Jai Mei's Unforeseen Journey to Ancient China

Forty Three: Ceremony

As she approached the front of the house, she noticed her husbands engrossed in their duties, yet stealing glances her way.

Her heart melted as she reflected. This morning, upon leaving her room, she found food ready and a bath prepared for her. Guilt intensified. Had they been tending to her needs during the entire three days she secluded herself?

She gestured toward them, "Can we talk, please?"

They ceased their tasks, following her into the house to warm up by the fireplace. Before any words were spoken, she turned, extended her arms, and enveloped them all in a heartfelt embrace.

They were taken aback to some extent, but they reciprocated the hug in a collective embrace. At that moment, the reality of her petite stature dawned on them.

With her head nestled between Hao Zhang and Shu Wang, Liu Feng and Chun Wei on the outer edges, she began, "I'm incredibly grateful for each of you. These past days of reflection made me realize that what I desire most is for us to heal together, to grow as friends.

I often feel inadequate and insignificant in many ways when it comes to all of you, but that's my burden alone, not yours."

She continued, "I'm striving to change, to confront who I used to be versus who I'm aspiring to be. I've done regrettable things out of pain. Hurt people hurt others, and I can't change that as much as I wish I could.

I don't know how many times I can say I'm sorry, but I am truly sorry, and I promise to do better by you.

I understand what you said the other day, and ironically, I wouldn't want to be with me either."

A faint laugh escaped her lips. She kept her head on their shoulders, determined to get through what she needed to say without crumbling.

Despite their attempts to interrupt, she held them a bit closer, signaling she wasn't finished.

"I've come to realize that about myself. You shouldn't want to be with a person like that either. So, stop feeling bad. You wouldn't feel like that if I didn't put you in that situation. I'm grown enough to face that head-on, and I'm tired of it dragging you guys down. Your feelings are valid.

I ask of you all can we move forward as best as we can, please? Let's give each other grace. We won't get it right all the time, but it won't be anywhere near as bad as before. I can promise you that."

As she straightened up and walked back, she met their gazes, finding herself particularly small at that moment, and began, "I know words don't mean much coming from me, and that my actions make all the difference. So, to prove my sincerity, this is my promise to you."

She walked over to a wine jar set, poured five cups of wine, and handed each of them one, keeping one for herself.

"The old Jai Yuna is dead. We lay her to rest today. The new me is here to stay-the one you needed, the one I needed, the one I am," she declared.

A collective gasp escaped from each of them.

She continued, "At this moment, of her death, we will feel whatever we feel for her. We will place it all here and leave it here as much as we can."

She poured the liquor onto the ground, declaring, "I initiate this ritual. The past version of me is lamented, A welcome farewell," she uttered in a hushed, simmering anger.

As Jai Mei poured the liquor onto the ground, a wave of emotions flickered across her face-an amalgamation of disgust, disappointment, and an unspoken farewell to the terrible Jai Yuna.

In a commanding yet subdued tone, she muttered, "Repugnant, vile, utterly disappointing," as her tears mingled with the tensed grip she had on the cup.

"Your grip on me ends now. I am not tethered to the past. Embracing the present, I am reborn, free from your atrocities."

The husbands, witnessing this raw display of self-condemnation, not towards them as usual. This felt like the weight of her sincerity. It hit them like an unexpected wave, the realization that she, too, acknowledged the darkness within her past actions.

In a final act of symbolic closure, she hurled the cup to the ground, shattering it into pieces.

"Crashhh!' The resonance of the breaking cup echoed the finality of her transformation. The shards scattered, mirroring the fragments of the old Jai Yuna that she had cast aside..

"Kaboom!" Lightning and thunder shook the house, as if God Himself was responding to her in favor of the moment.

Yet, the lightning and thundering weren't frightening; this time, they were comforted. It felt as if a powerful force was with them, offering support.

A voice filled her head, "She wasn't going to change, blessed born was she, and yet with such favors, only wickedness and unrighteousness was she."

The room, now hushed, stood witness to the profound metamorphosis, a tableau of a woman bidding farewell to her former self.

With heaving breaths, she pushed herself up off the fireplace she was lending upon to hold herself up, tears cascading down her face, she looked up and motioned towards her husbands. "Now, it's your turn."