Chapter 1.5

Chapter 6

Tiziana Bembo Badoer pressed the paper to her chest. After eleven months of separation she had received a letter hurriedly written by Cosimo, taking advantage of the fact that his caravan had met in its road a merchant who was on his way back to Venice, with little merchandise left and enough jewels and pearls after a profitable stay . The merchant, in fact a very distant cousin of the Bembo family and who knew Andrea of his childhood, had given Tiziana guarantees that the young man and his uncle were very well and satisfied with the results of their journey.

The letter, after swearing that he infinitely missed her, extended to the wonders of Asia and in particular mentioned the beauty of Asian women. Tiziana had references to them in social sewing meetings with other merchants’ wives and had prejudices that placed them as shameless and lewd. Her heart groaned at the thought of her poor child subjected to the depraved influences of those foreigners. When she went to share her fears and anxiety with her husband, he burst into an unexpected laugh and for all comments he replied.

“Bravo for your brother Andrea.”

Annoyed by her husband's attitude-though not overly surprised-Tiziana changed her clothes and went to the nearby church to discuss the matter with the priest, a Neapolitan named Don Girolamo, and seek his advice.

Upon completing her presentation, including Cosimo's letter and her husband's reaction as well as the alleged complicity of her brother, the woman saw the face of the priest ignite, his eyes lit like blight and finally after a couple of attempts of speaking in which his tongue was stuck of indignation, began his philippic.

"Venice, an atheist and heretic city, ignorant of the divine will! Driven away from the sacred ways by merchants without standards, only concerned about the size of their bags and the cult of Mammon. Cursed you are for evermore and may burn in hell that lead you to your destruction! Now they have brought this poor woman's son into the ignominy and sins of the flesh. As is his custom the Enemy uses the infected womb of women, especially foreigners to corrupt those who should be saints.

Don Girolamo was about to continue his diatribes when Tiziana rose, her hands clasping her throat as her face grew livid. She lifted the rim of her skirt and hurried out of the church without knowing what she was doing. The contact with the fresh air of the lagoon brought her partially to reality and then headed straight for her house, distant only four blocks.

When her husband saw her enter as a soul carried by the devil he stopped her holding the woman in his arms and forced her to drink a glass of water, after which he demanded to tell him everything that had happened.

Tiziana was finally able to put some order in her ideas and with shame narrated her interview with the priest and the state of confusion in which she had been left.

Pietro Badoer was astonished not so much by the sayings of Don Girolamo as by the fact that his wife had gone to consult him for a familiar subject.

"I cannot believe you went to see that Neapolitan priest. He hates all Venetians for our prosperity. In the council we believe that he is a spy of the Papal States and of the Pope in our city.

Tiziana gasped again, shook her head and with a wisp of voice exclaimed.

"How could I be so stupid?"

Pietro and his wife looked at each other deeply as they had not done for months, and then burst out in unison in a loud laugh that forced the butler to come up to see if everything was all right.

The second time Lian woke up first. It was then her turn to sit up partially and look at his bed-mate. She watched his straight nose, his prominent chin, his red hair and beard of several days, and the length of her body, which exceeded the dimensions of the bed. Perhaps feeling unconsciously observed, Ivo also opened his eyes and saw what seemed to him a dream picture in front of them. He smiled and said.

“What? What's up? What do you think when you look at me?”

“ I think that my grandmother, the mother of my mother, is right about the barbarians.”

"The barbarians?" Do I look like a barbarian to you?”

"We Chinese people consider barbarians all those who are not Chinese ... and we are not mistaken by much.”

"That sounds racist and sectarian. Well, what your grandmother says about the barbarians?

"That the Chinese girls should be warned against those tall devils, with red hair, sunken green eyes and long noses.”

"And what should they be prevented against? That the barbarian devils violate them?”

“Not exactly. That they seduce them. Devils are hungry for the skin and flesh of Chinese girls and they always engender their little demons in their wombs.”

“ That is, they destroy the racial purity of the Chinese people. Definitely racist.”

"Is that wrong?"

“Of course.”

"Look at the inhabitants of Liqian. What do you see?”

Ivo burst into laughter.

“Touché. Maybe you should listen to your grandmother.”

"I should have, but I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that today."