When my father knocked on my door before the rooster crowed, I was ready to leave. I had packed my bundle before going to sleep the night before.  I wasn’t surprised to see Luo Xin and Cao Feng standing next to my father when I opened the door.

 

“Please stay for breakfast,” my aunt requested of us as we made our way to the carriage to begin our 2-day long journey home.  “My husband would like to discuss an urgent matter with you.”

 

My father weighed the statement before making his decision.  Cao, Luo and I waited patiently for his response with perplexed looks on our faces.  What was the important matter that needed to be discussed so early in the morning?  Did it have anything to do with Lang’s punishment?

 

“We’ll stay,” my father decided to put an end to the awkward silence that fell over us.  “We will pack the carriage and then come to the dining hall.”

 

My aunt retreated into the house relieved that my father had honored her husband’s request. I followed her inside and offered to help her prepare the dining hall for the morning meal.

 

“I am sorry for all the trouble I have caused, Auntie. Please forgive me.”  I know I hadn’t done anything wrong but Lang would not have pulled the prank if I had been able to hide my emotions better.

 

“Little One,” my aunt sighed. “We don’t blame you for what our son has done.  He must accept responsibility for his own actions.”

 

I wanted to ask about Lang’s punishment but I didn’t have the courage to do so. As a child, it wasn’t my place to ask.  I would eventually find out through Lang who never keeps secrets. With nothing left to say we continued our work in silence.

 

After breakfast, my father joined Uncle Yuan in his study to address the urgent matter. Three of the Yuan children went to their lessons. Lang, however, sat in the meeting hall with us to await his punishment.  We all began to speculate what his punishment would be.

 

“I think it will be some kind of physical labor,” Cao was the first to offer a suggestion.

 

“I think he is going to be beaten,” I suggested.  Everyone turned to look at me.  “Uncle won’t do it himself.  One of the servants will do it.”

“I hope not,” Lang was scared at that possibility but did not offer an alternative.

 

“Maybe it will be something easy like not going out of the house or going without a few meals,”  Luo’s sounded hopeful offering his suggestion to the group.  “That’s what my parents did when I was in trouble.”

 

We considered the choices in silence but agreed that we preferred Luo’s suggestion above the others.  My suggestion was the cruelest of all but a more likely possibility than the other two.

 

When my father and Uncle Yuan returned, they were followed by two servants struggling with a large trunk.  The servants continued to walk past us out to the carriage. We watched as the trunk was loaded on top and tied down with the help of the driver.

 

“Lang will be leaving with us,” my father stated matter of factly.  “His dad has agreed to allow him to become my newest student.”

 

The four of us try to hide our excitement at the seemingly light punishment Lang would receive for almost ruining his family’s reputation.  The prank he pulled essentially brought him what he wanted, to learn martial arts from my father.  Fate had somehow smiled upon him.

 

As we situated ourselves in the carriage, Lang speaks with his father in the meeting hall.

 

“There is barely enough room in here for the 4 us,” I complained.  “Where will Lang sit?”

 

“There is no need to worry about where he will sit,” my father stated.  

Cao, Luo and I thought for a moment before Luo had an idea.

 

“Is he riding on top with the driver?” Cao and Luo asked at the same time.

 

“No,” father replied.  “He will walk behind the carriage during the daytime.  When the sun sets, he will ride with the driver until we stop at the inn to sleep.”

 

Lang’s punishment wouldn’t be light after all.  The first part of his punishment was physical labor as Cao Feng had suggested. I began to wonder if there was, even more, punishment to come once we arrived home.  

 

The weather was beautiful for our two-day journey home.  The sun was bright and the sky was nearly cloudless.  Poor Lang was exhausted and sweaty at the end of the first day.  We passed an Inn before the sun set for the day and stopped at the second Inn two hours after the sun set in the west.  Lang was too tired to eat and went straight to bed in the room he would share with my father.  Cao Feng and Luo Xin shared a room and I slept alone in a room guarded by our driver.

 

We left the tiny inn before the sun rose allowing Yuan Lang to sleep while seated next to the driver.  We made a short stop for a morning meal at an outdoor restaurant.  When we continued on our journey, Lang was walking by the carriage having a hard time keeping up. I felt bad my cousin had to suffer because he was standing up for me.

 

“Dad, stop the carriage,” I pleaded.  “I want to walk a little while with Lang.”

 

“We do too,” Luo spoke for him and Cao.  Cao was surprised by this announcement but when my father asked the driver to stop, he also exited the carriage.

 

“Thanks,” Lang said excitedly.  

 

He was happy to have company as he walked in the sunshine on this slightly breezy morning. I skipped for a while alongside the carriage, happy to stretch my legs for a bit.  The boys raced each other up and down a hill.  If Lang had been better rested he would have won.  This foot race belonged to Luo Xin today.

 

We arrived at home after the sun had set and our servants were preparing for bed.  Dad decided that we would have dinner someplace in town.  The restaurant that had belonged to Luo Xin’s family had not reopened after the devastating illness that swept through our town so we ate at the noodle shop instead.

 

When we returned to the compound, Ping-Ping was waiting in the meeting hall.  She was pleasantly surprised to see Yuan Lang had returned with us.

 

“Welcome Master Yuan,” Ping-Ping greeted him with a wide smile.  She always enjoyed when he came to visit because he brought vibrancy to our home on his visits. “I would have prepared your room if I had known you were coming for a visit.”  She shot her dart filled gaze at my father.  He knew Ping Ping liked to make our guests feel comfortable and needed ample warning for their visits.

 

“His stay was not planned, dear Ping Ping,” my father tried to explain sweetly so he could return to her good graces. “I will explain everything in the morning.”

 

“I will need some time to prepare his room. Li-Li, come help me get Master Yuan’s room ready for him.”

 

“Sure,” I responded as I followed her to our sleeping quarters.  I would be sure to fill her in on the happenings of the trip to the Yuan residence and why Yuan Lang has returned with us.  My father would give her details that I could not give.

 

The driver followed us to Lang’s bedchamber with the trunk filled with his belongings. Ping-Ping was surprised to see the rather large trunk enter behind us.

 

“Exactly how long is Master Lang staying with us?”  Ping Ping questioned me as she began lighting lanterns and the driver made his way out of the small but cozy room.  She closed the door so we could have privacy.

 

“Forever,” I responded matter of factly in a slightly excited voice. I couldn’t wait to explain the details as we quickly dusted the room and put his things into the wardrobe. I told her everything that happened and every mean word the matchmaker said to me.  Ping-Ping was upset that auntie Yuan didn’t put a stop to her meanness right away.  I told her about the prank that Lang pulled on the matchmaker in my defense which caused him to be sent to live with us.  We both had a good laugh.

 

“Even though the prank was funny and Master Lang had good intentions, he still should have been respectful and allowed the adults to handle the matchmaker,’’ Ping Ping reminded me when our laughter ended.

 

“I know,” I said sheepishly. “But she wasn’t physically hurt and she will get over the embarrassment.  The Yuans paid her a large sum of money to keep her quiet.” I began to think how my father would have felt if I had behaved like Lang.  He would be very disappointed in me and I shivered at the thought of the punishment I might have received as a result.  I hope to never disappoint my father in such a way that he would send me to live with another family member.

 

I awoke the next morning to the tapping sound of raindrops on the roof of my bed chamber.  Rainy days were the most boring of all days in the compound.  There would be no martial arts practice in the courtyard.  Instead, the lessons with my tutor would be extra long if the rain wasn’t hard enough to keep him away.  If my tutor did not come, I would have extra long girlie lessons with my mother but since she was no longer with us, Ping-Ping would teach me.

 

I looked out the window and noticed the rain was not coming down very hard at least not hard enough to keep the tutor home.  The lessons would be long and boring but I wouldn’t be alone for the first half of the day.  Cao, Luo, and Yuan would be there with me and on their best behavior.  After witnessing Lang’s punishment and not knowing who made the decision for him to walk back, we dared not cross the line with my father.

 

The rain stopped just as we finished our midday meal but the ground was not suitable for practice as the sun refused to show itself for the rest of the day.  The sky remained gray and dreary, forcing us to find something else to occupy our time before the boys did chores and I had my girlie lessons.  I decided to go to my room to fetch my flute to play for them.  

 

When I returned to the meeting room the boys were talking in excited whispers.  They were discussing becoming sworn brothers.

 

“My father and Li-Li’s father have been sworn brothers since they were 10 years old” Cao Feng was telling Luo Xin and Yuan Lang.  “Their fathers’ were friends and raised them to be friends.”

 

“If we become sworn brothers, we will be closer than friends,” Luo was the most excited.  Like Cao Feng, he did not have any siblings.  “We will stand up for each other, help each other and be loyal to each other.”

 

Having two older brothers made Yuan Lang more cautious than the other two.  “As long as I don’t have to do all the chores you don’t want to do and you don’t pick on me I will be your sworn brother.”

 

“How do we become sworn brothers?”  I asked seriously causing them to break into laughter.  “What’s so funny?”

 

“You’re a girl,” Yuan Lang reminded me. “You can’t be our sworn brother!”

 

“But we can swear to protect you like brothers would,” Cao Feng interjected. “You can be our sworn sister.”

 

“What will we need to do this?” asked Luo Xin “will we get in trouble?”

 

Cao explained the process in great detail. First, we will go into the ancestral hall and light incense. Next, we will cut our fingers and allow drops of blood to mix with wine.  Then, we will swear an oath to protect each other and be as close as siblings. Finally,  we will write our names on a piece of paper and burn it after we each take a drink from the cup of blood wine. I wasn’t happy about cutting myself and drinking the blood wine but I agreed to join them in this solemn ceremony.  We decided to do this after the evening meal.

 

“The boys and I want to become sworn siblings, “ I told Ping-Ping when the girlie lessons were over. “Do you think we should tell dad? Do you think he would approve?”

 

“I think you should. It is a very serious undertaking,” Ping-Ping said thoughtfully. “It involves blood and wine. He should know.”

 

I met my brothers in the courtyard to watch them practice awhile. When they finished, I told them what Ping-Ping said. They all agreed that we should tell my father. We didn't want to anger him.

 

At dinner, we told my father what we wanted to do. He wasn't at all surprised at the idea we presented him.  He noticed how tight our bond was forming after we agreed to join Yuan Lang in his punishment as we journeyed home.

 

“I have noticed the way the three of you boys have been standing up for each other,” my father began. “The three of you also watch over and protect her like she is your little sister. Cao Feng’s father and I are sworn brothers so it makes sense that our children would also become sworn siblings. “

 

“I’ll get the wine and cup and meet you in the ancestral hall,” Ping-Ping announced as she left the room.

 

When we arrived in the hall, my father asked us to line up by age facing the tablets of our loved ones who have passed away. I was last in the line and facing my mother’s tablet. I wonder how she would feel if she were alive. Her one and only daughter about to swear loyalty and eternal friendship to three boys only one is related by blood. Would she have been happy to have 3 ‘sons’ even though she hadn’t born any of them naturally?

 

Father lit the incense and pricked each of our fingers. Ping-Ping came behind him with the bowl of wine so that each of us could deposit a few drops of blood.  The mixing of our blood signifying our uniting together as one family, three brothers and a sister.  We each signed our name to and repeated the oath to always stand united, to protect one another, to help each other in times of need and never let anyone or anything come between us.  We each drank from the bowl of blood wine and burned the oath.  We kowtowed three times before the altar before standing.  When the ceremony was complete my father and Ping-Ping left us in the hall.

 

“I have one more thing to add,” I stated as I turned to face my sworn brothers. “ I have come up with nicknames for each of you.”

 

I stood in front of my cousin.  “Yuan Lang, I now will call you the Iron Monkey, because you are mischievous, fun-loving young man who loves to climb, jump and flip.”  He beamed with pride at his nickname.

 

“Luo Xin, in the little time I have known you I have noticed you are relaxed and agile.  You are also reliable, loyal and a fast learner.  Your nickname is the Iron Leopard.”  Luo Xin blushed with the pronouncement of his nickname.  His smile told me he liked it.

 

Finally, I stood in front of the boy I have known the longest.  The one who was always there in happy and sad times.  “Cao Feng, because of your fierceness, intensity, strength and power, I nickname you the Iron Tiger. I know you will always be there for us.”  Sticking his chest out with pride, Cao Feng smiled and thanked me for his new nickname.

 

“We also have a nickname for you,” Luo Xin announced.

 

“Oh really,” I said with raised eyebrows.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the nickname they have for me.  Cao has called me bossy in the past and Lang has called me cry-baby.  I have never heard Luo Xin call me anything but my name.

 

“Sure we do,” Lang stated.  “Uncle always calls you princess and our clan is the Iron Flag Clan.”

 

“We have been calling you the Iron Flag Princess,” Cao stated.

 

“HHmmmm. Iron Flag Princess?” I allowed the words to slowly roll off my lips.  “I think I could get used to that.”

 

We all laughed and headed to our bedchambers.  Four siblings united together against the world.  When all else failed we knew we had each other to depend on for whatever we needed.