thirst became so unbearable that I got off the bed, stomped my feet to scare away the rats, then slipped off my pants and tried to pee. Maybe I could ease my thirst by drinking my own...

But nothing came, not even one drop, then suddenly I felt something slimy scurry up my leg.

I screamed. But that didn't stop the rat from climbing inside my pants. He was now squirming around my crotch. Cold sweat broke out all over my body. I screamed more. The filthy creature kept bumping until I realized that he must have been as scared as I. Crying hysterically, I snatched off my pants and flung him off.

Overcome with disgust, I banged my head on the door and hollered, "Let me out! Let me out!" But there was no response except more screeching-this time my own-echoing eerily in the ghostly room. I kept banging and hollering. When nothing happened, I used my whole force to hit my head on the door.

"Let me die!" My scream bounced in myriad directions. Suddenly, I felt something damp and sticky flow down from my scalp, then a salty, metallic tang seeped into my mouth ...

I peed and lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I found myself still surrounded by filth and darkness, but luckily the squealing was gone-the rats were now probably easing their full bellies by taking a nap. But my stomach was like a drum frantically beating and my throat was scorched as if I'd just swallowed burning coals. I tried to scream but my voice only came out in a whisper.

As I fidgeted on the bed, I felt something strange-slimy and sticky-underneath my backside. I felt around with my hand, then put my fingers below my nose.

"Blood! Blood! " I heard my scream bouncing off the walls.

Instinctively I reached for my head, but the blood there had already dried. Again I touched the spot where I'd lain and felt the wet, warm bed. Strange, I didn't see how I could have hurt my bottom so badly that it bled. As I was brooding, a gradual pain rose in my stomach, followed by a warm surge of fluid oozing from between my thighs. It was then that I realized it was my yin part that had been bleeding.

Panicked, I shot up from the bed, dashed toward the gate, and thrust my fists on the cold iron. "Mama! Mama! Please let me out! I'm going to die! I'm dying!"

I didn't know how long I'd been banging until a state of lethargy and semiconsciousness took over my whole being. And the screeching began again ...

I lost count of time. But I thought it must be the second or even the third day when a loud clang of the door jolted me awake. In burst Fang Rong and Wu Qiang. When I tried to shield my face from the blinding harsh light, Fang Rong slapped off my hand.

"Oh, Mama!" I was stunned; I couldn't believe I'd just called her Mama! Was I so desperate to have a mother's comfort?

I suddenly realized that instead of comforting me like my mother, she might hit me. Again I swung up my hand to shield my face.

But to my utter surprise, Fang Rong squeezed a big grin and cooed, "Ah, my dear daughter, how you've suffered!" She laid her damp, fleshy palm on my forehead. "Thank heaven you don't have a fever." Then, "Are you hungry?"

I nodded my head like a pounding jackhammer.

"Now do you want to go back to the pavilion and have something to eat?"

Again I nodded until I felt my head almost dislodge from my neck.

As I was struggling to get up, Mama's eyes widened, her finger pointing to the bed. "Oh heaven, what happened?" Then she twisted her fat neck to face me. "Xiang Xiang, what did you do to yourself?"

It was then that I remembered the blood. "I'm bleeding." I paused, then uttered weakly, "But I didn't do anything."

Mama snatched up my hand to examine my wrists. Not able to find any cuts, she reached to touch the stains on the bed, then spun me around and yanked down my pants.

"Mama!" My cheeks burned with humiliation. My hands tried to pull my pants back up only to be slapped off by Fang Rong's bear-like paws.

Then, to my utter shock, she burst out laughing while her husband looked down modestly at his nails.

Mama spun me back to face her. "Don't you realize that your great-aunt has just come to visit?"

Neither of my parents had ever mentioned a great aunt. "But I don't have one," I said, pulling up my pants.

"Hasn't your mother ever told you about your great-aunt?"

I shook my head. "Where is she now?"

The two exchanged meaningful glances. Then Fang Rong laughed so hard that her fleshy face looked like a fat, melting candle.

Mama stopped to catch her breath, then, "Hmmm ... your mother must have felt too embarrassed to tell you. But why should she? Since she'd already been fucked by your father to have you."

"What is fuck?" I imitated her tone.

"Xiang Xiang," Wu Qiang stared into my eyes, "fuck means when a man puts his-"

Mama cut him off sharply. "Wu Qiang, stop being overeager. You can leave that to me."

Some silence, then Fang Rong spoke again. "Xiang Xiang, you're not a little girl anymore." She winked. "You've just turned into a woman.

I had no idea what she was talking about.

Mama went on, "Xiang Xiang, since your so-called mother was too lazy and too proper to explain about affairs of the wind and the moon," she tapped her chest, "you're lucky to have a real mama to enlighten you."

Although I still didn't understand what she meant, I felt too exhausted to ask, let alone to defend my mother's "laziness."

Seeing that I was on the verge of collapse, Mama said, her tone turning very tender, "My dear daughter, you must be starving, so why don't we all go to eat?"

My feet were so weak and wobbly that Fang Rong and Wu Qiang had to half carry me back to the pavilion.

Fang Rong asked her maid Little Red to bathe me. While I was being washed, neither of us mentioned anything about the dark room. Eyes closed, I enjoyed the sensation of the hot water sloshing against my bare flesh. I tilted my head to let the steam, like a spring breeze, massage my face. Little Red's sponge rubbed and swished on my neck, back, and shoulders, synchronizing with my contented sighs.

When she finished, Little Red poured out the red-tinted water, then took out a thick, folded cloth.

When she tried to position it between my legs, I yanked away her hands. "Little Red, I'm not going to wear this ridiculous thing!"

She chuckled. "Xiang Xiang, then would you rather let everybody in the pavilion know that that thing of yours has come?"

"Why are you people all talking in riddles today? What is that thing of mine, do you mean my great-aunt? But I don't have one!"

Little Red giggled more.

"What's so funny?"

"Xiang Xiang, every girl has a great-aunt," she leaned close to me and lowered her voice even though there were only the two of us in the room, "that means her monthly red classic."

Before I could respond, she went on, "When a girl grows up, every month she'll begin to bleed. But the blood oozing out from her lower hole is not ordinary blood. It's blood from inside her stomach. If a girl has not been with a man . . ." Little Red paused to whisper into my ears, "That means fuck-then her eggs will not mix with his seed but flow out from her yin part with the blood. But if the girl has been fucked by a man and gets pregnant, she'll stop bleeding-until the baby is born. So now your great-aunt has begun her visit, that means you can have a baby."

Her last sentence sent a tremor across my chest. "Oh heaven, does it mean that I'm going to have a baby?"

She answered my question with another one, "Xiang Xiang, have you already been fucked?"

I had no chance to respond before she plunged on, "If you have, you'll be in big, big trouble, for I'm sure Mama and De are waiting to sell your virginity for a high price. "

Waiting until she finished, I spat out, "What's fuck?"

Little Red looked surprised. "That's what all the sisters are doing here, and you don't know? How long have you been here?"

"A month."

"Hmmm, if Mama doesn't have time to teach you yet, then let me tell you what fuck is." Little Red paused, then continued, "It means when a man puts that thing of his inside a woman."

In order not to appear too ignorant, I put up a knowing smile.

She threw me a suspicious glance. "Xiang Xiang, are you sure you're still a virgin?"

"A virgin?"

"That means someone who has never been fucked." Little Red's voice rose higher and higher. "Xiang Xiang, how come you have no idea about all this? What did your mother teach you at home?"

"Poetry, literature-"

"All right, I know you're well learned in the five classics. But how come she never told you about the monthly red classic?"

I remained silent.

She said, "Xiang Xiang, I just told you, `fuck' means when a man puts that thing of his," she cast me a mysterious look, "I mean his yang instrument-into the woman's yin hole."

"But why would a man want to do that?"

"Why? Because he enjoys doing it, that's why! Besides, then he can make her have a baby." Another pause before she went on excitedly, "Your father also fucked your mother to have you!"

"Oh no!" I protested vehemently. "My father was a scholar gentleman, he wouldn't have done such a sickening thing to my mother!" No matter how hard I tried or how far I stretched my imagination, I just couldn't picture my refined father putting that thing of his into my elegant mother's hole.

"Yes, of course, he did." Little Red's voice jumped high like a frog. "If not, then where do you think you came from, picked up from a garbage bin, or burst from a stone?!"