fairy looks identical to her, and the cowherd to Kongzi.
‘What miseries you’ve had to endure to produce a child for me!’ the cowherd sings.
‘I have no regrets,’ the fairy sings back to him. ‘The hundred days we spent together could vanquish a lifetime of sadness.’
‘Yes, for one hundred days, we were as happy as two fish in a lake. And now, as I hold my son in my arms, my sorrows melt away . . .’
‘My dear love, we’re not fated to remain together. Now that I have delivered our son to you, I must return to the Celestial Palace. I in the sky and you on the earth, with the Milky Way between us: it won’t be easy to meet again . . .’
Meili pats her belly and whispers, Don’t worry, little Heaven, I’ll make sure that this incarnation will be successful. The family planning laws won’t last much longer. Just wait patiently in my womb a few more years until it’s legal for you to come out. And when that time comes, if you still refuse to budge, I’ll dig into my tummy button and pull you out with my bare hands! On the stage, the heartbroken fairy circles the cowherd, tossing her head back and flicking her long sleeves in despair. Meili strokes Nannan’s ponytail, and feels her tears slowly dry up.
‘Why were you crying, Mum?’ Nannan asks. ‘That baby won’t die. I understand Cantonese. The daddy said he’d look after him.’
‘I was just thinking about Waterborn,’ Meili says, wiping her eyes carefully, trying not to smudge her eyeliner.
‘If I died and came back as a boy, you and Daddy would be so happy! I hate myself. I hate being a girl . . .’
‘Stop muttering and look at the opera,’ Kongzi says impatiently. Nannan leans over Meili and taps her empty Coca-Cola bottle on his head.
‘How sad that you must leave us!’ the cowherd cries. He is stifling in his thick costume, and sweat flies from his face whenever he moves his head. ‘My love for you is like a river. Not even the sharpest sword can sever its flow. Farewell, sweet fairy . . .’
‘My heart is dying, but we mustn’t cry. Goodbye, husband, goodbye, child . . .’ Meili watches the fairy step onto a cloud and rise into the blue sky, and feels a part of herself rise to the heavens with her.
By the time they squeeze their way out of the departing crowd, Meili’s dress is drenched in sweat. Halfway home, Kongzi takes her hand and says, ‘Let’s go to a restaurant. My treat.’
‘Your treat?’ Meili says, taken aback. ‘OK then, follow me.’ She decides to take them to the Hunan restaurant Tang introduced her to. She loves its homely atmosphere and rich, spicy food.
After Kongzi pours himself a glass of beer, Nannan challenges him to an arm wrestle. She grasps his fist and forces it onto the table. Kongzi retaliates, slamming hers down with greater force. ‘Calm down, Kongzi,’ Meili says, ‘and serve out this steamed pork.’
‘I thought you’d given up meat,’ Kongzi says.
‘I had, but I think I should eat some for the baby’s sake. The pickles and raw vegetables I’ve been living on this week can’t have provided much nutrition.’ Meili downloaded a vegetarian diet drawn up by a Taiwanese nutritionist, hoping it would help her lose weight.
‘I don’t like meat, either, Mum,’ Nannan whines. ‘I want a toffee apple.’
‘Why didn’t we ever take a photograph of Waterborn?’ Meili asks Kongzi. ‘Who did she look like?’
‘She had my face shape and your features,’ Kongzi says. He fumbles in his pockets for his cigarettes, then remembers he’s given up, and wraps his hands around his glass of beer instead.
‘No, Waterborn was my sister, so she must have looked like me,’ says Nannan. ‘I remember when you came back after giving her away, Daddy. You said: “Don’t be sad, Nannan. From now on, I’ll only love you.”’
‘Nonsense, don’t lie: I’d never say such a thing!’
‘I heard you say it countless times!’ Meili retorts. ‘Kongzi, there’s something I’ve never told you before: Waterborn was born with a sixth finger on her left hand. Sister Mao chopped it off in the delivery room.’
‘So that’s why her hand was bandaged!’ Kongzi says. ‘You told me Sister Mao accidentally cut her with the forceps.’
‘Dad, why did you call me Nannan? It sounds like “boy-boy”. My classmates said you chose the name because you wished you’d had a son.’