Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 73: Birthday One-Upmanship

Chapter 73: Birthday One-Upmanship

It was time for Meili to open her gifts. Although she was excited to see what gifts her friends had selected for her, she did not like having everyone’s eyes on her watching her reactions, so she was somewhat anxious.

First up was Tan Bowen, who leapt to his feet and brought her a scroll.

She unfurled it. It was a poem, written in Tan Bowen’s beautiful calligraphy, Li Bai’s ’A Song of Pure Happiness’. There was a small painting of a beautiful woman underneath the poem.

Her robe is a cloud, her face a flower;

Her balcony, glimmering with the bright spring dew,

Is either the tip of earth’s Jade Mountain

Or a moon-edged roof of paradise.

Meili smiled with genuine delight.

"Thank you, Tan Bowen! This is truly beautiful; and one of my favourite poems. I will enjoy looking at this on my wall every morning," her eyes crinkled with pleasure.

Tan Bowen smiled and nodded at her, content with his obvious success.

The Second Prince and Princess Lingling’s present was next. The Second Prince handed her a beautiful timber box that was inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

She inspected the box.

"This is very beautiful, Princess, your highness. I really can’t accept something so clearly valuable."

"Open it," the Second Prince said lightly.

There was more? She opened the intricate carved box. Inside lay a very elaborate hair pin made entirely of gold. It had tiny gold birds perched at the end with little red ruby eyes.

"Nightingales," said the princess with obvious delight, "to remind you of our first propitious meeting".

"That hair pin once belonged to my Empress Mother," said the prince softly.

The table fell quiet, the significance of him gifting her jewellery that had belonged to his mother was lost on no one.

"Your highness, I really cannot accept a piece of jewellery that once belonged to your Empress Mother. It is far too valuable for a seventeenth birthday gift."

"Keep it. It’s clearly made for you. As my meimei said, it reflects our first meeting. It was meant to be."

Third and Fourth Brothers exchanged uneasy glances. First was already planning to give the gift to his parents to handle its polite return.

Meili looked anxiously at Third and he nodded his head very slightly, indicating she should accept the gift for now.

"Then I thank you both very sincerely for such a thoughtful and meaningful gift," she said to the royal prince and princess, bowing her head in thanks to each of them.

"You’re more than welcome Mei Meili," smiled the Princess.

Bai Li rose to fetch his gift and handed it to Mei Meili.

"Happy birthday Mei Meili," he said giving her such a tender look that she had to look away.

The gift was so beautifully wrapped that she had to carefully pick at the fastenings to make sure she didn’t damage the beautiful silver paper that appeared to be embroidered with blossoms and a blue bird. A Chinese knot in a soft green was draped across the top of the present.

Inside was a carved wooden box with a pearl inlayed design of a chow chow dog, which was clearly Tricky-Wu. Meili gasped with delight.

"It’s Tricky!" she cried, "so beautiful, thank you Bai Li. Where did you get this made? It’s so like him."

"I carved it myself," he said modestly. "It’s not as good as a real master craftsman, but I did my best."

"It’s incredible, Bai Li," she said, genuinely touched by his thoughtfulness.

She opened the box to examine the inside. The interior included a carved tray which held wooden hair accessories, also inlaid with pink mother of pearl. There was a hairbrush, a comb, and some traditional carved wooden hair pins, one with a fox design, a plum blossom, a moon and stars, and a feathered fan.

The Second Prince and Tan Bowen immediately recognised the significance of the moon and stars and the plum blossom from the first time they saw Meili bathing in her courtyard. Their eyes narrowed at the clearly carefully thought about and painstakingly handmade gift.

"Bai Li!" Meili was almost speechless. "Did you make all of these too?"

He nodded, smiling softly at her.

"They’re incredible," she breathed, "what a precious set. How long did it take you? It could never be replaced. You’re very talented Bai Li! I never knew you’re so talented at wood carving," her words tumbled over one another.

"This is in return for the pouch with a tiger that you embroidered for me," he conveniently neglected to mention that she had also embroidered pouches for the Second Prince and Tan Bowen, giving the impression that they had exchanged handmade gifts with one another.

There was an awkward silence around the table as the significance of Bai Li’s statement was heard, so close on the heels of the Second Prince giving Meili a hair pin that had been his mother’s.

Sofya was smiling fit to burst. Two men fighting for the affections of a woman was so exciting!

Princess Lingling looked worried. She was very fond of Bai Li, but she understood how much her Second Brother cared for Miss Mei, and she was terribly concerned about how he would handle the heartbreak if the girl was not to be his.

"Don’t be too concerned Princess," whispered Prince Nur, watching her closely. "One can only cross the river together after a century of fate and share a pillow after a thousand years of destiny. Only those who share yuanfen will be fated to marry. There’s no use worrying. Your brother has his fate, just as you have yours."

The Princess stared into Prince Nur’s eyes, knowing he was referring to whether they shared a deep fate and were therefore destined to marry one another. She was becoming more and more drawn to this exotic man; her resistance to the idea of marrying him gradually becoming a memory she could no longer draw upon.

Sofya did not miss this exchange between Princess Lingling and her gege, and she turned pink with pleasure, wriggling happily in her seat.

This party was turning out better than she could have imagined in her wildest dreams, and they hadn’t even performed their dance yet!

She thought she had better rescue Meili now though, Bai Li’s intense stare seemed to have her tongue tied.

"One more gift Meili," Sofya cried gaily, "this one is from my brother and me".

Meili smiled gratefully at Sofya for saving her. The gift was wrapped in a beautiful, embroidered cloth. It fell open to reveal a stunning grasslands outfit of a red and gold design.

"That’s made to your measurements Meili sent from our seamstress back home. It’s for our dance today. Don’t show everybody yet. It can be a surprise."

"Sofya, Prince Nur, thank you so much for this generous and thoughtful gift. I can’t wait to try it on."

"Shall we cue the music then, Meili?" asked Sofya, "it must be time for our performance now?"

"Yes, yes," cried Meili. "Everyone, please continue eating and drinking. Sofya and I will be back soon to perform a dance from her homeland for you."