Scarring Jasmine-Chapter Twenty Hideaway
07/27/2024 Saturday 62-87F Sunny
One dusk, while Jasmine was sitting in her room sorting out her winter clothes, a maid came in: “Young Mistress, Mister Zhao is outside our house and wants to see you.”
Jasmine was surprised: “Does my father know it?”
The maid shook her head: “No. Mister Zhao begged me not to tell anyone but you. He said that it is urgent so he must see you in person as soon as possible.”
Jasmine felt strange, but still put on her coat and followed the maid to the outside.
Zhao was waiting behind a tree. Upon seeing her, he hurried over and dismissed the maid. “I have something very urgent to tell you, please follow me this way.” He took Jasmine’s hand and led her to a corner of the street, where a mule cart was standing. “Jasmine, get in.”
“What is this for?” Jasmine felt confused.
“I will explain to you later. Trust me, get in first.” He pushed Jasmine to board the cart and sat next to her. Then he called to the cart driver: “Let’s go, quickly!” The cart started and ran toward north.
“Where are we going? What happened?” Jasmine asked again nervously.
Zhao held her hands in his: “Don’t worry, I am here. You can rely on me. I offended someone in business and must hide from him for a while. But I need you to go with me.
“You can’t do that! I must go home!” Jasmine tried to push him away, but Zhao seized her arms.
“Jasmine, you must calm down, and be quiet. If I am caught, I surely will be killed. I am your fiancé; I won’t harm you, but I also won’t let you go. Don’t you see it? I haven’t seen you for nearly six months, I miss you very much. I am sure the maid will tell your father if later she can’t find you. Once he knows that you are with me, he won’t worry that much. I will send a message to your family as soon as I can. Trust me, everything will be sorted out in a short time; I will take you home and apologize to your father, then we will get married.”
The cart ran fast; outside was completely dark. Jasmine became silent; the only sounds she could hear were the wind roaring at their ears and the driver whipping the mules. It was cold, Zhao noticed that Jasmine was shivering, so he took off his coat and wrapped it over her, then held her tightly in his arms. “Oh Jasmine, I am so happy,” He whispered, “finally I am with you again. It is like a dream!”
Sometime after, the cart stopped. Zhao helped Jasmine out. Several men standing in front of a house saw them and cried to a lighted window: “Big Brother came back!” Three more men came out to receive the newcomers, then they all went into the house.
It was a small house with two rooms only. The one they crowded in served as the living room, in the center of which sat one large square wood table lit by a candle. Around the table scattered some narrow long wood benches; at a farther corner of the room and hiding in the flickering shadows, a thick wood board with folded blankets was laid on two benches.
The men pulled out the benches and sat down, smirking and making faces to each other but none of them spoke. Zhao asked: “Are the soup dumplings ready?”
“Not yet Big Brother. I am afraid we have to wait for another half hour.” The man sitting on the right answered.
Zhao nodded, turned to Jasmine and smiled: “Let me introduce my blood brothers to you: Tiger, Leopard, and Wolf. They have been with me for many years; they are like family, so don’t be shy with them. We have some business to discuss. I will settle you down in the bedroom first.” Then he spoke to the man who just answered the dumpling question: “Wolf, go get some hot water for her so she can wash her face.”
Zhao led Jasmine to the other room. A wood basin rack stood opposite the door. Behind it and against the wall were two wood trunks. A large wood bed was placed by the window, piled with comforters and blankets. Next to the bed and on a small table, a candle was lit. Zhao sat Jasmine on the bed: “This is your bed; all the sheets and blankets are new. Take a rest. I will bring you some dumplings once they are done.”
Wolf carried a steaming basin in. He set it on the rack, called to Jasmine, “Big Sister, the water is ready.”
Zhao help Jasmine take off the coat. “Go have a wash, the water cools off fast. Just call me if you need anything, I will be in the living room and sleep there.” He stood up, left with Wolf, and let down the portiere hanging over the bedroom entrance.
Jasmine came to the basin, steamed her face over the water for a while, then put two fingers into it to test the temperature. It was too hot to wash with it, so she used the snow white towel hanging on the rack to dry her face.
Under the portiere, she saw Zhao’s shoes: He was sitting right outside her door.
Jasmine felt much more secured—He was the only one she knew in this strange place, among those strange men. Yes, he was her fiancé; he loved her. Thus, she could trust him and rely on him. She went back to the bed, took off her shoes slowly, and sat under a heavy comforter.
The men’s conversation from the next room wasn’t loud but clear enough to be heard. One man said: “Ok, so I will take two men with me and leave early tomorrow morning. We shall arrive in Tianjin three days later. Once I find some reliable client who is interested in buying our goods, I will send one man back to inform you.”
Then there was Zhao’s voice: “Be careful, Leopard. This is a new business for us. If you have any concerns about the client, then don’t do anything. We would rather wait longer here than risk ourselves.”
Someone else spoke: “Pox-Faced A San won’t give up; he should be still searching for us. To be safe, none of us should leave this mountain, or let anyone else know where we are.”
“I agree.” Zhao’s voice again. “We can’t expose ourselves. A San has the police backing him, and a lot of contacts. Tiger, later you assign two men to take charge of our shopping: Do it every five days if possible and only buy from the reliable villagers.”
“Ok Big Brother.”
Gradually Jasmine fell asleep. In her dream that night, she alone was surrounded by tigers, leopards, and wolves. They opened their bloody mouths shouting at her, approaching her, and she was shaking like a tree leaf in a gust. Right at the last moment, Zhao arrived. Seeing him, all the predators stopped; they laid down their two front paws and regarded Zhao as their Big Brother. Zhao picked the strongest tiger to ride on, leaving her behind a rock, crying helplessly.
She woke up early next morning. The room was very cold. She put on her coat and sat in bed. Someone entered the living room.
“Big Brother, I came to say goodbye to you. I am leaving now.”
“Ok Leopard. Again, think twice before you act. We know nothing about the situation in Tianjin, so you must take care of yourself. If anything goes wrong, come back right away.”
“I will keep your words in my mind. Big Brother, should I bid farewell to Big Sister?”
“Let me check whether she is awake or not.” Zhao opened the portiere, saw Jasmine sitting in bed. “You woke up so early! Leopard is leaving for a business trip; he wants to say goodbye to you.” Then he called to the entrance, “Leopard, come in!”
Leopard came, bowed to Jasmine: “Big Sister, I will leave for a while. Don’t miss home; when I come back, we will assist Big Brother to host a big wedding for you. I look forward to drinking to that day.”
Jasmine forced a smile, “Thanks Leopard, stay safe.”
Zhao accompanied Leopard out of the room. Jasmine heard them exchange a few more words, then Zhao came back alone. He sat on the bed, asking tenderly: “How was your sleep? Last night when I brought in the dumplings, you were asleep so I didn’t wake you. You must be hungry.”
“No, I am fine.” Jasmine looked sullen.
“Are you alright?” He reached out for her hands, “Your hands are cold; I should have set a fire pan in this room. I will do it right now.”
“Zhao,” Jasmine didn’t release his hands, “tell me the truth: What kind of business are you doing? Aren’t you a medicine merchant?”
Zhao looked at Jasmine, hesitated, then said: “Jasmine, I didn’t mean to lie to you and your family, but it was the only way for me to approach you. I was an opium dealer. I smuggled opium from Sichuan and Hubei, then sold it here. Two weeks ago, some unknown troop robbed all my goods; I couldn’t bear the loss--Not only because I had to feed my men, but also because I needed money for our wedding. Therefore, I took the risk and stole some weapons from Pox-Faced A San. However, he caught my men and found out that I did it. He has much bigger influence in this area than I thought, so I have to hide away. We plan to sell the haul in the north where it is beyond A San’s reach. I hope Leopard will bring us some good news soon. Once we have money, we will resume our opium business and do more arms; meanwhile I can finish building our big house and marry you.”
Jasmine was shocked. For quite a while she couldn’t say anything but stare at Zhao’s face, wearing an unbelieving expression. At last, she said: “Zhao, I don’t need a big house, nor a big wedding party. Can’t we live simply and do some small legal business? Father likes you; you can always ask him for guidance. Return the weapons to that man, so we don’t need to hide, OK?”
“Jasmine, it isn’t that simple.” Zhao stood upand turned his back to her. “No matter opium or arms, too many people are involved. Even if I want to quit, I can’t. My men have followed me for years; they risked their lives to fight for me because they trust me. I can’t just walk away from them and let them struggle. Besides, if I retreat, my other rivals will find out my trouble and take their revenge on me. I must be strong so I can protect myself, and you.”
Zhao came to sit opposite Jasmine, stroking her hand: “I was born in a small village near the sea. When I was four years old, one day my parents went to the market to sell our new crops. In early afternoon, one neighbor came to our house and called to my grandparents: ‘Quick! You son and daughter-in-law were beaten to death!’ My grandmother, carrying me, hurried to that place with my grandfather. I saw a crowd there, and on the ground was blood all over. I was so fearful; I hid behind the crowd and listened to my grandparents crying over my parents’ bodies.
Afterward, the villagers told us that my father’s oxcart accidentally blocked the landlord’s concubine’s palanquin, therefore the concubine commanded her servants to ‘make a good example’ of my parents. They beat my parents to death, but without any punishment from the government!
Then I grew up alone and learned to love fighting. The whole village’s kids were afraid of me and called me ‘tyrant’. Later I made blood brothers with Tiger, Leopard, and Wolf, hoping that one day I could make that landlord and his concubine pay back the blood debt they owed me. However, before I took my action, they were killed by a warlord’s hand.
A few years after, my grandparents died, so I decided to leave that village and try my luck somewhere else. Followed by my three blood brothers, I fought one place after another, and made some money by doing opium business. That was me--I was neither a rich kid, nor a great man; I was just a peasant who lost his family. Little Red isn’t my younger sister; she is a whore. I hired her to create all the possibilities so I could get closer to you. I am telling you all this because I want to show the true me and whole me to you, so you can understand my decisions. If I disappointed you, I am very sorry and please forgive me. Now is my down period, but I have faith in myself. I must get out of the mud and one day be the biggest boss in this area, then I can wash myself white. I don’t have any second choice!”
Jasmine didn’t know what else she could say. His world was too different from hers; what’s right and what’s wrong wasn’t something that she could define. So what should she do? And what could she do? “Zhao, send me back please. I don’t want to stay here; I don’t like it here at all.” She sobbed.
“Jasmine, please be patient.” Zhao pressed her face to his, “I promise you that all will be fine. Please don’t leave me; you are too precious to me. You are the reason I came to this county, and you are my dream. I can’t afford to lose you. Once the situation improves, I will ask someone to send a message to your father; he can punish me any way he wants but he can’t separate you from me! Nobody can!”
Afterward, Zhao brought a basin of water for her to wash; this time, the temperature of it was just right. And a fire pan was set for her that morning.
Comments
Post a Comment