Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jian Yao appears to be a gentle girl, with all the qualities one would ask for in pretty girl -long hair, fair complexion, nice facial features and sparkly eyes. She is also very slim.

  The dress she is wearing is elegant and tasteful. With her proportions, she will look good in whatever she chooses to wear. She speaks with a soft and pleasant voice. 

   She inherited her mother’s virtuous temperament - modest and elegant. But she also has her father’s free and easy going spirit. Though her father was only able to accompany her for six years, Jian Yao  remembers a lot of his teachings,such as  “ A real man with live with integrity and a clear conscience always, and "Enjoy and maximize all the pleasures which life affords!” etc etc

  As the sun begins to set, she starts to pack up.  She leaves the "DAIA Red Tiger" and more than a dozen fish on the shore.  As they start to walk, Jian Xuan is amazed: “Are we just going to leave them here?”

    “Yeah. He will come over and collect them later."

    When they reach their house, Jian Xuan asks: "Sister, you helped him to catch so many fish, did he not even send you an email to say thank you??" Jian Xuan not usually so preoccupied with other’s lack of gratitude, but she fears her sister’s generosity will be taken advantage of. 

    Jian Yao admits she has not thought about it.  To her, Bo Jinyan seems to be a pretty straightforward guy. She smiles: “What do you mean?"

    Jian Xuan says: "I think you are too nice to the weirdo.  Are you interested in him?”

    Jian Yao laughs: "Nonsense."

    -

    After three days, to her surprise, a parcel arrives - a gift from Mr. Bo.  

    Walking into the house, she sees a large box on the table.  Jian Xuan looks at her.  Obviously, she’s waiting for Jian Yao to reveal what’s inside. 

    “From B City. Fu Zi Yu (Fu Ziyu) sent it to you." Jian Xuan asks curiously, “Isn’t he the gay partner of the weirdo? What is he sending to you?"

   Fu Ziyu didn’t mention anything about a parcel.  Jian Yao has no idea what it is.  To her surprise, it’s a brand new fishing rod, a ”DAIA" Red Tiger! The exact same one as Bo Jinyan

    Jian Yao gives Fu Ziyu a call.

In another city, Fu Ziyu, dresses in a white doctor’s robe, sits in the office and is looking at his patients’ files. 

”Jian Yao, please accept this as a token of appreciation from Jinyan.  He asked me to send it to you on his behalf.   You know how much he likes to eat fish. It’s nothing, really”

Jian Yao hesitates: "It is too expensive, I cannot accept this."

    Fu Ziyu smiles: "He has one already. And I don’t fish.  This rod will be wasted if you don’t accept it. "

    Jian Yao disagrees: “Mr. Fu, this ‘reward’ is much bigger than my ‘sacrifice’. It’s only a few fish! ”

    "It is Jinyan’s idea, you will have to talk to him about this.  I can’t make any decisions." Fu Ziyu interrupts her, "but knowing his character, useless stuff gets thrown out. Tomorrow, you will see a pitiful ‘Red Tiger’ inside the garage bin by the back door.”

    Jian Yao has no choice but to say she will accept it.  But she doesn’t want the money from doing the translation.  Since she is so adamant about it,  Fu Ziyu agrees to it with some reluctance.

   -

After the phone conversation, Fu Ziyu recalls the events two days ago. He did not lie to Jian Yao, buying the Red Tiger is  Bo Jinyan’s decision, but giving a present is his idea.  

Two days ago, he called Bo Jinyan like he normally does just to check that everything is going smoothly.  Casually, he asked: “Do I need to replenish your fish supply??"  With winter approaching,  a small town like the one Bo Jinyan is staying might prove difficult to buy fresh fish.  

    Surprisingly Bo Jinyan replied: "I have a lot of fish."

    "How? Where?" He knows Bo Jinyan too well.  He is not patient enough to stand for hours fishing himself.  Usually, he will cast the fishing rod, then walk off within minutes because he is so bored.  

Bo Jinyan replied in a calm voice: “Jian Yao caught them for me."

    Fu Ziyu was intrigued: "Why did she catch fish for you?"

    Bo Jinyan answered: “I don’t know and I don’t care."

    Fu Ziyu was speechless - a typical "Bo Jinyan-style answer." He said: “ And you previously commented that she is like a piece of wood….How are you going to thank her?"

   Bo Jinyan thought for a moment:. "I'll double her pay.”

Fu Ziyu was about to say yes when a thought came to his mind.   With Bo Jinyan’s personality, it’s extremely hard for him to make friends, but maybe, just maybe, the two of them will get along.  So Fu Ziyu said: “Nah, cash is a bad idea.  You should send her a gift."

    "Alright. Please arrange on my behalf."

    “Hey, Jinyan, I'm not your maid!" Fu Ziyu growled, "I do not know her well enough.  How would I know what’s a good gift for her?”

Bo Jinyan thought for a few moments,  then smiled and told him:. “Get her a fishing rod that is exactly the same as mine.  This way, I don’t even have to set up my fishing rod by the river in the morning and collect it at night. ”

    -

    The next day after receiving the rod, Jian Yao takes a bottle of wine with her to the villa.  

    Jian Yao’s father used to have a wine cellar. There’s still a few bottles left after all these years although the stock is being steadily depleted by Lee, who drinks them when he visits the family. The wine is from local artisan winery.  It’s eight years old and you won’t be able to buy anything like this in a shop, so it is very precious. An appropriate way of saying thank you for the expensive ‘Red Tiger’.

    Leaving the bottle of wine in the kitchen, Jian Yao send an email to Bo Jinyan: “A good wine for fish..  Please accept my gift."

 Bo Jinyan did not reply. But the next day when Jian Yao goes to the villa, she notices the wine is placed in the cupboard, but there’s less of it in the bottle.

    -

    Days passed, the New Year is just around the corner, and Jian Yao’s translation work is near its completion.

    Jian Xuan feels a deep regret in her: “You still haven’t seen the man’s face?  Not even once?” At least she is not calling him a weirdo anymore. 

To be frank, Jian Yao is a little disappointed too.  But what she doesn’t expect is that it’s the very next day after their conversation that they will finally see each other face to face for the first time. 

   It’s a bright sunny morning.  It’s warmer than usual for this time of the year.   Jian Yao leaves home wearing a thin padded jacket. As usual, she heads to the villa and begins her work.

    Trying to finish off all the translation before the New Year, Jian Yao stayed in the villa for a bit longer than usual.   As she is about to leave, she realised the weather has turned - thunder, lightning, and heavy rain.

    It’s too dangerous to travel now.  Jian Yao waits for the wind and the rain to die down,  but the weather shows no signs of improvement in the next few hours. She gives up and calls the family.  But no one answers. 

   -

Night is here. The wind is still howling outside the villa.  The noisy chaos outside is a sharp contrast to the still and silence inside the villa.  

  The power supply for small towns are less reliable and bad weather often cause blackouts.  Jian Yao hears some ‘pops’ in the air and thinks to herself: Please, not another power outage.   

   Suddenly, all the lights were gone, and darkness fills the room.  Jian Yao gives a sigh and start to walk towards the stairs.  She shouts out from the bottom of the stairs.  “Mr Bo!  Mr Bo!”

    He did not respond.

   Jian Yao climbs the stairs, and finds there’s a gate.  An iron gate. A dark large iron gate, blocking the entrance on the second floor.  It  looks gloomy and forbidding.

   Jian Yao is taken back slightly.  Then she walks up and knocks on the iron gate, shouting a few words.

    No one.

    There is a small window on the iron gate. Jian Yao takes a peep through the small window and sees a dark hallway, with several doors, closed of course. A bolt of lightning tore across the sky and a peal of thunder followed. It’s a scene that one often finds in horror movies.

    Jian Yao has been to the villa many times, but this is the first time she feels afraid, She turns back. Just as she’s about to walk down the stairs, a door opens, and she hears footsteps behind her. 

    Jian Yao holds on to the stair railings tightly. She dares not to move.

    On a torrential rainy night, a man walks toward the gates. Sudden there’s a "bang" sound.  The iron gate is opened. A tall man comes out.

    Because it’s too dark to see what this man looks like. He is very tall, at least 185cm. Surprisingly quite a burly man, not as thin as Jian Yao had imagined him to be.  He is wearing a white bathrobe ......? No wonder nobody answered her when she yelled earlier.

    See that it’s a real person and not a ghost, Jian Yao felt less scared. Having had some experience with his eccentric personality, she is not too surprised to see him appearing the way he did.

    He stops for a moment and looks at her.  Then he walks down those stairs with his long legs.

    Jian Yao: “Mr.. Bo?"

    "Ah." He answered quietly, more like a hum from the nose.

    Then he walks up to her.  His big tall body is as a wall moving closer towards her. Jian Yao  subconsciously steps back. In a polite voice,  she asked: "Mr.Bo, do you have a flashlight ? ......"

Bo Jinyan walks straight pass her as if she isn’t there.  She follows behind him.  

    Bo Jinyan passes through the living room into the kitchen.  Jian Yao speaks again:  “Mr. Bo?”

    "No." He replies without looking back. Although the response is brief, Jian Yao can tell that he has a deep and melodious voice.

    “Do you know how to fix the problem?” Jian Yao asks tentatively. Although she does not know much about power, she is familiar with the fact that properties in remote locations such as this villa usually have its own power generator.  

    This time, Bo Jinyan turns around to look at her.  After a few moment in deep thoughts, he replies: “Judging from the extend of the power outage, the transformer is overloaded.  I will need to close the gates, open the transformer, find the damaged parts, then get the required accessories to repair it . "

    He said in his deep male voice. Deep and clear, like the bass notes of a piano.

    But just as Jian Yao has her hopes up, he speaks again. "But I will not fix it,  I am busy.  Make yourself at home, but do not disturb me.  Goodbye. "

    Then he turns around, through the kitchen, into the narrow aisle, and disappears into the darkness once again.

    Down the aisle, is the locked room that is out of bounds to her.

   Jian Yao stands, shocked at his reception.  She totally does not expect their first face to face encounter will be like this.  

    She is working for him. There’s a storm outside, a power crisis inside. And he wants nothing to do with her and leaves her by herself in the living room?