Scarring Jasmine-Chapter Thirty Three Muddle

10/26/2024 Saturday 45-66F Sunny

It had been two weeks since Zhao took Jasmine to his house—It wasn’t the same place which Jasmine and Gao visited more than two years ago. She refused to talk to him and stayed in her room everyday smoking opium. Zhao felt guilty yet annoyed: Yes, he did rape her in the cart, but she betrayed him first; as the husband, he had the right to punish her. If she wanted to continue her silent protest, that was ok, her little protest wouldn’t last long, because her opium was going to run out.

Zhao waited patiently. Finally on the sixteenth day, Jasmine sent a maid to him. “Master, Madam asked me to tell you that she needed more opium.” The maid said. 

Zhao frowned: “Go tell her: It costs a great deal. If she really wants me to buy it for her, she ought to tell me in person. She lives next door; it isn’t far for her to walk here!”

The maid left. But Jasmine didn’t show up until the evening. “I need some opium!” She slumped on the floor against the door and held her trembling body. Both her tears and nose were running.

Zhao pretended not to hear her and continued to polish his pistol. Jasmine crawled to his feet, “I need opium!” She repeated. 

“Why should I buy it for you? You refused to talk to me; and you hate me! Am I right?” Zhao stared at her face which was twisted by drug addiction. 

“Please, I beg your pardon! I need opium right now!” 

“You haven’t done your wife’s duty since you came here.” Zhao spoke coldly, “Wash my feet for me, then I will buy it!” He called to a maid: “Chunxiang, go get a basin of water! Quickly!”

The maid brought in the water and put it at Zhao’s feet. Jasmine took off his shoes with her trembling fingers, then his socks. Since she couldn’t control her hands well, it took her much longer time than it should to finish the job. Then she held up his foot into the basin one after the other and started to wash them. She sniffled audibly; due to the uncontrollable trembling of her body, she kept splashing the water out of the basin.

Zhao gave a sign to the maid; she nodded and hurried off. A few minutes later, suddenly Jasmine stopped washing. She sniffed in the air, then threw the towel into the basin and rushed back to her room.

“Terrible, she hasn’t finished washing my feet yet!” Zhao sighed. He dried his feet with the towel then walked into Jasmine’s room wearing a pair of slippers. On her little daybed, she was puffing on opium greedily. Zhao sat by her side, used his hands to dry her tear stains, then started to stroke her face and unbutton her clothes. She didn’t refuse; her attention was wholly on enjoying the pleasure of the drug.

After that day, Jasmine still didn’t talk to him; no matter what he was saying and doing to her, she purposely ignored him as if he didn’t exist; and from her expressionless face, he could sense her hate and disdain for him. 

One day he came from outside, paced about her room then asked: “Do you know what day today is?” Jasmine didn’t answer. He went to the daybed and grabbed away her pipe: “Stop smoking! I am sick of it. Look at yourself! You look like a piece of wet toilet tissue! If you want to go back to that old fart’s house and be his concubine, go ahead! I bet he won’t have the guts to take you! He is a coward! He even didn’t have the courage to risk his twenty gold coins to buy you out from me! He couldn’t believe that the deal would be so simple! It was a poker game, he quit in the first round! I just used one bullet to get you back!”

Jasmine continued to lie in bed, but folded her arm to cover her face with her sleeve. Zhao came to the bed, removed her hand, and held her chin: “If this is your vengeance on me because of your father, then I am sorry and I apologize to you! If I knew this would happen, I definitely wouldn’t have done it in the first place! I am working very hard now to make money. Next week I will ship two boats of weapons to Tianjin. I promise that I will compensate your family, and one day I will avenge your loss on Pox-Faced A San! Aren’t these enough for you to forgive me? What else do you want me to do? Today is our second wedding anniversary, while you have completely forgotten. I want you to go out with me! Right now! Ok? Or else, you will never see your pipe again!” 

Jasmine slowly arose from the bed. The maid helped her dress and do her hair. Zhao checked her jewelry box, “It is almost empty. Where is the jade pin I gave you before?” 

“I pawned it.” 

“Well, this pair of pearl earrings isn’t bad.” Zhao brought Yu’s earrings to Jasmine, “You should wear them to make yourself prettier. Let’s go buy more jewelry for you!”

Two rickshaws pulled them to the shopping area. Jasmine caught sight of the shop where Yu bought her the earrings. She slowed down and peered at the inside through the window when she passed it. Zhao followed her from behind and perceived the changes of her behavior, so he suggested: “This shop looks interesting, let’s see what they have.” Before Jasmine reacted to it, he stepped into the shop. 

Jasmine pushed the door open. It had been two years and eight months since the last time she was here. The shop still looked the same, while a lot of things had happened to her since. She wasn’t the same person anymore. She sighed and scanned the counters trying to find the same earrings Yu bought for her. 

One of the two salesgirls chuckled: “I remember this lady. She came before; the earrings which she is wearing now were bought from me.” 

“Really?” Zhao stopped browsing around and tuned his head to that girl, grinning: “How can you be so sure?” 

The girl answered without hesitation: “Because she is the most beautiful lady I ever saw; and that day the young man who purchased the earrings for her was very handsome as well—That is why I still remember her.” The other salesgirl nudged her with the elbow; she realized her mistake right away: “Sorry mister. I forgot to say that you are also handsome!” 

Zhao smiled, glanced at Jasmine’s earrings, then asked: “What’s your best pearl here? I want to purchase it for my lady!”

So Zhao bought Jasmine a pearl necklace, and took her to the opera where he first met her. “You sit here, I will be downstairs!” He told her.

The performances began. Zhao looked up at Jasmine from the main floor, trying to rewind to that evening: He fell in love with her at first sight. At that time, she was a dream to him; while now, the same two persons were in the same place, on the same seats, but she was his wife. Should he be proud of himself? Yes and no. He achieved his dream by owning her, physically; yet he knew that there was a big crack in their relationship. She shut her heart from him, and he lost his respect for her. This wasn’t what he had expected from the beginning. 

In fact, within the first year of his twenty-two months plus five days’ absence, he did come back to Suzhou twice to ship the stolen weapons to Tianjin. If he could have seen her during either of those two trips, probably she wouldn’t marry Qian in despair. On the one hand, he excused himself that those two trips were too urgent to allow him to spare anytime for Jasmine; on the other hand, he felt guilty to see her and her family. Therefore, he decided to postpone his visit; therefore, she was stained by another man. 

“It wasn’t something pleasant to think about.” He reminded himself and moved his eyes to Jasmine again: She was still outstandingly beautiful; with the large pearl necklace he just bought for her glistening on her neck, she looked like a moon casting a soft glow. But she seemed tired and bored; no matter how loud the others’ applause was, she just sat in her chair wearing a depressed expression. 

Then she started to yawn—It was the sign of her coming need for opium; she looked about the downstairs helplessly. She must be looking for him. He sighed, got on his feet and went up to her. She heard his footsteps and slightly turned her head. Her earring was glowing under the light. All at once, a thought occurred to his mind--She pawned his hairpin yet still kept this pair of earrings, which meant that the earrings must be more important to her than the hairpin, and that probably she cared about that man more than him. 

A very handsome young man, who else it could be? Zhao’s mind instantly became blank. “So she loved him; perhaps she still does.” Zhao thought. He felt like someone was punching him in the face. He had done so many things for her, loved her wholeheartedly; while she loved someone who didn’t love her at all. Wasn’t it sad?

A roar of applause burst out; the stage curtain was slowly drawn closed. Zhao followed the others and applauded, yet his heart was filled with emptiness. When they were about to leave, at the hall someone called loudly: “Jasmine, is that you?” 

They turned around. Zhao found the one that called was a small-faced woman who looked familiar to him. 

“What a great coincidence! I sat right opposite you and noticed you at once! You look thinner!” That lady exclaimed in a high spirit. 

“Sister Ying, I am so glad to see you here. How is everyone?” Jasmine asked. 

“We are all fine.” Then she looked over at Zhao, “Jasmine, this is?” 

“I am her husband!” Zhao gave her a charming smile. 

“Quite stylish!” She smiled, shot a few more interested glimpses about him, then turned to Jasmine, “Jasmine, I must go now. So long!” 

“Sister Ying, wait a second, how, how is Yu?” Jasmine asked hesitantly. 

“He is in Shanghai now. He never contacted us, but my husband Min’s friend saw him there a couple of times. Bye.” She waved her hand at Jasmine and jumped into a rickshaw.

“Is Yu your ex-husband? That pretty guy?” Zhao asked, trying to make his voice not sound jealous. Jasmine walked away without answering him.

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