I softly joined in his morning meditation, trying to guess the secret of his heart. It was entertaining to me. But at a certain moment I felt that he started leading me towards his secret dream and I saw the image he was cherishing in his heart. Seeing his dream girl stung my heart, and I cut short the connection, which betrayed me.
An experienced warrior, he jumped on his feet like a tiger ready to repel any attack, but then froze still in astonishment, as he could not see anyone. Not trusting his eyes, he cut through the air with his razor sharp sward. As my presence had been detected, I had to withdraw, leaving him with the fragrance of ylang-ylang flowers.
Well, this is how I learned about his dream girl. It was a maid, a servant, Van by name. Nothing to worry about, but his heart was occupied. Of course, I did not think that he would take her up just to satisfy his desire. But is the young flame of passion always reasonable? I had to hurry up. Just two hours later I had a piece of good luck: the doll-like submissive mortal was sent to the market-place with all other servants.
The house was getting ready to receive guests. Everyone was busy, and Shi went to the back courtyard, where there was a little pond with red and gold fishes. When he was a child, he used to spend hours watching them. When someone would approach the pond, those tiny tremulous creatures would feel that and move towards him. And when someone would walk along the edge of the pond, they would follow him. When Shi was a child, he used to play with the fish. He would hide, crawl along the bank of the pond, trying to deceive them, but each time he would raise his head to look at the fish, he would unfailingly see the fish close to him.
Shi squatted down and pillowed his cheeks on his hands in a childlike manner watching the fish ‘rushing’ towards him from all over the pond. Today he felt ill at ease. He knew that there was a reason to invite so many guests. He anticipated something important, something that would probably affect his life.
The fish were playing, nearly tail-walking, showing their glittering red and golden sides. Shi was watching them in a detached way. Then one of the fishes headed to the opposite bank of the pond. It was followed by another, and then the third, and the fourth… They crossed the pond and started playing there as if someone were standing on the opposite side. Shi did not like that. He rushed to cross the little pond over bridge and … ran into Van.