A Concubine for the Family: A Family Saga in China (33 page)

Purple Jade invited Dr. Rankling to visit Dr. Tsui’s clinic. When she arrived, Purple Jade thought Dr. Rankling looked pale and haggard.

“Are you feeling well?” she asked.

Dr. Rankling shook her head. “I’m used to my migraine headaches.”

“Do you have a remedy for your pain?” Purple Jade thought the woman needed bed rest.

“No. Western medicine lacks a cure for my pain. I refuse to take an opiate.”

“Have you tried Chinese medicine?” Purple Jade asked.

“No, but do you have a cure?”

“We think so. It works for most people,” Purple Jade replied.

“Right now, I’m ready to try anything!” the doctor cried.

Purple Jade massaged the doctor’s neck and head muscles, explaining the Chinese theory of
chi
and how it traveled through the meridians of the human body. Then she applied pressure on points near the top of the eyebrows, the center of the nose, on the temple, the jawbone and behind the ear on top of the neck. Dr. Rankling expressed much relief after the massage. She wanted to try acupuncture to alleviate her headache. Purple Jade sterilized the needles. Dr. Rankling noted that the process was the same in Western medicine.

Purple Jade twirled a needle in the
hegu
— the soft fleshy part between the thumb and the forefinger — known as the joining of the valleys. In a matter of minutes, Dr. Rankling drifted off to sleep. When she awoke, she touched her face and different parts of her body. “The pain is gone!”

Purple Jade smiled.

“I feel warm and relaxed all over. Amazing!”

Dr. Rankling invited Purple Jade to assist her in the delivery room. Purple Jade agreed. Many evenings, when Dr. Rankling was called to deliver a baby, she telephoned Purple Jade to assist and personally came by in her motorcar to take her to the hospital. She introduced her as “my super doctor,” and never failed to mention that Purple Jade alone could take away her migraine. The nurses in the hospital called her “the small feet doctor.” They became familiar with the sight of Dr. Rankling ambling into the hospital and Purple Jade trotting enthusiastically beside her.

Once in the delivery room, Purple Jade donned a surgical gown and alongside Dr. Rankling, underwent a thorough scrubbing. She helped massage the woman’s stomach and maneuver the baby into proper position. This often led to natural deliveries, without having to resort to surgery. Also, Purple Jade came to realize that while the Western doctors used instruments to help in deliveries, they did not hurt the babies in any way. As a woman, she was used to handling blood, but she was impressed to see that the Westerners planned each surgical operation in meticulous order, and every move was carried out with precision and grace.

Purple Jade assisted at Jade Bell’s birth, and Comely Brook was greatly comforted by her presence. The labor lasted ten hours, but the birth was completely natural; no instruments were used, and she was not given a sedative. Purple Jade gave her massages, and Dr. Rankling taught her deep breathing.

Purple Jade’s heart fluttered wildly as the baby’s head emerged. Tears coursed down her face, and she wanted to shout and sing at the miraculous sight. These days, her twittering restless feelings had been replaced by surges of sweet tenderness when she successfully assisted in deliveries.

The baby girl had Comely Brook’s sparkling big eyes, but Purple Jade felt Jade Bell was her special child, because she had been responsible for her birth in so many ways. The baby was also a symbol of her rebirth — her new life in medicine and self-reliance. Everyone in the family called the baby Little Jade.

Comely Brook wept upon learning that she had given birth to a girl. “I’ve been ungrateful! I did not give you an heir!”

“This is mostly my fault.” Purple Jade held her hand. “You expected a boy because I encouraged that thought.”

Purple Jade was determined to celebrate the birth as though the baby were a boy. Comely Brook and Little Jade stayed in the hospital for seven days, so they did not have the third day ceremony at home. The family sent red eggs to all the relatives in Shanghai. Lao Wang in Hangzhou also was instructed to distribute red eggs to their friends, relatives, servants, and tenant farmers.

Everyone found the baby adorable. At one week, she could already lift her head and stare with her big cow eyes. Shortly after one month, she lifted herself up on her arms and turned herself over! Following Western fashion, she was not wrapped in swaddling cloths, and Purple Jade was amazed to see how strong and healthy she appeared.

After all the fuss about wanting a son, Purple Jade was surprised that she was happy with another daughter. Gender seemed insignificant after the loss of her home in Hangzhou. Now her passion was her work.

In her free time, she loved to watch Little Jade. She had never felt free to watch her own two daughters as infants because she had been so anxious and always bedridden with pain. Now she was relaxed. Comely Brook was young and rich in milk. It was a sensual and satisfying experience just to watch her nurse. At two weeks, the baby had a face like a round peach. Purple Jade noticed a dimple on her right cheek when she cried or smiled, and her eyes were as bright as the West Lake on a clear autumn day.

The baby cooed and gurgled when she heard singing. Silver Bell sang to her by the hour, and asked if the baby could sit outside to watch her when she played jump house. She thought Jade Bell was much more fun than any of the dolls she’d ever had!

Cousin Chou Ling called one day and insisted that Purple Jade bring Comely Brook and the baby to her house for a game of mahjong. All her women friends wanted to see Jade Bell. Purple Jade could not refuse. She did not want to appear superior, giving herself the air of a snobbish “doctor.”

When she entered the main hall that evening, Mrs. Chang rushed forward to examine Jade Bell nestling in Comely Brook’s arms. All through dinner, the ladies gave favorable comments:

“What a lovely doll!”

“How soft and milk-fragrant she is!”

“How alert she is when she is awake!”

“She seldom cries.”

“She already knows her family.”

“She smiles when anyone talks to her!”

Throughout the evening, Mrs. Chang tried to draw Purple Jade’s attention to her own pallid, sickly four-year-old son, seated on the lap of his nursemaid in a corner near the window. The boy frequently hid himself behind the blue chintz curtains and seemed disinclined to play. When he spoke, he lisped. He refused to look anyone in the eye. When he whined for his mother, she hovered over him. He had a raspy cough and runny nose. Mrs. Chang lamented that no medicine seemed to help his chronic condition.

Purple Jade wondered why Mrs. Chang wanted to display the poor listless boy. The child would be always at a disadvantage in any society. Was Mrs. Chang perversely using this strategy to deny his infirmity? It embarrassed Purple Jade to receive compliments for Jade Bell in front of Mrs. Chang. Most guests avoided the boy. Various opinions were whispered concerning his behavior.

“This boy has tuberculosis.”

“He is mentally deficient!”

“He may have been born with ill fate!”

“He may not live long!”

Once dinner was over, Comely Brook was sent home with her sleepy daughter. Mrs. Chang asked, “Jade, since Orchid’s baby is female, will you pledge her to me as a future daughter-in-law?”

Purple Jade felt chilled by such a horrible prospect. She shrugged to disguise her panic. She was unable to respond. She assumed Mrs. Chang was acting out of kindness, since everyone knew that the Huangs had wanted a son. A family that already had two daughters would be eager and grateful to get rid of a concubine’s daughter.

Mrs. Chang had also called Comely Brook, Orchid — a pointed reminder that the baby came from a worthless maid. She offered a modest bride price, though very generous, considering it was wartime.

Absorbed by her mahjong game, Mrs. Chang mistook Purple Jade’s silence for consent. She said, “We shall have to choose an auspicious day to formalize the troth.”

Purple Jade was cold with fury. She knew that Mrs. Chang was behaving properly according to the old traditions — ensuring for herself the services of a future daughter-in-law despite the poor chances of her son’s survival. She mustered all her self-control to thank Mrs. Chang. “But my master is a liberal, modern man. He would not approve.”

“Huh . . .” Mrs. Chang huffed. “Your husband likes to turn away good fortune. He left his factory to go to Hong Kong, didn’t he? Well, what can you do?”

Purple Jade lowered her head and did not answer. The other women probably thought she was embarrassed, but she noted in her mind:
I’ve come to admire my husband’s Western ideas. I have changed. I would feel totally heartless to take Little Jade away from Comely Brook and give her to a sick little boy. Should the boy become an invalid or dies, the baby will be Mrs. Chang’s slave for the rest of her life
. Purple Jade paled at the thought.
Yes, I would be proud if all MY three daughters became doctors like Dr. Rankling
.

Glorious Dragon took all the cocoons from the house to their factory. The factory sent back a beautiful piece of silvery gray silk. Held in the sun, the silk shone with light shades of the rainbow. Since the cloth was more than three yards long, they sent Righteous Virtue a very large square in which to wrap his poems. The rest was made into three scarves. Comely Brook embroidered a rose on the scarf for Golden Bell, and Purple Jade embroidered a peony on the scarf for Silver Bell. Later, she also embroidered an orchid on the scarf for Jade Bell.

Purple Jade was happy to see Golden Bell and Silver Bell spend more time together. The Japanese girl next door was obviously lonely, but Purple Jade could not allow a friendship. With Little Jade in excellent health, Purple Jade felt it was time to leave Shanghai, and join her husband in Hong Kong. She knew she would miss her associations with Dr. Tsui and Dr. Rankling, but her place was by her husband. A family needed its master, and her husband had been pleading for a family reunion.

Iris agreed to live in their house while they were gone. Purple Jade told her husband that she favored the house on Blue Pool Road in Hong Kong because she was still uneasy in high buildings. Glorious Dragon had taken them to the Palace Hotel on the Bund. The tall building and the elevators made her stomach flutter. Though the view was outstanding, she felt she was perched on a cloud. Her small feet had grown larger, but the bones of her last two toes were permanently crushed, and she would always be unsteady on her feet.

The girls were increasingly in awe to see the change in their mother. She had always been poised and self-possessed, but now she was more confident — not so unnecessarily deferential. Her friendship with Dr. Rankling had altered her entire outlook on women’s place in the world, and her daughters were impressed. Still, life was different without their father. When Uncle Dragon came, he took everyone to tea in the hotels and to watch people dance. Sometimes their mother and Comely Brook accompanied them to the movies, but Purple Jade refused to give parties on birthdays and other celebrations when the master was not present. She was careful not to broadcast themselves as a household of women. They all understood that their society was not ready to accept a woman as the head of a family. Everyone was ready to go to Hong Kong. They could hardly wait!

I
N EARLY JULY 1938, the Huang women and children, including Winter Plum, left Shanghai by steamship. Everyone was seasick, but the young ones soon adjusted to the lulling motions. For most of the journey, Purple Jade stayed in bed.

The ship sailed into Hong Kong Harbor before dawn. They were so excited; none of them could sleep. The girls came on deck and clutched the railings.

“Sarah, look!” Golden Bell cried. “There is Hong Kong Island.” The girls had agreed to practice using their English names, even when they spoke in Chinese.

“Oh, Vicky.” Silver Bell sucked in the bracing salt air. “Hong Kong looks like the Christmas tree in school!” She hugged herself. “This is a fairy land! Look at all those rows and clusters of lights going up to the top of the mountain!”

“It is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen! This must be a tropical paradise!” Golden Bell pulled her gray silk scarf over her head.

“Oh, I’m so excited, I can hardly stand it!” Silver Bell stood on one foot and then another, and did a little hop and dance. “I wonder if Father is waiting for us down there in the morning chill.”

“He’s probably just finishing work. Remember, he works for the newspapers.”

“Look, the tug boats are coming to guide us to the dock.”

When the ship finally docked, the passengers had finished their breakfast. Customs, immigration, and police officers trooped on board. The Caucasian officers in their crisp, neat uniforms impressed the girls. The immigration officials wore spotless white. The police wore khaki shorts and short-sleeved shirts. Each police officer carried a revolver, slung casually from his belt.

In the lounge, a long line of Chinese awaited an inspection of papers. The air turned hot and stifling under the mid-morning sun. “So hot and sticky!” Comely Brook said to Plum Blossom. They took turns fanning the baby and Purple Jade. Children whimpered and adults fidgeted, chatting in subdued irritation. Droning electric fans muffled their mounting noise. The khaki-clad policeman brandished his nightstick barking, “Please stay in your queue! Stay in your queue!”