Flying Lessons & Other Stories

Content Warning: The source material contains depictions of child slavery.

Lingsi, the narrator, recounts that when she was a baby in Imperial China, her mother sold her to the Li family, asking only that Lingsi be taught to read once she turns six. Mrs. Li readily made this promise, though she had no intention of keeping it. The woman retells this story to her Aunty Wang, mocking Lingsi’s mother and her 14 malnourished children. In the conversation that ensues, Mrs. Li reveals that she thinks that teaching a girl to read is pointless, even if the girl’s grandfather had been a scholar. Meanwhile, Aunty Wang insists that Mrs. Li should not have made false promises. Mrs. Li admits that she only agreed so that she could have the baby.

Interrupting the conversation to deliver a tray and news that the teacher has arrived, Lingsi smiles to herself. Although this story is not new to her, she loves hearing it again because it provides a memory of her mother and a sense of how strong-willed the woman was despite enduring harsh circumstances.

It is because of this that Lingsi believes her mother may have intervened on her sixth birthday. On that day, a new tutor arrives at the house. His task is to educate the Lis’ son, FuDing, who has proven to be so difficult and incapable that multiple instructors have quit in frustration and fury. When the new teacher enters the house, he surreptitiously changes the incense at the ancestral shrine, so when Mr. Li is unable to light it, he turns to the learned man for help. The tutor reveals “that you or someone in your household has shamed your ancestors. Perhaps someone has stolen something or has broken a promise” (25). He indicates that this is why the shrine will not light. The tutor’s actions and words suggest an awareness of Mrs. Li’s broken promise, allowing him to prey on their fear of shaming the family. Horrified, the woman reveals her lie and reluctantly agrees to pay the man double his original fee.

When Lingsi is 12, she has her final lesson with the teacher. FuDing sits there, still barely able to read and cruelly plucking legs off crickets. Lingsi tries to have compassion towards him, for his stupidity is the reason her lessons have lasted so long. That day, the poem of study is “The Difficult Path” by Li Po which depicts the ocean, along with its waves and brutal wind. A metaphor for life’s obstacles to overcome on the way to another shore, the poem inspires Lingsi to think of the ocean and pirates, of which she only once caught a glimpse. The tutor reveals that this will be her last lesson. FuDing is of marrying age, so his employment with the Li family will end. The older man hopes that she will remember this poem. He says he has enjoyed teaching her, which saddens her because he is the only person who recognizes her intelligence. She recognizes the opportunity she has been given but is not prepared to relinquish it.

The older servants of the household, Bisi and Shuwan, chastise Lingsi for her tears, declaring that there are much more challenging things to worry about than the end of an education. In this conversation, the servants reveal that preparations are underway for the entire Li family and their servants to journey to the Infinite Stream Temple by the ocean. The purpose of this trek is to procure a matchmaker to help FuDing find a wife. When Bisi grumbles that it will be an impossible task to arrange a marriage between the brainless FuDing and a girl of social status, Shuwan interjects to say that is why Mrs. Li always had an alternate plan. Lingsi inquires about that plan, but no one speaks up until she demands an answer. The truth is that Mrs. Li bought Lingsi, the granddaughter of a revered scholar, just in case they could find no one else for her son. Technically, Lingsi was born into “good blood” even if her family had fallen on hard times. This news, and Lingsi’s helplessness to do anything about it, causes her to weep again.

The next day, the Li family and their entourage begin the procession to the Infinite Stream Temple. Lingsi relishes the sights and sounds along the way. She especially enjoys hearing more about Shuwan’s fear of pirates. They discuss the Imperial Navy’s failure to capture the infamous Red Flag Fleet. As they get closer to their destination, Lingsi spots the conspicuous scarlet ensigns of that very group of pirates. Waiting at the entrance to the temple, the Red Flag Fleet attacks and plunders the procession.

Lingsi loses consciousness during the raid, and, while dreaming of her mother, she wakes to the gentle sway of the ocean and voices whispering. She and Bisi had been taken captive by the pirates, and they discover that the captain of the Red Flag Fleet is a woman, Tianyi, “the most feared pirate of the sea” (34). Lingsi’s shock at this revelation is coupled with a memory of learning about the goddess Xi Wangmu being depicted as both ferocious and beautiful, which she thought impossible until setting eyes on Tianyi. Now she sees that this paradox is be true, for a woman can be both strong and captivating.

Tianyi reprimands her crew for taking hostages. When the crew also notes that Bisi is pretty, the captain threatens their lives if they touch the servant woman. Then she denies their requests to give Bisi as a prize to another pirate group they are indebted to, citing her plain looks. In reality, she says this every time they have an opportunity to deliver women as trade. Instead, Tianyi instructs them to drop the pair at the nearest port with enough money to return home. At this, Lingsi begs to stay. Tianyi scoffs at the idea, noting that this is a pirate ship, not a school.

When a pirate accidentally drops a crate of tea into the water, Lingsi comments that it is a shame to lose valuable tea. Tianyi overhears and demands to know how Lingsi can tell what kind of tea it is. Discovering that the girl can read, she asks her to decipher another crate. Then Lingsi follows the leader to her luxurious captain’s quarters. Here, Tianyi recounts the story of a wealthy man who defended a chest of goods to the death, which the captain found to be valiant; it turns out the chest was full of books. When Lingsi declares that she can read them, Tianyi agrees to let her stay on the pirate ship, only if she teaches the captain to read.

Lingsi stays with the Red Flag Fleet, ultimately earning her freedom in a twist of fate. No longer tied down by her gender or social status in society, Lingsi is free to read and write as much as she pleases. Her final words reference the ocean and the hardships that await, paying homage to Li Po’s poem from her last day of lessons.