The Jade Seal Read online

  THE JADE SEAL翡翠印鑑

  Yuriko Taira

  Copyright © Yuriko Taira 2019

  All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, communicated to the public without the prior written permission of the author and/or publisher.

  Cover designed by: Levierre

  Assessment by: Margaret Johnson

  Editing by: Mary-Jo O’Rourke, Katherine Turpin

  DISCLAIMER:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and events are the creations of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The factual background of this work is discussed in the author’s biography at the end.

  Dedication

  FOR SHINKICHI AND FRIENDS

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  With heartfelt thanks to the following persons and organisations who have provided assistance in writing of this fiction:

  Peter Curry, Western Australia

  William F. Gadd, Western Australia

  Margaret Johnson, Tasmania, Australia

  Tiffany Ko-ng, Western Australia

  Mary-Jo O’Rourke, New South Wales, Australia

  Aleksandar Stoyanov, England, United Kingdom

  Katherine Turpin, New South Wales, Australia

  99Designs, Victoria, Australia

  Log Yukari Guest House, Hokkaido, Japan

  Milner International College of English, Western Australia

  Writing WA, Western Australia

  Alchetron The Free Social Encyclopedia, Ezo sika, https://alchetron.com/Formosan-sika-deer and https://alchetron.com/Sika-deer

  Hokkaido Labo, Ezo red fox, https://hokkaido-labo.com/en/hokkaido-wild-animals-9368

  tripadvisor.co.uk, Cathedral of the Annunciation in Blagoveshchensk (the picture is modified by author) https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g298490-d6491798-Reviews-Cathedral_of_the_Annunciation-Blagoveshchensk_Amur_Oblast_Far_Eastern_District.html#photos;aggregationId=101&albumid=101&filter=7&ff=118120243

  Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, Korea-Seoul-Changdeokgung-후원, 後苑, Rear garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changdeokgung#/media/File:Korea-Seoul-Changdeokgung-31.jpg; map of Tujue Khanate (the map is modified and converted to JPG file by author) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tujue_Khanate.png; and map of Xianbei Empire https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolia_III.jpg

  PROLOGUE

  In an ancient legend of the Xiongnu people, a nomadic hunter, called Puhui found a jade seal while hunting. The Xiongnu regarded this as a sign of imperial enthronement from heaven. The Son of Heaven was named Yuwen, thus Puhui took this name for himself. The legend said that the Jade Seal had magical powers which only the Yuwen could command. In the wrong hands, the Jade Seal’s powers could be catastrophic.

  Later, the Yuwen descendants assimilated with the Xianbei people. With the powers of the Jade Seal, the Xianbei pushed their way through the Great Wall of China and ruled the country from 535 AD. When the Xianbei Emperor Yuwen Yong died in 578 AD, the Jade Seal was passed to his son, Crown Prince Yuwen Yun.

  In 581 AD, the Chinese seized the throne and executed most of the Yuwen Imperial Household but did not kill Empress Ashina who was a princess of Tujue Khanate. The Empress saved seven-years old Prince Yuwen Zhi, son of Emperor Yuwen Yong and Consort Shehan of Xianbei from the bloodbath.

  Survivors of the Yuwen clan fled north-east to modern-day Russia’s far east region with the Jade Seal. They settled in a minor kingdom known as Yagsi by the Amur River among the Daur people.

  In the late 1640s, a team of Russian Cossacks arrived at the Amur River. After several clashes with the Daur people, the Cossacks took control of the region.

  Again, the Yuwen clan had to flee, crossing the ocean to Sakhalin, then to Hokkaido in modern-day Japan.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  Author’s biography

  CHAPTER 1

  Just before dawn, in south-east China, a rainbow-like object appeared in the twilight, breaking through and descending from the dark clouds, finally landing on a grassy hill. A group of piglets, nearby, rushed to check out what had fell from the sky.

  Oink, oink, oink; the piglets pushed the rainbow object with their noses. A fit Chinese man with partly grey hair appeared, walking up the hill. He warded off the piglets to look at the rainbow object, and his dark brown eyes narrowed.

  “What a colourful parachute!” he murmured, lifting up a corner of the material to see if there was something inside.

  “My god!” He was in shock at what he saw. A little girl lay peacefully within, her eyes closed. “She’s almost like a porcelain doll,” he said quietly.

  The man wiped his hands on his black cotton shirt, pulling his faded black cotton trousers up a little bit, and squat next to the girl. He placed two fingers under her nose.

  “She’s alive.” He let out a sigh of relief. Then he took off his new shoes, which were made of tough black cotton and already had some mud on them; kneeling down and untying the parachute straps from the little girl. He gently brushed away her brown hair from her face, having a closer look at her. The little girl had pale skin and long black eye lashes.

  Staring at the girl’s black-and-red checked woollen coat, black tights and leather shoes, the man said to himself, "she's from a rich family for sure."

  “Hello, can you hear me?" the man asked, but no response from the little girl. "I need to take her to a doctor immediately.” He picked up the little girl...

  “Papa Deng.” I woke myself up, and sighed; "it was one of those dreams.” I blinked the sleep from my eyes, looking around; the morning sun peeked through the gaps of the curtains in my room.

  This was the tenth summer since Mr Huang Xin had brought me here. I remembered when Huang first visited the Deng’s, introducing himself as a Malaysian of Chinese origin. On that day, I had just come home from school, but did not go to change into my home clothes. I had been checking the strange visitor from behind the kitchen door; and heard a wooden bench in the living room ‘squeak’ when Huang sat down, as if it could not handle his heavy body.

  “I’m here to see the girl you've adopted.” Huang was blunt about his purpose.

  “Are you related to her?” Papa Deng asked, sitting upright in a wooden chair opposite to Huang; and looking straight into his eyes. His hands were on his knees as if he was examining his troops, just like he had done before retiring from being an officer of the army.

  “Ha-ha, ha-ha; yes, something like that.” Huang had laughed cheerfully, pushed his thin grey hair back with his right hand, then resting both of his hands on his knees leaving no crease on his black trousers, which were made of high-quality cotton, something I rarely saw in the county.

  The room fell silent for a few minutes. Then, Papa Deng called, “Yan?”

  “Yes, Papa.” I had come out of hiding, and walked into the living room.

  Huang had pulled out a white handkerchief from a pocket of his black jacket, took off his thick glasses and wiped them with the handkerchief. He then put his glasses back on his fat face and had stared at me up and down.

  “Do you go to
school in these clothes?” he had asked, gazing at my school uniforms of a white short-sleeved shirt, red skirt and tie, a pair of white socks and black cotton shoes.

  “Hmm.” I nodded.

  “This is Mister Huang from Malaysia. He says he’s related to your family. Do you remember him?”

  “No, Papa, I don’t know him,” I answered, looking confused.

  “Ha-ha, ha-ha; I’m your Uncle Huang, Princess Yuuko. I cuddled you as often as your grandfather did when you were a baby.”

  I was taken aback. Mr Huang looked at least 70 years old; my granddad couldn’t be that old, I had thought. But there was a bigger question.

  “How can that be? I don’t have a grandfather,” I replied coldly.

  “Did you say you don’t have a grandfather?” Huang had said with disbelief. Behind the thick glasses, his small brown eyes were narrowed into two lines. “Have I wasted my time? But she clearly resembles her parents.” I heard him saying under his breath.

  “Mister Huang, Yan was very ill when I adopted her. The doctors said she's had memory loss. It’s unlikely she’d remember her past,” Papa Deng said, not breaking from his staring at Huang.

  “Do you have a birth-mark on your left thigh?” Huang asked me in perfect English with a strong Malaysian accent. It was not the kind of English that I was familiar with.

  How did he know that? I had thought, and replied in English “Yes, I do.”

  Papa Deng had turned. “Yan, when did you learn to speaking in English?” His eyes were widely open as if he was in shock.

  “Papa, I just reacted to Mister Huang’s question.”

  “I thought you were mute! It was me who taught you to speak your first—”

  “Please show me your birth-mark.” Huang cut Papa Deng off.

  I lifted up the corner of my skirt, revealing a dark brown birth mark in the shape of a flower on my left thigh.

  Huang had jumped up from the bench, taken me into his arms and hugged me like a grandfather who had just found his long-lost granddaughter.

  “Oh, my Princess.” He sounded tearful, then turned to Papa Deng. “I’ll take her out of China as soon as possible.”

  “But she’ll finish school in a year’s time. Won’t you—”

  “No, she doesn’t need any more Chinese schooling. She’ll finish her education in Australia.” Huang cut Papa Deng off again.

  “Why in Australia?” I asked curiously.

  “Because Australia is safe for you.”

  “Safe for her? Is her life in danger?” Papa Deng was worried.

  “Possibly, maybe.” Huang evaded Papa Deng’s question.

  He opened his briefcase and took out a large envelope, opening it to reveal a stack of cash. “This is your reward for looking after her.” He handed the envelope to Papa Deng.

  “Are you buying the girl from me?” Papa Deng had asked, disbelief and anger rising in his voice. He did not take the envelope from Huang.

  “No, I’m not. She’s a Japanese-American. She doesn’t belong here.” Huang had motioned for Papa Deng to take the envelope. “The money is a reward to you for looking after her,” he repeated.

  Mrs Deng, who had remained silent in the kitchen, listening to the conversation, blasted in; and took the envelope from Huang. “Take her then, Mister Huang! If she has foreign blood in her, take her away as soon as possible. I don’t want my family to be in trouble.”

  Mrs Deng had always seen me as a burden to her family, and now that Huang had revealed my true identity, she was worried that the Communist Party would prosecute her and her family.

  Huang had smiled warmly, his old face wrinkling as his eyes returned to two slits. “I’ll be back for her soon.”

  A few months had passed and there was no sight of Huang.

  “I knew he was lying to us. What’re we going to do if our neighbours report Yan to the Party? They’ve given her a nick-name, ‘foreign devil’!” Mrs Deng said to Papa Deng.

  “He’ll come for her,” Papa Deng had said quietly but could not conceal his worry.

  Mister Huang, why did you come here? You've made my parents worried. Do you think their lives aren’t hard enough as they are? I cursed Huang in my heart.

  However, Huang had returned; and gifted me a brand-new suitcase in which my few belongings did not even cover the lining.

  “Mister Huang, this suitcase is much too big for me!” I exclaimed, motioning to show how little room my belongings would take up.

  “My Princess, the suitcase isn’t too big. We’ll have a lot of shopping to do when we get to Hong Kong. We’ll fill it up with all the things a princess should have.”

  “All the things a princess should have?” I did not understand what things a princess should have.

  Papa Deng had been waiting patiently for a chance to speak with Huang. He could not wait any longer and interrupted us, “Mister Huang, do you need me to sign the adoption papers?”

  “No, you don’t need to sign anything. I’ve got her an adult passport.”

  “An adult passport?” Papa Deng and I stared at Mr Huang.

  “She’s a lot taller than an average Chinese girl. She can be easily taken as a young lady,” Huang explained. “Going through the adoption process will risk my only chance to take her out of China.”

  “Ah… I see,” Papa Deng said, knowing Huang did not have an alternative. In those days, there were reforms everywhere in China, from communism to capitalism. The adoption process could take a long time, and might not be granted even after a long wait. However, with money, you could buy almost anything, including a passport, as long as you did it in their way.

  ◆◆◆

  Pun, Pun; the sound of knocking interrupted my thoughts of the past.

  “Yuuko-chan, are you awake?”

  “Yes, Shinkichi-san?” I answered aloud.

  The door to my room opened a gap, showing the tanned face of a young Asian man.

  “May I accompany you to see Mister Huang this morning?”

  “Hmm… let me think about.”

  “Okay, I’m ready when you are,” he replied cheekily.

  “Thanks, Shinkichi-san.”

  “No worries, babe.” He shut the door behind him, his footsteps diminishing as he walked to the other end of the house.

  Shinkichi lived in the room next door to mine. I had met him three years ago, at my friend Sayuri Saito’s party. Like Sayuri, he came from Japan and was learning English at Milner International College of English in Perth, Western Australia. Back then, I had lived in a girls’ hostel, arranged by Huang, which was walking distance from Milner College.

  Milner College was a popular school for people from Europe and Japan. Mr Milner, Director of the College, was a warm and friendly person. He always bent his slim frame when he talked to students, with warm smiles in his blue eyes, and his dark-brown hair was always cut stylishly.

  “Yuko, breakfast time!” a woman called out warmly from the passage leading to my room. It was Mrs Shilbury, the owner of the house. She preferred to call me Yuko rather than Yuuko.

  “I’m on my way,” I responded, quickly getting out of bed to shower and dress myself.

  When I came into the dining room, Shinkichi was there, ready to pull out a chair next to him.

  “Babe, here.” He bent his head towards me, smiling, showing two shallow dimples in his almost square face.

  I took the seat while he was pouring me a glass of apple juice.

  “Here, your favourite juice.”

  “Thanks, Shinkichi-san.” I had a mouthful of the juice.

  “So, are we going together?” Shinkichi smiled at me, his small eyes becoming two curved lines on his face.

  “Where to?” I pretended that I did not know what he was talking about.

  “To see Mister Huang.”

  “Aren’t you going to work today?”

  “I’ve taken the day off… for you.” His cheeky grin widened. “It’s such a beautiful day. I’d very much prefer to spend it with you
outside than slaving over the grill.”

  Shinkichi was obsessed with tanned skin, which was the reason, I guessed that after finishing his English studies, he had taken a job as an assistant chef and stayed in Perth to get tan. He exposed himself in the sun so much that it looked more like he was sun-burned than sun-tanned. In spite of this, he was good-looking, very handsome in a Japanese way.

  “Kids, breakfast is here.” A silver haired woman came into the dining room carrying a large tray. She was almost as tall as Shinkichi.

  “What a beautiful dress, Missus Shilbury!” I exclaimed, looking at the pale-blue floral dress that she was wearing.

  “Thanks, Yuko. I thought this dress matched with today’s weather very well.” Mrs Shilbury placed the tray on the dining table. “Toast, butter, jam, milk and boiled eggs; have I missed something?”

  “You’ve forgotten the fruit, Missus Shilbury; three fruit, five vegies a day.” Shinkichi piped up in his cheeky fashion.

  “Yes, of course.” Mrs Shilbury walked back to the kitchen with a sprightliness that was rare to see in an elderly woman.

  CHAPTER 2

  Istared as Mrs Shilbury’s slim build disappeared into the kitchen. “I hope I’ll be as fit as Missus Shilbury when I’m sixty,” I said quietly.

  “I think her god keeps her fit in body and mind,” Shinkichi said in a serious tone.

  “Her god? Which god?” I was eager to know.

  “The god of the Jews! Who else could it be? Missus Shilbury always says by the blessings of her god, her family has escaped from Germany during the war and now lives happily in Australia. Her husband, a professor at the state university has passed away a few years ago, leaving her enough money to have a comfortable life. She says that is also the blessings of her god.” Shinkichi spoke passionately.

  “This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes,” I murmured Psalm 118:23, which I had learned when I attended the girls’ college and still remembered by heart.