Peach Blossom Pavilion by Mingmei Yip Page A

amazement, she led us along the busiest section of Nanking Boulevard, where our rickshaws had passed earlier! More surprises came when she led us into a fabric store and announced, "Pick what you like and I'll have them tailored into Chinese gowns and Western dresses for all three of you."
    These generous words pouring from her mouth now sounded to me as enchanting as qin music! Holding bolts of floral satin against my skin, I felt weak with happiness. Jade Vase oohed and aahed and aiiya-ed while her fingers ran over rolls of silk that cascaded before us like rainbowed waterfalls. Even Spring Moon's sad, watery eyes now sparkled.
    Half an hour later, when the shopping spree had finally come to an end, Mama asked cheerily, "All right, it's hot, so do you girls want some ice cream to ease the heat before we go back?"
    Ice cream? I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. Baba had tasted it only once-at the warlord's house-and had told me it was something soft as silk and sweet as sugar. It melted so fast in your mouth that you had to lick it hard like you did a wound.
    It took the three of us a few seconds to absorb the good news before we blurted out together, "Yes, Mama! "
    Sauntering down the busy boulevard with the glittering starstudded sky on my head, visions of new dresses, and the ice cream melting tenderly in my mouth, I'd never felt luckier. The corners of my lips kept lifting despite my efforts to press them down-people on the street might think that I was crazy smiling to myself!
    I delicately licked my ice cream, trying my best to prolong the enjoyment of its soothing coolness and sweetness. My eyes were taking in the colorful displays of merchandise behind shop windows. While watching, I noticed we were also being watched. Young girls stared at us with envy while suppressing giggles. Some men threw lewd glances in our direction. Workers blew whistles. Several tai tai pointed red-nailed fingers at us and whispered to each other, sneering.

    I turned to ask Fang Rong, "Mama, why do these people keep staring at us?"
    She put on an air like the Empress Dowager's. "Ah, my daughter, what a silly question. Why? Because they're jealous of you, that's why!" She pointed to a bony girl of ten in rags begging at the curb, "You think people will find her pretty?" then to a middle-aged, stooped amah, "or her?" finally to a flat-chested and plain-faced girl selling pancakes at a street stall, "or this bamboo pole?"
    Mama burst out laughing. "Ha, ha, ha, my gorgeous little treasures," she paused to scan the three of us before turning to pinch my cheek, "especially you, Xiang Xiang, you'll be the queen of attention soon, very soon!"
    As she said this, it seemed now that all eyes were riveted on me. Feeling dazed and dreamy, I licked hard at the ice cream, savoring its fast-melting sweetness, while assuring myself that all this good luck did not merely exist in a dream. I touched my Guan Yin pendant and secretly prayed that this day would go on forever.
    Just when I was relishing the tender softness on my tongue, suddenly I felt my arm being bumped. Before I knew what had happened, commotion stirred around me like oil hissing on a hot wok.
    Mama's voice clanged like a broken gong, shaking the air around her. "Catch the little thief!"
    It was then that I realized my ice cream had gone. It was now tightly held in the filthy hand of a bony, ten-year-old boy. He was desperately licking it while trying to dash across the street infested with swishing cars.
    "Watch out!" I screamed to him.
    Mama smacked my star-studded sky while casting me a murderous glance. "Are you out of your mind? Don't you think this brat deserves to be hit?"
    When a gap appeared in the heavy traffic, the boy sprinted, fol lowed by a cacophony of screeching, honking, shouting, and cursing.

    "Oh my heaven! He's going to get killed!" I yelled again.
    Mama, after glaring at me with another killer look, hurried with the three of us to see what had happened.
    To my great