Scarring Jasmine-Chapter Twenty-two Mountain

08/10/2024 Saturday 71-86F Sunny

The winter in the mountain was long and dull. Jasmine had nothing to do every day but sit in bed looking out of the window. She missed her family, she worried about her father. That day when Zhao took her away, a new doctor just diagnosed her father and wrote a new prescription. “Is father better now?” Jasmine wondered. She begged Zhao often to let her go home, or to find some updated information about her parents; but every time she was given the same answer. Eventually, she became silent.

And there was no news from Leopard. Jasmine could feel that as time went by, Zhao was getting more anxious, despite the fact that he tried very hard to hide it from her. Jasmine leaned against her pillow, gazing at the persimmon tree standing behind the house. All its leaves had fallen off; only a few red persimmons were still hanging on the empty branches like little lanterns. Jasmine felt sorry for them: They were forgotten, or abandoned by Autumn, and they refused to leave their tree. Their stubbornness was similar yet opposite to that Sakura tree: One chose to stay; one chose to leave. 

Was everyone supposed to be lonely? Could everyone find their happiness? It had been just about six months since last July, yet her situation had changed significantly. She was no longer in Wang’s cold marble house but was in this shabby mountain cottage, with a man who was still a stranger to her. Yes, he told her his past, his ambition; however, his world was too swampy for her to understand. And deep in his soul, how deep was his love for her? Did he just love her external image like eye candy? 

Jasmine was confused. But one thing for sure was: Regardless of who he was, a smuggler, a bandit, or a merchant, he was the same man who pursued her wholeheartedly, who challenged everything just to be with her. He was her fiancé, and almost a blameless one. Seeing her continually watching the persimmon tree, he thought that she might want to eat persimmons, so he bid Tiger find some dried ones for her; the blazing fire pan was always near her day and night no matter where she was; he hand washed all her linens and dried them carefully under the sun… While the most embarrassing thing was, he insisted on cleaning her commode every day. He told her: “It isn’t something you should do. Go sit by the fire, don’t get cold. I took care of my grandmother before; I am good at these sorts of things.” 

So that was him, a stranger but an intimate stranger, whom she could rely on. Being with him, she no longer was a discreet lady but a simple woman, even though he wasn’t the man who left a hole in her heart. 

“Jasmine,” Zhao’s head peeped in from the portiere, his face was wearing a charming smile, “Today is warm and sunny, Let’s wash your hair on the porch and dry it in the sun. This evening you can take a hot bath too. Does it sound great to you?” Jasmine nodded and came out to the porch, where a large chair stuffed with soft pillows and blankets was already set. A few steps away on the rack, some white steam was hanging above a basin.

Jasmine bent over the basin, soaking her hair in the water. Then she squatted down, holding her hair in her hands, letting Zhao soap and rub it thoroughly. After that, Zhao soaked a towel in the basin and wrung it over Jasmine’s hair to rinse off the soap. He repeated it until the hair was clean. At last, after refilling some more water in the basin, he gave her hair a final rinse.  

With a dry towel wrapping her hair, she sat in the stuffed chair. The noon sun shone lavishly over the porch and on her. She watched the soapy water running away along the water furrow. All of a sudden, everything felt surreal: On this nameless barren mountain, in this little dirt yard, at this moment, she was content and happy. Life could be so simple. He and she, as a peasant couple--He would take care of her, she would raise his children; they would live humbly yet boldly, like the weeds, like the land, like every eternal piece of Nature. How wonderful it would be, if, if this noon could last forever.

Although Zhao had been very careful, during the first week after Lunar New Year, Jasmine caught cold. There was no pharmacy in near villages, thus Zhao had to go to the mountains and gather herbs himself. The water cooked from those herbs tasted horrible, Jasmine struggled to finish it every time, and her cold wasn’t improved at all. She lost her appetite; her face got paler; and her hands were cold. Zhao knew that he must take effective action before Jasmine’s situation worsened. One morning, when he went to the woodshed where Tiger and Wolf were staying, planning to discuss sending a man to the town to find a doctor for Jasmine, a man broke in—It was one of the two men who accompanied Leopard to Tianjin. “Big Brother,” the man knelt on the ground crying, “Leopard was killed in Tianjin by Flying Dagger Liu!”

According to this man, right after they arrived in Tianjin, Leopard started to spread news on the black market that he had smuggled weapons for sale. But no one made the inquiry—Leopard figured that it must be because he was new thus nobody trusted him. A few weeks later a man called “Flying Dagger Liu” contacted them, saying that he was interested in buying all the weapons in cash, and that before making the final decision he needed to see as many samples as possible. Driven by this sudden thrill, Leopard dropped his guard. He took all the samples and went with another guy to meet Flying Dagger Liu, while this man was left in the hotel since he had the trots that day. However, they never came back. The next day this man disguised himself as a rickshaw puller and went to that place where Leopard was supposed to meet Flying Dagger Liu. In a ditch nearby he found Leopard and the other man’s bodies—Both men’s hands were chopped off. 

“They took Leopard’s pistol, as well as all the samples. They didn’t have to kill them even if they decided not to do the business! That’s too nasty!” The man punched his fist fiercely on the ground.

Both Tiger and Wolf’s faces were distorted with rage. They knelt to Zhao: “Big Brother, we must avenge Leopard’s death! We can’t let that guy go!” 

“Do you know how many men Flying Dagger Liu has?” Zhao asked that man. 

“I don’t have the exact number; but others told me that he just lost a fight last November with another mafia, where about thirty men of his were killed. After it he claimed that he still had about two hundred followers. While some others alleged that he should have no more one hundred.”

Zhao snorted out a chuckle: “I think the actual number is much smaller than one hundred. He could risk himself to kill Leopard just for those few guns, which reveals that number one he is a short-sighted piece of shit, number two he has no money nor sidekicks, and number three the market there has a thirst for weapons.”

“But Big Brother, he is a master of using flying daggers. Even if he has many fewer men than one hundred, we only have eight or nine here.” That man reminded. 

“I am not afraid of his flying daggers; it is out of date. Now we have guns, which are much faster than any dagger. Yes, I agree with you, we can’t challenge him head on. But if we can ally ourselves with someone else such as that mafia who fought against Flying Dagger Liu, then everything will be easier for us.”

“Big Brother,” Tiger jumped in, “we don’t know that guy, and we have no money either. Why will he help us?” 

“Don’t forget Tiger, we have weapons, which are our ace. Enemy’s enemy is friend; we can offer that mafia some guns, and by his hand kill that stupid crab. Then we shall have the key to enter that market.”

“So Big Brother, we all should go to Tianjin right now! I can’t wait any longer!” Wolf suggested. 

However, this time Zhao hesitated. “Big Brother, why are you hesitant?” Wolf was confused. Tiger prodded him and gestured toward the house. “Is it because of that woman?” Wolf became irritated, “Big Brother, I have wanted to say something about her for a long time. She is useless, why are you so obsessed with her? Every day she does nothing but pout in bed! We serve her like a queen, can't she be happier? She has the warmest comforters and fire pan, while the rest of us have to sleep with blankets only! Even so, she still caught cold. Ridiculous! And you clean her commode every morning! That’s not a man’s job! She should clean yours! Not even to mention about the other cute things like washing her hair, laundering, bathing! She alone used more than half of the wood we chopped!”

“Wolf, watch your mouth! She is our Big Brother’s woman; it is just that simple!” Tiger scolded. 

“Our Big Brother’s woman? I am not kidding: It has been more than one and half months since she arrived, all he did with her was no more than held her little hands. Can you believe that? If I were Big Brother, I would push her in bed and ravish her the first day. What’s the point to watch a woman every day without letting her function? She won’t be yours until you screw her. Leopard is dead, he was our blood brother; we made our oath that we would die for each other. Now Big Brother hesitates just because of a woman, it is frustrating! If he doesn’t want to go, Tiger, we can go together! If we fail, we all die in Tianjin!” 

Zhao blushed, but tried not to look embarrassed, thus he asked: “Tiger, what do you think?” 

Tiger scratched his head, “Big Brother, I agree with Wolf. I am sick of this place too; we are hiding like rats! Let us all go, kill Flying Dagger Liu, sell the weapons, and revive our business. We are very tight with money, staying here won’t be a solution. She is a woman, and ill, we can’t let her hold us back.”

Zhao stood up and paced to the door. After a while, he breathed out a deep sigh: “Ok, we four will go to Tianjin tomorrow, the rest stay here watching the weapons. But Tiger and Wolf, I need you two to do something for me first: Send three men to buy some good meat and two red candles, we shall have a wedding feast this evening!”