Listening to Rain

Chapter 8 - The Red Bird Inn

Chapter 8

The Red Bird Inn

According to some of the documents that Li Wei gathered, the Red Bird Inn had a long history. It was established during the Han dynasty's invasion of the Lingnan region, seven hundred years ago. Over the centuries, the Chinese gradually pulled back and the aborigine tribes, the Man and the Lee, recovered their lands as the forest recovered from civilization. Local chiefs sometimes took over the inn for their residence. During the Sui dynasty, almost four decades ago, when the Chinese invaders returned and many of the aborigines were massacred, the inn was restored, reestablishing Chinese ownership.

* * *

His legs folded under him on a worn floor cushion at a table in the center of the spacious first floor dining hall, a large, deeply tanned Chinese yelled, "Make sure the storm gates are secure. The spirits of this region are gathering."

The man's brown beard hung down to cover his neck from ear to ear. His receding hair was tied tightly on either side of his head in two knots, framing a large face with broad forehead, an ample nose and two large, intense eyes that radiated energy. His belly, protruding from his pale blue tunic, spilled over his black waist sash and loose white trousers; it was as tanned and ample as his face. His bare hands and feet were large and heavily callused. Salt sweat encrusted his robes. There were splintered indentations on the wooden tabletop where he was drumming his fingers.

Behind him was a broad staircase leading up to the second floor sleeping quarters, which were divided into twenty-one rooms-Chinese architects considered twenty-one an auspicious number.

"Master Rao Rung, we'll never get back to the island if this keeps up," said a small dark aborigine, his face deeply tattooed with auspicious designs in blue ink, as was the rest of his bare upper body. At his thin waist hung a knife with a two-foot blade. The handle was white bone tightly wrapped in rattan. Large wooden earrings swayed as he spoke. Dirty white pants ended at his calves, and straw sandals hung loose on his tattooed feet. His hair was tied in the traditional Lee topknot and his mouth and teeth were stained dark red from the betel nut that he was chomping.

"Stop your complaining, Blue Wasp. I have a feeling our guests are going to arrive tonight. We must wait for them," said Rao Rung in a voice that seemed to resonate from the depths of the earth.

"Aye, we should take their livers and be done with it," grumbled the aborigine. His mouth formed a dark red grin as he relished the thought of steamed liver, especially Chinese liver.

"You uncultured bastards and your steamed livers. Sliced and fried in peanut oil is the only civilized way to enjoy them. Or, perhaps, pickled. If you bastards had any culture, you'd follow propriety and only serve liver, your enemies' liver, during victory celebrations. Your obsession with steamed liver is disgusting; no sense of propriety."

In the hall, sparsely filled with knots of Chinese and aborigine customers seated on the ground at low tables, a young woman in her mid-twenties wandered. She was of average height and wore a disheveled light green robe. Long, tangled locks of raven hair framed her dark, sad eyes, which formed gloomy hollows in her pale face. She toyed with a white jade ring on a silver necklace and hummed an indistinct air as she moved in an erratic course toward the large man at the center of the hall.

None of the customers paid attention to her, as they sat without conversation and without touching their food. They were all busy chewing betel nut and watching the main door. Every now and then, one of the men would wrap another nut in pepper leaf and pop it into his red-stained mouth.

"Papa," she said when she reached Rao's table, "I out. Play, papa, play."

The large man's features softened as he looked up at her, "Child," he said in a soothing tone, "now is not a good time. Listen, do you hear the storm? Lot of rain...hard rain. Tomorrow, we'll go to the beach to find more shells, maybe a boat ride to find pearls."