Moon Princess (14 page)

Sienna couldn't suppress a giggle.

Hong Yi led them to the first row, right at the front of the hall, where several seats had been reserved. Sienna could feel people's eyes upon them as they sat down and she realized they must look a strange sight amongst the crowd wearing their finery: a blonde girl with a head injury wearing odd clothes, and a boy covered in dust. Rufus flopped on her lap with a dramatic sigh.

The young monk bent down to speak to Sienna. ‘All the important people of Pingdingshan are gathered here this evening. Even the mayor is here. Your mother has achieved great
things for us – please accept my thanks on her behalf.'

‘Um, OK. Thanks,' said Sienna, smiling nervously.
But I wish I didn't have to
, she thought, a knot of worry tightening in her stomach.
Where is she? Is she OK?

‘I have to go – the fireworks are about to begin,' continued Hong Yi. ‘The abbot is leading us in a procession after the display. I hope you enjoy this very special evening.' He bowed and walked away.

Just then Sienna heard a bell tinkle and Minka leapt up on to her lap, right next to Rufus, who grumbled under his breath and shuffled aside. ‘Don't say anything right now, Sienna,' the cat ordered, before Sienna could react. ‘We don't want to draw attention to ourselves.'

Feng glanced across at Minka, smiling a silent ‘hello'.

Sienna kept quite still, although she wanted to hug the cat and ask her where her mum was.

The fireworks started, bright trails of light shooting high into the sky and exploding in showers of red, green and gold like enormous
weeping willows. Wheels of pink squealed across the surface of the moon. Xiaolong was flying excited loop-de-loops over Feng's head – he loved it. The crowd did too, cheering and gasping, clapping wildly at every bang.

‘What's happening with Mum? Did you find her?' Sienna whispered to Minka under the tumult. Feng leant in close to listen.

‘All's well with her,' replied Minka. ‘The little dragon helped me rescue her and your friend's brother from the cave. They're here, waiting for the right moment.'

Sienna's heart was so full of excitement and happiness that she felt it might burst! She wanted to ask more questions but the fireworks had ended and a gong struck loudly, reverberating through the air. Silence descended upon the crowd. A great many monks now walked in pairs through the temple courtyard, with one man – the abbot, Sienna realized – at their head.

The abbot. Sienna's breath caught in her throat.
It was Fa Yi
. She nudged Feng in the ribs. ‘It's
him
,' she whispered. ‘He was the one with the knife.'

‘It'll be all right,' Feng replied, squeezing her
arm, but Sienna wished she could be so sure.

She tried to make out the other monks' faces, but they were too far away. Then the last monk caught her eye. He was walking alone and his gait looked familiar to Sienna. Was that Zou, by any chance?

Sure enough, Bai tuzi's sparkly dust fell from the monk's right shoulder on to the floor. Sienna felt a little better, knowing they were nearby.

The monks now positioned themselves in the centre of the courtyard, surrounding the holy well. Hong Yi stood alongside the abbot. ‘In the name of our abbot and all the monks of this monastery I would like to welcome you all cordially to the Fragrant Mountain Temple. At tonight's Moon Festival I have the immeasurable honour of celebrating with you a discovery which will make this temple one of the most celebrated places in China, and indeed one of the most celebrated places in the Buddhist world. We owe this discovery to a young woman, Dr Kate Farringdon, who sadly disappeared a few months ago without a trace. Whilst undertaking research in our temple, Dr Farringdon made a great discovery. This evening we will present
this discovery to the world.'

Fa Yi bent down and carefully lifted up a box. Placing it on a small table in front of him, he took out an object wrapped in pieces of white cloth, and carefully removed the covering.

The perfect statue. It really did look magical in the moonlight and the audience gasped, then watched the abbot with awe. The moon shone brightly down upon everyone, giving their faces a ghostly pallor.

Hong Yi went to the abbot's side. ‘This statue is a depiction of Guanyin. As everyone knows, this holy well is the very place where Guanyin wept tears of mercy for her father under the full moon, curing him at the cost of her own life and securing her place in the pantheon of the gods. This temple was first built in her honour. Sadly, academics have claimed that the story of the princess that turned into a goddess is relatively modern, and therefore its authenticity has been doubted …' He paused, a small smile playing at his lips, as if he could barely contain his excitement. ‘But this statue – discovered in the grounds of the temple itself – is very old. It tells us that the goddess must have been known to
people since ancient times. After extensive research, we have discovered that the statue was produced around the time of the princess herself.' He smiled broadly. ‘The legend is true.'

The crowd murmured excitedly and began to stand up, trying to get a better look at the statue.

‘How can I prove this, my friends?' Hong Yi continued. ‘It is not I who have done so, but the famous art historian, Dr Farringdon. She discovered the statue in our temple, and her notes leave no room for any doubt as to the authenticity of this work of art. This' – Hong Yi lifted a stack of papers in the air – ‘this book was written by Dr Farringdon shortly before her disappearance.'

Sienna wanted to stand up and rip the papers out of Hong Yi's hand. She felt a rush of pure anger. Was the monk in league with Ling and Fa Yi? How else could Hong Yi have come by the book Mum had written while she was being held prisoner? And he had pretended to be kind to her!

‘This discovery,' Hong Yi now cried loudly, ‘will make our temple the centre for worship of the goddess!' He raised both his hands and the
audience applauded enthusiastically.

Suddenly Fa Yi let out a cry of amazement and fell to his knees. ‘She is crying!' exclaimed the abbot loudly. ‘The statue is weeping!'

Other monks crowded around, gasping as they too watched the tears trickling from Guanyin's eyes. Feng stood up and Sienna followed suit, Rufus and Minka tumbling from her lap with a growl and a screech. From her seat at the front, she too could see the spectacle and Sienna had to admit that the sight of the statue weeping in the mysterious light of the full moon was captivating and haunting.

But she knew it was a lie!

An audience member dashed forward from nearby. ‘It's true!' the man exclaimed. ‘Guanyin weeps – just as she wept for her father in the ancient tale. It's a miracle!'

Chaos suddenly reigned. Even if she'd wanted to, Sienna couldn't have got anyone's attention to tell them the truth. Everyone was calling out at the same time and many people pulled out phones and cameras and tried to photograph the monks with the statue. Then they began to bow down in reverence, and some fell to their knees.
Fa Yi held the statue above his head in his clasped hand, and cried, ‘On the night of the Moon Festival, Guanyin grieves for the people. She is with us. She
feels
all our pain!' His bright blue eyes appeared to glow. Sienna hated to admit it, but the performance was very convincing – he was getting away with it!

Suddenly there was a loud crash. It was coming from the tree at the side of the courtyard, from which several crows now took to the air, cawing loudly.

The people all looked at the tree as suddenly, in rapid succession, small white packages began to fall from it.

‘I think you'll want to see what's in those packages!' chuckled Rufus.

Sienna and Feng ran towards the tree. Looking up into the branches she saw Bai tuzi perched on a branch. He winked at her. Sienna picked up a few of the packages and started unwinding the white cloth. In her hands she held the same statue Hong Yi was displaying on the stage in front of her. And tears ran down the face of her statue too. She knew at once that these statues were the ones from Sun's workshop,
each one slightly imperfect. Zou must've filled each one with oil to prove the miracle had been faked – that's where he'd disappeared to after leaving the workshop!

Hurriedly she and Feng started unwrapping the rest of the packages. The audience stared in disbelief as, one after the other, the crying statues were exposed to the moonlight. Rufus, Minka and Xiaolong sat nearby.

Sienna collected all the statues she could carry and, with Feng's help, carried them along the pathway through the crowd opened up by the curious spectators. She stopped in front of the monks and laid the pile of statues at their feet. ‘I think you'll want to see these,' she said, her voice loud and clear.

The monks stared in bewilderment at the heap of identical statues, below which a puddle of tears was slowly forming. Fa Yi's face paled, his skin now as white as the statues' stone, his hands trembling. His blue eyes darted around the courtyard.

Hong Yi bent down and picked up one of the goddesses from the ground, holding it alongside the statue in his hand to compare the two.
‘What's going on here? Where have these come from? Abbot?' His lip was trembling. ‘You promised it was real!'

‘This stupid girl is trying to deceive us all, to cheapen this incredible miracle and disrespect the goddess!' said Fa Yi, his voice shaking. ‘Remove her! That's an order!'

But nobody moved.

‘It's over, Fa Yi,' said Sienna firmly.

Rufus was on one side of her, Minka on the other. Feng and Xiaolong stood nearby while Zou hovered at the back of the huddle of monks, smiling at Sienna. As the old monk Sun stepped forward from behind Zou, the monks and the audience stared at their leader in disbelief and Sienna knew she had won.

The abbot returned her stare, his eyes full of hatred. Then he broke away and made a dash, pushing past the crowd towards the exit.

‘Stop him!' screamed Sienna. ‘Someone stop him!'

17 Zai yiqi – Together

S
purred into action at the fear in Sienna's voice, a man from the crowd stuck out his leg to trip up the monk, sending Fa Yi sprawling on the ground. Another audience member wrestled him to his feet and dragged him to the front. The crowd watched the whole spectacle, mesmerized.

‘But I don't understand,' stammered Hong Yi. ‘The statue
must
be genuine. Your mother knew it. Your mother was the one who found it!'

‘Yes, the way you planned it all along,' said a voice from somewhere amidst the group of monks.

The men moved aside and the crowd gasped as a tall blonde woman walked up to Hong Yi. It was Sienna's mum! Minka dashed to her side, rubbed her head against Kate's shins, and Sienna saw her mum's eyes flicker to the ground, a small smile on her lips.

Kate's green eyes were flashing in her pale face, and her hair shone brightly in the light of the moon. Sienna couldn't move – she couldn't breathe! Tears filled her eyes. Silently, Feng clasped her hand.

‘Fa Yi has tricked us all. I was stupid enough to believe him that this statue was genuine. And you, Hong Yi, are blinded by your own obsession. Your obsession with making the temple famous.'

‘Mrs Kate!' whispered Hong Yi, turning pale. ‘How is this possible? Where have you been all this time?'

Kate turned to the crowd. ‘I was captured and taken prisoner, Hong Yi. Along with my friend, Gege. They forced me to finish writing the book about the temple. They threatened to do something
to my daughter if I didn't obey them. Finally they trapped us in a mine and were going to leave us to die,' said Sienna's mother, her strong voice fading.

Sienna could wait no longer. She pushed her way through the crowd and ran into her mother's arms. The two of them stood silently, locked together, tears running down both their faces. The spectators had fallen completely silent.

A man got up from his seat and walked to the front. ‘In my capacity as police chief of Pingdingshan I am ordering an investigation into these events. We will take the monk Fa Yi into custody for questioning.'

Fa Yi shrieked angrily and pointed wildly at the back of the crowd. ‘It's her you want! Not me,
her
! It was all her idea!'

Kate and Sienna turned to see Ling trying to sneak out of the temple courtyard, her high heels noisily marking her exit. As she reached the door a young man stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

‘That's Gege!' Feng shouted to Sienna, his face lighting up in a huge smile at the sight of his brother.

Ling desperately tried to push Gege aside, but he was too strong. The police chief sent two officers to drag her up to the front of the crowd and Gege and Feng hugged each other tightly, as if they never wanted to let go again.

‘Little brother, forgive me. I never meant to leave you alone,' Sienna heard Gege murmur under his breath. Xiaolong flapped his wings happily overhead.