A Concubine for the Family: A Family Saga in China (38 page)

“When the enemy comes, I want you to go to the mountain retreat. You’re not combat-ready,” Glorious Dragon answered. He was more cold and tired than he could ever remember, but he never felt more tender and grateful toward Crystal. He had not expected her company in this venture. They had never discussed patriotism, but they must have shared the same thoughts.

“No, I’ll stay by you, my Dragon. You’re no more combat-ready than I am.” Dragon was about to protest when the siren sounded. They leapt from their nest and ran toward headquarters to obtain their instructions.

They rushed past soldiers shouting and scrambling into their positions in trenches and lookout points. When they reached the general’s office, the tense and solemn faces of the officers sobered them. All eyes were riveted on the conference table. Instead of being covered with the usual array of ashtrays and teacups, it now had a large map with a jumble of telephone and electronic equipment pushed to one side. No one noticed Glorious Dragon and Bright Crystal when they slipped into the room.

“Our scouts have reported a Japanese forward platoon south of Yochow. Here.” General Hsueh pointed with a marker. “We believe the platoon is backed by several armored divisions. So we can expect a Hitler-style blitzkrieg within twenty-four hours.” He sank down into an armchair, exhausted by the hours of keeping vigil and deliberation. He motioned Tall Man Wu to carry on the instructions.

“Our mission, as you all know, is to safeguard Changsha and keep the rail lines open all the way to Canton.” Tall Man Wu, towering over everyone, traced the rail line on the map with his pointer. His imposing voice was firm but soft, belying his large muscular frame.

“Lieutenant Liu will go to Yochow with his brigade to set up communication links with headquarters. Lieutenant Chang, take two brigades to assist in the evacuation of Changsha. Other brigades have been dispatched to man the trenches and move ammunition.”

Everyone seemed to have been prepared for this emergency. Tall Man Wu looked around the room and lifted his chin to dismiss the lieutenants. He raised his hand in a casual salute as everyone left to carry out his assignments.

Glorious Dragon realized that the command had not given him a combat role. He confronted Tall Man Wu and demanded action.

“I’m sorry, my friend. I know you want to see action, but we are already in your debt for the ammunition you sent. You and Bright Crystal must remain in the headquarters to coordinate the communications coming in.”

Glorious Dragon understood the urgency of the situation. Since Bright Crystal had steadfastly refused to be separated from him, he must accept the relative security of the headquarters. His venturesome spirit felt thwarted, but there was his Crystal — a protective angel or a millstone around his neck. He accepted his orders with a sullen nod and trudged toward the communications room, pulling Bright Crystal along with him.

All afternoon, Lieutenant Liu reported on the advancing enemy’s movements. Bright Crystal brewed tea and quietly served everyone. All at once, they heard droning planes overhead. Gunshots erupted like thousands of firecrackers. The ground shook. A sudden roar of fire engulfed the building in great tongues of orange and red.

“Run to the shelter! Run to the shelter!”

“What happened? What happened?”

“Were we hit?”

“Worse! Some bombs hit the ammunition pile near our entrance.”

A bitter wind whipped the fire onto the bone-dry timber, and turned the thatched roof into a bonfire. The entire town was soon ablaze.

In the communications room, a wild scramble ensued. “Help me move the equipment into the tunnels,” shouted the man next to Dragon.

Smoke choked the rooms, as beams and pillars split and collapsed all around them. Dragon scooped up his radio and groped his way toward the tunnel, calling Bright Crystal to follow him.

Gray forms screamed and pushed around him. Everyone and everything seemed to be moving, crashing, coughing and crying. Glorious Dragon followed the crowd, totally confused. He clutched the radio to his body and stumbled ahead. As soon as he reached the cool damp tunnel, the soldiers behind him closed the trap door to prevent the smoke from descending. Another soldier passed Glorious Dragon his canteen for a sip of water.

Dragon dropped his equipment in alarm. “Bright Crystal, where is she?” He scanned the murmuring dark forms and shouted, “Crystal, my Crystal, are you here?”

Most soldiers knew the visiting Shanghai couple who had come to help. An unnatural hush followed Glorious Dragon’s anxious call. Glorious Dragon battled his way to the trap door. Restraining hands grabbed him.

“It’s a furnace up there.”

“You won’t survive.”

“You can’t find her.”

“You’ll bring in the fire.”

“You’ll kill us all!”

Glorious Dragon yelled and pleaded to be let go. Kicking and scratching, he could barely be restrained. The soldier with the canteen tore off his shirt and wet it. He tied it loosely around Glorious Dragon’s head and helped him to the trap door. He splashed the remaining water over Glorious Dragon and commanded: “Keep your face to the ground.”

Once out of the trap door, Glorious Dragon broke into a crouched run and retraced his route of escape, which by now had become an inferno. Fiery splinters fell about him, singeing his wet clothes and scorching his bare hands. He coughed and bellowed for his Crystal.

A distinctly feminine moan rose behind him. He stumbled back and saw Bright Crystal on the floor. A fallen beam had pinned her legs. He kicked the beam. In one tug, he had pulled her free. He dragged her along, shielding her with his body. They finally reached the trap door. “Open the door! Open the door!” he screamed, stomping on it with all his might. He lost consciousness.

When he awoke, he was in an underground room. A nurse came to help him drink. Tall Man Wu hovered over him and smiled when he saw Glorious Dragon regaining consciousness.

“Where, where is my Crystal . . .”

Tall Man Wu grimaced, his face contorting. He tried to hold back his tears and choked. He turned away. Glorious Dragon sank back into his bed, with silent tears of despair. He understood.

“She died speaking of you. She even smiled, because she was so proud.” Tall Man Wu’s voice wobbled. “You must feel honored to have such love and respect.”

Glorious Dragon did not respond. He turned his face to the wall. His whole body writhed. Tall Man Wu instructed the nurse to sedate his friend and left to direct the war.

Glorious Dragon felt a warm breeze on his face. The budding spring flowers and tender greens sprouted all over their garden in Hangzhou. He was playing shuttlecock with Bright Crystal, kicking it back and forth with the front and sides of their feet in expert rhythm. Purple Jade stood in the pavilion counting, clapping, and laughing like a teenage girl.

He twisted his torso and swung his right leg behind him in a nimble skip and hop to give the shuttlecock a vigorous back kick. The shuttlecock flew like a missile and hit Bright Crystal in the eye. Glorious Dragon awoke in a sweat.

There was a dull rumble, which grew louder. “Is this the sound of a motor? Where is it coming from?” Glorious Dragon asked the dimly lit room, unaware that the nurse was attending another soldier in the gloom.

“We have already repelled two waves of enemy attacks. I think a full armored division must be coming.”

Reality dawned upon Glorious Dragon. He sat up with a sudden jerk. He had come here to fight. Now Bright Crystal was dead; why was he lying here in comfort? He did not ask for instructions. He got up from his bed and dragged himself out of the tunnel. He stumbled into the trenches. Passing through the supply depot, he stuffed his pockets and the inside of his belted jacket with hand grenades. The depot was deserted; all the able-bodied men had gone to meet the oncoming tanks.

When he emerged from cover, a wind cleared Glorious Dragon’s head. As far as he could see, the town had been scorched to the ground. Swirling winds of dust and ash blurred the faces of the soldiers crouching along the trenches. He surveyed the crowd, but could not recognize anyone. Someone pointed in the direction the armored division would be coming from, and he saw the mound of half-torn brick wall where he could take cover and intercept the advance. He walked with calm deliberation toward the half wall and ignored the shouts of warning. He was leaving the farthest outpost of town where no one could cover him.

Glorious Dragon cowered near the wall and heard the rumble of oncoming tanks shaking the ground underneath. Rifle fire broke out somewhere. He felt bullets zinging over his head, zapping and pinging off the surrounding brick wall.

He groped for a hand grenade and felt for the pin. In the rush to get into position, Dragon did not notice how stiff and strangely uncooperative his hands had become. He felt no pain. The cold had frozen the burns, but he could barely feel where the pins were and he could not maneuver his fingers to pull them. He also knew he could not grasp the grenades and therefore would fail to throw far. In his panic and frustration, he yelled so loudly, his voice echoed through the valley. Suddenly, he remembered his dream and the idyllic garden of his childhood. He remembered how he once cried when he broke his rubber slingshot. Purple Jade comforted him as usual and taught him to swing his shots with a strip of silk ribbon. Desperately, he unwound some of his hand bandages and fashioned a cradle for swinging the grenades. A bitter smile graced his blackened lips.

The boom of big guns was now everywhere. The crashing sounds of tank treads and whirring engine warned him of the approaching tanks. In the short intervals between explosions, he peered out from his crouched position and watched the tanks approach in a rough V-formation. The lead tank advancing on his left would be about ten yards away and slightly to his back, he surmised. He would have just enough time to turn and lob another grenade on the second tank coming to his right. He rushed out, a grenade already in the cradle of his sling. Pulling the pin with his teeth, he swung the grenade expertly on target, hitting the lead tank. There was no time to savor his success. He sprang around, cradled another grenade in his sling, pulled another pin with his teeth, and swung the grenade at the second advancing tank. The grenade fell short of its mark as the tank growled past him. He took cover behind the brick wall and waited for the third tank to come from the left.

Meanwhile, the second tank turned. A cloud of dust and smoke from the battlefield shielded its action. The soldier in the turret trained his sights directly on the brick wall where the grenade swinger had been hiding. He fired. Incredibly, the grenade swinger emerged from the cloud of smoke like an apparition. He was whistling as he moved toward the tank.

“This one is for you, my Crystal!” Glorious Dragon shouted as he marched jauntily forward. He broke into the most popular patriotic tune of the time:

Perhaps the enemy soldier paused in his turret because he was surprised. When Glorious Dragon stood still to reload his slingshot, the blast from the big gun sent him rolling onto the ground, but again it had missed him. He was already too close to the tank. The man in the gun turret had lost sight of him. The soldier from the tank would have to emerge to shoot him. Glorious Dragon crawled painfully forward.

“Arise, arise,” he sang as loudly as he could to obliterate his pain. “We are united . . . go forward, forward . . .”

Coming in close, he pulled the pins on two grenades with his teeth, and holding them against his chest, he rolled under the tank.

A deafening explosion filled the air.

In November 1938, the Huangs learned that the Imperial Army of Japan had confiscated their uniform factory. Instead of regret, both Righteous Virtue and Purple Jade felt only relief. The guilt of war profiteering had ended.

Iris wrote to say that Glorious Dragon and Bright Crystal had disappeared, leaving everyone to wonder where they were hiding. General Chin still held sway in Chungking, so the Huangs secretly hoped to see the lovers in Hong Kong.

In January 1939, Tall Man Wu sent Purple Jade a letter and a plaque from the Nationalist government, commemorating her brother’s bravery and announcing his death. Not only had he donated large supplies of arms, he had destroyed two tanks all by himself. His feat of valor so stirred the soldiers on the battlefield that they rose from the security of their trenches, held their caps in their hands, and silently paid tribute.

Among the personal effects returned was an American high school ring, which Golden Bell remembered seeing on the small finger of Iris’s husband.

The entire household grieved for Glorious Dragon. Comely Brook made a black armband for Righteous Virtue. The female members, including Little Jade, wore small, white, button-shaped yarn flowers in their hair to denote a family in mourning.

Purple Jade slipped into delirium. In her crazed howling, she told the winds that Glorious Dragon had been more than a younger half-brother. She had nurtured him like her first-born child, and her only son. She thanked his spirit and wailed that in recent years he had cared for her and her family, much as she would expect a son to do. “Yes, Glorious Dragon, my precious little brother, my baby” she cried, “you are more, far, far more than a filial son. Whenever you came, you brought laughter with your wit,” she keened with torrents of tears. “Oh sunshine, sunshine, your generosity is the sunshine for our family!” No one could calm her. She stumbled around the room, thrashed and moaned. “Your warm affection intoxicated our hearts, and your playfulness was my youthful renewal! Oh, why, oh why are you taken away from me?” She shoved everyone away, and no one dared interrupt her ranting, even though she scared the children and they had to be kept out of her range. After almost a week of drinking the herbal brew Comely Brook prepared, Purple Jade lapsed into silent bouts of depression. She stared into the void and refused to be fed and bathed. In time, Purple Jade was able to weep together with Comely Brook, Golden Bell, Silver Bell and Righteous Virtue. They proclaimed Glorious Dragon a modern patriot. He was a quintessential Chinese in his resourceful struggle for survival. He had used native cunning to maintain his independence. With his dedication, he had more than fulfilled his filial duties toward his family. He chose death and honor rather than a life of servitude or cowardly escape. Why was fate so blind? Purple Jade’s mind could not fathom a reason; nor would her heart yield its pain.