The strange land

7 August 1994

[Yong qi's POV]

"Knock knock!" crisp sound of the night watch drum could be heard throughout the entire Jing yang palace*.

"It's 1 hour before sunrise." the night watchman announced.

I was already up 1 hour before the sound of the night watch drum doing some light revision of my school work. Today is the Zhong yuan festival**. Mother Consort is very strict with me attending classes and completing my assignments with my tutors even with a hectic day such as today. As such, she has sent for Eunuch Li to supervise the completion of all my required tasks for today.

"Your highness, your humble servant has prepared your study seat with cut paper and ink. Today's assignment included readings and memorisation of the Poems of One Thousand Writers and the Book of Rites." Eunuch Li updated me as a junior eunuch dressed me up in study robes.

"Grand tutor Eertai will be overseeing your studies today." Eunuch Li continued.

I let out a long breath. Grand tutor Eertai, the top Imperial College Professor, is at least 100 times stricter than any other tutors. A staunch man with an iron will of a titan that can break any man on earth.

"Let's get going." I said to Eunuch Li.

I think about all that insane amount of work that has to be done before the commencement of the Zhong yuan festival rituals.

On a usual day, these assignments have a deadline of submission before dinner. Today, it is 1 hour before lunch time.

"I can do it! It's all in the mind" I muttered to myself massaging my temples to ease the throbbing headache.

"The vegetables! Where are the vegetables?" a senior cook screamed at a junior eunuch.

"Work faster or the Emperor and consorts are going to get hungry!" another senior cook raged at an apprentice cook.

"Clank!" a metal pot can be heard dropping on the floor.

"Who is the klutz! Get the hell out of here!" another voice yelled.

I looked into the nightmare of the Imperial kitchen as kitchen staff and junior eunuchs rushed to prepare the elaborate offerings for the ceremonial rites at noon. Eunuch can be seen scrambling to scrub and set up the elaborate tables for the affair.

"Every harvest tributes from each of the provinces must be accounted for. Have you got it checked?" the chief of kitchen staff asked his second in command.

"Yes. The daily meal arrangements of the Imperial Household will not see any lapse." the second in command answered.

"Very well, we can't afford for heads to roll." the chief in command saw me passing by and stopped to bow to me.

"Away with the formalities. I shall not impose on you." I said to him.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Have a great day at the Imperial College." he got up from his low bow to resume his work.

The Imperial College is a place where only the Princes and sons of top aristocratic families have the privilege to attend. The best tutors in the entire dynasty are recruited to teach here.

The moment I stepped into the classroom, I twitched. Tutor Eertai was already there waiting for me, pacing around the front of the classroom with hands folded at the back and the fingers of his right hand tapping on the left wrist.

"I am early by 30 minutes, aren't I?" I asked Eunuch Li.

"Yes, indeed, Your Highness." Eunuch Li smiled at me.

I let out a sigh of relief as I looked around to see that I am the first student to arrive. Politely, I greeted the tutor and went to my study seat.

Time really flies and soon, the watch drum sounded for an hour before noon.

"Peace calls for an edict to return. I shall personally remove the General's armour." I recited the final verse of the Poems of One Thousand Writers to tutor Eertai.

"Very well, Your highness. I am thoroughly satisfied with your studies today. You may be dismissed." Tutor Eertai nodded at me.

"Your highness, we would need to proceed to prepare for the rituals." Eunuch Li hurried me.

"Dong. Dong...dong...dong!" the sounds of the big ceremonial drums played. Father Emperor was already stationed in front of the ceremonial table filled with elaborate offerings of all kinds of meat, fruits and vegetables, ready to lead the rituals.

I quickly took my place after exchanging a few brief greetings with other Princes.

This is an event only for the males of the Imperial household. It is imperative that the great ancestors receive these offerings and be informed of the harvests so that the following year will be equally blessed with bountiful harvests. It is also a time where the ladies of the harem get the rare opportunity to catch up with their birth sons.

With heavy eyelids, I struggled to keep my head straight as the boring rituals dragged into the evening.

Here I am, in this strange land again. The last I remembered was dozing off in my chambers after returning from dinner with Mother Consort.

I wonder if it could be the effect of the commonly believed opening of the gates of hell during this day that caused my arrival here, or perhaps the exhaustion from the intensity of the day.

I looked around to see that this strange land is made up of people of many different skin colour, height and built. Although there are more white people around, there are still a sizable number Chinese people while the other coloured people made up the minority. They seemed to be living in harmony together, speaking to each other in a strange language and going about their daily lives unbothered with the amount of smoke released from the paper burning going on in the Chinese temple nearby.

I marveled at the sight that a Chinese temple, Muslim mosque and a Christian church are all in close proximity with one another. That would be highly impossible in the Great Qing Empire.

Inside the temple, a banner that says "Zhong Yuan Festival" can be seen displayed on top of a makeshift tent and below that are the words that said "Hungry Ghost Festival" that is filled to the brim with food offerings of fruit, vegetables and meat dishes.

Zhong Yuan Festival in this strange place seems to be less of a festival celebrated by the commoners of the Great Qing. It takes on a more solemn atmosphere with people offering prayers and incense paper and barely any bazaar activities.

To the left of the temple, a makeshift stage is set up on the grass patch with empty rows of seats in front. People gathered around the back of the seats to watch the opera singers with elaborate costumes and painted faces.

"Hmm.....interesting, their costumes and the paint on their faces are of a higher quality than the entire Great Qing." I suck in a breath, mind blown at the performance. "Such vivacity of details and attention to colour would be a great leap forward to the arts scene in our Great Qing."

"Lok fa mun tin bai yuet guong….jie yat bui fu jin fung toi seong….." a female opera singer dressed in wedding robes began her song as the scene backdrop changed.

I dropped my jaw in awe. How the hell do these people change the backdrop? Are they magicians or what?

"Excuse me, do you know the name of the opera?" I asked the person standing next to me, hoping to gather more information that I can bring home with me.

I received no reaction and no replies from the person.

"Rude commoners!" I thought to myself.

I went on asking a few more people the same question. Still, no one answered. More accurately, it dawned upon me that I am a ghost in this strange place.

From a distance, I spotted that girl again. Trudging behind her parents, they seemed to be heading towards the temple. She was heaving over her shoulders, an oversized bag that is larger than all of her, filled with stacks of paper offerings that looks to be almost spilling out of the bag. It seemed to me that the weight of the bag was causing her to break out in sweat, in starking contrast to the otherwise cooling breeze of the early autumn.

Her mother carried her 2 year old toddler brother in her arms with a small canvas backpack on her shoulders. Her father, beside her mother, was lighting up a white colored stick that was held between his index and middle finger with a handheld device held on the opposite hand that provided a flame and soon, fluffy clouds of smoke could be seen coming out of his mouth.

I shook my head at the sight. Even though girls are considered as lesser and have lower statuses as the boys in the Great Qing, girls should be treated well as per Confucian teachings. At least, that is what I am taught. Moreover, I have observed in my short time exploring this strange land, that girls enjoy equal statuses as the boys.

I pushed past the growing crowd around the open field to move towards that girl. Very quickly, our eyes met and she stopped in her tracks. Unsure, she looked around, rubbed her eyes and shifted her stares back at me.

"Hi! We meet again." I smiled at her as she winced.

"I hope you have recovered well from your injuries." I added.

"Thank you." she replied. At that moment, I noticed her eyes softening into a glow.

"My injuries are nothing. Don't worry about it." she added as she plucked up the courage to look at me in the eye.

"You can understand Guan Hua***?" I asked.

"I think you mean Chinese. It's my second language. We are third generation Chinese immigrants here." she shrugged. " My name is Elizabeth."

"Yi…yi...yili….." I struggled and stammered. Feeling embarrassed, I asked her to teach me how to pronounce her name.

"Oh! My bad!" she let out a soft chuckle. "I can clearly see that you are not from here." she furrowed her eyebrows for a brief moment, then smiled "In Chinese, it should be pronounced as Yi Li Sha Bai"

"Ah! Yi Li Sha Bai. This is much better. I am Yong qi" I smiled back at her.

"Would you teach me how to say your name in your other language?" I asked her.

I felt a dark shadow looming over our heads. In that instance, I felt Elizabeth freezing up as she lowered her head.

"E-li-za-beth" came a growl. "Who are you talking to?"

I looked up to see her mother over us with her hands placed at the sides of her waist. Her brother was placed in a baby wrap on her back while her backpack was shifted to the front, covering her chest.

"No...no one, mom" Elizabeth let out a soft squeak.

"I hope you remember that we talked about not having imaginary friends" her mother said in an annoyed manner.

"Especially DURING the Hungry Ghost month!" her mother softened her voice into a menacing whisper.

Elizabeth responded with a nod.

It took 30 minutes for the family to find an empty table and to set it up properly with the appropriate offerings for prayers to the hungry ghosts.

As Elizabeth helped out with the set up, her eyes watered up as she tried to blink it away.

"Please, don't cry." I said.

She kept a straight poker face. Concerned, I decided to stick around Elizabeth to see if she would be alright. Afterall, speaking to ghosts would be viewed as bringing bad luck to the family. I would feel bad that someone is judged negatively because of me.

After prayers were done, the family had to join a queue for the burning of paper offerings. Elizabeth's mom fished out 3 unused incense joss sticks and lighted them up.

"To the invisible brother that was talking to Elizabeth earlier, she is just a child. Leave her alone and every year, during the Hungry Ghost Festival, she will come to the temple to offer you paper offerings." with clasped hands, she prayed facing the main door of the temple

"Elizabeth, from now on, there should be no more imaginary friends." she hissed, turning her head to face Elizabeth.