Spring Pearl: The Last Flower

The Warriors

Under his family’s loving attention, Master Sung grows stronger every day. But Spring Pearl likes to think that her garden also plays a role. Mistress Sung brings him out to see the plum and cherry and quince trees, which have begun to bloom. A shawl is wrapped around his shoulders in the cool air, and he munches on the yellow orange loquats that Spring Pearl picks for him.

Outside the gates, an uneasy peace settles over Canton. Things seem to be starting to go back to normal, but as Spring Pearl walks the streets, she feels a tingling at the back of her neck. Nobody stops to chat or gossip. They scuttle to do their errands and hurry home. It’s as if the whole city is holding its breath, waiting for something worse to happen.

Spring Pearl has taken it upon herself to do the shopping. Cook is pleased with her skills. She brings back better groceries and at a cheaper price than anyone else. Mother and Father had always left such things to Spring Pearl. When you don’t have a lot to spend, you develop a knack for haggling.

Only Doggy is unhappy with the new arrangements, because it’s his misfortune to carry Spring Pearl’s purchases. Spring Pearl takes twice as long and buys twice as much stuff. Doggy is never happy unless he has something to grumble about.

As they shop, Doggy and Spring Pearl see something. Little dots of blue on the walls. It’s the uniforms of the foreign sailors and soldiers. It’s impossible for them to forget who really rules the city now.

As they finish up their shopping, Spring Pearl comments that the Sungs are kinder than most masters are. Doggy, nodding his head, explains they are always kind to him. They treated Doggy’s grandfather and father just as well. That’s why all the other servants think he’s crazy for wanting to leave their service.

Just then, a storekeeper pelts past them. In his arm, he has a small strongbox. He’s yelling at them to run! The devils are coming! They have barely stepped out of the way when the crowd of terrified clerks and shopkeepers follows at his heels. In the wink of an eye, Doggy and Spring Pearl are standing alone among the abandoned shops. Hats and even shoes mark the trail of the fleeing merchants.

A moment later, a squad of foreign soldiers rounds the corner. Doggy drops the bundles, thinking they should run, too. Spring Pearl begins to pick up the bundles and teases Doggy. How is he ever going to do business with them if he runs away every time he sees them? However, as the column of soldiers draws near, Spring Pearl begins to second-guess her words. The only two foreign warriors that she had ever met had been with Mr. Fortescue. These soldiers are as tall as giants, and as stern as statues.

However, the soldiers march right past them, and a soldier with red whiskers and stripes on his sleeve winks at Spring Pearl. When they pass, Doggy says that the merchants and clerks are already coming back. Some Chinese men turn to the other end of the street, to enter the first store. Spring Pearl gets ready to walk down to them when she hears a crash. More crashes follow from the next few stores as other men enter.

A man emerges from one of the shops with arms full of expensive silk. He wears ragged cotton clothes so Spring Pearl knows he doesn’t belong there. They’re looters. They must be following the foreign soldiers.

Spring Pearl grabs some of the bundles from Doggy’s arms so they can make better progress going home faster. The next street they pass is as deserted as the last, and the other streets are emptying fast, too.

When they get to Master Sung’s street, the mansions seem like big, gloomy tombs. Doggy says the looters aren’t waiting for the barbarian patrols. They’re striking off on their own. Spring Pearl grabs the rest of the boxes from Doggy’s arms, and tells him to go find the soldiers and then use these words: “We need help.”

It takes Doggy a couple of tries to get the pronunciation of the English words right, but eventually he repeats those words, more or less. Spring Pearl staggers toward Master Sung’s, and realizes Doggy had a right to complain. Spring Pearl’s packages really are heavy.

Spring Pearl kicks open the gate and drops her parcels on the side to alert the Sungs. Master Sung is going to stay to defend the house, but he sends the rest of his family away to the interior of the house. Mistress Sung shakes her head and stays with him. To her surprise, the children stay as well.

As the defenders gather in the courtyard, Spring Pearl begins to wish she hadn’t sent Doggy off. They arm themselves with kitchen knives and broom handles to hold off looters. Master Sung struts in front with the antique sword from his study. All in all, it doesn’t seem like much to hold off an invasion. They could have used Doggy’s strong arms.

The crashes and thuds are growing closer and Mistress Sung grips her homemade spear. She comments under her breath that the Chinese are worse than the barbarians. The looters don’t even try to break through the gates, which the Sungs had barred again. They must have stood on one another’s shoulders because a head soon pokes up over the wall itself. On the thief’s head is an expensive cap that he must have stolen.

Master Sung raises his sword threateningly, and tells them that they enter at their own risk. He would be more intimidating if he wasn’t shaking so badly that his sword looks like a reed waving in the wind.

The thief laughs insolently, and then hoists himself so that he’s straddling the wall. But then, a jagged rock whizzes past Spring Pearl’s ear and hits the thief. With a cry, he falls backward. Mistress Sung had set down her spear and is picking up another piece of broken paving stone from the courtyard.

The rest of them hurry around to find more broken paving stones, while Mistress Sung keeps throwing. Her aim is accurate, but there’s too many looters. A couple of them scuttle like spiders over the wall and drop into the courtyard. They’re both wearing some of their loot. One robber has jewelry hanging around his neck and arms. The other’s wearing an expensive brocade vest over his bare chest. They begin to throw off the wooden bar on the gates.

Inspired by his wife, Master Sung swings his sword at the thieves and charges. Spring Pearl follows. None of the servants come, but she’s surprised to see all the Sung children moving with her.

They don’t have any skill with their improvised weapons, but fear and anger lend them energy. Unfortunately, Master Sung is as much of a threat to the Sungs as the thieves. His sword cuts have more enthusiasm than accuracy, and they have to keep ducking. And now they’re by the gates, so Mistress Sung has to stop throwing stones and more thieves begin to drop around them.

The maids watch hopelessly, standing there shrieking in fear. Cook is just as frightened. Mistress Sung picks up her spear, and charges forward to save her family.

Now, they are surrounded. Blessing and Miss Emerald have already been disarmed. Miss Oriole squeals as a robber grabs her, and then promptly drops her when she bites him. Miss Willow and Spring Pearl are standing back to back while Master Sung flails away with the sword. His blows keep missing, but he has cleared a circle around himself. He’s puffing like a blacksmith’s bellows and sweating more than he had probably ever sweated in his life.

Suddenly, behind Spring Pearl, Miss Willow gives a cry. Spring Pearl turns to see her in the arms of a thief in an expensive silk robe flapping around his dirty legs. Spring Pearl raises her knife and turns to stab him when he starts to laugh. Spring Pearl would have known that laugh anywhere. It is her friend, Hammer!

At the call of his name, Hammer turns around to stare at Spring Pearl. She says she didn’t expect him to be here. What would Auntie say? Hammer gulps and says she got sick when they had to leave their home. They needed money for medicine, but there weren’t any jobs. Spring Pearl knows his mother must truly be sick, because Hammer’s queue is all tangled. If his mother had been well, she never would have allowed him to go out like that.

Spring Pearl asks Hammer what his mother would say if she knew he was stealing. Hammer turns red. It would kill her. Miss Willow wriggles free from Hammer’s grasp and is astonished that Spring Pearl knows him. Spring Pearl briefly explains he’s a fellow Rat.

Hammer, feeling guilty, says that they should leave the Sungs alone. They’ve got plenty of other places to loot. Spring Pearl would never have picked a fight with Hammer. Years of loading and unloading ships has given him plenty of muscles, and years of Riverside brawls taught him to fight. But when a thief claims that Hammer is going soft, Hammer jerks him upright with a sneer and the next moment, the other thief is flat on his back. The other thief’s face turns purple, and he slaps the cobblestones to indicate surrender.

Master Sung says that if they all go away, he will pay them. Another thief suggests that they might as well just take it all, but the thief on the ground sits up. He jerks his head at Hammer and says it’s not worth it. The thieves all let the other Sung children go, and they gather around Master Sung protectively while he sets a price with the thieves. It’s a lot of money, but Master Sung doesn’t seem upset. Spring Pearl knows it could have been worse.

After Master Sung pays, Hammer unbarres the gate and the thieves troop out. Hammer says he’ll stand guard to ensure nobody comes back. When Master Sung asks Spring Pearl if she trusts him, she comments that he is as honest as she is. He’s just going through hard times. Master Sung, nodding, turns to Hammer and tells him that when things settle down, he will find work for him. Hammer bows in disbelief, and thanks him.

Mistress Sung drops her spear and stretches her arms as wide as she can so she can hold her husband and children all at the same time. She scolds them all for fighting, and says they’re not to do something so stupid again. Miss Oriole squeezes her head out of the hug, and invites Miss Weed into the hug. Mistress Sung urges Spring Pearl to join them. Miss Willow turns her head and asks what Spring Pearl is waiting for. She’s family, too.

Spring Pearl had taken several steps forward until Miss Willow said the word “family.” She can feel her eyes tearing up as she moves forward into their hug.

Poor Doggy was the only real casualty. He never did catch up with the British patrol, and finally comes back to help. Unfortunately, Spring Pearl didn’t warn Hammer, so Doggy winds up with a black eye with such vivid purples and blues that even Spring Pearl’s father couldn’t have captured all the colors.