Chapter One: Four Sisters
Four girls. Four virtues. Four tragedies.
Xi Wen Qing had been governor of Jingzhou City for as long as its populace seemed to remember, although in reality, the man wasn't quite that old. Forty-five years of age and medium of height, Lord Xi had the perfect face for a politician: handsome and distinguished, yet, at the same time, compassionate in countenance.
Accompanied by a group of some of his most trusted advisors, the well-versed governor was currently walking down one of the numerous flower gardens which surrounded his sprawling estate. This small assembly of the best-educated men in the province strolled at a leisurely pace down the bamboo-lined stone path, thoughtfully discussing the most recent outbreak of Yellow Turban rebellions that was sweeping across China.
At the same time that these scholars and politicians were holding their conversation, a smaller but much more light-hearted group was also making its way across the maze-like courtyards and gardens. In the lead was a pretty and pert little girl dressed in lotus-pink silk, giggling and running happily amongst the fragrant rose beds and blooming peach trees. Trailing behind the child were her amah and a couple of young handmaids, who laughingly chased after their Little Miss and called out merrily that the girl slow down, else she might fall.
The little girl in pink took no heed of their warnings, and kept on weaving in and out from amongst the flowers until she finally reached Lord Xi. With a merry laugh of, "Papa!" she leapt toward the stately governor with outstretched hands, and was promptly scooped up into his arms.
Lord Xi was at once surprised and delighted by his daughter's unexpected arrival, as he flicked off some pink-and-white peach blossoms which had fallen into said daughter's short raven hair while asking her, "Little Treasure, what special occasion calls for this visit?"
At that moment, her amah and handmaids finally caught up to their willful young charge, and the girl's nurse spoke up admonishingly, "Miss Xi Tian, you ought to know by now not to interrupt your father and the other gentlemen when they're talking."
Pretty little Xi Tian only made a playful sound of displeasure from her tiny throat, and her scrunched-up nose drew an affectionate laugh from her doting father, as Lord Xi reassured the girl, "It's all right, wo de xiao bao bei (1). One interruption won't have any devastating effects."
Hearing this, Xi Tian's amah warned, "My Lord, you'll be spoiling the girl at this rate," while the pretty young handmaids behind her giggled into each other's shoulders at the sight of that redoubtable old nurse going up against Jingzhou City's governor.
"Of course. I intend to spoil all my daughters," Lord Xi calmly replied, bouncing Xi Tian around in his arms and asking her, "Well now, Little Treasure, what is it that you want?"
The child tossed a gleeful grin in her amah's direction, before turning to her father and announcing, "Papa, a fortune-teller and his apprentice have just arrived at the city. Can me and Sisters go? Please?" she added, almost as an afterthought.
The devoted father laughed fondly, before turning to his advisors and excusing himself with a refined bow. Then, he strolled out of the garden with his mischievous young daughter in his arms.
The recently arrived fortune-teller turned out to be an ancient yet sage-looking man with snow-white hair and a long, flowing beard. Dressed in a plain Taoist robe of blue cotton cloth and sitting behind a low wooden stand, the old man looked particularly delighted by the sight of Lord Xi's pretty young daughters—four of them in total—lined up before him, according to age and height, to have their fortunes told.
To the far left sat Xi Lien, the eldest at age ten, dressed in radiant saffron-and-gold brocade and already showing signs of a promised beauty to emerge in later years.
Second was the demure and well-read Xi Yue in frothy jade-green silk, aged eight years, soft-spoken yet undeniably bright.
Perky six-year-old Xi Tian, the child responsible for this session, came next, pretty and sunny and wrapped in a cloud of lotus-pink.
The youngest of the four sisters, Xi Ai, was a mere fourteen-month-old toddler, and seemed more interested in the delicate blossoms embroidered on her vibrant violet dress than in what her future might hold.
The old fortune-teller smiled at the four girls, making a big show of casting his lots to entertain them. When he was finished interpreting the first set of symbols, he broke into a wide smile, and began to applaud Lord Xi on the good fortune of the latter's four young daughters.
"My congratulations, sir. It appears that you have a quartet of little goddesses in your household," he praised the devoted father, and proceeded to explain the lots.
"The eldest girl, Xi Lien, shall grow up to be a great beauty, on par with—and perhaps even surpassing—that loveliest of all the goddesses in the Heavens, Chang'e," the old man began.
"Xi Yue, also virtuous and fair, will develop into the brightest and best-educated young lady in Western China, and her poetry will be highly praised by even the most learned of scholars.
"Xi Tian, bless the sweet child, is already showing her affectionate and endearing little ways; with her charm and warm personality when she grows up, she could marry a prince if she should so choose.
"And dear little Xi Ai, she is to be a stubborn one, but in due time, she will begin to show remarkable talent in the ways of the sword—she'll grow up to be a lady warrior," concluded the fortune-teller.
The four girls' father looked somewhat concerned about the last part of the fortune-teller's prediction, frowning thoughtfully and stroking his beard. He then absently took out a white silk handkerchief and wiped at his baby daughter's nose, as he tried to picture the disobedient toddler before him as a grown-up swordswoman.
And then the fortune-teller bent to decipher the second lots. Whatever he saw of the four girls' futures there must have shocked him a great deal, for his lips turned as white as his hair and his eyes widened into pale, round marbles. The old man examined the symbols before him a second time, before heaving a deep sigh and sorrowfully shaking his head, as though accepting these four futures.
Turning to Lord Xi, who was virtually aglow with fatherly pride, the aged fortune-teller said in a soft, pitying voice, "I'm deeply sorry, my lord."
And with those puzzling words, the old man stood up, shook out his sleeves, and prepared to leave.
Lord Xi was naturally startled by this sudden change in attitude, and voiced both his concerns and his protests, but the wise old Taoist would only concede, "Take good care of your four daughters...And please, choose very carefully amongst their suitors when it is time for each of them to wed."
With these enigmatic words, the old man promptly left, assisted by his young apprentice.
His customer was at first perplexed by this vague advice, but eventually came to dismiss it as the deluded ramblings of a senile old quack. In any case, Lord Xi soon forgot about the fortune-teller altogether, when his beloved four daughters crowded around him and began asking for individual little favors and presents.
"Papa, I want to go see the newest play," Xi Lien pleaded sweetly.
"Papa, might it be possible to find a tutor other than Mr. Yang? He has little interest in poetry," Xi Yue requested in a soft voice.
"Papa, can I have that little doll?" Xi Tian trilled, pointing at a display that a street vendor had set up on his table.
Baby Xi Ai just kept singsonging, "Papa! Papa! Papa!" not knowing what to ask for but wanting to join her elder sisters in all the fun, anyway.
And thus, laughing heartily, Lord Xi allowed himself to be led away by his four lively daughters.
Meanwhile, the fortune-teller's young apprentice darted a quick look back as he helped his master navigate the bustling streets of Jingzhou City.
After watching the governor being led away by his children, the young man turned around and asked curiously, "Master, what did you see in the girls' lots that upset you so much?"
His elder heaved a great sigh, and, seeing that the crowds had thinned out and the noise died down somewhat, condescended to divulge the images he'd seen in the lots.
"The symbols I saw were these," he revealed.
"An exquisite lotus flower, torn to pieces so that its still-beautiful petals are floating despondently in the water.
"A radiant silver moon, abruptly engulfed and swallowed by a monstrous black crow.
"A lovely sky at sunrise, split asunder by a white cloud in the shape of a tiger.
"A bleak, frozen-over river, solid under a heavy sheet of red ice, except for one piece which has broken off and is being roughly blown away by a heavy wind," the old man finished darkly.
The apprentice considered these images, and their significance, in silence. After a few minutes, he gave up and admitted sheepishly, "Your pupil still doesn't understand, Master. Could you please explain?"
After a stretch of silence, that was exactly what his master did.
"The torn lotus flower corresponds to the eldest daughter, Xi Lien. She is fated to die long before her beauty can begin to fade, torn apart by her own ardent suitors," the old fortune-teller began by explaining the first girl's fate.
"The swallowed moon corresponds to Xi Yue. She is doomed to marry a man whose cruelty and jealousy will overpower her brightness and lead to her own destruction.
"The sky dominated by the white cloud corresponds to Xi Tian. Great generals are often likened to tigers; hence the fate of that charming child will be tightly interwoven with that of a man who might set out for the battlefield one day and never come back.
"Lastly, the red ice corresponds to that courageous little Xi Ai. Red is the color that represents love and marriage, and the poor girl's very name means 'Love.' However, there will be no love in her future, for she will be torn too soon from her family like that one piece of ice that has broken away from the rest; a river wind points to river pirates as the ones to blame." And he relapsed into silence.
The little apprentice could only listen to these tragic predictions in astonished silence, a little disbelieving that such fantastic tales could actually come true. He lagged behind his old master, pondering over what had just been revealed to him.
The fortune-teller seemed not to notice this, as he merely shook his head and steadily walked on.
"Beauty, brightness, charm, and courage," he whispered mournfully to himself. "Heaven has a heavy price for these all."
1. My little treasure.