RIDDLES
Dao Ming Zhuang stood up to meet them when they approached. "Shancai!" she breathed, enveloping Shancai in a warm embrace, obviously glad to see her and A Si.
Despite her extreme nervousness, Shancai returned her sister-in-law's warm greeting, gathering strength from A Si's hand, as he has not let her go.
She looked up and immediately felt the uncomfortable silence that reigned. When she turned to look at her husband, he was looking straight at Dao Ming Cheng, his gaze unwavering.
Dao Ming Cheng also got to his feet when they arrived at the table, and now he extended his right hand. Still not letting go of Shancai's hand, Dao Ming Si accepted his father's handshake in a firm grip. A certain sadness filled her that a father and son should share a simple handshake and not much else during their reunion.
It was Dao Ming Zhuang who introduced Shancai to the patriarch when it was apparent A Si was not willing to speak first. "Papa, this is Shancai. Shancai, our father, Dao Ming Cheng."
Shancai gave a low bow of her head, trying to hide the tremble in her voice. "How do you do...sir?"
To her surprise his face, so much like his son's except for the dignified lines and creases brought by age, crinkled into a warm smile and took her hand in his large ones. "So this is the famous Shancai. I have heard so much about you from my daughter and how much she adores you. Of course," his eyes strayed to A Si, who remained quiet, "aside from another who utterly loves you."
"Th-thanks," she murmured, feeling a flush creep to her cheeks.
"Ah!" Dao Ming Cheng exclaimed, thoroughly amused. "And the lady blushes!"
"I'm starving," Dao Ming Zhuang said, obviously pleased at how the meeting is going. "Can we order now?"
Shancai surreptitiously observed Dao Ming Cheng while waiting for their orders. At first glance, he looked stern. Grim, like one she would normally fear approaching. She had been terrified of this encounter since she realized she's going to meet Dao Ming Si's father, a figure she had never met before but has always been there, like a shadow, hovering over her relationship with A Si.
His presence had been felt despite Dao Ming Feng's scheming and plotting, although no one has spoken of him. And now, finally, here he is before her.
Not at all what he expected, Shancai thought to herself.
With a veiled expression in his face Dao Ming Cheng regarded his son. "I see you are happy, A Si. I'm glad. Congratulations on the wedding."
"Thank you," A Si replied in a toneless voice.
"I only regret not being there to witness it," Dao Ming Cheng said. "You should have told me sooner."
The words were out before Dao Ming Si could check them. "Would you have come?"
"Of course. It's my only son's wedding."
When it seemed like A Si was about to give a tart retort, Dao Ming Zhuang exclaimed. "Oh, good! The food is here!"
She and Shancai shared a look of relief as they silently thanked the waiter for breaking the tension that was building between the two men.
Dao Ming Si did not touch his food very much. Shancai did not feel too hungry either, no thanks to a bad case of the nerves. Dao Ming Cheng looked friendly enough, yet somehow she felt uneasy, mainly because he is far from her expectations.
What did she expect exactly? Oh, a forbidding man, with A Si's disposition and temper when they first met. This, seated across the table from her, seemed unreal. Paranoia. She sighed inwardly.
All throughout the meal, Dao Ming Cheng was the one who mainly instigated small talk. Dao Ming Si would answer in monotones, speaking only when directly asked by his father or sister.
When dinner was over and their tables cleared, Dao Ming Cheng suggested they move to the lounge where a sax player is performing. As Dao Ming Cheng and Dao Ming Zhuang went ahead, Shancai turned to A Si and playfully ribbed him.
"Why aren't you smiling?" she teased. "Your father is so handsome, smiling all the time, but you keep that frown on your face that you begin to look older than him!"
Dao Ming Si looked at her as though she just said something completely ridiculous. "Older!"he sputtered. "Why, you - "
Shancai laughed at the look of incredulity in his face. "I'm sorry! I just wanted you to show some reaction! You've been boring the whole evening it worries me."
Finally he smiled, his dimples showing. Grabbing her arm and tucking it into his, he led her towards the lounge where his father and sister had disappeared into.
"Your father seems nice," she said softly. "I thought he'd be like your Ma. You didn't tell me he's friendly."
He thought for a moment. "I told you, I barely knew him. I don't know much about him."
Shancai thought it was sad that a father and a son don't know enough about each other. Maybe that's how it is among the rich, she theorized, remembering Xi Men's strained relationship with his father. But that's already fixed; Xi Men and his father have now come to terms and in the best of relationships. She only hoped it goes the same with A Si and Dao Ming Cheng.
Shancai looked up as Dao Ming Zhuang appeared beside her in front of the mirror. Both had excused themselves from the table and went to the ladies room to freshen up, leaving father and son behind.
Dao Ming Zhuang smiled at her. "Let's give them a few minutes to talk." She regarded Shancai curiously. "So, what do you think of Papa?"
At a loss for words, Shancai could only say, "He seems kind."
"Not at all what you expected, right?"
Shancai nodded.
"He has changed," said Dao Ming Zhuang. "He wasn't like this before. I spent more time with him than A Si was able to, and even those few times were very few and far between. It was only lately when I moved here in New York that I've grown close to him. Now he helps me, as a father should do."
"You must be happy," she said, "now that your family is complete."
Dao Ming Zhuang snorted. "There's something you should know, Shancai. Our parents are married, but they're not together."
Her brows knitted in puzzlement. "How can that be?"
Patiently Dao Ming Zhuang explained. "Theirs was an arranged marriage, planned by my grandparents for business purposes. After A Si was born they separated, lived in different homes, but in the eyes of the world, and on paper, they're still married. If you notice Ma runs her own hotel chain, while Pa has his own company, all rolled under the Dao Ming name."
Shocked at this discovery, Shancai asked, "Why didn't they get a divorce?"
Dao Ming Zhuang shrugged. "They became too preoccupied with their businesses that they no longer cared about getting one. They were never a couple. They were partners, but they were also the other's toughest rival. They had to outdo each other every time."
"Who wins?"
"Usually its Papa. That's why she loathes Papa, because he wields more power than her." She smiled at Shancai. "Like me, you don't have to be afraid of Ma anymore. You have Papa. You're part of the family now."
Shancai smiled up at her sister-in-law, grateful that she should let a weed into their family of flowers.
The awkward silence that reigned when the two women had left the table was finally broken by Dao Ming Cheng.
"Shancai seems a very nice woman," he observed. "Very simple. I would have thought she's not your type."
Suddenly irritated, Dao Ming Si said, "What's my type exactly?"
"I meant no offense, A Si," the older man said immediately. "I just thought that with your association with Xi Men, Mei Zuo and Hua Ze Lei, their taste for women would rub off on you. Of course," he went on, "Xi Men is a different story. He seems to chase anything wearing a skirt."
"Please don't insult my friends in front of me," he said, not liking his fathers words.
"It's no insult," Dao Ming Cheng replied. "It's a compliment. Xi Men, with his detached attitude with women as an example, will certainly go far. Already I hear he's doing good with his company."
A Si sighed, bored. "I'm getting tired of this chit-chat. Why don't you tell me exactly why you wanted me here?" he asked directly.
As though pained, Dao Ming Cheng said, "Am I not allowed to miss my son?"
"It certainly took you a very long time before you started missing any of your children," he said sarcastically.
"Ah, but youre wrong, A Si. I missed you and your sister. I only stayed away because that's what Dao Ming Feng and I agreed upon. I reckoned you were better off with your mother than with me."
"Well, you couldn't be more wrong." Bitterness laced his voice.
Dao Ming Cheng nodded. "Yes, I realized that. And I am sorry." He suddenly smiled. "But you seemed to have bounced back from it. I'm proud of you."
His last words exploded like a bomb in his head, causing him to slowly lift his eyes at his father. How many times had a son longed to hear those words? How many times had he longed to hear his father express any sort of feeling towards him?
Dao Ming Si tore his gaze away from his father and looked down, not willing to let Dao Ming Cheng see he has affected him. The only time he lifted his head was when Shancai and Dao Ming Zhuang returned to their table.
It was already half-past ten when they decided to call it a night. Once again Dao Ming Zhuang invited the couple to stay with her at her penthouse suite in Queens, and once again Dao Ming Si declined gracefully, even refusing Dao Ming Cheng's offer for them to occupy one of the vast rooms in his mansion at Long Island.
Shancai was glad he did. As congenial as Dao Ming Cheng is, she still isn't comfortable with the thought of being under the same roof with him.
Shancai and Dao Ming Si decided to walk them to the front of the hotel as the valet brought the car around and, to her surprise, Dao Ming Cheng requested she escort him. Throwing an uncertain look as Dao Ming Zhuang pulled the reluctant A Si to walk ahead, she could only smile at her father-in-law.
Her hand in the tuck of his arm, Shancai was a jumble of nerves, a fact that didn't escape Dao Ming Chengs keen eyes. "You are nervous," he observed. "I don't bite, Dao Ming Feng does."
She gave a nervous laugh as he continued, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Shancai."
"It was mine as well, sir."
Dao Ming Cheng chuckled. "Why do you call me sir?" he asked. "Call me Papa." She nodded and for a while they walked in silence. Suddenly he said, "Do you love my son?"
Without hesitation, she said, "Very much."
He stopped and turned to look at her, his face serious, not a trace of his warm smile could now be seen.
"Being a member of the Dao Ming family requires more than love," he said. "Just because you love A Si and he loves you back does not mean you are now a part of us. I accept you as my son's wife, Shancai. But not as part of my family."
Stunned, Shancai stared at him, suddenly getting confused about him and his sentiments towards her.
Ignoring her stunned reaction he noted her ring finger with a shake of his head. "You don't deserve this," he said.
How she was supposed to take his words, Shancai didn't know. When she would've pulled away, his warm smile returned and he led her once more towards the entrance where A Si and Dao Ming Zhuang stood waiting.
It was only when their car came around that Dao Ming Cheng let go of Shancai and graciously bade farewell. He turned one last look at A Si and said, "I will wait for you at the office tomorrow at 10. Don't be late."
"I won't," A Si replied and watched his father and sister drive away. When they had left, he and Shancai went back into the hotel and into their room.
Dao Ming Si noticed Shancai was unusually quiet, and became instantly worried. "Are you ill?" he asked as they stepped off the elevator and into their floor.
Shancai shook her head, smiling. "No, I'm just tired, that's all. Jet lag, maybe."
Dao Ming Si felt her forehead, then her neck. "Are you sure?" Suddenly he looked anxious. "Did Papa say anything to you?"
"No!' she replied, a bit too hastily, she realized. She breathed and said again, "No. I'm exhausted. Maybe I just need some sleep."
A Si looked at her for a while. "If Papa said anything to you, anything at all...don't keep it from me."
She wanted to tell him what Dao Ming Cheng said earlier. She wanted to tell him her fears, if only to assuage the uncertainties his father had aroused in her.
But she didn't dare. She couldn't. His relationship with his father was still too fragile, too sensitive for her to add fuel to the fire. She had come between him and his mother once; she couldn't do the same with his Papa.
"No need to worry," she said.
"Promise me you won't keep anything from me."
Wanting only to put him at ease, she agreed. "I promise."
Dao Ming Si smiled in satisfaction then nodded, leading her towards their room with his arm. Shancai closed her eyes and let him lead her.
The Dao Ming men are forever a puzzle to her. Was Dao Ming Zhuang wrong? Is Dao Ming Cheng really their ally? Or Shancai's enemy, one worse than Dao Ming Feng?