And the Bride Wore Red

CHAPTER FIVE

NEXT morning she went online to Norah and was rewarded by the sight of the old woman waving and smiling at the camera.

‘So, what are you going to do with your holidays?’ she asked. ‘Did you book that cruise?’

‘Yes, I’ll be off in a few days.’

‘And?’ Norah probed, for Olivia’s tone clearly hinted at something else.

‘I’ve met this madman…’

She tried to describe Lang. It wasn’t easy, for he seemed to elude her even as she spoke. Calling him a madman was the truth, but far from the whole truth, and she was still discovering the rest.

‘He can make me laugh,’ she said.

‘That’s always a good beginning.’

‘And he gave me this.’ She held up Ming Zhi. ‘When we went to the zoo.’

‘Now, that looks like getting serious. When are you seeing him again?’

‘This evening. He’s taking me to have dinner with his family.’

‘Already? My dear, he’s moving very fast.’

‘No, it’s not like that. One of his relatives saw us together and the family got curious. He’s only taking me home to shut them up.’

‘Is he a wimp, that he can’t stand up to them?’

‘No, he’s not a wimp,’ Olivia said, smiling and remembering how Lang gave the impression of being quietly in command, except when he was being jokingly deferential to make her laugh. ‘He pretends to be sometimes, but that’s just his way of catching me off-guard.’

‘And does he often succeed?’

‘Yes,’ Olivia admitted wryly. ‘He does.’

‘Then he must be a very clever man indeed. I look forward to meeting him.’

‘Norah, please! You’re going much too fast. Lang and I have only met a few times. I’m not looking for anything serious. We’ll enjoy a brief relationship and then I’ll come home. In fact-’

‘Don’t you dare start that again. You stay where you are, and live your life. Don’t throw it away.’

‘All right, I promise,’ Olivia said. She was slightly startled by Norah’s intensity; a kind of anguish almost seemed to possess her.

‘You spend as much time with Lang as you can. He sounds nice. Is he good-looking?’

‘Yes, he’s good-looking?’

‘Really good-looking?’

‘Well…’

‘On a scale of one to ten?’

‘Seven. Oh, all right-eight.’

‘Jolly good,’ Norah said robustly. ‘Now, go and buy a really nice, new dress. Splash out, do you hear?’

‘Yes, Aunt,’ Olivia said meekly, and they laughed together.

After a hasty breakfast she headed out to the shops, meaning to choose something from the Western fashions that were now available in Beijing. But before long her eye fell on a cheongsam, the traditional Chinese dress that was so flattering to a woman with a good figure. The neckline came modestly up to the throat, and there was a high-standing collar, but it was also figure-hugging, outlining her tiny waist, flared hips and delicately rounded breasts in a way that left no doubt that her shape was perfect.

It was heavily embroidered and made of the highest-quality silk, at a price that made her hesitate for half a second. But when she tried it on and saw what it did for her she knew she was lost. When she combined it with the finest heels she dared to wear, the effect was stunning.

She wondered if Lang would think so. Would he compliment her on her appearance?

He did not. Calling for her punctually at six, he handed her into the car without a word. But she’d seen the way his eyes had lingered on the swell of her breasts, so perfectly emphasised by the clinging material, and she knew he had remembered their first meeting. His expression told her all she wanted to know.

She settled down to enjoy herself. They were headed for the hutongs; she’d always been fascinated by these streets that had surrounded the Forbidden City for hundreds of years. A plentiful water supply had dictated the location, and the hutongs had always flourished, colourful places full of life and industry. Shops sprung up, especially butchers, bakers, fishmongers and anything selling domestic necessities. Change came and went. Other parts of the city had become wealthier, more fashionable, but the hutongs’ vibrant character had ensured their survival.

Olivia had sometimes shopped there. Now for the first time she would see the personal life that lay behind the little stores. A hutong was a street formed by lines of quadrangles, called siheyuans, each siheyuan consisting of four houses placed at right angles to each other. Here large families could live with the privacy of their own home, yet with their relatives always within calling distance.

As they drove there, Lang described his family’s siheyuan.

‘The north house belongs to Grandfather Tao. He’s the centre of the family. Meihui was his kid sister and he remembers her as if it were yesterday. He says I remind him of her, but that’s just affection, because I don’t really look like her at all. Uncle Jing and his wife also live there, with their four children.

‘One of the side houses is occupied by Uncle Hai, his wife and their two younger children. The one opposite is the home of their two elder sons and their wives. And the south house has been taken over by Wei. He’s Jing’s son, and he’s living in the south house in preparation for his marriage.’

‘He’s the one I saw the other night? Married? He looks far too young.’

‘He’s twenty, but he’s madly in love with Suyin, the girl who sang in the restaurant, and she seems to feel she can put up with him. Apart from him there are several other children, ranging from five to twelve. They’re wonderful kids. Villains, mind you.’

‘As the best youngsters always are.’

‘Right,’ he said, gratified.

‘But how many people am I meeting?’ she asked, beginning to be nervous.

‘About eighteen.’

‘Wow! I’m getting scared.’

‘Not you. You’re a dragon lady, remember? Brave, adventurous, ready for anything.’

‘Thank you. But that big a family still makes me a bit nervous.’

‘Eighteen isn’t so many. There are at least another dozen in other parts of the country, and probably plenty more I have yet to meet.’

‘Is that where you’re going? You said something about travelling soon.’

‘Something like that. Let’s talk later. I must warn you that you’re about to walk into the middle of a feud. Uncle Jing is furious with Uncle Hai because Hai’s wife Biyu is cooking you dumplings. Jing thinks the privilege of cooking for you should have been his. He’s a fishmonger, and also a wedding planner.’

‘I’ve heard of that before,’ Olivia said, much struck. ‘It’s because the words for fish and prosperity are so alike that fish gets served at weddings as a way of wishing the couple good luck. So fishmongers often plan weddings as well.’

‘That’s right. Hai does very well as an arranger of weddings, where of course he sells tons of his own fish. The trouble is he thinks he’s entitled to arrange everything for everyone, and he’s very put out about the dumplings.’

His solemn tone made Olivia burst out laughing.

‘I promise to be tactful,’ she said.

‘Have I told you you’re looking beautiful tonight?’

‘Not a word.’

‘Well, I’m being careful. If I said that deep blue does wonderful things for your eyes you’d find me very boring.’

‘I might,’ she said in a pensive voice. ‘Or I might decide to forgive you.’

‘Thank you, ma’am, but I feel sure you’d censure me for insulting you with that old-fashioned romantic talk. Heavens, this is the twenty-first century! Women don’t fall for that kind of clap-trap any more.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t actually say any of that out loud,’ she said, laughing.

‘But you might think it silently, and that would be much worse. I’m wary of your unspoken thoughts.’

‘But if they’re unspoken you can’t possibly know what they are,’ she pointed out.

‘You’re wrong. I’m starting to understand the way you think.’

‘That’s an alarming prospect!’ she observed.

‘For which of us, I wonder?’

‘For me,’ she said without hesitation.

‘Are you more alarmed at the thought of my getting it right, or getting it wrong?’

She considered this seriously. ‘Right, I think. I don’t mind you getting it wrong. I can always tread on your toes.’

‘Good thinking.’

‘But what woman wants to be understood too well by a man?’ she mused.

‘Most women complain that men don’t understand them.’

‘Then they’re being foolish,’ she said with a little smile. ‘They should bless their luck.’

They both laughed and the moment passed, but she was left with the sense that beneath the banter they had really been talking about something else entirely. It was a feeling that often assailed her in Lang’s company.

They continued the journey in companionable silence, until at last he said, ‘Before we get there I’d better warn you of just how enthusiastically Wei has prepared them for you. I’ve explained that we barely know each other, and he mustn’t run ahead, but he-Well…’

‘Didn’t take any notice?’ Olivia finished sympathetically.

‘And how!’

‘All right, I’m prepared.’

‘Grandfather Tao and Grandmother Shu have learned a few words in English, in your honour. The rest of the family speaks English, but those two are so old that they’ve lived a different kind of life. They’ve been practising all day to offer you this courtesy.’

‘How kind.’ She was touched. ‘I know I’m going to love your family.’

At last she found herself in streets that she recognised.

‘Weren’t we here the other night?’

‘Yes, that restaurant is just around the corner. Just a couple more streets, and here we are. Home.’

The car drew up before the north house of the siheyuan, and Olivia drew an astonished breath as she saw what looked like the entire family gathered to meet her. They spilled out of the doorway into the street.

In the centre stood an old man and woman: Grandfather Tao and Grandmother Shu. On either side of them were two middle-aged men-the uncles, their wives and children. Everyone was watching the car’s arrival with delight, and two of the younger children dashed forward to open the door and provide Olivia with a guard of honour.

‘My goodness!’ she exclaimed.

Lang took her hand. ‘Don’t worry,’ he whispered. ‘I’m here, Dragon Lady.’

He slipped his arm protectively around her as they neared the family and it divided into two groups, with the oldest, Grandfather Tao and Grandmother Shu, at the centre. He took her to them first.

‘Our family is honoured to meet you,’ Tao said, speaking in careful, perfect English, and his wife inclined her head, smiling in agreement.

‘It is I who am honoured,’ Olivia said.

Tao repeated his compliment. The words and manner were formal but his and Shu’s expressions were warm, and their eyes followed her when she moved on.

Strictly speaking they were the host and hostess, but because of their age and frailty they performed only the most formal duties, delegating anything more energetic to the younger ones.

Although brothers, Hai and Jing were totally unalike. Jing was a great, good-natured bull of a man, tall, broad and muscular. Beside him Hai was like a mountain goat next to a gorilla, small, thin and sprightly, with a wispy beard and bright eyes.

As the elder, Hai was introduced first, then his brother, then their wives-starting with Biyu, wife of Hai, and Luli, wife of Jing. They too greeted her in English, which she appreciated, but Lang immediately said in Chinese, ‘No, she speaks our language. I told you.’

They repeated their greetings in Mandarin and she responded accordingly, which made them smile with pleasure.

‘Mrs Lang-’ Olivia started to say, but there was a burst of laughter from several Mrs Langs.

‘You can’t say that,’ Hai’s wife declared merrily. ‘There are so many of us. Please, call me Biyu.’ She introduced the others as Ting, Huan, Dongmei, and Nuo.

There seemed to be at least a dozen grown-up youngsters, young men who studied Lang’s lady with politely concealed admiration, and young girls who considered her with more open interest. The fact that Olivia had the figure to wear a cheongsam was particularly appreciated among her contemporaries.

It was a warm evening, and the first part was to be spent in the courtyard flanked by the four houses. Here tables had been laid out with a variety of small edibles, a foretaste of the banquet to come. Before anything was served, Biyu led her into the south house where Lang lived with Wei, and opened the door to a bedroom with its own bathroom.

‘Should you wish to retire for a few moments alone,’ she said, ‘you will find this place useful.’ She saw Olivia glance around at the room’s functional, masculine appearance, and said, ‘When Lang stays with us, this is his room, but this evening it is yours.’

‘Thank you. I’ll just refresh my face.’

‘I’ll be outside.’

Left alone, Olivia was able to indulge her frank curiosity, although she learned little. There were several books, some medical, some about China, but nothing very personal. Lang had revealed as little as possible about himself.

She went out to find that he had joined Biyu, and together they escorted her to where everyone was waiting. Now it was the turn of the children to crowd round. Just as she’d predicted, they called Lang ‘Uncle Mitch’, and even his adult relatives referred to him as Mitchell.

Glancing up, she caught his eye and he nodded, reminding her of the moment on the first evening when she’d anticipated this.

‘The dragon lady always understands before anyone else,’ he said lightly.

The children demanded to know what he meant by ‘dragon lady’. He explained that she’d been born in the year of the dragon, and they regarded her with awe. Her stock had definitely gone up.

The children were frankly curious, competing to serve her and to ask questions about England. She answered them as fully as she could, they countered with more questions and the result was one of the most satisfying half-hours that she had ever spent. By the time they went inside to eat, the atmosphere was relaxed.

Olivia soon understood what Lang had meant about a feud. From the start the food was laid out like a banquet being displayed to her, dumplings in the place of honour, and a multitude of fish dishes which Hai kept trying to nudge to the fore, only to be beaten back by fierce looks from Biyu. To please them both, Olivia ate everything on offer and was rewarded with warm looks of pleasure.

Then she had a stroke of luck. Enquiring politely about Tao’s life, she learned that he had once been a farmer. It happened that one of her mother’s passing fancies had owned a small pig-farm where they had spent the summer. The relationship hadn’t lasted, her mother having been unable to endure the quiet country life, but the fourteen-year-old Olivia had loved it. Now she summoned memories of that happy time, and she and Tao were soon in animated discussion. Pigs had provided Tao with a good living, and Olivia had enjoyed feeding time.

‘There was a huge sow,’ she recalled. ‘She had a litter of fifteen, but only fourteen teats, and terrible fights would break out between the piglets over the last teat. I used to take a feeding bottle to make sure I could give something to the one who missed out. He’d just drink his fill and then go back to the fight.’

Tao roared with laughter and countered with the tale of a vast pig he’d once owned, who’d fathered larger litters than any other pig, and whose services had been much in demand among his neighbours. Everyone else round the table watched them with delight, and Olivia knew she’d scored a success by impressing the head of the family.

When the meal was over, Biyu showed her around the other houses. She was eager to know about her first meeting with Lang, and laughed at the story of the mischievous child.

‘We are so proud of Mitchell,’ Biyu said. ‘He works very hard, and he’s a big man at the hospital.’

‘What does he actually do there?’ Olivia asked. ‘He was taking a clinic when we met, but apparently he was just filling in because they were short-staffed. I understand that his real job is something quite different.’

‘That’s true. He’s a consultant.’

‘A consultant?’ Olivia echoed, amazed. ‘He’s young for that.’

‘Oh, yes, he’s only a junior consultant,’ Biyu amended hastily. ‘He keeps insisting on that. He gets cross if I make him sound too important-but I say he’s going to be very, very important, because they know he’s the best they have. There’s a big job coming soon.’

She gave a knowing wink.

‘You think he’ll get it?’

‘He will if there’s any justice,’ Biyu said firmly. ‘But he’s superstitious. He thinks if he gets too confident then some great power above will punish him by taking the job away from him.’

‘Superstitious,’ Olivia mused. ‘You wouldn’t think it.’

‘Oh, he acts as if nothing could worry him,’ Biyu confided. ‘But don’t you be fooled.’

It struck Olivia that this was shrewd advice. Lang’s air of cool confidence had cracks, some of which he’d allowed her to see. The rest he seemed to be keeping to himself while their mutual trust grew.

‘You’re very proud of him, aren’t you?’ she said.

‘Oh, yes. It was a great day for us when he came to China. We already knew a lot about him because Meihui had kept in touch, sending us news, and to see him was wonderful. The best thing of all was that he wanted to come, and then he wanted to stay. Some men from his country would have ignored their Chinese heritage, but he chose to find it and live with it, because it’s important to him.’

‘He’s going away soon, isn’t he, to do some exploring?’

‘Actually, I thought he’d be gone by now. He spoke as though-Well, anyway, I’m glad he decided to wait a little longer, or we might not have met you.’

She tensed suddenly as Lang’s voice reached them from outside.

‘We’re here,’ she called back, showing Olivia out into the courtyard where he was waiting.

‘Grandfather wants to bring out the family photographs,’ he said. ‘He’s got hundreds of them, all ready to show Olivia.’

‘And I’m longing to see them,’ she said.

The largest room in the north house had been laid out in preparation, with a table in the centre covered in photographs. To Olivia’s amazement the pictures stretched back sixty years to when Meihui had been a beautiful young girl. She must have been about sixteen in the first one, sitting in the curve of Tao’s arm. His face as he looked down on his little sister bore an expression of great pride, and Olivia thought she could still see it there now as he regarded her picture. He was almost in tears over the little sister who had meant the world to him, and who he’d last seen when she was eighteen, departing for ever with the man she loved.

‘And that’s him?’ Olivia asked as an Englishman appeared in the pictures.

‘That’s John Mitchell, my grandfather,’ Lang agreed.

He seemed about twenty-three, not particularly handsome but with a broad, hearty face and a smile that beamed with good nature. Meihui’s eyes, as she gazed at him, were alight with joy.

Then there were photographs that she had sent from England: herself and John Mitchell, proudly holding their new-born son, Lang’s father. Then the child growing up, standing between his parents, until his father vanished because death had taken him far too soon. After that it was just Meihui and her son, until he married, and soon his own son appeared, a toddler in his father’s arms.

‘Let’s leave them,’ Lang groaned.

‘But you were a delightful child!’ Olivia protested.

He gave a grimace of pure masculine embarrassment, and she hastily controlled her mirth.

It was true that he seemed to have been a pleasant youngster, but even then his face held a sense of resolution beyond his years, already heralding the man he would become.

There were some pictures with his parents, then with his mother after his father’s death, but mostly they showed the young Lang with Meihui. Then he appeared with his new family after his mother’s remarriage. Looking at them, Olivia understood what he’d meant about not having been at ease. His stepfather looked as though he had much good nature, but no subtlety, and his offspring were the same. Standing in their midst, the young Lang smiled with the courteous determination of a misfit.

He grew older, graduated from school and passed his medical exams. One picture especially caught Olivia’s attention-it showed him sitting down while Meihui stood behind him, her hands on his shoulders, her face beaming with pride. At that moment she had been the happiest woman in the world. Instead of looking at the camera, Lang was glancing up, connecting with her.

‘No wonder your family recognised you at the airport,’ she murmured, drawing him slightly aside. ‘Thanks to Meihui, they’d been with you every step of the way while you were growing up.’

‘Yes, they said much the same. It made me feel very much at home.’

He spoke just loud enough for Biyu to hear, making her glance up and smile. He smiled back, yet strangely Olivia sensed a hint of tension in him, the last thing she’d expected. Now she thought about it, she felt there was a watchfulness about him tonight that wasn’t usually there.

She wondered if she was the cause of his concern, lest she make a bad impression, but his manner towards her was full of pride. What was troubling him, then? she wondered.

As they left the room, Biyu announced, ‘Now I’m going to show you our special place, devoted to Jaio and Renshu. I know Lang has told you about them.’

‘Yes, it must be wonderful having such a great family tradition, going back so far.’

‘It is. We have mementoes of them which normally we keep locked away for safety, but in your honour we have brought them out.’ She gave a teasing smile. ‘Lang tells us that you may need a little convincing.’

‘Oh, did he? Just wait until I see him.’

‘You mean, it isn’t true?’ Biyu asked.

‘Of course-Well, I think it’s a lovely story.’

‘But perhaps a little unreal?’ Biyu sighed. ‘The world is so prosaic these days. People no longer believe in a love so great that it conquers everything. But few families have been as fortunate as we. We keep our mementoes because they are our treasures, not in the worldly way, but treasures of the heart. Come, let me show you our temple.’

Crossing the courtyard, she entered the south house that would soon belong to Wei and his bride.

‘This is where we keep our temple,’ she said, opening the door to a room at the back. ‘Wei and his wife-to-be have promised to respect it.’

It was a small room. In the centre was a table on which some papers were laid out, and a piece of jade.

‘These are our mementoes of them,’ Wei said.

‘Those papers,’ Olivia said. ‘They are actually the ones that-?’

‘The very ones that were discovered after their deaths.’

‘Two-thousand years ago,’ Olivia murmured.

She tried to keep a touch of scepticism out of her voice. She liked Biyu, and didn’t wish to seem impolite, but surely nothing could be certain at such a distance of time?

‘Yes, two-thousand years,’ Biyu said. ‘We’ve had collectors offering us a lot of money for them, saying that they are valuable historical relics. They cannot understand why we will not sell. They say the money would make us rich.’

‘But these are beyond price,’ Olivia said.

Biyu nodded, pleased at her understanding.

‘Their value is not in money,’ she agreed.

‘What do the papers say?’ Olivia asked. ‘Normally I can read Chinese but these are so faded.’

‘They say “We have shared the love that was our destiny. Whether long or short, our life together has been triumphant. They say that love is the shield that protects us from harm, and we know it to be true. Nothing matters but that”.’

‘Nothing matters but that,’ Olivia murmured.

How would it feel to know a love so all-embracing that it extinguished everything else in the world? She tried to remember her feelings for Andy, and realised that she couldn’t recall his face. Now there was another face on the edge of her consciousness waiting to be allowed in, but only when she was ready.

A man with the gift of endless patience could be comforting, fascinating, perhaps even alarming. She hadn’t yet decided.

‘I will never forget the day we showed these to Lang,’ her hostess said. ‘He had heard of them from Meihui, but the reality was very powerful to him. He held them in his hands and kept saying, “It is really true”.’

‘I love the way you all feel so close to Lang,’ Olivia said. ‘You don’t treat him differently at all.’

‘But should we? Oh, you mean because he’s a little bit English?’

‘Three-quarters English,’ Olivia said, laughing.

Biyu shrugged as if to say ‘what is three quarters?’.

‘That is just on the surface,’ she said. ‘In here-’ she tapped her heart ‘-he is one of us.’

Lang came in at that moment and Olivia wondered if he’d heard these last words. If he had they must surely have pleased him, but it was hard to tell.

‘There’s a little more,’ he said, indicating a side table where there were two wooden boxes and two large photographs which Olivia recognised as Meihui and John Mitchell.

‘The boxes are their ashes,’ Biyu confided, looking at Lang. ‘He brought them.’

‘Meihui kept John’s ashes,’ Lang said. ‘And when she died I promised her that I would bring them both here.’

‘We had a special ceremony in which we welcomed them both home and said that we would always keep them together,’ Biyu said. ‘And we laid them in this temple, so that Renshu and Jaio could always watch over them.’

She spoke with such simple fervour that Olivia’s heart was touched. It didn’t matter, she realised, whether every detail of the legend was exactly true. The family had taken it as their faith, and perhaps a trust in the enduring power of love was the best faith anyone could choose.

Silently, Biyu drew her attention to a hanging on the wall. It was a large sheet of parchment, and on it were written the words Jaio had spoken: love is the shield that protects us from harm.

In the end their love hadn’t protected them from those who’d sought them out, but now Olivia knew that this wasn’t the harm Jaio had meant. To live a lonely, useless life, separated from the one who could give it meaning-that was a suffering neither she nor Renshu had ever known. And, if there had been a price, they did not complain.

She began to understand a little more of the family’s pride in Lang, the man who through his grandmother embodied the legend in the present day.

He was looking away at that moment so that she was able to observe him unseen. And it seemed to her that the mysterious ‘something’ in his face was now more evident than ever.