Breaking Bamboo Read Online Free Page A

long night.
    ‘Do you have a message for His Excellency? Or Honoured First Wife?’ asked Third Tutor Hu.
    ‘Tell them their son is recovering rapidly. One should never underestimate how the young bend and spring back.’
    ‘Like green bamboo,’ added Tutor Hu, smiling faintly.
    Dr Shih bowed in acknowledgement, for the words came from one of his Great-grandfather Yun Cai’s most famous poems, the long one about the lotus.
    The servant left and Dr Yun Shih stepped outside into the enclosed garden. He listened to the sounds of the palace – a drone of gossip as two servants passed down an adjoining corridor believing themselves unheard. A vague hum from the city surrounding Peacock Hill.
    Then he was disturbed by two voices arguing in a nearby apartment. Their words were indistinct; not so the fierceness on either side. The voices belonged to the Pacification Commissioner and his wife. Shih felt an irrational, childish desire to hide and remembered his father and mother arguing bitterly one rainy, monsoon afternoon when he was Little Tortoise’s age. At once he felt dejected and weary. Third Tutor Hu stepped into the garden.
    ‘Doctor! You look faint, sir! You must eat.’
    The servants were bringing in breakfast. Shih watched in amazement as dozens of delicate green bowls with an exquisitely distressed glaze were laid out: rice-balls flavoured with sesame and anise; strips of roasted pork wrapped in wafers; piquant prawns fried in batter; cups of the weak wine known in the city as dawn-dew , and more of the stronger brew called dusk-dew .
    As he ate, Dr Shih’s mood lifted. Still he kept an eye on the boy. Surely he had earned an absurd fee – and not just from the Pacification Commissioner! That was the least of it. Word would circulate how he had healed the great Wang Ting-bo’s son. Patients would besiege his humble shop in Apricot Corner Court. With the better sort, he could double – no, triple his usual fee.
    If only Cao were here now, to witness this moment! He would buy her new silks and lacquered furniture to replace all that had been scuffed and dulled by years of hardship. Oddly, the prospect of her pleasure made him restless. Soon his thoughts drifted another way.
    It seemed he had also made an enemy of Dr Du Mau. The Pacification Commissioner’s own nephew had said as much. As head of the guild Du Mau possessed a great capacity for mischief.
    Dr Shih had laboured over many years to establish a Relief Bureau intended to assist the destitute and those without family. In return he received a pittance from the city authorities and Cao sometimes complained his work there kept them as poor as the patients. Shih’s fear was that Dr Du Mau might seek to appoint someone else to manage the Relief Bureau, a prospect he could not bear.
    Still he ate the delicacies set before him, making sure Chung received a share. The lad was determined to taste every dish –a banquet like this was worth a thousand boasts among the other apprentices in Water Basin Ward.
    Third Tutor Hu was gone a long while. He returned with the Pacification Commissioner and his wife, accompanied by a dozen secretaries and officials. Among them was Wang Ting-bo’s handsome nephew, Wang Bai.
    At the sight of Little Tortoise, the couple’s stern expressions melted. Husband and wife tentatively approached the bedside.
    Shih noticed their hands touch as they gazed down at their son.
    Tears were back in Wang Ting-bo’s eyes. He reached out and brushed the boy’s forehead, marvelling at its coolness. The Pacification Commissioner’s wife also bent over the boy and then looked up to smile at Dr Shih with fierce gratitude.
    ‘Doctor,’ said Wang Ting-bo softly, so as not to wake the boy. ‘Do appearances tell lies?’
    Dr Shih bowed respectfully.
    ‘I think we might call Little Tortoise safe, Your Excellency,’ he said. ‘From this malady at least. Though, as the proverb says, one step at a time is good walking .’
    Wang Ting-bo nodded