Dragon Dance
“Green paddy fields, dotted with labouring coolies of both sexes, stretched away on either side. It was a very wide canal: their barge, which was itself large, fitted with a lugsail and also manned by oarsmen, ten to a side, rocked in the wake of a passing steam-driven freight barge at least forty yards long.
Simon said: “I still don’t understand why she was so determined to get us away. Just because Bei Tsu thought we mucked up the stunts at the banquet?”
“I doubt it. She wanted us away from the Son of Heaven, more likely.”
“Why? She didn’t think we were a danger to him, surely?”
“She may have thought we might give him ideas.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know,” Brad said. “Yes, I do. About anything. As it is, he’s surrounded by guards and eunuchs and aunts—no one near his own age. It all helps keep him under control, and keeping the Son of Heaven under control is the name of the game.”
The day was overcast, grey but not cold. The oarsmen were sweating. Simon said: “She didn’t need to send ...us to the Bonzery of Grace.MoreLess
Simon said: “I still don’t understand why she was so determined to get us away. Just because Bei Tsu thought we mucked up the stunts at the banquet?”
“I doubt it. She wanted us away from the Son of Heaven, more likely.”
“Why? She didn’t think we were a danger to him, surely?”
“She may have thought we might give him ideas.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know,” Brad said. “Yes, I do. About anything. As it is, he’s surrounded by guards and eunuchs and aunts—no one near his own age. It all helps keep him under control, and keeping the Son of Heaven under control is the name of the game.”
The day was overcast, grey but not cold. The oarsmen were sweating. Simon said: “She didn’t need to send ...us to the Bonzery of Grace.MoreLess
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