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Before Lustrous Jade could think of a way to resume the discussion, August Winds tapped his glass with a chopstick, a grin on his face. "I think, my friends, it is time for a game!"
Oh no, she thought.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" cried Enduring Promise.
"Settled, then!"
"How about a round of antithetical couplets?" suggested Bold Talent. "Shall I start by starting the head?"
"I want to be first. Can I be first? Oh, please?" Enduring Promise clapped his hands, upsetting his glass.
"Fine, you start," said Bold Talent.
Silence.
"Well?" said Spring Moon, removing the porcelain cups from danger. "Well?"
The boy's face reddened and he covered his eyes, as if not seeing meant being unseen. "I do not know how." Everyone laughed. Enduring Promise turned to Resolute Spirit, who was the only one still eating, and tugged at his shirt. "Can you explain the game to me?"
Resolute Spirit peered over the rim of his rice bowl and said nothing. August Winds coughed into his handkerchief.
Bold Talent recovered first. "I will explain, my nephew. You start by making up the first line of a poem. Then one of us must match it with an antithesis and a parallel."
"Yes, Uncle. But can someone explain the game to me?"
Even Bold Talent joined in the laughter.
When it had subsided Spring Moon took the lead. "What is the opposite of earth?"
"Heaven," the boy shouted.
"Moon?"
"Sun."
"Walk?"
"Run."
"Night?"
"Day!" called out Resolute Spirit, catching on.
He looked apologetically at the child. Enduring Promise smiled up at him, as if to say he did not mind, then asked, "May I start now?"
"Careful," cautioned Spring Moon. "We have just begun. Green trees?"
"Red trees."
Spring Moon shook her head.
"But why, Sao Sao?"
"A word that is opposite of green, and a word that is the same family as tree."
"Red flowers."
"Correct." Spring Moon smiled. "Now, yellow birds sing."
Enduring Promise took a deep breath. "Green frogs talk."
"Almost; better if 'green frogs croak.'"
Lustrous Jade saw that Resolute Spirit had resumed eating, as if the bowl were a screen behind which he could hide. He does not understand the game, she thought. Why should he? The game was not important, a pastime for book bags. If only they could go into the parlor and talk!
Spring Moon was coming to the end of her explanations. "The first line, Enduring Promise, is called the head; the reply, the tail. Now you begin."
The boy buried his head in his arms to think. The adults waited. He popped up, opened his mouth. Nothing came. He frowned, then buried his head in his arms again.
August Winds spoke up. "My friend from France," he said, "why do we not show the boy how to play the game?" He smiled innocently. "You, beautiful girl, are sublime, fragrant as spring water, learned and good."
Resolute Spirit grinned, shrugging his shoulders.
"Take your time, my friend. We have not had dessert yet!"
Still the peasant did not reply.
It was the boy who answered, tugging at his shirt again. "He tricked you, Older Brother! Now you must say, 'I, ugly boy, am ridiculous, smelly as mud, stupid and bad.' He tricked you!"
Resolute Spirit did not know where to look.
Quickly Lustrous Jade filled in the silence. "No, Enduring Promise, you said it. My new friend is much too smart to be taken in by such a trick."
As the laughter faded, August Winds lifted his glass to Lustrous Jade. His smile was bitter. She did not care. Nothing he could do would stop her from seeing more of the farmer's son.
When the meal was over, Resolute Spirit stood and bowed most respectfully. "My ancestors and I thank you for this honor. Tonight is the happiest day of my life."
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