Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Author:Donna Jo Napoli [Napoli, Donna Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781471103391
Google: 2LQswUM1pZ0C
Amazon: 0689861788
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2006-08-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The smell of incense was making Xing Xing woozy. She had entered the temple to pray because she was too miserable to think straight on her own. There were several altars: to heaven, to the mountains, to the rivers, to the moon, to the earth, to the sun, to the soil, and to Kong Fu Zi. She'd gone from one to another, praying. Stepmother would be furious that she'd come home without Yao Wang after taking all this time. The willow switch would get a good workout. And, worst of all, if Xing Xing applied the balm to Wei Ping too thickly or too thinly or without the right amount of oil mixed with the powder, something awful could happen to her half sister. She had been praying for guidance for a long time now. But maybe the dense fog of incense from the large pewter burners was confusing her too much, because she still had no answers.

She couldn't afford to stay here any longer. It was already afternoon. If she started out right now and kept up a good pace and nothing bad happened, it would take the rest of the day and part of the next to get home. Maybe longer, actually, since she would duck down to the riverbank whenever she heard the clatter of wheels on the road. She would take no more chances with passing oxcarts, no matter how many hours they might shorten her journey.

She went to the doorway of the temple and shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight. An old man sat on the steps eating a bowl of ox intestines. She recognized him by the ringworm on his head—he was one of Yao Wang's patients. When he saw her, he lifted a string of Buddha beads tucked in his waist sash, shook them at her, and pointed into the square. He was pointing at a crowd pressed around Yao Wang and his cart. But, oh, this was not the usual type of crowd. There were two men in uniform, and people were talking angrily. Sheng showed his teeth and growled at a man who held him at bay with a bamboo stick.

Xing Xing ran to Sheng and threw her arms around the dog's neck. She looked back defiantly at the man with the stick.

The man withdrew his stick. "He's not a real doctor—a real zhong yi," he said loudly. "If he were a real zhong yi, he would send his patients to a state run pharmacy for their medicine. He's nothing but a lang zhong. He costs little," said the man, looking around with a challenge in his eyes, "because he's a quack. A wandering quack. A real doctor is thin because he works hard. This man is a load of blubber who hasn't done an honest day's work in his life. Look!" He picked up one of Yao Wang's medicine jars and held it under the nose of one of the officials. "See? There's no national stamp on this jar.

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