Seesaw Girl by Linda Sue Park

Author:Linda Sue Park [Park, Linda Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Chapter Ten

A Willing Heart

It did not take long for Jade to realize that her plan had failed in more ways than one. Her mother was so angry that she did not even speak at first. When Jade climbed down from the cart at the gate to the Inner Court, her mother merely gestured for her to go to the kitchens, as it was time for the noon meal.

Jade felt as though she had been gone for days, but the pattern of the household had continued unchanged in her absence. The men ate first, served by the women. Helping her mother and aunts wait on the men, Jade found that she could hardly even look at her father. Although he was always aloof and reserved with the children, she felt that his countenance was even more severe than usual. Later, when the women and girls ate, Jade sat silently, her face burning, while all the aunts and girl cousins whispered behind their hands and stared at her.

Jade and her brothers loved and respected their father, but as head of the Han household he did not have much idle time to spend with them. It was their mother who looked after such family matters as the disciplining of the children. After dinner that evening, Jade was summoned to her mother's room.

Her mother spoke quietly. "I think you already know that what you did today was very wrong, Jade. It was not just one thing. It was many things. You deceived your family. You went into the road, where strange men could see you. You could have gotten lost, or hurt. You have brought great shame to our household. You were very lucky that nothing worse happened."

Jade bowed very low, as was the custom. Hunched over on the ground, she felt much smaller and younger than her twelve years. She whispered, "I am sorry, Honorable Mother, that I brought shame to our family."

"What were you doing, Jade? Did you want sweets from the market? Tiger Heart can always bring you what you want."

Jade heard the gentleness in her mother's voice. She raised her head. "No, Mother. I went to the house of Lee. I wanted to see Graceful Willow again."

Her mother was silent for a moment. Then she asked, "Did you succeed?"

Jade bowed her head again. She whispered, "No, Mother. Willow would not see me."

"Do you know why?"

Jade shook her head.

"Jade, Willow is no longer your aunt. Now she is the wife of the oldest son of the house of Lee. That is a great responsibility. How would it look to the Lees if they were to learn that a member of our family could behave so dishonorably? Graceful Willow is a dutiful girl. She sent you home so as not to dishonor her new family."

Jade could not look at her mother. She did not want to believe these words, yet somehow she felt that they must be true.

Her mother was still speaking. "I have decided that as your punishment you will beat the family laundry for five days, by yourself.

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