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Chapter 42 2/2
Utterly confused, he was wondering what had gone wrong and how he could rescue their hopeful courtship that seemed to have already dwindled even before it actually started. Then, to his bafflement, he received a letter from her:
‘Mr. Wang,
For a number of weeks you have been kept on calling me at work. It was very inappropriate. I won’t say your calls have so much annoyed me, but they did interfere very much my work.
I am very busy, please don’t call me again.
Thanks
Qiuyan.’
By only a few lines she had expressed herself clearly enough. For a moment, his sense was dimmed and dulled by the mortifying surprise, by the handwriting strokes that seemed to resemble her long and slender fingers.
He pored over the letter for quite some time, attempting to detect any light of hope between the words, to help him unravel the biggest puzzle in his manhood. What was the matter? Why on earth did she have to write such a letter, when she could just say something over the phone? Had she not flushed beautifully in front of him? Had she not talked to him in a reasonably happy tone, at least during the first week of his calls? Had she not willingly given him her name card and as well as her hand for him to shake?
Oh, she claimed he had interfered with her work, or in other words, he had been bothering her, shamelessly, annoyingly, he had been a nuisance, he was an unwelcome person, he had been pig-headedly disturbing the peace of her life…
Like one being accused of doing something he has not done, he ached to protest, longing to unload a weight of something in his chest.
He called her immediately and asked her to explain.
‘I had an impression, at least first week, that you had not been unhappy, or even glad in receiving my phone calls. Why did you write me like that, as if I had been pestering you all the time?’
‘Ehm.. well, the first week I had not been as busy as recently.’
‘If you are busy, you can just tell me to call you less frequently, or only call you at certain time slots.’
‘But… I am too busy to receive any of your calls.’
His indignation was swiftly arising, and came with it was a new judgement. ‘Well, Qiuyan, if you already have a boy friend, please tell me directly, no need to give any excuse.’
But he received only a silence from her end. Impatient, he asked again, ‘Tell me, do you already have a boy friend? Which was the very reason you had drafted this letter, the very reason you had twice refused my seeing you on weekends?’
Some moments had elapsed before he was affirmed by her answer. ‘Yes.’
He suffered quietly for a long moment. ‘Then, thank you for telling me so,’ he faltered, ‘Bye.’
After hanging up the phone, he stood half-stunned before the phone booth, until he was reminded by the shop owner to pay the phone charge. He fished out from his wallet fifty cents and handed it to the old hand of the old man whose eyes looked so creepy and greedy.
The setback was tremendous, almost comparable to his losing Vivian’s love. Even Vivian had not hurt him so frankly and directly, and so intentionally; and she still kissed him, shedding her tears for him at the railway station, even if her tears had a nature of a crocodile’s.
For the next week, his daily if not hourly meditation and self-analysis had not helped in clearing his mind. So strange was Qiuyan, even more peculiar than Doctor Wang who had bitten his lips wishing him to remember her all his life. If she already a boy friend, why hadn’t she told him in the first place? Why should she receive his numerous calls and then suddenly give him a dead sentence, without allowing him a fair trial?
Then, he thought of his sister, who, at this time, must be preparing for her own wedding, which was to take place in the Spring Festival of 1997. Maybe, from the perspective of a woman, she could throw some light upon this matter. It was after all the first time in so many years he had taken someone so seriously.
He gave her a call, recounting in detail the happenings to her.
Soon after he had finished his story, she exclaimed, ‘Why, brother, how silly you are! Haven’t you had any courting experience at all?’
‘What? What do you mean?’
‘It is so obvious to me, she was demanding you to take her seriously!’
‘Serious? Of course I have been serious, otherwise I won’t bother telling you about her.’
‘She was basically asking you to tell her, that you like her, you love her, and you want her to be your girl friend.’
‘But I had wanted to see her on two weekends, she had refused both.’
‘How could you expect a girl to accept your request so easily? She has a pride to keep up her dignity and importance, which, really, is her only way to retain a man’s attention,’ she said, ‘Do you know how many times have I refused my boyfriend, Hui?’
‘Well, how would I know?’
‘And, the more she likes you, the more she tends to refuse you, to make you suffer for her. A girl can only feel happy when the man she wants has shown full dedication, even if through pain, towards her.’
With her words, Bing seemed suddenly enlightened like a window thrown open in the direction of sun. He thought he had a vague idea, now clearer, that he had known this courting theory before. But how come he had not been able to apply its wit on his own case?
‘Ming, I reckon you are right, now give me some advice what next step I should take?’
‘Well, first, don’t make too many calls, otherwise she will be conceited and inflated unnecessarily with too much self-importance. Then, well…when was your last call to her?’
‘A week ago.’
‘Okay, then, you can call her any time from now, in a tone very serious, sad, miserable, even crying if you could, telling her that you have been suffering the whole week because of her, pleading for a chance to meet her, even for the last time.’
‘Are you kidding? How can I possibly cry for a meeting?’
‘Well, I know you won’t, but you have to assume a suffering in your speech, just do your best, don’t bear too much pride with yourself. You need to arouse the innate compassionate feeling of a woman.’
‘Haha…’.
…
With the new method and intelligence to hand, on the following Tuesday he called her and said certain soft words as guided by his sister, and, reluctantly, she agreed to see him the following Saturday. Still four days to go, but he had hope and confidence in his breast.
As soon as he saw her face, he knew his sister had been correct in every word. One couldn’t feign such a flush, such an excited expression if she didn’t like him. Yet keeping in mind his sister’s words, he wore all the time an upset countenance like an innocent child who had been wronged by his parents.
‘Qiuyan,’ he began, sitting around a table strewn with dishes and cups and chopsticks in a restaurant, ‘thank you for coming out today.’
‘It is all right, Mr. Wang.’
‘I know you have already a boy friend,’ he said, and checking closely for the tiniest change of her expression. He noticed, immediately after his statement, she had a small but distinct wonder in her eyes as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘But, you know, I have been terribly unhappy for the whole week because of that.’
His last sentence was merely telling the truth, therefore, his sadness was genuine. And from her face, not unhappy a while earlier, he could read a shadowy reflection of his own sombreness.
She didn’t make a comment, nor did he disclose more about himself. He drank his beer, and she bent her eyes on her plate, picking and playing with a piece of pig-meat with her chopsticks.
‘Qiuyan, can you please drink one glass of beer, as a student’s courtesy to a teacher?’ He asked the same request she had bluntly declined several minutes before.
‘But I can’t drink much,’ her negative answer was actually positive, for she admitted she could drink some.
‘Just one glass, if you can’t finish, I will drink it for you,’ his ‘for you’ must have touched her not a little.
‘Fine, just a little,’ she yielded to his persistence.
Secretly gratified, he almost filled her glass. Then raising his glass, he toasted, ‘Qiuyan, let’s drink to our friendship, between a teacher and a student, even if this is the last time we meet each other.’
He poured the beer in one go down his throat, in the same gallant and dramatic manner as a general in old China tossing a farewell drink to a king before marching to a battlefield.
Then he looked into her, steadfastly, challenging her as an equal peer. ‘You don’t need to drink all in the glass, just half,’ he said, giving her a 50% discount.
For a moment, she appeared to be daunted by his toast, but for another, a special defiance, a substance of obstinacy seemed to fire up from her eyes. ‘How about I finish the whole glass, and you drink another?’
Bing knew her womanish attack was just beginning. And although he was surprised and glad with her proposal, he didn’t forget his need to show his weakness. Not easily taking all her words in, he said, ‘Another full glass? You know, I am not good at drinking. Can I have just an extra half?’
She put down the glass, showing great disapproval, ‘No, must be full, otherwise, I won’t drink at all.’
He surrendered, ‘Okay, if I am drunk in Happy Mountain, you shall be responsible for the consequence.’ He then filled up his glass.
She broke out a laughter, ‘No problem, I will call the police, saying there is a drunk teacher on the street.’
He raised the glass and reached to touch hers, waiting for her until she held the glass with her fingers and began to drink.
He thought she would drink modestly, just with a small sip, but he had mistaken her. It was so amazing to see that she didn’t stop until the whole glass was empty. And her fingers, which he had been examining closely in the meantime, seemed to be exceedingly thin and long, not at all in agreement with her relatively small and short physique.
‘What are you looking at?’ she said, staring at him, and ordered him, ‘finish your glass.’
Conscious of his imprudent gaze, he smiled, ‘Just wondering how your fingers are so special,’ And without looking at her or obtaining her feedback, he gulped down his share.
Now, both glasses were empty, Bing was feeling so good that he thought he had a very spirit of singing a song with his guitar, such as ‘Sister, you go bravely ahead…’
He filled up his glass, and reached over to fill hers, and to his surprise, she didn’t stop him.
‘Qiuyan, I know you can drink, and I also know if a girl can drink, she would always beat a boy.’
‘Hehe, so you ought to be careful,’ she said, smirking. ‘A teacher should not bully a student.’
‘But I didn’t bully you, did I?’
‘You did,’ she smiled, ‘you called me all the time, did you know that my colleagues teased me?’
‘Your colleagues?’
‘Yes, they asked me hundreds of times about you, about whom had been after me so closely,’ her eyes were twinkling, ‘tell me what I should tell them? My teacher? Or what?’
‘You can just tell them, it is your boyfriend.’
‘But you are not…’ she said.
‘I am if you let me,’ he advanced.
She didn’t reply, started picking the food from the dish.
‘Now, tell me, Qiuyan, do you already have a boy friend, or…’
She raised her eyes, ‘You want the truth?’
‘Yes.’
‘I had one.’
‘Had one? You meant you have broken up with him?’
A sudden shadow seemed to sweep over her face. The sadness that tangled her eyebrows and that he had often contemplated in the classroom, was now evident upon her surface. ‘Yes, just weeks before I went to your university for the training.’
He was moved by her confidence, and more by the sadness she was bearing at this moment. Wasn’t it the very cause that she had attracted him at the beginning of their class? Wasn’t it something he himself had also experienced in his own space of living?
‘Qiuyan, I like you,’ he gazed at her, natural, brave, and frank, no less elated by the effect of beer, ‘I really like you.’
Uncertain, and a little suspicious, and a bit more incredulous, she didn’t look at him, nor did she say anything back to his confession.
He reached out his hand, and asked to touch her fingers in his disguised words, ‘Let me read your palm.’
‘Can you read palms?’ she sounded doubtful.
‘A little bit,’ he answered, the fact was he knew nothing about this sort of trick.
Anyhow, he succeeded in his intent. He was so fascinated with the shape and the contour of her fingers that he couldn’t but touch the full length, study them like a professor analysing fossil stones. Of course, every human’s finger became thinner, to varying degrees, from its base to its tip, but only gradually. However, the fingers in his hand were not only thin and long, but also tapering in a dramatic way.
‘Your fingers are like thin bamboos,’ he said admiringly.
--End of Chapter 42--- |
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