Posted By: Ai My (203.101.39.14)
Date: Monday, 29 January 2001, at 12:19 a.m.
Howdy everyone,
Sooo...sorry for the long delays, here comes another two chapters:-
THE DIVIDED RIVER - An extract (cont.)
YiPing opened her eyes, the usual window of her room, the desk, chair …..yes, it’s her room. What had happened? YiPing tried to recollect all the pieces together, she saw Shu Han at her father’s house, he and RuPing planned to get married. Aunt Xue, Ah Hao….every one surrounded her and taunted her…. , the bus stop, the bridge…..the man…on the taxi….YiPing tried to sit up but she had no energy, her head was as heavy as a rock…who was that man? where did he take her to ? how did she get home?….all of those questions made YiPing’s head so much in pain, she had never been this sick before. The door opened, YiPing’s mother walked in with a tray, she put that tray on the desk. YiPing looked at her mother and suddenly realised her mother had turned so old and frail, YiPing called out and her mother turned back, her eyes were flashing with joy, she came towards YiPing and put her shaking hand on YiPing’s face. She asked if YiPing felt all right, YiPing told her that she was much better and asked how did she get home. Her mother was so happy from YiPing’s consciousness, she did not answer her directly but kept on talking about her illness, she said that YiPing had been unconscious for more than a week and it was the most terrified time. Then she asked YiPing to drink a bit of milk, over the week YiPing did not eat any thing, she and Shu Han were extremely worried. To that name, YiPing nearly choked with the milk on her throat "Shu Han ? Why did he come?" Her mother was bewildered, she said that it was Shu Han who took her home that night when she was completely unconscious. He carried her inside soaking wet all over, her whole body was icy cold whilst her head had the highest fever. Then Shu Han called a doctor in, the doctor could not tell exactly what YiPing’s illness was; one time he said YiPing had a jolt that affected her brain, the other he said YiPing had swollen blood vessel in her head; plus her fever deteriorated made her entire system malfunctioned. Every one feared the worst. Her father came and brought a lot of money to buy medicines and nutritious herbal food for her. Shu Han has been staying back at her home to look after her since. Her mother then added that Shu Han has gone out to get her medicines. To her mother disjointed words, YiPing could understand a bit more, so that man she met at Sun Moon Lake was Shu Han. If she was not so ill and could see clearly, she would have recognised him then she would not have to go with him. But why did he go to Sun Moon Lake ? Probably just to follow her. Why did he follow her ? Had he done enough to hurt her ? or he just wanted to see the results ? The reflection of what happened at her father’s house gleamed through her mind again, her mother continued that Shu Han had done a lot for her in the past week, he ran back and forth with the doctor, to the shops for medicines and food and looking after her. At night, he refused to go home and stayed back to watch her in turn with her mother in case YiPing’s illness mutated. To that, YiPing cut in and said she did not want his name mentioned. Her mother dissented, she said how Shu Han was taking good care of YiPing and how she could tell that he is very much in love with YiPing. When he took her home and after the doctor’s examination, he broke down and cried like a child. To see a mature and discerning man like Shu Han crying, her mother could not stand it. YiPing held her head yelled "Mom, please do not mention him. Those were just pretentious tears, do not believe him! " Her mother silent, YiPing still angry "I don’t want to see his face and I don’t want to hear his name, please mom!" Her mother stroked her head gently, she tried to calm YiPing down by given her the glass of milk "All right, all right, I won’t mention his name, don’t let your head hurt again, drink the milk up and have a good sleep." She tugged the blanket for YiPing then took the tray and walked out.
YiPing tried to get up after her mother left but she could not even lift her arms to support for the whole body, she fell back on the pillow and realised how sick she was. She heard the knock of the front door and her mother’s footsteps to open the door. Then it was Shu Han’s voice "How is she?" Her mother answered "She’s conscious", Shu Han’s quick footsteps to her room and her mother hasty voice "Shu Han, do not go in! I think you should wait, she’s still… mad at you." There was just silence and the door of YiPing’s room opened, Shu Han did not listen to her mother, he walked towards her bed and looked down. YiPing looked at him, he looked so pale and weary with that unshaved face, he sat down at the edge of her bed and called her name, YiPing said in her icy voice "Shu Han, you have won! Aren’t you happy to see me like this ?" Shu Han called her name again in his trembling voice, he tried to hold her hand but she did not let him and said "Please go away, back to your RuPing, I don’t want to see you, please do not put on that acting face" Shu Han looked into her eyes and stood up, she could see the redness from his eyes. He walked towards the door, YiPing looked at his back and felt a sharp pain at her chest, her tears filled up but she bit her lips tried not to call his name. At the door, Shu Han stopped for a minute then quickly turned around and raced up to hold her tightly in his arms "Why do we have to torment each other ? YiPing, I love you, we love each other, please do not say or do the opposite!" Her tears started pouring down all over, Shu Han held her face with his hand, his longing kiss warmed her lips and awaken her true feelings. He used his fingers to dry her tears and softly said "Please forgive me !" YiPing’s head was in pain again, she frowned "Why didn’t you come after reading my letter ?" Shu Han surprised and asked what letter, then he stopped, thought for a while and said that probably he had received the letter but since their quarrel, he did not pay attention to any thing any more, all letters for him were left on the table unopened. YiPing closed her eyes, the image of Shu Han and RuPing at her father’s house reappeared in her head again, she sighed "All right, please go, I need time to think." Shu Han did not move "Is that mean you still have not forgiven me?" YiPing suddenly repeated the words Shu Han said to her "Remember, you’ll be paying for what you did to me. Just wait and see what really is *An eye for an eye*, I’ll pay you back" Shu Han kneeled on the floor, his face leaned over the blanket on her bed "YiPing, I only said that because I thought you were only using me for your revenge……But on that night, at your father’s house, seeing you ran off under the rain…I knew I was mistaken! Do you know what was really happen ? I followed you but did not call you, when you got onto the bus, I called a taxi to tail the bus. Then I sat next to you at the lake, at that time I thought you had already noticed me but when I talked to you, I was terrified to learn that you were no longer recognised me, your head was burning and you were half conscious" Shu Han looked up, YiPing could see the tears in his eyes, he continued "When I called the taxi, you were totally unconscious, your body was soaking wet with the highest fever. I hated myself so much, what did I do ? Did I really kill you ? I brought you home and when seeing you calling my name in your fever-dream, I wanted to kill myself for being so stupid to doubt your love. YiPing, we love each other, can we just give each other another chance, can we just forget the past and start afresh? YiPing, I love you." Shu Han layed his head on her chest, YiPing did not know what to say, she put her hand through his uncombed hair. Shu Han pulled her closer and held her tightly in his arms, YiPing felt so peaceful and well-protected in his arms like a child, the love thought lost had come back again, probably Shu Han was also thinking the same, he gazed at her with much love and that yearning look of him just staring at her face without a word. They were like lovers who had been separated for many years and finally found each other again, YiPing touched his unshaved face and said how thin he looked. Shu Han took her hand held tightly and looked away for a while then turned back - YiPing could see the sight of his tears was quickly wiped off - and looked at her "Same as you, but I’ll try my best to bring back that healthy YiPing. Are you hungry ? You should eat some thing, over the past week, you did not have any food at all!" Yiping suddenly remembered her condition, she pushed him away and touched her hair, with a bit of embarrassment she asked him to get her a mirror from the draw, he shook his head and told her not to look now, just wait for another two days. She asked him if she looked really terrible, Shu Han immediately answered that she never looked terrible, then he turned away again and put his hands on his face to hide the pouring tears, but YiPing could still hear the weeping through his trembling voice "YiPing, sorry, sorry.. sorry for what I have done."
YiPing fell into a peaceful sleep with a much warmer heart, this time it was a long and pleasant sleep. When she woke up the sun was nearly set, her mother was knitting on a chair and Shu Han was sitting by her bed with a book in his hand. Shu Han looked at her with a smile and asked if she had a nice dream, her mother went to the kitchen to get some food and medicines for her. Shu Han looked at her gently and took her hand, the reflection of Shu Han holding RuPing’s hand at her father’s house reappeared, YiPing sighed and took her hand back, Shu Han anxiously asked her what was the problem, YiPing looked into his eyes and said "Don’t forget you and RuPing will get married in October." Shu Han took her hand and put a gentle kiss on it "Just forget every thing, YiPing, we shall get married in October and I’ll not go abroad, we’ll never be separated, YiPing, never." YiPing frowned "Why the Lu’s sisters are liked merchandise for you to trade? Why did us, both fell in love with you?" Shu Han grasped her hand tightly, his eyes were darker "YiPing, I know I was wrong, please forget every thing in the past." YiPing looked at him and sighed, how could she reproach him any further, probably it is fate that three of them had been entangled in this complicated web of love. Her father came by, even though YiPing thought she detested her father, but his visit still moved her. Her mother was very emotional to see him, she was shaking when talking to him, YiPing looked at her mother’s pale face with that head full of grey hair and suddenly compared with Aunt Xue, they were liked two different generations though their ages were not that far apart. Was her father ever loved her mother at all ? If he did, why did he messing up her life liked that? Turning a beautiful young girl into one of his wives then deserted her, poverty and anguish had taken its toll which resulted in her face and body today.
Her father left when the night drawn in, YiPing looked at Shu Han and asked him to go home, Shu Han refused and insisted that he wanted to sleep there he did in the past week so he could watch over her. YiPing looked at his unshaved face and said "You look like a criminal, go home and shave up. I’m all right now" Shu Han’s eyes still fixed on hers "I know, you just want get rid of me. Ok, I’ll go but promise that you don’t hate me any more?" YiPing put her hand on his to assure him "Yes, I promise. But there is some thing you need to understand that I was not the only one who had hatred & revenge in my mind. You did the same thing as well!" Shu Han nodded "Yes, you’re right. Perhaps we’re just human beings with all sorts of emotions, good and bad." Shu Han’s words reminded YiPing about Phueng Tsu, a new Christian, perhaps Phueng Tsu had reached a new level above that, leaving behind the usual feelings of human. Her mother sat at the chair by her bed when Shu Han left, since her father came, her mother looked paler with the sight of tears in her eyes, who was in her mind ? her father or the love she had lost since her father captured her?
* *
YiPing restored her health rather quickly, during her recovery, she spent more time thinking about her feelings. She felt her father was getting closer to her every day and she did not hate him any more, instead, some times she thought that she could understand him. Shu Han came to see YiPing every day, occasionally, his face turned sad when RuPing’s name mentioned - YiPing’s father told them about RuPing’s predicament, she had turned all depressed and withdrawn - sometimes, he told YiPing that he was so wrong towards RuPing and caused all that pains to RuPing. YiPing was jealous of his reaction, she told him sarcasticly "If you were worried about her, why don’t you go and see her?" Shu Han looked at YiPing then pulled her towards him, he held her tightly in his arms and said softly "Why are you so cruel and why am I so much in love with you?" Then he kissed her hungrily and passionately, love was overflowing like a huge flood which made YiPing a bit worried, anything gone to extreme often won’t last. Shu Han did not mention about his overseas study anymore, he became a full time journalist for that newspaper, he mentioned several times to YiPing about getting married, he seemed so eager about it and urging YiPing about the wedding preparation. From Shu Han, YiPing was able to track down the name and address of Aunt Xue’s lover from his car’s plate numbers without Shu Han’s acknowledgement of the cause. Shu Han was a bit suspicious about the details of that strange name he given to YiPing but he did not say anything. Instead, he simply asked her to reprieve the "other side", he said that he hoped she could forget about them and live her own life with him. Actually, YiPing had no intention to reveal that secret to anyone, just to satisfy her curiosity. Her feelings towards the "other side" was not that hateful like it used to be, sometimes she even felt pity for RuPing as RuPing was the last amongst them whose she ever wanted to hurt.
YiPing went to her father’s house for the first time after that "fearful" night of her life. She saw Ah Hao at the lounge room, he looked at YiPing and formed a cynical smile "Ah, YiPing! Here you are, are you well ? I heard that you were near dead a few weeks ago" His words made YiPing halted for a while, it was him who had heckled her most on that night, but now she has Shu Han back to her, why should she be huffy towards him, YiPing answered "Yes, I am very well. Thankyou. How is everyone ?" Ah Hao sneered at her "All are well, of course, no one here is as good as you in playing that sick or near dead game" YiPing was furious with his attacks, she could not control herself "Is RuPing home ? I come here just to ask her if she would like to be our bridemaid, Shu Han and I are getting married in October." Ah Hao’s face turned red but tried to control himself and pouted "Aren’t you embarrassed by saying that ?" YiPing was fuming, she answered back "Embarrassed ? There is only one person in the Lu’s family should be embarrassed but she is not here, she’s at the hospital after having an abortion." Ah Hao’s face turned from red to green, he breathed heavily with his fist clutching but finally he controlled himself and said "YiPing, your words are destructive. You’re a winner. But let me advise you, everything has its limit and sometimes surpass that limit is not a good thing." He walked outside, YiPing looked at his back with regrets, what on earth had made her said things like that. She went to the corridor and called for her father, he came out and looked at her with a pleasing smile "YiPing, you looked much better!" With his concerns, YiPing felt a bit for him, she wondered why lately she had pay so much attention in analysing her father’s true feelings, maybe he is not at all that bad, but why did he treat her mother so bad and ignored her for many years ? Her father then asked YiPing if she liked music, she said yes and her father continued to talk about music. Aunt Xue walked in and immediately moved towards YiPing and pointed her fingers at Yiping "Here you are, I have been waiting for you. What are you trying to do YiPing? My RuPing did nothing to you but why did you snatch her fiance ? Why don’t you go out and get a man of your own, there’re plenty out there. Why are you so cheap to steal someone’s love like that? What a #####!" YiPing was frozen with Aunt Xue’s insolent words, she could not believe Aunt Xue could use those degraded words on her. Aunt Xue continued "Why don’t you use those whoring tricks somewhere else? Why used it on RuPing’s fiance ? Let me tell you that our RuPing here is a proper girl with dignity not a lowborn like you." Her father cut in "Stop it!" but Aunt Xue continued loudly with her hands up in the air "Why don’t you just go on the streets and do your whoring ? Why do it here ? What a bunch of #####s, your mother and you !" YiPing stood up, she could not stand it any more, Aunt Xue dared to abuse her mother ? This is war, real war! Before YiPing could say anything, her father yelled "Shut up, right now!" Aunt Xue started to cry, she cried and screamed louder "I know in your eyes there is only YiPing, you would not let me to touch your money. You’re giving them everything and not care about us any more, YiPing is your only child and you treated Ah Hao, RuPing, MoPing and Ah Kuet like they’re not related to you." YiPing’s anger erupted, yes, of course, there is at least one of them not related to the Lu’s. Her father put his fist firmly on the table and said "I told you to shut up, didn’t you hear?" Aunt Xue backed off a bit then turned to YiPing and blared "RuPing is your daughter too, but why are you so unfair ? Ah Hao took Shu Han home to introduce to RuPing but that little ##### jumped in, seeing Shu Han’s family is rich and powerful she tried everything to pinch him away. When RuPing and Shu Han were about to get engaged, she hopped in again and pretended to be sick and dead in order to snatch Shu Han. All that tricks, you think I don’t know. What a sleazy #####!" YiPing felt so hot on her head, those filthy words from Aunt Xue, no wonder her mother had never tried to challenge with Aunt Xue because she knew that she could never used those similar words towards Aunt Xue. Inside YiPing was burning with anger, but she tried to control it, I have to get out of here quick, YiPing told herself then stood up, she was only turned away then Aunt Xue held her sleeve and yelled "Don’t you dare to walk away today. Stay here and settle this before you go." YiPing looked at Aunt Xue’s delirious attitude and started to worry, she tried to let go of Aunt Xue’s hand. At this stage, Aunt Xue’s loud voice had made everyone came to the lounge room, Ah Hao, RuPing and Ah Kuet. RuPing came towards her mother and said "Please, mum, don’t make a fuss about it!" Aunt Xue turned around, slapped RuPing’s face and yelled "Such a stupid and useless one you are? A nice bait already came but you still loose it to let that little ##### snatch it away." Ah Hao also walked up and said "Go back to your room, mum. What’s the use of screaming loudly?" Aunt Xue had gone mad, she ignored everyone and turned to YiPing yelled "Go away, all of you. I’ll make this little ##### to pay for it today." Then she quickly moved and hit her head into YiPing’s chest, YiPing nearly fell onto the floor, she held her hand on the chest and said "Stop it right there, if you don’t, I’ll uncover your secret." Aunt Xue continued "What secret? I have no secret. Say it out" she held her hand up and just about to hit YiPing again, YiPing could not control herself any longer she quickly said "I know where you took the money to, I also know about your friend ‘Ng Qin Hung’!" To that name, Aunt Xue stopped and walked back immediately. YiPing’s father looked at Aunt Xue suspiciously "YiPing, tell me what you know" Aunt Xue hurriedly moved towards YiPing, her sharp nails went straight into YiPing’s face, YiPing moved back to avoid that and angrily said "Father, your money had gone to her lover, Ng Qin Hung, and Ah Kuet is not your son…." Her father took Aunt Xue’s arm firmly while Aunt Xue cried "She is lying, do not believe her! Where is the evidence ?" YiPing shook her head at Aunt Xue "Evidence ? Just look at Ah Kuet’s face, it’s the evidence! If you want more, I’ll give it to you." Aunt Xue’s face turned green, she walked backwards and said "Tell her to shut up, do not say any more." YiPing’s father walked slowly towards Aunt Xue, his eyes heated with angers "I have this suspicion since he was born. Now I know, you dared to betray me?" His big hands held up, Aunt Xue was shaking with fear, Ah Hao came up and stood between them. YiPing knew that with Ah Hao there, her father would not be able to hurt Aunt Xue, she left the house with different tactilities inside her. Why did she do it? She felt totally lost and full of regrets. Aunt Xue was really bad but did she deserve that ? What would the future hold for the Lu’s family ? For her father ? YiPing suddenly wished that she knew nothing, not even that similar face of Ah Kuet and Ng Qin Hung. YiPing stopped and held her head with both hands, more than ever, she understood clearly her mother’s words of ‘leading a simple and happy life’.
......to be continued.....
Enjoy,
Ai My