Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available For Free Download
- Authors: Lisa See
- Language: English
- Genre: Asian American Literature & Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
To Live Is…
“A thousand years in the past, a thousand years in the future—no matter where
you live or how rich or poor you are—the four phases of a woman’s life are the
same,” Respectful Lady says. “You are a little girl, so you are still in milk days.
When you turn fifteen, you will enter hair-pinning days. The way we style your
hair will announce to the world that you are ready for marriage.” She smiles at
me. “Tell me, Daughter, what comes next?”
“Rice-and-salt days,” I answer dutifully, but my mind wanders. My mother
and I sit together on porcelain stools under a covered colonnade in our home’s
courtyard. It’s monsoon season, so the sliver of sky I can see is heavy with
clouds, making the air feel humid, suffocating. Two miniature orange trees
grow side by side in matching pots. Other containers hold cymbidiums, their
stalks drooping under the weight of the blossoms. Rain is coming, but until
then, birds titter in the gingko tree that provides a touch of coolness on the
summer day, and I can smell the sea—something I’ve only seen in paintings.
The fragrance doesn’t, however, cover the unpleasant odor coming from
Respectful Lady’s bound feet.
“Your thoughts are elsewhere.” Her voice sounds as frail as her body looks.
“You must pay attention.” She reaches over and takes one of my hands. “Are you
having pain today?” When I nod, she says, “The memories of the agony you felt
during your footbinding will never leave completely. There will be days from
now until you die when the anguish will visit—if you’ve stood too long or
walked too far, if the weather is about to change, if you don’t take proper care of
your feet.” She squeezes my hand sympathetically. “When they throb or smart,
remind yourself that one day your suffering will be proof to your husband of
your love. Focusing on something else will distract you from the pain.”
My mother is wise, which is why everyone in the household, including my
brother, Yifeng, and I, calls her Respectful Lady, the honorary title she carries as
the wife of someone with my father’s high rank. But if she can tell I’m
distracted, then I can see she is too. The sound of a woman singing reaches us.
Miss Zhao, my father’s concubine, must be entertaining my father and his
guests.
“You know how to concentrate… when you want to,” my mother goes on at
last. “This ability—to be fully absorbed—is what saves us.” She pauses for a
moment as male laughter—my father’s voice distinct in the appreciative choir
—swirls around us like a fog. Then she asks, “Shall we continue?”
I take a breath. “Rice-and-salt days are the most important years in a
woman’s life. They are when I will be busy with wife and mother duties—”
“As I am now.” Respectful Lady gracefully tips her head, setting the gold and
jade ornaments that hang from her bun to tinkle softly.
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