The Pearls - RUYI

Chapter 2 - Happy Birthday

On the eve of Enlai's eighteenth birthday, Ruyi stayed up late. She prepared to cook his favourite dishes, and made her father's daily medicine dose. She crushed herbs in a mortar and pestle, added honey to sweeten what would be a bitter morning drink and boiled it over the stove. Her father had taught her the recipe. He had been the village doctor for decades, until he, too, fell ill.

Thankfully, he had passed on all his knowledge to her the moment she could understand how to read. As his oldest child, he allowed her to read his medicinal books and practice alongside him. At first, patients were sceptical of her, and never trusted her without her father at their side. But after several years she had garnered a shining reputation. Even her father admitted she had a somewhat prodigious affinity to medical practice. She often wondered if he wished it for Enlai instead. But her brother took no interest in it.

As she sat alone in the candlelight, she felt a mixture of dread and excitement in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't quite sure what would come the next day, and wasn't sure what she would do if she were rejected. She was afraid for her brother and father. More so, she was afraid that perhaps she truly wasn't good enough to prove herself worthy.

In her room, her things were packed secretly, just like Enlai's. Her father would be angry. But he would be relieved too, that someone would be there for Enlai.

Morning came too soon. She was woken by the sound of her father's footsteps outside her room. He always woke first, despite her best efforts. Doctor's habit perhaps.

Ruyi dressed swiftly, and checked her medicinal bag one final time before stepping out to prepare breakfast. She was distracted as the morning went on, thinking about how she would tell her family what she planned.

Enlai sat at the table with her father, inhaling his birthday dish - his favourite was stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs. Tomatoes weren't easy to get a hold of in her village, but Ruyi had spent bartering with the vegetable farmer to trade medicine for them. She observed her little brother for a moment. He wasn't so little anymore. Once a skinny, lanky boy, he had grown into his tall stature. His long-sleeved shirt no longer hid the muscles he had developed through years of carrying stock to and from their apothecary. But he still kept his boyish smile, and Ruyi's fingers itched to sweep the wayward strand of hair that had fallen onto his forehead. He looked so much like their mother. 

Ruyi set her own bowl down and swallowed hard.

"Father, Enlai. I have something to tell you," she started, unable to look them in the eyes.

She felt her father's eyes roam her face. "I'm going with Enlai to the palace."

The sound of her father's chopsticks clattering on the table made her flinch. Enlai, mouth still full of rice, stopped chewing. "I want to become an army medic," she tried again, and kept going before Enlai could interrupt. "I will be able to keep an eye on Enlai, keep him safe. It's not fair that he has to fight. He's too young. I should be there with him. I have to be."

Her father was silent, eerily calm throughout her speech. He looked down at his bowl, then without a word, stood up and left the kitchen. Ruyi's heart shattered. She watched his hunched back as he slowly turned the corner into their hallway. She felt tears prick at her eyes. But when she turned to Enlai, he wasn't upset.

"I understand why you're doing this, jie jie. You can pretend that it's for me. But it's for you too. I know that. You shouldn't have to be confined to this village for the rest of your life. Father will understand."

With that, he cleared his dishes and went to his bedroom to get ready. Ruyi was speechless. Her heart ached, for her father and his disappointment. But more so, her heart ached for how selfish she was being, and the fact that her brother could see through her facade. When had he gotten so perceptive?

Ruyi sighed, taking in the empty kitchen and staring at the dishes she had prepared, mostly untouched. "Happy birthday," Ruyi said, dryly. She picked up her chopsticks and started eating.