Hi: Things are getting tense for our favorite, flawed monk. Plus a jealous Bai.
Chapter 18
I am Fahai, and I need you
Two days passed from the incident with the defrocked monk. In that time an anxious Bai planned for a visit from Janet.
Her wait did not take long.
"What?" Angelo's stunned expression brought a smile to the peeking Bai.
"No message. I received nothing." Dropping the cell phone to the hard wood floor, he sneaked a glance at the grinning faced woman. Presuming her innocent smile born from his childlike awkwardness, Angelo felt at ease, for a moment.
Moving in with Bai felt to the young man as if the most natural decision to make. Though in moments separated from the woman, he could not accept that his decision had been his own.
I knew something like this would happen.
Angelo turned his head away from the casual expression of Bai. A fear arose in him that she could read his thoughts.
Its like I have no mind of my own.
His inner dialogue halted as he picked up the phone. A cackling laugh on the other end of the phone brought him a rigis stature.
But this? No way she meets Bai. No way!
Angelo felt pressure over his eyes. His last thought rocked his mind.
"Yes, yes, I see." He answered the caller.
Composing himself, he put the phone tight to his ear. Angelo often spoke using the speaker. This would not do for such an unexpected interruption. Thinking he could keep the identity of the caller secret from Bai had been a miscalculation.
The muffled conversation filled the Immortal's ears.
"Oh I miss you so much. You were suppose to pick me up. I'm here at this awful hotel."
Angelo's mind convulsed with the information she reported.
"It's the Chungking Ding Dong He Inn or something like that. I even had to ride with some crazy guy."
Angelo pressed the device as tight to his ear as possible. Janet's high-pitched moaning seemed to exit the opposite ear filling up the room.
The anxious expression grew as he kept his ear glued to the cell, while widened blue eyes focused on an apathetic Bai.
In an area not far from Janet's conversation, Fahai settled down in his fashionable room of the Zhenghe Inn. Fashionable in relation to the many modest motels lining the winding roads leading to the City's center. The one room offered cable television, satellite radio and in the adjoining bathroom a white porcelain commode. A convenience not often present in this area of China Posing as a business representative of an American Tourist agency, Fahai found himself in the most sought after apartment of the small motel.
"Thank you." Putting the phone down, he did not need to be spiritual to sense the warm welcomes received by his arrival. Fahai's flawless mastery of the Fujian dialect, coupled with obvious knowledge of Mandarin and English sent an electrified atmosphere through the residence.
This businessman must have many connections. We will soon have the rich from America and Beijing stopping over.
The manager could not hide his enthusiasm and apparent use of his brain as an adding machine from the learned holy man. Fahai's polite and respectful acceptance of such a gracious welcome created much joy in the fifty-something proprietor, still full of energy at the sight of this distinguished visitor. Even after a typical twelve-hour workday.
"His visit will help us greatly." He commented to the young slim teen. "Maybe we can get you a uniform?"
The modest Inn offered the needed comforts for travelers. Classified as a three-star hotel, its popularity relied on a helpful and diligent staff.
A bland off-white color greeted the outside world. One large window exposed worn dark rugs with an unremarkable design. Two floors gave the residence some body, though the continuous use of the hard to define white-like color dominated the hallways and rooms.
The atmosphere a few miles to the North did not contain the same tranquility.
Leaving home for a tutoring class at the school freed him from any interrogation from Bai. Janet appeared stuck in the hotel. Packing, unpacking, he could not think straight. He did not care. She would not see him today.
The past lovemaking marathon at Nine Bends faded for Angelo. All he envisioned cast fear throughout his body. The horrific images in Bai's eyes during their tryst still haunted him.
Then, all vanished as if whisked away by some magic.
It appeared, business as usual for the American.
"Lao shi, Lao shi." In unison school children greeted Mr. Ciello and Li Tao.
"I've been here almost eight months and they still get excited when I walk into the room." Angelo's smile could light up a classroom, or so the children thought.
"You have a way about you, sir." Li still kept his ever present wall of perspiration beckoning for permission to erupt from his thinning hairline.
"Sir?" Angelo asked. He took several books from his desert-camouflaged backpack anxious to correct his colleague. "How many times do I have to tell you," his grin broadened. "I was a sergeant in the army. You understand? I worked for a living." A humored expression from the American. "No sir, got it?"
This replayed conversation brought humorous expressions from both men. Li's strict and stern nature became absorbed by Angelo's casual, low-key and often-gentle temperament.
An example of the American's following of tradition occurred while visiting Li's classroom.
A practice in China to express dissatisfaction with a student is to have the poor child stand two or so inches from a wall. They must keep their eyes open.
Angelo tried this on himself after seeing Li punish a talkative young girl.
"My head's gonna explode." His reaction.
The American never used or in fact needed to discipline a student. It seemed the softness of his masculine voice mesmerized any would-be troublemaker.
Li Tao, at Angelo's request, substituted a take-home writing assignment for this unique brand of corporal punishment.
"That's an interesting book." The balding Math teacher stated to a fifth-grade girl as he left for his waiting Math class.
"Kathy," Angelo used her English name. She adopted Kathy to replace her given name, Mong. This took place about two seconds after meeting Mr. Ciello.
"Yes, teacher," she answered in English hoping to impress this handsome, blue-eyed American. The eleven-year old selected a desk in the front of the room, upon seeing her new teacher. There she sat for every class.
"May I see that book? What an interesting cover." Walking toward Kathy, he stooped over her picking up the hard-covered book. "Wow, this cover is something." His right eyebrow shot upward.
"Yes, they are the heroines of the story." Her smile grew.
A group of students begin to emit giggles. Kathy turned to shoot a serious look at the children.
"The artwork is fantastic." Angelo stated as he held the hard cover book.
Two young women, one dressed in white the other in green silk garments sat at the bank of a Lilly pond. A bright blue and green background encompassed the pair and two figures appearing to be giant snakes frolicked in the background. The scales of each snake matched the soft colored garments of the women.
Looking at the Hanzi characters, Angelo struggled to translate them.
"Teacher, it is a story of evil that becomes good."
"Interesting," Angelo opened the book, thumbing through the pages.
"Yes, that edition is for children. My mother has the real copy where the snake sisters make love or something," Kathy's face turned red thinking about her words, "to a teacher."
The class broke into dialogue sprinkled with chuckles. They often heard their mothers' equating the local merchant Bai's obsession with the young American to the ancient fable.
It took a moment to quiet the classroom. Angelo could not understand much of the cackling comparisons springing about the room. He did feel uncomfortable facing the chalk board. Murmurs and muffled giggles erupted as his back faced the children. This type of behavior is unusual.
The sunny classroom offered enough warmth to off-set the creeping cold of a December morning. Though, Fujian in February can be quite pleasant. As in most of China, the start of a day is the time to heat an apartment or schoolroom. Frivolous use of energy could be determined as a counter-revolutionary action, such as the waste in Hong Kong and Singapore. The new additions to the People's Republic of China are highlighted as examples of decadent Western-style living often noted by government officials.
The beige colored brick walls reflected the noon day sun. It would climb to 60 degrees by the late afternoon.
As the children left the sparse room, with contrasting dark brown desks, one child waited at the door.
"Kathy, you will be late for Mr. Tao's Algebra class."
The young girl stood with a downcast head.
"I know you are not like Xu Xian." She turned and ran out of the classroom and down the hall. Angelo could hear sobbing.
Li Tao stood at the entrance to his class. His expression stole Angelo's breath.
As the American continued to stare at his colleague, a feeling of dread traveled over his body.
He looks at me with disgust mixed with pity. What is going on?
That evening, Angelo felt blessed that Janet had not contacted him. He thought it weird that it became a natural choice for him not to visit the hotel, or call her back. An American from his past comes to Fujian, and he makes no attempt to see her. Even a polite meeting in town.
Angelo shook his head and focused on something else. He hoped to discuss the rumors floating about the town. Living with a beautiful woman did not upset him. He would shout through the tea fields if he had to.
They think I'm pussie-whipped. No worse, like some lapdog that can fuck.
He turned to see if Bai noticed his inner dilemma. As time passed, he felt sure she could read his thoughts.
His heart skipped a beat with the vibration of the cell phone. Janet's number and picture somehow had been erased from his contacts' list, yet he knew the identity of the caller.
Bai's residence possessed two floors. Since the arrival of Angelo, Xiaoqing spent less and less time at the home.
The younger sister occupied the second level that consisted of two rooms. A modest bedroom that opened up to an even smaller living room attached to a bathroom.
Surrounding her Apple rested different catalogues featuring the sheerest of lingerie. Spread in a circle around the laptop, the tea green comforter that could shine when the morning sun crept through her sole window remained dormant, blotted out by the brochures. Behind a drape hid her bathroom. A porcelain commode sat between a minute sink and shower stall. The white room matched Xiaoqing's bland living quarters. Since Bai and Angelo's bonding, she spends most of her time working at the shop or ordering sexy lingerie from any and all dealers. It appeared the younger sister would do anything not to mix with the new couple.
The downstairs floor possessed a master bedroom, a tub and shower stall in the corner of the room and an open kitchen facing a large living room. One thirty-two -inch flat screen T.V. made it's home in a pure white wall unit. The spacious area began to close in on Angelo.
"My address? You know it?" His voice broke at the information.
Janet asked the desk clerk, "where does the American teacher live?" The young woman did not skip a beat in her answer. Though she did become flustered after realizing, the address given had been Mistress Bai's.
Upon Janet's return to her room, the young clerk giggled till her colleague, another twenty something female asked what had been so funny. She remembered how the guest from America was willing to pay an extra fee for a private bathroom. The attractive blond had been willing to pay double the initial cost of her original reservation to acquire the one room with a commode.
"What?! You have to be some kind of circus freak contortionist to take a pee in that little hole." Janet's reaction to the first choice.
After a moment, the two young hotel clerks were screeching with delight.
"I'll be right over." Back in her room, Janet disconnected the call, and took a glance at herself in the mirror. Shaking her shoulders, one of the slim straps of the black dress shimmied down her left shoulder.
Touching up her lipstick, she winked at herself. This February day in Fujian would reach 65 degrees. Grabbing a light black sweater, she resumed looking at her reflection.
"Hmm, through a broad grin. "No one can resist me." A high-pitched giggle, "I look like a little whore." Putting her finger under her lower lip, she removed a speck of the red lipstick.
"He'll eat right out of my hand."
The confident young woman left for the waiting taxi.
As Janet entered the cab, it appeared every male eye in the small café across the street from the hotel looked in her direction. Her blond shoulder length blunt cut twirled with her slightest movement, easing her head to the side she sighed at this difficult task of entering the backseat of the black Elantra. A subtle smile emerged on her powdered face.
Every man in that rat-infested coffee shop must be cummin' in their pants over me.
Her thought interrupted by the blast of a passing garbage truck's horn, followed by screeching cries from the driver, she grew bolder in her contemplation.
Every man in this damn, pigsty of a country must be drooling over me.
Everyman, but one.
After a quick glance at the blond bombshell gathering all the attention, Li Tao introduced himself to the stranger.
"Sir, are you a tourist?" He thought it strange that this young man did not ogle at the likes of the woman across the street.
"You might say I am here on business." The man dressed in black fixed the collar of his shirt. His eyes glistened as he continued. "Why are you not still preoccupied with the young woman?" The comment referred to Li Tao's passing interest in the scene across the street.
Looking at the stranger, the Math teacher felt a burning sensation akin to his touching an exposed electrical wire. His body tingled. Composing himself, he felt light-headed.
"Sir, are you alright?" The seated visitor asked.
The young teacher could not move his eyes from the mysterious man. Taking a breath, he spoke.
"It would be disrespectful and scandalous to behave such as that." Li straightened his dark blue sport's jacket. Unbuttoning the double-breasted top, he took a breath. "I admit she is beautiful, and different. I looked at her cause I am after all…only human." A smile appeared on his face.
"My business here is to find someone," the stranger paused. "Who is only human." Using his foot to push out the other chair at his table. "Here sit down, we have much to talk about."
"I don't understand, sir." Li Tao sat as if his will to resist the offer had vanished.
"I am Li Tao, teacher of mathematics at the English Language and Cultural School."
The man in black said nothing in response to Li Tao.
"Sir, it is impolite to not introduce oneself." Li Tao's thinning hair sent forth streams of sweat down his forehead.
The other men in the café did not notice the teacher's uncomfortable position. Slanderous accusations and typical innuendos concerning the American female kept their attention.
"You are drawn to me." The calm tone of the stranger did not settle Li Tao.
"Who are you?" Li whispered.
"I wish to ask you about something you know, but can not believe."
Licking his lips, Li tasted the drops of perspiration still streaming down his face.
"I don't understand." The frightened man's upper teeth clawed a sweat soaked lower lip. "Who are you?" This time the whisper possessed strength.
"I am Yin Xing Fo wu qi."
Li Tao stiffened his posture at the words.
"You can't be. That person only exists in Fairy Tales and Superstitious Folk Law." Swallowing several times, the stunned math teacher sat back in the metal chair.
"Do you know of two women?" The slender man placed his hands on the black-colored jeans as he waited for an answer.
"Two women?" Asked Li Tao. "I don't understand."
"Two women," he took a deep breath. "Two women that disturb your pure nature." The stranger waved to the man behind the counter for a refill of his tea. Pointing to Li Tao, he requested a cup for the bewildered teacher.
"I ask again." Placing both hands on the circular metal tabletop, "who are you and what do you want?"
Closing his eyes for a brief moment, his answer followed.
"I am Fahai, and I need you."
Note to reader:
To spark your interest...Janet is moments from Meeting Bai. Interesting?!
