Ming Zhu and The Pearl that Shines

Chapter Thirteen - Words from the Inside

Fortunately, Xiao Xin recovered from the fever, and Xiao Xiao became convinced that her little sister also gained the power of speech. Mother always claimed that such things happened after children had the fevers. She apparently experienced the same thing when she was a toddler.

Mother visited her parents later, to bring them gifts of mooncakes. In return, she was given a book of herbs. But it was meant for Xiao Xiao instead.

"You should feel grateful," Mother told her later, while they drank tea and nibbled at carefully prepared snacks of autumn roasted pumpkin seeds and boiled water caltrops that resembled the shape of bats. Mother looked much happier after visiting her parents. "This book has been passed down from generation to generation."

"They want me to study herbs?" Xiao Xiao questioned her mother incredulously, looking at the nondescript blue-covered book, with the edges tattered and yellowed with age. The characters were written in the complicated script. She already had problems with reading her characters!

"No, they want you to have it. Perhaps, if you are older, you might want to learn more."

"But what can I do with road-side weeds?"

Mother only laughed.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xin had been watching the conversation from the floor where she sat playing with a carved wooden dragon with green and red markings for scales.

She looked at Xiao Xiao, and out loud she said: "Dragon."

Xiao Xiao thought she was talking about the toy and just nodded. Another new word again. Xiao Xin shook her head furiously, a habit she learnt from her nanny, and pointed at Xiao Xiao. And repeated: "Dragon."

In Xiao Xiao's pouch the green pearl grew warm and Ming Zhu's heart beat twined with hers.

On the wall behind her was a fleeting dragon shadow.