Mei Sūn* was a young girl who lived in the Forbidden City in ancient China. She was a passionate girl who cared about others and had an uncommon selflessness. This is her story.
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Mei** awoke from a good night’s sleep early in the morning. She quickly rose and dressed, slipping into her red silken robes. These were richly deigned and beautifully tailored. Mei Sūn liked wearing red, which was the color of happiness in ancient China. She then did her hair and began to leave her room for breakfast. As she made her way out of her room, her cat intercepted her.
He was a beautiful feline with pure white fur. His fur was long, white and glossy. Mei had named him Bai, which means white in Chinese. Mei adored and cherished her beloved pet and fed him the best fish that she could buy for him. He seemed to love her back just as much as she did him.
Bai turned his head to look at her with his glittering eyes--one yellow and one green. He trotted over to her on his slender white paws and rubbed his side against her legs. Mei laughed joyfully and picked him up in her arms, lovingly cradling him against her chest. He started to purr with ecstasy and delight. It was a rhythmic rumbling sound that nearly lulled her back to sleep. His eyes were shut tight with bliss.
Mei shook herself out of her momentary daze. She smiled lovingly at Bai and gently set him back down onto the ground. As she continued out of the room, Bai followed at a lazy walk, rubbing against everything within reach--including Mei. She almost tripped several times thanks to her excessively affectionate cat.
“Mei!” Yu, dressed in pink*** robes, called to her. “It is time for breakfast!”
“Coming, mother,” Mei said, hurrying over to the table as quickly as her long robe would allow her to go and nearly tripping over Bai again.
When Mai entered the room, she gently pushed Bai out of the doorway so that she could enter. Her mother noticed the large white cat and said with a laugh, “Looks like Bai is asking for his breakfast. We have silver carp for you today, Bai.”
Bai purred as if he understood what Yu was saying. Then he turned to Mei as if he were about to rub against her leg again, hesitated, and then rubbed. This made Mei laugh. She then headed over to the counter, Bai on her heels, and placed a porcelain platter with carp on it onto the floor. Bai ate contentedly, never ceasing to purr loudly to show his thanks.
Then Mei sat down in one of the polished red sandalwood chairs and began to eat the rice porridge, congree, with delicious pickled vegetables. They were served in beautiful white porcelain plates and bowls not unlike the dish that Bai was eating off of. Soon she was done, having not left a single piece of her delectable meal left.
When she had finished, she excused herself and left her mother and father, whose name was Liwei****, to talk privately together. Bai followed Mei out of the room, purring and prodding her along with affectionate butts or his head.
“Oh, Bai,” Mei laughed, smiling warmly down at her cat.
Bai looked back up at her and winked his left eye, the green one. His purr would have been deafening had it been any louder.
Mei walked outside, into the garden. It was full of a great verity or well-kept plants, stylishly chipped stones and rivers full of olive-green lily pads. Some of these even had gorgeous bridges to use to cross over them. The garden was Mei’s favorite part of the Forbidden City*****.
Bai seemed to love the garden, too. He continued to purr and rubbed against the stonework. He stood there, pigeon-legged, his head turned towards her. His multicolored eyes seemed to sparkle with an unknown inquiry. Mei wished that he could ask her the question. She sat down on one of the low stone walls next to him and pet his silky-soft head. He stood so that his front legs balanced on her thighs while his hind legs were still on the ground.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Bai,” Mei murmured softly to him. After a moment of quiet while she stoked his head and ran her fingers down his soft back, the only sound being running water and Bai’s rumbling purr, Mei continued, “Do you ever wonder what it is like outside of the Forbidden City?”
Bai looked at her and stopped purring. He tilted his head like he was asking Mei something. Again, she was unsure of what to say.
Uncertainly, she explained, “You know, what the people are like, what they wear, where they live and what they do.” She stopped, gazing at the slightly foreboding walls that blocked off Mei’s view of the world beyond them. “Father is always talking about how they are ungrateful for what he gives and are dirty. But I can’t imagine that they are much different then us. I wonder why father thinks of them that way and doesn’t let them in the Forbidden City.”
Mei imagined that Yu or Liwei had explained this to her at some point in her life, but she couldn’t remember anything about such things.
Mei sighed, drawing her hand away from Bai’s head. Bai objected to this and raised one of his white paws to bat at her hand. Mei couldn’t ignore her cat’s pleading bicolored eyes and resumed petting him. Then she continued to speak, “I only wish that I had the courage to ask my father about such things.”
“Meow,” Bai said. Somehow, the meow was very comforting.
Mei picked the large white cat up and hugged him her her chest. “You are such a sweet māo******.” Mei scratched his back affectionately. “You’re right. I should ask Father. Or at least I should ask Mother. I am very curious, and nothing will stop me from finding out about what is beyond those walls!”
A little later, Mei and Bai hurried into the dinning area. Yu and Liwei were still sitting on their beautiful red sandalwood chairs. The highly polished wood seemed to almost glow. The dirty porcelain dishes had long since been taken away to be cleaned and her mother and father were talking to each other.
“Oh, hello, Mei,” Yu said kindly to her daughter, smiling. Then she looked down by the girl’s feet. “And hello to you, too, Bai.” Yu then turned back to Mei and intoned, “I thought that you were going out into the gardens? You can’t be back inside already! You usually spend hours doing who-knows-what in that garden or ours.” Yu chuckled with good-humor at this.
Mei nodded, but she wasn’t really listening. She then turned to her father and asked, “What is it like outside of the Forbidden City?”
“Why do you ask?” Liwei questioned, a little taken aback by the sudden inquiry.
“Because I have always wondered,” Mei said simply. “And looking at that wall in the garden reawakens my curiosity every time I go in there. I wonder what it looks like and what the people are like.”
“Well, there’s nothing to see out there,” Liwei snapped, glaring at her with his eyes aflame. “I have told you numberless times this and I haven’t changed my mind at all. And if you are asking to go in out of the Forbidden City and see those peasants and where they live, then I don’t even know what I would say.” Liwei shook his head, as if he were disappointed in his daughter.
Yu looked at Liwei with pleading eyes. “Lewei, please. Mei needs to see the world for herself at some point, and now is as good a time as any. She is our only child, and if she is to become empress one day, she’ll need to see the land that she will help rule some day. Please?”
Lewei hesitated for several long moments. Mei held her breath in suspense, waiting for the answer. Finally, Lewei sighed begrudgingly, “Fine. But you had better act like a proper lady while we are there. Not that those peasant slobs would even care...”
“Thank you, Father!” Mei squeaked, hardly able to contain herself. “When are we going to go?”
Lewei sighed again. “I suppose that now’s as good a time as any. Me and your mother will go and get ready for our public appearance.” Then he added in a slightly warning tone, “And you’d better do the same, young lady.”
Mei suppressed another squeal of delight and resisted the urge to dash out of the room. But instead, to show her father that she could act properly, Mei left the room in a calm and collected manner, Bai trailing a little ways behind her.
Once she entered he room, she let out that squeal of joy that had been trapped inside of her all of this time. This startled Bai, who widened his eyes and flattened his ears back and took a surprised step backwards. Mei, as she loved to do, picked him up in her arms and squeezed him tightly to her chest.
Then she set him back down onto the floor and kissed the top of his head. “I’m so sorry, Bai,” she murmured to him with a slight sigh, “but you won’t be able to come with me. You could get hurt of lost or something. Well--I’m sure that you wouldn’t ever leave my side. But I don’t ever want to take that risk. Don’t worry, Bai. I’ll tell you about everything that I see there.”
Mei brushed a dark strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear, and smoothed out the few creases that had been made in her robe of course of the morning. Then she turned away from him to head back out of her room. She really had nothing else to straighten up. She had done her hair early in the morning and had dressed in one of the most beautiful robes that she possessed.
She met her mother and father the moment she left her room. Yu had her hair braided and then put in coils by her ears. She wore purple silk robes with small golden designs that, like Mei’s, went all the way down to the floor. Purple robes represented spiritual awareness and the color gold was often worn to show wealth.
Next to Yu, Mei’s father’s long hair was worn in a tight bun on the top of his head*. Liwei was also wearing a robe, like Mei and Yu. But his only went down to his knees, unlike the women’s. This was how all men wore their robes. His were a vibrant yellow, which was a color that only emperors were allowed to wear. He had a stern expression on his face as he looked his daughter up and down.
“You haven’t changed your robes,” Liwei muttered, looking disappointed. “Well, we should go anyway. Come on.”
Liwei then walked stiffly out of the room, scowling. Yu turned to her daughter and touched her hand to the girl’s cheek. “It’s okay, Mei,” she murmured in a kind and gentle tone. “You’re father is just feeling out of sorts today.”
Mei smiled up at her mother’s kind and caring face. Somehow, Yu was always able to make her feel better. Then the empress turned away and followed Liwei. Mei hurried after the two, Bai following not far behind her. Mei felt a pang of regret for not bringing him with her. Maybe she could ask her parents... But then Yu would fret and Liwei would scoff. No, it was better not to bother. Either way she was going to end up being forced to leave her pet at home.
Mei followed her parents outside and into the garden. She whispered a loving “goodbye” to Bai, who gave her a pitiful expression in return, and then dashed out of the Forbidden City for the fist time in her life.
What met her eyes was a horrible sight. People wearing loose and rough hemp clothing were working tirelessly in the fields. There were small, cramped-looking houses a little ways off. These looked nothing like the expensive-looking, beautifully painted home that Mei and her family lived in. The workers all looked sad and tired. When Liwei and Yu took her though the streets, most of the people stopped their work to stare, some of them bowing. Others whispered “The Sūn family” with so much respect and awe that it was heartbreaking. Others simply stared as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
How could Liwei allow themselves to dress in expensive silk and have a whole city almost completely to themselves while these poor people were all living in filth? Mei thought about saying something about this to her mother and father right then and there, but decided against it. She knew that the fewer people were there to hear her outraged retort, the less trouble she would get herself in.
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No matter how much Mei agued, she couldn’t convince her father that it was wrong to live like this while the people with less wealth were working tirelessly in the fields. But she was a determined girl and decided that she would change this horrible system when she became empress.
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* Mei, Yu, Liwei and the Sūn’s altogether are not a real Chinese family.
** ‘Mei’ is a red gemstone in Chinese.
*** A robe of the color pink was is a symbol of love in Chinese culture.
**** ‘Liwei’ mean poweress in Chinese.
***** The Forbidden City is a real place in what is now Benign.
****** ‘Māo’ means cat is Chinese.
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-KittyLover8
© 2013
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