Chapter 5
Of course I knew what blood jade looked like. I knew even better how to use this chopper.
Eleven years ago, Zheng Qingxu had rashly taken the jade to the capital. Before he could secure even the humblest official post, someone had swindled him out of everything.
He returned home bitter and resentful, never expecting to find me waiting on the stone block by the door.
For more than a month I, a five-year-old child, had gathered fruit in the mountains and caught fish in the river, living like a little savage.
When I saw him, I neither cried nor shouted. I merely wiped my dirty face with my sleeve, looked up, and asked, “Where’s Mother?”
Zheng Qingxu narrowed his eyes without answering. He came over, seized my neck, lifted me, and held me against the glaring sun.
“Where did Mother go?” I asked timidly again, dangling in the air.
His handsome face was full of savage anger. “Shut up!” he growled hoarsely.
Then he carried me into the apothecary, dug out this dust-covered chopper, and pressed the little finger of my left hand beneath its blade.
Crack.
All these years later, that severed finger, pouring blood, still haunted my dreams every night.
Zheng Qingxu laughed and wept as he held it. Bit by bit, he scraped away the flesh with a file and rinsed it in clean water, until only a short piece of jade bone threaded with red remained.
Clutching my bleeding left hand, I saw the glittering broken surface where my little finger had joined my palm. Then I understood why Mother had so often held me and cried when I was small—
I was the mixed offspring of a bone demon and a human. I had a demon’s jade bones and a human’s flesh and blood.
My bones were naturally blood jade.
From then on, Zheng Qingxu never dared think of killing me again.
He sold my jade bone, expanded the apothecary, and abandoned all thought of studying his way into office. He chartered several merchant ships and went into the medicinal-herb trade.
From township to county town, from county town to prefectural seat, he cut off one of my fingers every year.
By the time he had finished both hands, the Zheng family was the richest in Jiangling Prefecture. News of his blood jade spread as well.
Blood jade with spiritual powers could scarcely be bought for ten thousand gold pieces.
At some point, a secret began circulating quietly through the regional and prefectural offices: eleven years ago, while serving as a judicial officer in Shu, the Chancellor of the Right had used the annual tribute to present His Majesty with ancient phoenix-blood jade that could ward off evil and channel spirits!
Red threads ran through the jade like a spiderweb. Light passed through its clear portions, and spiritual energy seemed to pour from it. Nothing like it existed in the world.
At the time, His Majesty had just defied universal condemnation to make Taizhen his consort. Aptly, Taizhen’s secular name also contained the character for jade.
A beauty became a consort, an auspicious treasure appeared, and the chancellor’s silver tongue declared their union a marriage decreed by heaven. The censorial officials were silenced altogether.
His Majesty was delighted. He immediately appointed the chancellor a military staff officer of the Right Jinwu Guard, permitted him to enter the inner palace freely, and summoned him often, showering him with favor.
Over ten years the chancellor rose steadily. At his busiest he held more than forty offices at once. Now he was chancellor, Duke of Wei, and Grand Minister of Works.
No man in the empire could rival his eminence.
From then on, any jade tinged with red multiplied in value.
In recent years His Majesty’s devotion to Daoism had deepened. One day he suddenly claimed to hear a divine voice in the air: “Take jade as medicine, and you may live forever.”
Every region sprang into action. In a few short months, countless rare treasures were offered to the palace, yet none prolonged his life.
After this year’s birthday banquet, His Majesty took the Precious Consort to the palace at Mount Li. Beside a hot spring, he saw his graying reflection and could not help lamenting to her:
“No auspicious sign has appeared for so long. Is it because I have neglected affairs of state and trusted the wrong men? Ah, I hoped to transcend this mortal flesh and spend a hundred years with you, my love. It seems that hope may go unfulfilled…”
Not long afterward, Li Deqing, prefect of Jiangling, condescended to call at Zheng Qingxu’s door and address him as a brother.
“I don’t believe Zheng Xi is dead! Chuntang, you don’t know. She and her mother are bone demons. They aren’t afraid of water. How could she drown?”
Zheng Qingxu gripped my shoulders, half mad.
“Xi, you’re Xi, aren’t you? My ancestors were all demon hunters, living apart from others, rejected by every walk of life! All I ever wanted was to change this wretched fate, become a grand official, protect my descendants, and bring glory to my ancestors! Can’t you grant your father that?”