Lulu's Fate

The outdoor market, which had the faint smells of sweet buns, braised pork, and warm noodles wafting gently together in that aroma that reminds one of childhood, was filled with people selling goods and others perusing those goods. People were moving from stall to stall—some were haggling over jade pendants and others were picking up dried fish and putting them back down in distaste. A woman in the Ruqun style dress of the era, was buying fabric at a stall outside a store. The dress was orange with blue sleeves that were a darker shade of the blue embroidered flowers that rose up from the hem in delicate arcs.

Her attendant, who was more modestly dressed in a light pink dress of a similar style, was arguing that they were being taken advantage of by the price and couldn't the store-keeper go down a little more? There was a line at the fortune teller's stall as he wrote talismans for good fortune, love, and bountiful fishing. The calligrapher's store, on the other hand, was empty. The young scholar who had just opened the store stood outside with examples of calligraphic works on display, pointing to them as potential customers walked by and waved him off.

Lulu surveyed the scene in front of her. She looked at the signs on the stores and stalls, squinting her eyes, trying to make herself understand. Then she shook her head, gave a deep sigh, and went back to her task, which was selling sweet buns and breads at the stall in front of a bakery. Sun Xu, the woman who along with her husband owned the store, came over to her with a fresh basket of breads and placed each one gently in the bin in front of Lulu. She then gently squeezed Lulu's upper arm as if to give her reassurance and strength.

Lulu nodded and said, "Thank you."

Sun Xu replied, "Of course. Though it's only been a few weeks, already you feel like my daughter," before heading back to kneading some dough for another batch of sweet buns. Sun Xu was petite, about 5 feet 4 inches in height, and her round face and double chin were more of a proxy for her 31 years of age rather than her weight. Her hair was pulled back in a tight, neat bun at the back of her head with nary a tendril being able to escape the grip.

Lulu turned her head and said, "It still amazes me that we can understand each other's language, Mrs. Sun."

Sun Xu replied, "Let's just be grateful that at least we do." Lulu nodded once and turned back to her work.

Like Mrs. Sun, Lulu was also a petite woman, five feet 2 inches tall, although she was 8 years younger. She had long, curly dark brown hair that was currently in an unruly bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were dark, and filled with a history that belied her youth, although she could not remember it. She was dressed in the type of plain clothes many of the shop keeps wore at the stalls, one that was indistinguishable in color or style. It had been borrowed from Mrs. Sun so it was a a tad too long, which is why she had to lift it up when she turned to go into the store for more tissue paper for the stall.

Mr. Sun came out from the small store that was also their home with the tissue and said to Lulu, "I thought you might be running low on this."

"I was just coming inside to get some more!," exclaimed Lulu.

"Yes, well, I've been doing this for a while now child," said Mr. Sun smoothly. Mr. Sun was a couple inches taller than his wife, but several pounds heavier, most of which resided around his stomach. His inner and outer robes were made from linen, both in earthen tones. His top knot, which was as neat as Mrs. Sun's bun, was hidden under a matching cap.

Mr. Sun turned to his wife and said, "Why don't you come inside and do that? It's starting to get warm."

Mrs. Sun responded, "I'm fine right here. I'll come in when the buns are ready for the oven. I want to keep Lulu company."

At the mention of Lulu, Mr. Sun looked at her again and recalled when he first found her, nearly drowned, on the riverbank. Shaking his head at the memory, he thought, "Aya. This child has been through so much. Looking at her now from the back it would be hard to tell she was a foreigner—especially in those clothes." These were definitely not the same clothes she had been found in, which were of a design and fabric that he had never seen. In fact, he recalled, she had been wearing pants made out of a blue fabric that he was sure had not even been invented! He shook his head and went back into the store.

As the afternoon wore on, several people stopped by the stall and Lulu had to use hand gestures to communicate with them about what they wanted and at what price. Occasionally, people tried to haggle with her, and she would do so, again with hand gestures raising three fingers instead of four. Most people were kind, but she could also tell by the looks they gave her that some of them still just came by to stare. As just one example today, two women stopped by and pretended to be interested in a couple loaves of bread but then started whispering amongst themselves behind their fans. One of the women said, "Look at those round eyes," while another said "But have you noticed her crazy, curly hair? She is indeed a foreigner like mei mei said."

Lulu didn't understand a word since they were speaking in what she figured was some type of ancient Chinese, but she did hear the vicious tone of the whispers and frowned slightly. After a minute or so, they indicated that they weren't interested by waving their hands palms up side to side, and left. Others would pass by the stall and openly stare and point and keep walking, not even stopping to buy anything. "At least buy something," Lulu would mutter under her breath at them.

Turning back to her work, Lulu tried to remember something, anything, about who she was and where she came from. No amount of thinking and trying worked, however. She had not resigned herself to her fate, but in the meantime, she wanted to do as much as she could to help the Suns. They had found her and taken such good care of her—it was the least she could do. Still, something gnawed at her gut, telling her that this wasn't all that her fate held.

She didn't know it, but there were two more people staring at her, both from afar. One was across the street and down several stores, hiding at a stall selling jade pendants. His back was turned, and he was pretending to look at a pendant but his head was turned slightly in her direction and he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye. The man was dressed in the type of clothes merchants or healers wore: nothing fancy but more expensive than the clothes Mr. Sun wore. His linen robe was pale yellow revealing a white round collar underneath, and all his hair was in a top knot, held up with a jade pin he had purchased at the stall just the week prior.

He had been watching Lulu for a few minutes, when he put the pendant down, ignoring the shopkeeper's question of whether he wanted it at a lower price since he was such a good customer. Instead, he moved closer to the stall selling ladies hair accessories and jewelry. The woman behind the counter put on a big smile and asked, "Were you interested in something for your wife?," in a tone that indicated that she hoped he didn't actually have one. The man half looked at her and said, "Maybe." He pretended to look at a hair pin while looking at Lulu. After about 30 seconds, he turned to the shop woman and said, "I've changed my mind," and walked away in the opposite direction from Lulu, leaving the woman staring at him in bewilderment since she had been telling him about her daughter's lovely qualities just then.

Unfortunately, the man turned a little too quickly without looking and was almost hit by the horse of the second man who was observing Lulu! The streets were too narrow to not watch where one was going. Fortunately, it was just a close call and the man bowed deeply to the one on the horse before parting ways.

The second man was more elegantly dressed. His light cyan robe was embroidered with silver flowers and birds. The rounded neck revealed a white collar just like the other man's but somehow the style seemed more noble on this gentleman. His hair was jet black, long, and flowing behind him in the strong breeze. It was half up in a top knot that was encircled by a silver filigreed tree branch accessory and pin.

Flanked by his attendant, who was also atop a horse, the nobleman rode slowly toward Lulu's stall. He was observing Lulu the entire time, though he was affecting not to. His attendant asked why they were riding in this manner, to which the nobleman replied simply, "So that we have time." When they were almost near the Sun's store, at an intersection, the nobleman gave a tilt of his head and both men turned their horses to the right and went down the street instead of going just slightly further to the store. Had Lulu been watching them, she would have seen them coming straight for their stand and then turning left at the last minute and disappearing down the narrow street.