HAINAN DAO BOOK I
CHAPTER 12
Two days later, I sat in the front seat of a car that was just pulling up to the biggest restaurant in Wenjiau. It screeched as it pulled to a stop at the front doors. Frowning, I went to adjust my tie in the mirror. I turned to look out the window. I sighed.
Tonight, I was going to have dinner with the mayor.
I know, I know what you’re thinking. Well, I had to. I really couldn’t get out of it this time. Wei practically got down on his knees and begged me. He said he would sic Tangshu on me. Well, not really, not in those words. He had hinted in a notoriously sideways fashion that under some pretence, he would let me and Tangshu spend a whole day together. Alone. A quick vision of a wad of jet-black, greased-up hair, and a perfectly bleached white pair of Spandex pants whizzed through my mind like a scuttling scorpion. I shuddered.
So, I figured that I might as well go along with it and meet the mayor, since I knew it had to be done eventually. After all, if I let him and his people get it out of their systems now, maybe then they’d stop bothering me and leave me alone. Oh, that and Dr. Croft was going to be there too. And his daughter.
Fuguang had driven me. Wei was busy elsewhere. He was going to be late, he said.
I got to sit right next to the mayor. Hooray for me. The short, rotund individual with the golden front teeth shook my hand in both of his when we were introduced, and didn’t let go for a long time. He had a large laugh. And not only his laugh. By the size of his middle, anyone could tell that the man was no stranger to expensive dinners in fancy restaurants.
He finally released my hand. One by one, he introduced me to the rest of them, the others in the circle sitting at my table. I smiled. I greeted them.
Cece was sitting two tables down to my right. And I found that out without even looking.
Keeping my eyes on the last guest in front of me, I took a big breath in, and then let it out again with nonchalance.
Twirling slightly, I happened to glance in the doctor’s direction, and acted mildly surprised. With just the right amount of smile on my face, I began to mosey on over, wearing my most debonair of facades—but only to shake hands with her father, of course. Really, I was just showing some common courtesy. Just being polite, you know? The doctor shook hands with me, and then sat down again.
Slowly, I pivoted around to face my resident angel-goddess. I worked hard and kept the swoon thing to a minimum.
And there she was, my princess, sitting upright, perched in her throne, stately, wise, and resplendent in her cerulean chemise, offset by the sparkling of a tiny, glowing pendant, suggestive only in where it lay. Up until that evening, I hadn’t even known what cerulean was. Now, suddenly, it had become my favourite colour.
We…talked. She smiled at me.
Just when I thought I was getting on a roll, I had to go back and sit down. The meal was starting.
Though my heart had not been in it at first, I must be honest now and say that I had never had, nor will likely ever have, another meal quite like that one. Every dish that came was gigantic, all the food was fresh, and by about the tenth dish, I had completely lost count of the actual number of courses that we had eaten. Though it has become hazy now, I can still remember some of the delicacies that we had been served. Of course, there had been the Hainan chicken rice, but also steamed shrimps, sautéed eel, crab, bass, clams in a black bean sauce, and wiggly snails. Yes. Wiggly.
Throughout the meal, the mayor kept rambling on directly into my ear. I was beginning to wonder if he was getting to eat at all, until a piece of garlic got spat into my auricle. He apologized and went on.
“Needless to say,” the mayor said in Cantonese, “your father had been a great benefactor of ours. He supported us in ways that we could never have hoped to repay him.”
“I’m sure he never had repayment in mind,” I replied.
“Of course, of course.” He smiled. “I wonder, though, if you intend to carry on his grand tradition and extend your hand in support of us?”
“Well…”
“Think of it as an investment.”
“Ah, investments! If you are speaking of money and investments, perhaps it would be much better to talk to my brother about it.”
“Your brother?” He nodded his head and smiled. “I have already spoken to your brother. The other night when we went out to dinner together, as a matter of fact.” He shook his head. “Your brother is an amazing individual.”
“Thank-you. I know he is.”
“He is quite the entrepreneur, is he not?”
“He has a good business sense.” I was working hard not to glance over in Cece’s direction. I picked up my teacup and took a sip.
“He was certainly curious about us, anyway.”
“Oh?” I turned toward him slightly. “In what way?”
“He wanted to know everything about us. The projections for the new building ideas, how much everything was going to cost…”
I frowned. “Did he mention why he wanted to know all these things?”
“No.” He shrugged. “I had thought that he must have been seriously interested in backing us, but when I asked him out right concerning future investments, he said he would have to think about it and get back to me. Has he told you anything?”
“No.”
The mayor nodded. “I sincerely hope, though, that you will give it some thought. After all, this is your homeland, where you are truly rooted.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Roots go deep.” He smiled just then, and the gleam of his golden teeth outshone all the other lights in the room.
I smiled back, as I chewed over and over again on my food.
Homeland. Right. Like that’s all he was really thinking about. I thought I looked a little less naïve than that. Come on, let’s face it. We both knew what he was talking about. Money. That’s all. That’s what this whole evening had been about from the very first.
But what I didn’t understand was, it wasn’t just him. It wasn’t just the mayor. It was everybody. And not just everybody in Hainan, or China. It seemed that everyone in the whole world thought about this in the same way. I mean, what was up with this making as much money as you possibly could thing, anyway?
Sometimes, I felt that my father had been like that too. After all, wasn’t that what he had pushed me into medicine for? Sure, he had made it sound very noble, that I would be helping the sick and doing good for my fellow man, but behind all of that, behind all of the talk, hadn’t he really only wanted that one thing for me as well? Money? Hadn’t that been all he had thought about, at the end of it all?
Me, I happened to think that I was doing just fine. I didn’t need a truckload of money to keep me happy. I would like to have thought that life was more than that. I would like to have thought that I was on this Earth for a cause just a little higher, a little less superficial and commercial. I didn’t need to make a lot of money. I only wanted to make something of myself, and maybe make something for my future family at the same time, if I could manage it. That was yet another way that I found I was totally different from my father.
Throughout the rest of the evening, the mayor kept coming back to that same topic. He tried to show me the potential of the Island as a major tourist extravaganza. He had even brought maps and layouts, all nicely put together in a ring binder and went through it with me page by page. I nodded along with him and smiled.
Meanwhile, I was trying to recite the names of the seven dwarfs in alphabetical order in my head. I had heard that this had been one of the older techniques taught to premature ejaculators. That or an ice bucket by the side of the bed. I kept getting stuck after Sleepy. Let’s see. Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy…what? It was beginning to bother me.
“You see, Furen,” the mayor had been continuing right along. “The concept is that the Island Supermall will be the focal point within the entire area of the new development site. You know the one?”
“The…pardon me?” I smiled.
“The Megadevelopment site? You know? The beaches, hotels…” He waved his hand in the air. “…you mean you haven’t even heard about it yet?”
I shook my head.
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, my!” His smiled broadened. “Wait until you see it! This is going to be the grandest project you will have ever feasted your eyes on! It’s going to be huge. Just huge!”
I nodded.
“You see,” he barrelled right along, “just before your father…” He cleared his throat. “…moved on, he had been in the process of bidding for a development project along the beachfront of Yalong Bay.”
“Oh.” I nodded.
“It is going to be a huge project.”
“Yes. So you said.”
“It is going to make the strip that is being run now by the Holiday Inn and the Hotel Gloria look like mere mud piles on the street.”
“Uh-huh.” I raised my teacup to my lips. I forgot myself for a moment, and happened to glance over to my right.
“Do you know the size of this piece of land? Do you have any idea how much it’s going to cost?”
“Uh-huh…?” I could almost feel her aura wafting over this way. I inhaled deeply.
“Your father had left specific instructions for your brother, Fuhwa, and the bid was given as…” The mayor paused. His eyes darted to his left and right. “…well, here. Look.” He spread out his napkin and then wrote a number on it.
I glanced down at the figure but only for a moment.
I did a double take. My eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”
The mayor checked his left and right again. He leaned closer. “Of course, I’m serious. Would I make a joke about something like that?”
“But that’s…”
“Sh…!” He lowered his own voice. “That’s exactly what I mean. It’s going to be huge. And the mall is the thing that’s going to pull the whole project together. Yes, the mall. Not the hotels, the rides, the zoo, or even the golf course. The mall. Trust me on this one. And don’t let anyone else tell you differently.”
I frowned.
Ah, money.
I lost interest again. I turned my attention to the leaves drifting around in my teacup.
Sleepy, Sleepy…what?
“And you know what?” asked the mayor.
“What?”
He lowered his voice even more. “I happen to know that we are going to win the bid.”
I nodded.
He began to smile, like a coiled snake staring at the door to its cage as it slowly swung open. “You must be just dying to know how I found out. Am I right?”
I think I must have nodded again. I bent down to take a sip of my tea.
“Well, I can’t tell you how, exactly, but I can tell you this…” He leaned back in his chair and puffed out his chest. “…sometimes, it’s good being the mayor!”
He slapped me on the back and laughed. Large.
I coughed. I blinked my eyes. I nearly spat up all over the table.
“You see, my friend.” He leaned close again. “As the mayor, it is my private privilege to become acquainted with certain pieces of information…”
I cleared my throat and coughed again. I took another drink, but much more slowly this time.
“…That is, to know certain things. For example, while it is true that I do not know the exact name of the man, I do know for a fact that there is only one other bidder for this particular project…”
I breathed out. I sat back in my chair.
Well, at least the tea didn’t go up the other way and come out my nose…nose?
“…and that his bid is higher than your father’s…”
My eyes widened. Sneezy! That’s it! Sneezy!
The mayor must have noticed the look on my face. “Oh, now, I know what you’re thinking. Not to worry.” He wagged his finger. “It is not as simple as that. You see, though the competing bid is higher, the other party can only afford to pay in instalments. Whereas your brother Fuhwa’s side, with what your father has left behind, is able to make the offer in one lump sum payment. This point is most significant.” The man bowed his head and took some tea himself.
“Right.” I smiled. Sneezy. Right. Mentally, I patted myself on the back.
I turned to the window beside me, and stared out into the street and the crowd in it rushing by. I rubbed my chin. I frowned.
Now, how did that song from the movie go?
***
The door opened. Wei walked in.
Ah! Saved by the bell.
I smiled and stood up to greet him. “Wei!” I indicated that he might come and sit down by my side.
Wei smiled but waved his hand no. He searched the room. Seeing Dr. Croft, he waved hello and proceeded to saunter over to his table. They didn’t quite have the room to fit him in at first, but a few of them stood up and made space. With a grunt, Wei squeezed past the others, and then plopped himself down in the seat right there next to Dr. Croft.
Actually, between Dr. Croft and his daughter.
Cece smiled at Wei.
He smiled back.
And then…I saw it.
Slowly, like ice melting, the smile on my face began to unbend and then fade completely away like the last wisp of wavy, waxy smoke from a newly blown out candle.
I saw it on their faces. I saw it in their eyes. I could see it, even now.
They didn’t need to say it. Or tell me.
I could see it. Plain as day.
I could see it. Anyone could.
“Furen?” The mayor touched me on the arm, and was slowly rising to his feet.
You see, I was still standing.
The others began getting to their feet too. Soon, all three tables, all the ones in our party were standing up.
Someone started to clap. Then another. And another. Then all of them were clapping, and looking at me and at one another with puzzled grins on their faces. But they clapped, and kept on clapping.
The mayor coughed. “Uh…uh…” He glanced around. He waved his hands, and the people stopped and stood still.
His brows shot up. He smiled. “I would like to propose a toast!” He reached down and picked up his glass.
“Yes!” someone cried. The others all picked up their glasses too.
“Uh…I would like to propose a toast to…uh…our dear friend and benefactor in Heaven, the kind and wise, lord Yixi!”
“Yes!” cried the others.
“May he…” The mayor sniffled. “…may he rest in peace…and…and never let us forget our roots.” All of them raised their glasses, murmuring something in kind, and then downed their drinks.
I blinked several times. I reached down for my cup of tea, brought it up to my mouth and tossed it back like I was flushing a toilet. Together, we all sat down again.
I told the mayor that I was going to the men’s room, and then left the restaurant through the back door.
***
I wandered down the street, and images flashed by but I didn’t see them. My mind was so empty that every sound became an echo that bounced around inside my head, again and again and just wouldn’t go away. It was hot. I felt chilled. I drew the night around me like an overcoat. The street was filled with people. The sounds and noises of them were being crammed into the night until it would burst. I plodded along, and sought out the less congested side streets, and eventually made my way to the back of some forgotten field, at the back of some forgotten building. I shooed the cats away when they got too close, and sat down on the dusty ground and gazed up into the endless, turquoise sky.
I sighed.
I brought my hand up to my face. I stared into my palm for the longest time.
Was there anything written here? I wondered. Was my life truly played out upon these whorls and wrinkles etched onto my skin? If so, what were they saying to me now? Will my life mean anything in the end, or was this all a mere blip, a minor hiccough in the fabric of time? Have you wondered the same thing sometimes? That is, whether or not your being here was for some purpose, or was everything in the universe just some freak accident? Because if it was, then it really wouldn’t matter if I had lived a good life or bad, long or short, would it? Or if I had made a lot of money or little, or won the Nobel Prize or perfected space travel, abolished war, rid the world of hunger, disease, or learned the secret of immortality.
Or whether or not I knew love.
It wouldn’t matter.
I craned my neck back and looked up. Reaching up to the sky, I stretched out my fingers toward the sliver of moon now perched in splendour in the heavens above, and I wished and I longed with all my heart that I could brush the evening in the velvet sky.