Balance

Balance

“But mother, I don’t want to get married to that man!” exclaimed Heping.

“You have to, I already made arrangements” said mother.

She had always been so loyal to rules of the Han dynasty, the second dynasty of imperial China. Right then Xiao mei walked in to the little sitting room that was located by the front door of their house. Xiao mei was Heping’s little sister and she was a very shy little girl who only talked to mother. Heping’s father was a scholar official and he was working very hard to send off an explorer named Zhang Qian who was going to explore the silk road. She barely ever saw him because he was always away with the Emperor Gaozu who started his reign in 206 B.C.E. He was a leader of a bureaucracy around which the government was structured. The emperor had a son who would take over the rein of China after his father died.

Heping was getting ready to have her tutoring at home.Mother was fumbling around for some paper to start the lesson but while she was doing that, a conversation had arisen about Heping’s marriage. It was getting so intense if you were in the room you could feel the words clinging in the air as if they didn’t want to leave.

Heping was destined to marry Feng fu, an older, ugly rich man from the east side of China. He ate noisily and he never sympathized with Heping like her servant and friend, Nan pengyou. Nan pengyou was a servant in the house of Heping and she had had a crush on him ever since they were little. After Heping’s 13th birthday, mother had decided it was time to make arrangements to get married.

Heping was 14 year old aristocrat. She had her feet bound as many wealthy women around her did.She wore mostly silk clothing. She was very tall for a young woman but her face was so pretty it glowed like the rising sun on a crisp summer morning. She loved anything that had to do with nature and when she was little she used to go out in the middle of the forest that was located near her family's home along a windy path and play in the nature all around her. That had recently stopped for she had other duties, like caring for her family.

It was a fine winter morning and Heping and mother were arguing bitterly.

“I hate that man, he gives me the chills. And they’re not the good kind. They’re the kind that you get when you see the common blackbird cross your path!” protested Heping.

“You have to marry whether you like it or not even if he’s a horrible and terrible person!” proclaimed mother.

The words had poured out of her mouth she hadn’t realized what she had just said. She smoothed out her dress and she sat down. With that Heping burst out crying and ran out of the room.

Heping was going to the Taoist temple to talk to the Taoist priest. She called him Daoshi which meant Taoist priest in Chinese. Daoshi could see by the troubled look in her eye that there was something wrong. He thought the best thing to do was to meditate before any real talking went on. He beckoned her to come over and meditate. She walked over to start the process of meditating.

She felt a sudden rejoicing come up from somewhere deep within her soul and for a moment she forgot about all her troubles and just relaxed every nerve in her body. Suddenly she felt a realization erase what she was feeling and she was pushed back into the endless depths of reality. She stood up, looked at Daoshi and smiled. Before Daoshi could talk she blurted out,

“I have to get married to a man I don’t like!”

Daoshi looked at Heping thoughtfully. “I think you should follow the rules of Taoism: meditate, keep a balanced diet, breath, keep your body pure, let your energy flow and practice martial arts,” said Daoshi. “I can not tell you anymore.”

Heping said thank you and left in a hurry to get back to her family in time for dinner. She came home to find rice and duck on the table in little bowls of pottery. Nobody talked, not even Xiao mei, who always talked to mother during dinner. She accidentally spilled some rice on her silk dress and robe, mother shot her a sharp glance. She drank her wine and hurried off to her room.She couldn’t sleep because she was thinking about what had been said during the conversation between her and Daoshi. She let her brain comb every word that was said and tried to make sense of it all.

She realized what she had to do, she had to talk to Nan pengyou. She found him sitting on the meadow outside her house in the sun. His parents had been very poor before they died so he was sent to work for her family. She sat down next to him and smiled. He smiled back.

“I have a plan to get out of my marriage,” Heping said with anxiety. “When Feng fu comes billowing and grumbling up to my house, you’re going to sneak out the back door to the Taoist temple and wait there for me; then I’ll ask to go to the Temple and meditate, after I go I’ll meet you at the back of the Temple and we’ll run away.”

She was very proud of her brilliant plan. Nan pengyou nodded in reply with a gleam in his eye, but he still said nothing. Heping knew what he was trying to say. Yes was his answer.

The next day was a week until Feng fu came to pick up Heping. Heping was very secretive but very excited. She even talked to mother for the first time. She ate jube jubes and strawberries for good luck.

Feng fu arrived in a huge oxcart pulled by huge oxen that looked like they could run over 10 people at a time. When Feng fu came to the entrance of the temple he looked like a big ugly bear ready to kill his prey. He came inside her house and pinched Heping on the arm with a big fatty finger that was about the size of Heping’s hand. He told her to come to the ox cart but she refused.

“I will be after I take one last look at my childhood home” she squeaked with a voice so shrill it could barely be heard.

She was getting ready to meditate when Daoshi walked in, proud and tall. He handed her a big basket of fruit, water, flowers and incense. The aromas of these items were so refreshing to Hepings nostrils that memories flooded into her head like the yellow river. She had told him that she was running away and, although he kept it within the walls of his mouth, he was overjoyed that she wouldn’t have to marry that terrible man.

She was staring at the little pictures that decorated the walls of her temple with a feeling of regret deep within her soul. The door was open so the chilling winter air was coming in but her fur coat and mittens made of badger fur kept her warm. It wafted up her nose and then she realized with a sudden feeling of liveliness that Nan pengyou would be waiting for her so she walked out of the temple and started to the back of the temple.

Back Heping’s house Feng fu paced back and forth anxiously. Feng fu started to search all over the temple and her family’s house, messing up everything. He concluded that she wasn’t there and he gritted his teeth in rage.

He came back to the front of the temple and called with a big huff to the men in his ox cart “Call the search parties, she’s run away.”

The search parties were sent out at dusk. In the mean time Heping and Nan pengyou were traveling through the nature as fast as they could. They stopped to rest at a little creek. Heping spoke slowly.

“We are going to the south of China. We will take refuge there somewhere and live happy life there together.”

Nan pengyou nodded and kissed her on the cheek. Heping felt the feeling of love rush through her body and she felt refreshed.

The search parties were unsuccessful with finding them and eventually they gave up. They did take refuge in the beautiful tree filled hills of south China. They continued to study Taoism and she kept all the things that Daoshi gave her close to her heart for it helped her remember her family and the Taoist temple. They never had to trade silk, pottery, rice, beer, wine, etc. along the silk road again because they had everything they needed right on the beautiful hills of South China.