Spring Pearl: The Last Flower

Pins and Needles

Spring Pearl follows Mistress Sung through the mansion to a small room filled with cabinets and a couple of tables and waits in the doorway while Mistress Sung opens the cabinet. She pulls out a bolt of expensive blue silk and says it will look nice on Willow. Mistress Sung gives Spring Pearl dimensions for a blouse. When she comes back an hour later, she gazes in dismay at the scraps on the table. She comments on how Spring Pearl wasted a lot of the material. Her face is serious when she holds up Spring Pearl’s attempt at a blouse. “This would be excellent if Willow’s left arm were two meters long and her right half a meter.”

Mistress Sung looks at the crooked stitches. And she sees a dot of blood. Spring Pearl comments that she may have pricked herself a couple of times. She knows she ruined the blouse, and she’ll work twice as hard to make up for it. Mistress Sung studies Spring Pearl and then drops the blouse into a basket of rags. Apparently Spring Pearl cannot sew at all. And they can’t afford to waste good silk while Spring Pearl learns.

Spring Pearl says that maybe she can help with the mending. Mistress Sung tactfully responds that Spring Pearl will need even more practice than that. Maybe Spring Pearl can make shoes for the servants. Spring Pearl, looking at her bandaged fingertips, asks if maybe she can help in the kitchen.

Mistress Sung looks hurt. They’re not ogres. How can they make the daughter of a scholar stoop so low as to work in the kitchen. No no, Snow Goose will show Spring Pearl how to make shoes.

When Snow Goose arrives, she smirks while she shows Spring Pearl how to paste clean scraps together to make a shoe’s sole. Fitting the straps scraps together is like fitting together pieces of a puzzle. At the end there are at least twenty layers of scraps. Eventually the sole is attached to the upper cloth part of the shoe. It’s hard to force the needle through so much cloth, even with a thimble. Spring Pearl uses a special pair of pliers to pull the needle through the rest of the way. It is grueling work that makes Spring Pearl’s fingers ache.

When Spring Pearl isn’t working on the shoes, she practices her stitches, because at the end of the day, Mistress Sung will check them.

After sewing, Spring Pearl follows Mistress Sung’s directions to her room. She ends up having to ask Snow Goose for help because she gets lost. At first, she can’t believe it’s her bedroom. It has a cabinet and chairs and a real four-poster bed instead of a sleeping mat. But then she overhears Snow Goose talking with another servant about how they put all of the old furniture in Spring Pearl’s bedroom. Spring Pearl examines the furniture more closely and sees that it is dusty because no one bothered to clean it. Through the dirt, she can see many scratches and nicks. No matter what Master Sung says, it’s clear to Spring Pearl what the rest of the household thinks of her.

As Spring Pearl dresses for dinner and twists her hair into her usual braids, she feels even more alone. But then, her eye catches sight of the belongings in the corner. Doggy had placed the little camellia plant on top. Spring Pearl tells herself it’s time to stop feeling miserable. She might not be able to help herself but at least she can do something for her flower.

After putting on a plain blouse and pants, Spring Pearl makes her way to the garden. Mistress Sung never actually forbade her from working in the garden. Spring Pearl wades through the high weeds until she finds a spot that the camellia might like. Spring Pearl yanks out the weeds by the handful to clear space, and digs a hole. Spring Pearl pauses for a brief rest, and she begins to see what a magnificent place the garden had once been. Lost among the weeds are rare maple trees, flowers, and even orchids. But they are all slowly being strangled. It was a garden no one wanted. Just like Spring Pearl.

Spring Pearl barely has enough time to finish planting her camellia and get it some water before she hears Snow Goose calling. She completely lost track of time. Spring Pearl washes her hands and face in the bucket and then goes back to her room to change. She only has one nice set of clothes to wear, which Miss Willow dutifully notes as Spring Pearl sits down breathlessly at the dining table.

On a formal occasion, Master Sung would eat separately with male guests. But because it’s an informal evening, he’s dining with the rest of the family. Dinner is beef, chicken, pork, and fish dishes, each finer than the last. Spring Pearl makes a special effort to eat daintily to avoid spilling gravy on her clothes. However, Master Sung keeps wanting to talk about poetry or fiction or art with Spring Pearl, making it hard for her to concentrate on eating politely. Miss Emerald assures her that she can speak up whenever Spring Pearl gets bored. But Spring Pearl genuinely does enjoy the conversation. The girls all stare at one another when Spring Pearl confesses this, until Miss Willow snarkily remarks that nobody else enjoys these conversations at the dinner table.

Master Sung comments that he is also a scholar. His family is quick to point out that he bought his title because it carries privileges. Master Sung however is hurt. He believes his title is not an empty one. His daughters and wife all agree that at the very least it’s a good thing that their father finally has someone to talk to about these senseless things.

When everyone is almost done eating, the Sungs’ oldest son, Blessing, stumbles into the room. He’s about sixteen years old, and is quite handsome. It looks as if he knows he’s handsome, too. He comments that he had dinner with some of his classmates at a restaurant. But Spring Pearl can tell this merely from the number of stains that ruined his expensive robe. Master Sung huffs about Blessing picking up the bill yet again. Blessing comments he doesn’t want to look stingy or cheap to his friends. Mistress Sung agrees. Blessing’s reputation is also the Sungs’ reputation.

Master Sung insists that business is bad. They’re still paying for the war, and the British blockade is strangling what’s left of all of the trade resources. Blessing comments that the war should be over soon. If the barbarians come back, the viceroy will push them out again. It seems the entire family except for Master Sung is oblivious to the state of the family’s finances.

Everybody sits at the table until Master Sung is done eating. That is the custom. After supper, the Sungs go to a huge room that they use for evening amusement. The chairs and sofas are covered with comfortable cushions and the tables have a variety of games, books, and musical instruments. It’s obvious the Sung sisters are talented in their own right. They can play the lute and flute quite well, and Miss Oriole has a sweet singing voice.

Mistress Sung picks up some embroidery to work on while Blessing leads Spring Pearl over to a table where a chess set is sitting ready. Spring Pearl is used to a chess board of paper with wooden discs, but the Sungs’ board is of carved wood and the discs are fine, painted porcelain. Master Sung and Blessing take a bet on whether Spring Pearl will win or lose the game. Master Sung thinks Spring Pearl will win, and Blessing thinks he will win.

Piece by piece, the two play the game. Blessing attacks early and is soon left with all offense and no defense. It’s easy for Spring Pearl to slip behind his attacking chariots and cannon to take his general. Blessing is in disbelief. He has never been beaten so fast. In reality, Master Sung had the advantage; he knew that Spring Pearl was very good at this game.

The two start another game together, but the end result is the same. After Blessing loses a third time, he picks up a wooden box and challenges Spring Pearl to a game of dominoes instead. The Sungs continue to make bets with each other over how Spring Pearl will fare in the next game. When Spring Pearl continues to win at dominoes, Blessing doesn’t learn his lesson, and continues to take more and more bets. He’s either very determined, or very reckless.

When Blessing has finally had his fill of losing, he pretends to yawn and goes to bed. He says that tomorrow, he’ll find something to beat Spring Pearl at.