11
Apparently, Fang Zhen's sons were delivered to Sheriff Coffee before the new "wife" was as Fang Zhen was absent from the welcoming group. Lee Chang and two other well-respected Tong elders strode across the lengthy stretch of land to meet the wagon and to take delivery of Wu Lien as if she was cargo.
All afternoon, Ju and Wu Lien had been inside the wagon and once we had stopped on the outskirts of Chinatown where Fang Zhen had his fine home, I went to the wagon door; for once Ju hadn't stuck her head out the "goddamn" window to query as to why we had stopped. I knocked and Ju opened. I wanted to tell her the three men were approaching.
"Fang Zhen isn't with them but three of his peers are here for Wu Lien. And you, I suppose."
"What is peers?" Ju asked suspiciously.
"Men who are as esteemed…" Ju didn't understand the word. "Men who are as important as Fang Zhen." That, Ju understood.
"Wu Lien want see you inside. You come in." Ju stepped aside and I entered the wagon, having to duck my head. All their belongings had been packed and Wu Lien stood, waiting. Her hair was wound and curled about like a thick, glossy, black snake, held in place by gold combs that dripped golden beads and pearls. Long gold earrings framed her face. Her eyelids had been painted with a pink coloring and her lips were blood red. She looked even more exotic and otherworldly. In her small hands, she held the tasseled flute she had played for me the night before. Wu Lien elegantly folded to her knees and bowing her head, she offered up the flute, saying something to me.
"What is she saying?' I asked Ju.
"Her say bamboo flute is for you. Not instrument for woman to play. Only men are to play so she give to you. As…memento."
I dropped to my knees before the woman I so loved. "Wu Lien, I'll take the flute because you want me to. And because every time I put it to my lips, I'll taste the sweetness of your mouth on it and when I play a note, I'll hear your voice. Tell her, Ju. Please." I looked up at Ju who was crying, tears rolling down her plump cheeks. She nodded and in a broken voice, she did as I asked.
"Wu Lien…" I began, holding the flute, running a thumb over its smoothness. I wanted to tell her again that we could be married, to ask her again to come with me to the Ponderosa, but she sharply averted her head and it was like a door shutting in my face. I stood up. If she could close her heart to me, I could do the same. I stepped out of the wagon and greeted Lee Chang and the other two men.
All three noticed the flute in my hand but said nothing about it and neither did I. I wanted to leave before Wu Lien was turned over to them.
"Wu Lien is inside, she and Ju, her…. handmaid. It's been a long ride with unfortunate incidents and I would like to be home, so if you'll excuse me." I tipped my hat to the three men and headed around the wagon to my horse. I intended to slip the flute into a saddlebag and be off; I wanted to lick my wounds in private.
"Before you leave, my friend," Lee Chang said, "I have introductions to make."
I sighed and then turned about. Perhaps this was a necessary courtesy – I didn't know - but also didn't want to offend; I had already killed Fang Zhen's son.
"I'm sorry," I said. "It's only my grief over Fang Shan's death and my eagerness to see my father that makes me so rude. Excuse my behavior."
"It is understandable," Lee Chang said. "All of us are filled with the sadness of a fine, young man who was misguided by love for his mother."
This was unusual. Rarely would any of the close-knit group let an outsider like me in on such private affairs. Information traveled quickly.
"Allow me to introduce my most honorable friends. Please to meet Wen Chan and Ming Lee."
We bowed. "It's an honor to meet both of you." They said nothing.
"I also have a message from honorable Fang Zhen to Adam Cartwright."
I waited.
"It is unfortunate that elder son's mother and younger son's mother asked beloved sons to act in such a reprehensible way. They have dishonored their father. Nevertheless, it is with sadness that we acknowledge the death of Fang Shan although we, including Fang Zhen himself, hold Adam Cartwright blameless; some things cannot be avoided."
"I wish it could have been." I made to leave again but Lee Chang continued.
"He also thanks Adam Cartwright for bringing the valued Wu Lien safely to him. As for the ceremony for Wu Lien to become a member of Fang Zhen's household, since it is now a time of sadness, it must be postponed. My wife and I will welcome Wu Lien and her…handmaid as you call her, into our home for the year of mourning. Wu Lien will be treated as a much-loved daughter. After the year of sadness has passed, Fang Zhen will finally see Wu Lien and we will have the celebration. A year of sorrow will be followed by a lifetime of joy."
I paused. A year. Fang Zhen wouldn't take Wu Lien into his bed for a year. And since Lee Chang was one of the most "Americanized" of the Chinese, perhaps Wu Lien would become liberated from the idea of "duty" and allegiance to ancestors. She may even walk away from Fang Zhen and hopefully, come to me.
"Much can happen in a year," I said.
"Yes," Lee Chang said. "Much can happen in one day as I'm certain you know, my good friend. Wishes for much peace in your soul."
And with that, I left for the Ponderosa.
~ 0 ~
Time passed. Sometimes days went quickly, sometimes they dragged. I thought of Wu Lien often – even Ju - and whenever I would see Lee Chang, I would ask after the two of them and his answers were basically non-sequiturs; he never really gave me a straight answer and his smile and courtesy seemed strained, insincere. I wondered if he knew what had passed between Wu Lien and me.
As I said early on, the Chinese took care of their own justice. I never pressed charges against Fang Millard so Roy Coffee was forced to release him to his father the very next day.
"Now, Adam," Roy had said when he came to the Ponderosa about the statement I never made, "I can't say I blame you much – Millard is just a boy. But if he did what he did because an adult told him to, well, I can prosecute the guilty party."
"The guilty party's dead – Fang Shan."
"Now look, Adam," Roy said, holding his hands out in frustration, "if I don't figure out what's what, why them two wanted to harm that young woman, I just might have to arrest you for the cold-blooded murder of Fang Shan."
I knew it was a bluff. Roy had been blocked at every turn in his investigation and was exasperated. No one, including me, had told him much at all. I just sat and stared at him.
"Ben, what am I gonna do about this boy of yours? I know a crime was planned but I don't know who it was who planned it…"
My father threw up his hands. "Don't look at me! Adam hasn't told me anything. I even asked Hop Sing out of pure curiosity, but he pretends not to know what I'm talking about."
"Roy," I said, "the Chinese carry out their own justice. You can't do anything about it. Nothing. And I thought I knew all about what happened, but now, well, Roy, one of Fang Zhen's sons is dead. As far as I ken, he was the responsible one, he had the weapon and had to convince his brother to hold…her still." I was afraid that if I said Wu Lien's name, my feelings for her would come through. "Fang Millard was there because, well, because Fang Shan's his older brother. I can't say I hold any love for Fang Zhen, but he's lost his elder son and I would imagine he and his wife are grieving even more than we can know."
"Oh, speaking of Fang Shan's mother…seems she took some type poison – out of grief, I heard. Word came she died day after yesterday."
"What?"
"And that ain't all." Roy stood up straight, almost proud of having the knowledge of goings-on in Chinatown. But he only knew what the elders, what the Tong wanted him to know and that was all. "Seems that the mother of the younger boy, Millard, fell down a set of stairs, broke her neck."
"How do you know all this?" my father asked. Both he and I were a little surprised – but not that much, really – that Hop Sing hadn't said anything to us. Not that Hop Sing was much of a gossip but this was important news. Fang Zhen was a prominent businessman, owning a laundry and a green-grocery, and he often had transactions – if the astrologer said the timing was fortunate – with Virginia City restaurants and hotels.
"Well, they called out Doc Martin. He filed a report with me of accidental death. Said her neck was twisted almost backwards. I asked him if he was sure she hadn't been killed first and THEN tossed down the stairs, but he said he had no proof for it."
"Losing two wives and one son in just a few days. Tragic," my father said. And then, "How about a drop of Madeira before you leave, Roy? I was going to pour myself one when you arrived."
Roy knew us well enough to see that nothing else was forthcoming and that the offer was a form of closing, so he took off his hat, sat by the fire and enjoyed more than one glass of my father's best sherry along with his company. After all, it was a long ride back to town.
And more time passed. Life on the Ponderosa was predictable, my father was predictable and so were my brothers – Joe falling in love repeatedly or only pretending to, and Hoss relishing every moment of life by indulging in food, drink and anything and everything else. I went through the daily actions, smiled, laughed, rounded up calves, took cattle to slaughter, checked the accounts of the mines and slashed trees for cutting. Months had passed and I still felt hollow inside.
One cold evening in December, two days before Christmas, Hop Sing came quietly into the great room where I sat reading with a glass of brandy by my side, my father was relaxing, smoking his pipe, and Hoss and Joe were bickering over a game of Gin.
I didn't even notice until I heard Hop Sing clear his throat.
"Yes?" my father asked. "Something wrong, Hop Sing?"
"Visitors at kitchen door. Ask for Mistah Adam."
"For me? Who is it?" My mind raced. Who would come to the kitchen door to see me? And it was almost 9:00 at night. That's late for ranchers and homesteaders who rise before the sun.
"Just ask for you. Please if you come." Hop Sing motioned with his hand and suddenly I knew that it had something to do with Wu Lien.
"Adam," my father said rising from his chair, but I put up my hand and he sat back down.
"It's okay," I said and followed Hop Sing into the kitchen.
I could hear my father and brothers talking in low voices. The kitchen door was open, despite the cold, and I went to it and saw Lee Chang standing just outside in a quilted jacket. Ju was behind him.
My mind raced. Lee Chang had never come to the back door before. Why now? And with Ju. Something had happened. Before I could speak, Lee Chang preempted me.
"Adam, I come to you tonight not as a friend. It is only that it was Wu Lien's dying wish…"
"What? Dying wish? Wu Lien is dead? How? Who killed her?" I suddenly thought of Fang Zhen. I would kill him with my bare hands, destroy him and his whole family empire if he was responsible for Wu Lien's death.
Lee Chang turned slightly and motioned to Ju who approached me. She was holding a blanketed bundle in her arms and smiling, pulled back part of it. I saw the face of a newborn. The shape of the eyes was of Chinese blood but the hair was finer and wavy.
"Here is the one who killed Wu Lien," Lee Chang said. Then he stepped away and Ju still smiling, put the child in my arms.
"What's his name?" I asked, entranced by the sleeping infant.
"Wu Lien, she not name son. Want him to have American name. Leave to you."
"He's mine then. My son." I looked at Ju whose eyes filled with tears.
"Yes. After time, her grew big with child. Chang Lee, him and wife keep Wu Lien hidden. Fang Zhen, him not know, not visit - mourning son. Then yesterday, Wu Lien, she….it time for child but her so small…." Ju began to cry. Sobbing, Ju continued. "It hard and her work almost two days to birth child. Not want doctors. Chang Lee, he want call American doctor but her say no, no! If Fang Zhen know of baby, him strangle it. It mark of shame for him if it live. So, Ju and Chang Min, we try to help but once child born, Wu Lien, her smile while tears come. She see child, kiss child, say prayer for ancestor protection of child, and then she say, 'Ju, take boy to father. Take to Adam Cartwright.' And then she die." Ju covered her face with her hands as she cried.
Lee Chang again came to the door and put an arm about Ju, speaking softly in Chinese. She nodded and went back to the waiting wagon.
"What has happened tonight, did not." he said to me. "We shall never speak of this again. I have delivered the child to you, his father. May you see this as a blessing."
"I didn't force myself…" I felt the need to explain about how things had occurred, that I hadn't seduced Wu Lien, but Lee Chang stopped me.
"You have no need to justify your actions. My wife, Min, became a confidante to Wu Lien. Nothing more needs to be said."
The child moved in my arms and yawned, it's small, pink mouth opening. Lee Chang looked at the child in my arms and smiled. "A handsome first-born son." Then he became serious again. "Good night and may the gods look over the child – and his father."
Lee Chang climbed into the waiting small wagon and snapped the reins. He and Ju disappeared into the darkness of the cold night.
I shut the door and turned to see Hop Sing standing. He put out his arms for my son and I reluctantly handed him over. I was stunned. Wu Lien was dead. She was dead and had given birth to our child. And now he was mine to raise. And perhaps he would serve to bridge the two cultures in some way or the other. But it didn't really matter. He was my child, my son. My first-born son.
I took a deep breath. "Let me have him, Hop Sing. I need to introduce him to his grandfather and uncles."
And when I cradled my son in my arms again, he opened his eyes and looked at me. And in them I saw Wu Lien looking back.
~ Finis ~