Finally, I re-wrote the Wide Sargasso Sea by giving it a new setting in 1912's Shanghai, China. 1912's China was a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country that was suffering from the British, France, Germany, Japanese....'s raping. Same as Wide Sargasso Sea, this is a sad story about a girl called yiyi. Her fate reflected the most Chinese women's fate in that time.
I hope you enjoy reading it.
F a t e
Yiyi sat in front of the oval-shaped wooden window, her mind went far away. She saw her mother, a gege (a title of daughter in royal family) of Qing dynasty, wore a strange gown came to her with a warm smile, and caressed her. She saw the big yard of their house in Beijing where she and her little brother were playing; two servants were standing by them. She saw her mother took her and her brother to see the opera played in their private garden. She saw fires, and then a group of foreign soldiers intruded into their house, robbed all their valuable things. Suddenly, she saw her mother’s twisty pale face and free-flowing hair. She wore a white gown, bared her feet, screamed and fought to others, and finally disappeared. Yiyi’s mother was mad after she was raped by the foreign devils when the Eight-power Allied forces were attacking Beijing. She killed herself in a deep dried well at last. At that time, yiyi was only four, and her brother was only two. Since then, yiyi’s farther hao, a successor of Qing dynasty nobility, took them move to Shanghai.
Hao started to take opium in Shanghai, it seemed make him feel no pain. He had no privileges now, but still rich. Hao got married again, now he had a wife and two concubines. Soon, yiyi had two step brothers and three step sisters. Her brother, however, died when he was four. Yiyi was a quiet child in the family, as if she was inexistent. Nobody would notice her except mother zhang who had been accompanied her since she was born. Mother zhang was yiyi’s mother’s servant when her mother was a child. She always said to yiyi, “if your mother see you now, she must be very sad.” Whenever yiyi’s step siblings scolded her “your mother is a mad woman, you are mad woman’s daughter”, mother zhang would take yiyi to her room immediately and shut the door and the windows. Yiyi could not understand why they talked her dear mother like that. She did not dare to ask her father, who seemed only interested in opium and his concubines. Yiyi begged mother zhang, but she only said: “don't listen to them, your mother was a gege of Qing, she was nobility, same noble as your father. She was very beautiful, elegant, she was a good woman.”
Yiyi’s father hao, were spending the money he inherited from his family. Life was not bad, but they had such a big family, and also need a lot of money to buy opium. Hao tried to do some business with the British in Shanghai International Settlement, but he was not good at business and was cheated a great deal of money by a British business man. Hao was very angry about that, but he could do nothing because the Municipal council judged that British business man was innocent, and the Chinese new government had no right to handle such case. Due to the lose of such big amount of money, Hao had to sell the house they were living and the family had to move to a smaller house, life was getting worse.
Yiyi was eighteen now. She inherited her mother’s beauty and blue blood, became a beautiful and elegant girl. She had snowy skin, deep and dark eyes, and shinny long hair. Nothing could cover her beauty. All her father’s wives were uncomfortable and jealous for noticing this. They kept persuading hao to marry her to a rich family so they could get a big amount of money. Yiyi’s existence always reminded her father hao the humiliation of his previous wife. Married yiyi and got money seemed a good idea for him either. Not long later, one of hao’s business partners who worked in a British firm told hao that a textile mill owner Mr. Wu wanted to find a concubine. Mr. Wu was very rich, he owned three textile mills in Shanghai, Ningbo and Hangzhou, and also he had good relationship with both the Municipal Council and new government, hao could get an incredible amount of money from him and maybe he could get his money that be cheated back through him. Only a while, hao hesitated. Yiyi was his daughter, and her died mother was a gege of Qing Dynasty, though it was all the past, still yiyi had noble descent. How could she become an old man’s concubine? It was all the past, hao comforted himself; Qing Dynasty would never come back again, the era totally changed. Now China had new government and it was the foreigner’s world. They owned the best areas in Shanghai and other important cities in China. They had privileges, they were higher than Chinese. They sold opium to Chinese, and hao could not live without opium even one day. Mr. Wu had business with those British, he was close to them. If yiyi became Wu’s concubine, the family could get profit and they could maintain their quality life style. Hao signed, that was yiyi’s fate, he thought.
It was the last night yiyi stayed in her home. Yiyi’s only request was to bring mother zhang with her. Everybody in the family were happy, hao’s wives even gave yiyi some new clothes to wear. Only mother zhang was sad, she sobbed, “My poor miss, if your mother was still alive, she would be very sad, and your marriage wouldn’t like this…” Yiyi did not sleep that night, she sat stilly. She had no idea about her unknown future. She saw her died mother’s image rose, her mother was crying……
There was no wedding ceremony because she was the concubine of Mr.Wu, and Wu’s wife came form a rich family had a close relationship with the new government. Mr. Wu was afraid of his wife also her family. Only because his wife could not have a baby, she allowed him to have a concubine. Yiyi was bought by that rich man and his wife actually.
Yiyi had a short happy time in her early time with Mr.Wu. He brought yiyi to his old family house in Hangzhou country for a few days. The house was surrounded by a big beautiful private garden. The local people called it Wu’s garden. Yiyi liked the Wu’s garden; she thought it was assemble to the park in Shanghai International Settlement. She had passed by that park once, but she was not allowed to enter. There was a sign: Chinese no entry. Everyday after supper, Mr.Wu and yiyi had a walk in the garden. Mr. Wu was a gentleman; he was attracted by yiyi’s beauty and elegant. They had a great time together. Smile appeared on yiyi’s face again. Mother zhang was so happy to see that.
Happy time always flied quicker. Mr.Wu had to back to his business, and they had to back to his big house in Shanghai International Settlement. It was a huge British style three stories house. There were garages, garden, and basement. The first story was a luxury living room, upstairs were bedrooms and bathrooms. Wu’s wife baozhen had a long face and hawk-liked eyes, Mr.Wu asked yiyi to call baozhen taitai (Mrs.), and asked yiyi to kneel down to taitai and kowtow three times. Yiyi was scaled, she never saw a house like this, and it was wholly strange for her. In her memory, their previous big family house in Beijing was totally different. Taitai scaled her as well. She looked not friendly at all. Yiyi carefully responded taitai’s questions in a voice only could be heard by her. Taitai laughed scornfully, “look at your little poor concubine, she is worse than my servant!” She said to Mr.Wu in a stern voice. Mr.Wu squeezed out all the smiles on his face, “taitai, we just need she to bring us a son, don’t we?” Then he faced to a servant “xiaofeng, show yiyi yitaitai (an address for a concubine) her room.”
Yiyi took a deep breath, finally, she could go, she thought. Her room was in the right side of the second story, the end of the corridor. There was a living room and a small bathroom inside her room. From the window, she could see the back yard garden. There was a bell near the door; she could ring the bell to call the servant. Mother zhang was told to live in the basement where all the servants in this house lived.
Yiyi was not allowed to have meal with Mr.Wu and taitai in their grand dining room as sometimes their friends and business partners were there. That was good, yiyi thought. She could not imagine how uncomfortable she would be to have meal with taitai. But she had to greeting taitai twice every day in the morning and in the evening. That meant everyday yiyi had to endure taitai’s arrogance and humiliation twice. Mr.Wu was very busy; sometimes he and taitai held big parties at home. Yiyi heard noises, laughs, and music from the living room in the downstairs. Sometimes she heard someone talked strangely, that must be a foreigner who could not speak Chinese well, yiyi thought. A foreigner, yiyi shivered, she remembered her poor mother.
Yiyi always sat beside the window quietly, her eyes looked out of the window, but actually she was looking at nothing. She could sit there all day and say nothing. Mother zhang was worried, she tried to tell yiyi things that happened in the house that she heard from other servants, but yiyi seemed not interested at all. She also tried to persuade yiyi to go to the garden for a walk or go to visit her father, but yiyi refused. Now, the only thing mother zhang could do was sign.
Mr.Wu only came to yiyi’s room twice a week, and only in the evening. He told yiyi he was busy but yiyi knew that taitai not allowed Mr.Wu to see her everyday. Yiyi had been in Wu’s house for nearly half a year. Everyday when taitai saw yiyi, she always scolded, “You such a useless sow. Look at you, like a ghost! We need you give us a son, look at your belly, nothing in it!”
Day after day, yiyi was getting more and more silent. She was immersing in her own world all day. Even Mr.Wu, was inpatient now. He could not bear yiyi’s silence any more. One night, he shouted to yiyi at last, “why don't you say something and give me a smile?!” Yiyi was scaled and weeping silently. Mr.Wu slapped the door hardly and went away.
The next morning, yiyi went to greet taitai routinely. Taitai yelled to her as usual, and she fired mother zhang as she thought mother zhang was the one who responsible for yiyi’s strange behaviour. “No, no --- !” Yiyi cried. Mother zhang looked at yiyi sadly, she rubbed her tears, signed deeply and then went out. She was a servant only, what could she do for yiyi? Taitai asked other servant to take yiyi back to her room.
Yiyi felt entirely lonely now. Nobody would care about her in this house now. She wanted to cry, but there were even no tears in her eyes. Her new servant xiaofeng was a kind woman in her middle age and she sympathized deeply with yiyi. This made yiyi fell better.
Few days after mother zhang had gone, yiyi felt dizzy and vomit one morning. She remembered that her period had not come for two months. “Yitaitai, congratulations. I think you are pregnant!” Xiaofeng said cheerfully. Yiyi didn’t know whether she should be happy or not for a while. But soon, she was cheered up by the new life she would give. Since that day, taitai allowed yiyi not to greet her every morning. At that night, Mr.Wu came to yiyi’s room, he was so happy to hear that he would have a child. “Go down to the garden have sunbath everyday, and have a walk after dinner, it’s good for both baby and yourself. If you give me a son, I’ll buy a small house for you; I know you don’t like to live here.” Mr.Wu said to yiyi softly. “Xiaofeng, look after yitaitai carefully.” He told xiaofeng. He went to see yiyi every night, but he couldn’t stay with yiyi for longer because taitai said they were unnecessary to live together when yiyi had got pregnant already.
Yiyi’s body was getting ponderous, taitai seemed kind to her these days. Smile came back to yiyi’s pale face though she was still silent most time. She expected the new life passionately. She started to make children’s clothes with xiaofeng, and also go to garden everyday. Every night yiyi was eager to see Mr.Wu to show him those children’s clothes. She also liked the way Mr.Wu talked to their unborn child in her belly. Yiyi was happy and satisfied. Mr.Wu was aware of her happiness quickly, he felt as if they were in Hangzhou few months ago, where they were having happiest time together. One night Mr.Wu told yiyi that he heard her father and his wives were relying on opium too much, and her father’s business was getting worse. When he said that, he signed, “Opium destroyed a lot of people’s life.” Yiyi was worried about her father, her closest relative in this world, but how could she help? She knew her father wanted to paralysis himself from the reality what he could not change. Mr.Wu saw her anxiety, he comforted her, “Don’t worry; he has enough money to buy opium.” Mr.Wu did not know what happened in our family house in Beijing, and the pain my father suffered, yiyi thought. But she didn’t say anything.
It was winter now. Taitai went to one of her friends’ party, and Mr.Wu went to his office in Hankou road. Xiaofeng assisted yiyi had a walk in the garden. Yiyi enjoy the seldom freedom and winter sunshine. “Yitaitai, be careful.” Xiaofeng reminded her as if she was a little child. It was nearly the time the baby would be born. Yiyi was a little afraid of giving birth, this was her first child. Mr.Wu said he would send yiyi to the western hospital ran by the British. Yiyi did not know what would happen on her in a hospital, she was reluctant to go to a hospital ran by the foreigners. But Mr.Wu said the western hospital could cure the disease that Chinese doctor couldn’t, and gave birth in that hospital could secure new baby’s safety.
This was a normal winter day, cold and cloudy. As usual, Mr.Wu went to work early, and taitai was still asleep as she played majiang (a kind of card game) last night. Yiyi felt ache at noon. The ache came more and more frequently. Xiaofeng said she was going to give birth and run to ring Mr.Wu. When Mr.Wu hurried home, yiyi was nearly faint; she was so pale and weak. Mr.Wu took yiyi to the hospital immediately. The British doctor said that if they came a little bit late, yiyi would die. The boy baby was born; he was a plump boy as beautiful as yiyi. Yiyi saw him as soon as she awoke. “He is so lovely, my baby. I’ll use my all life to love him.” Yiyi smiled and said to herself.
Too weak to back home, yiyi stayed in the hospital for a few days while Mr.Wu took the baby home after five days when he was born. Mr.Wu was so happy and so did taitai. “I’ve got my son!” Mr.Wu announced cheerfully.
When yiyi was in the hospital, taitai and Mr.Wu named the baby as zhanpeng. Taitai told Mr.Wu that yiyi’s mother was mad and it was better her raised the baby not yiyi. This was the first time Mr.Wu heard about yiyi’s mother’s story. He soon attributed yiyi’s abnormal silence as the mad gene from her mad mother. He felt as if he was cheated by yiyi and her father. He was disgusted about that and soon started to disgust yiyi. He soon hired a breast feeder for zhanpeng and arranged a small house near the jiujiang road for only yiyi and her servant xiaofeng to live.
Yiyi had been lived in this isolated small house with her only servant xiaofeng for two months. Everyday yiyi was waiting for taitai giving her son back, but two months passed by, taitai even did not allow her to see her son. Yiyi wanted to ask Mr.Wu, but she never saw him after her living in this house. Yiyi felt desperate and helpless. She recalled everything about her new born baby, his round face, his choppy hands and legs, his smile when he was full….. Yiyi could not fell into asleep every night. She sited silently all day and all night, sometimes burst out sobbing. Xiaofeng felt so sorry when she saw yiyi like that. She knew that taitai wouldn’t give the baby back to yiyi, she had heard that taitai said she was the mother of baby zhanpeng and she would raise him up.
Yiyi was getting worse and worse. Now she was always anxious. One second she sat stilly, and the other second she would ask xiaofeng nervously, “xiaofeng, where is baby, he is hungry, he is crying.” And the following second she would burst out loud crying, “where is my son, I beg you, I beg you give me my son.” Sometimes she mumbled and smiled, “oh, baby, oh oh, don’t cry, baby.”
Spring was coming, but yiyi felt extremely chilly. It was a sunny day. As usual yiyi was holding a small pillow and talking, smiling, crying to it as if it was her little son. When she saw Mr.Wu came in, she immediately jumped up and dragged Mr.Wu’s arm, “give me my son…, give me my son!” She cried, shouted, and started to tear Mr.Wu’s clothes. Mr.Wu shocked, he grabbed yiyi to stop her; yiyi seemed to use all her strength to hit and bite him back. Finally Mr.Wu yelled, “You this damned! You such a mad woman just like your mother! Unbelievable! That’s my family’s unfortunate!” Mr.Wu burst out; he pushed yiyi away and gone.
“Haha,..hahaha….” “Oooh,…..oooh…give me my son! Give me my son!” “Haha,….xixi…oooh…” Not long later, people all knew there was a mad young woman lived in No.13 jiujiang road and she had a mad mother who died many years ago.
Yiyi sat in front of the oval-shaped wooden window, her mind went far away. She saw her mother, a gege (a title of daughter in royal family) of Qing dynasty, wore a strange gown came to her with a warm smile, and caressed her. She saw the big yard of their house in Beijing where she and her little brother were playing; two servants were standing by them. She saw her mother took her and her brother to see the opera played in their private garden. She saw fires, and then a group of foreign soldiers intruded into their house, robbed all their valuable things. Suddenly, she saw her mother’s twisty pale face and free-flowing hair. She wore a white gown, bared her feet, screamed and fought to others, and finally disappeared. Yiyi’s mother was mad after she was raped by the foreign devils when the Eight-power Allied forces were attacking Beijing. She killed herself in a deep dried well at last. At that time, yiyi was only four, and her brother was only two. Since then, yiyi’s farther hao, a successor of Qing dynasty nobility, took them move to Shanghai.
Hao started to take opium in Shanghai, it seemed make him feel no pain. He had no privileges now, but still rich. Hao got married again, now he had a wife and two concubines. Soon, yiyi had two step brothers and three step sisters. Her brother, however, died when he was four. Yiyi was a quiet child in the family, as if she was inexistent. Nobody would notice her except mother zhang who had been accompanied her since she was born. Mother zhang was yiyi’s mother’s servant when her mother was a child. She always said to yiyi, “if your mother see you now, she must be very sad.” Whenever yiyi’s step siblings scolded her “your mother is a mad woman, you are mad woman’s daughter”, mother zhang would take yiyi to her room immediately and shut the door and the windows. Yiyi could not understand why they talked her dear mother like that. She did not dare to ask her father, who seemed only interested in opium and his concubines. Yiyi begged mother zhang, but she only said: “don't listen to them, your mother was a gege of Qing, she was nobility, same noble as your father. She was very beautiful, elegant, she was a good woman.”
Yiyi’s father hao, were spending the money he inherited from his family. Life was not bad, but they had such a big family, and also need a lot of money to buy opium. Hao tried to do some business with the British in Shanghai International Settlement, but he was not good at business and was cheated a great deal of money by a British business man. Hao was very angry about that, but he could do nothing because the Municipal council judged that British business man was innocent, and the Chinese new government had no right to handle such case. Due to the lose of such big amount of money, Hao had to sell the house they were living and the family had to move to a smaller house, life was getting worse.
Yiyi was eighteen now. She inherited her mother’s beauty and blue blood, became a beautiful and elegant girl. She had snowy skin, deep and dark eyes, and shinny long hair. Nothing could cover her beauty. All her father’s wives were uncomfortable and jealous for noticing this. They kept persuading hao to marry her to a rich family so they could get a big amount of money. Yiyi’s existence always reminded her father hao the humiliation of his previous wife. Married yiyi and got money seemed a good idea for him either. Not long later, one of hao’s business partners who worked in a British firm told hao that a textile mill owner Mr. Wu wanted to find a concubine. Mr. Wu was very rich, he owned three textile mills in Shanghai, Ningbo and Hangzhou, and also he had good relationship with both the Municipal Council and new government, hao could get an incredible amount of money from him and maybe he could get his money that be cheated back through him. Only a while, hao hesitated. Yiyi was his daughter, and her died mother was a gege of Qing Dynasty, though it was all the past, still yiyi had noble descent. How could she become an old man’s concubine? It was all the past, hao comforted himself; Qing Dynasty would never come back again, the era totally changed. Now China had new government and it was the foreigner’s world. They owned the best areas in Shanghai and other important cities in China. They had privileges, they were higher than Chinese. They sold opium to Chinese, and hao could not live without opium even one day. Mr. Wu had business with those British, he was close to them. If yiyi became Wu’s concubine, the family could get profit and they could maintain their quality life style. Hao signed, that was yiyi’s fate, he thought.
It was the last night yiyi stayed in her home. Yiyi’s only request was to bring mother zhang with her. Everybody in the family were happy, hao’s wives even gave yiyi some new clothes to wear. Only mother zhang was sad, she sobbed, “My poor miss, if your mother was still alive, she would be very sad, and your marriage wouldn’t like this…” Yiyi did not sleep that night, she sat stilly. She had no idea about her unknown future. She saw her died mother’s image rose, her mother was crying……
There was no wedding ceremony because she was the concubine of Mr.Wu, and Wu’s wife came form a rich family had a close relationship with the new government. Mr. Wu was afraid of his wife also her family. Only because his wife could not have a baby, she allowed him to have a concubine. Yiyi was bought by that rich man and his wife actually.
Yiyi had a short happy time in her early time with Mr.Wu. He brought yiyi to his old family house in Hangzhou country for a few days. The house was surrounded by a big beautiful private garden. The local people called it Wu’s garden. Yiyi liked the Wu’s garden; she thought it was assemble to the park in Shanghai International Settlement. She had passed by that park once, but she was not allowed to enter. There was a sign: Chinese no entry. Everyday after supper, Mr.Wu and yiyi had a walk in the garden. Mr. Wu was a gentleman; he was attracted by yiyi’s beauty and elegant. They had a great time together. Smile appeared on yiyi’s face again. Mother zhang was so happy to see that.
Happy time always flied quicker. Mr.Wu had to back to his business, and they had to back to his big house in Shanghai International Settlement. It was a huge British style three stories house. There were garages, garden, and basement. The first story was a luxury living room, upstairs were bedrooms and bathrooms. Wu’s wife baozhen had a long face and hawk-liked eyes, Mr.Wu asked yiyi to call baozhen taitai (Mrs.), and asked yiyi to kneel down to taitai and kowtow three times. Yiyi was scaled, she never saw a house like this, and it was wholly strange for her. In her memory, their previous big family house in Beijing was totally different. Taitai scaled her as well. She looked not friendly at all. Yiyi carefully responded taitai’s questions in a voice only could be heard by her. Taitai laughed scornfully, “look at your little poor concubine, she is worse than my servant!” She said to Mr.Wu in a stern voice. Mr.Wu squeezed out all the smiles on his face, “taitai, we just need she to bring us a son, don’t we?” Then he faced to a servant “xiaofeng, show yiyi yitaitai (an address for a concubine) her room.”
Yiyi took a deep breath, finally, she could go, she thought. Her room was in the right side of the second story, the end of the corridor. There was a living room and a small bathroom inside her room. From the window, she could see the back yard garden. There was a bell near the door; she could ring the bell to call the servant. Mother zhang was told to live in the basement where all the servants in this house lived.
Yiyi was not allowed to have meal with Mr.Wu and taitai in their grand dining room as sometimes their friends and business partners were there. That was good, yiyi thought. She could not imagine how uncomfortable she would be to have meal with taitai. But she had to greeting taitai twice every day in the morning and in the evening. That meant everyday yiyi had to endure taitai’s arrogance and humiliation twice. Mr.Wu was very busy; sometimes he and taitai held big parties at home. Yiyi heard noises, laughs, and music from the living room in the downstairs. Sometimes she heard someone talked strangely, that must be a foreigner who could not speak Chinese well, yiyi thought. A foreigner, yiyi shivered, she remembered her poor mother.
Yiyi always sat beside the window quietly, her eyes looked out of the window, but actually she was looking at nothing. She could sit there all day and say nothing. Mother zhang was worried, she tried to tell yiyi things that happened in the house that she heard from other servants, but yiyi seemed not interested at all. She also tried to persuade yiyi to go to the garden for a walk or go to visit her father, but yiyi refused. Now, the only thing mother zhang could do was sign.
Mr.Wu only came to yiyi’s room twice a week, and only in the evening. He told yiyi he was busy but yiyi knew that taitai not allowed Mr.Wu to see her everyday. Yiyi had been in Wu’s house for nearly half a year. Everyday when taitai saw yiyi, she always scolded, “You such a useless sow. Look at you, like a ghost! We need you give us a son, look at your belly, nothing in it!”
Day after day, yiyi was getting more and more silent. She was immersing in her own world all day. Even Mr.Wu, was inpatient now. He could not bear yiyi’s silence any more. One night, he shouted to yiyi at last, “why don't you say something and give me a smile?!” Yiyi was scaled and weeping silently. Mr.Wu slapped the door hardly and went away.
The next morning, yiyi went to greet taitai routinely. Taitai yelled to her as usual, and she fired mother zhang as she thought mother zhang was the one who responsible for yiyi’s strange behaviour. “No, no --- !” Yiyi cried. Mother zhang looked at yiyi sadly, she rubbed her tears, signed deeply and then went out. She was a servant only, what could she do for yiyi? Taitai asked other servant to take yiyi back to her room.
Yiyi felt entirely lonely now. Nobody would care about her in this house now. She wanted to cry, but there were even no tears in her eyes. Her new servant xiaofeng was a kind woman in her middle age and she sympathized deeply with yiyi. This made yiyi fell better.
Few days after mother zhang had gone, yiyi felt dizzy and vomit one morning. She remembered that her period had not come for two months. “Yitaitai, congratulations. I think you are pregnant!” Xiaofeng said cheerfully. Yiyi didn’t know whether she should be happy or not for a while. But soon, she was cheered up by the new life she would give. Since that day, taitai allowed yiyi not to greet her every morning. At that night, Mr.Wu came to yiyi’s room, he was so happy to hear that he would have a child. “Go down to the garden have sunbath everyday, and have a walk after dinner, it’s good for both baby and yourself. If you give me a son, I’ll buy a small house for you; I know you don’t like to live here.” Mr.Wu said to yiyi softly. “Xiaofeng, look after yitaitai carefully.” He told xiaofeng. He went to see yiyi every night, but he couldn’t stay with yiyi for longer because taitai said they were unnecessary to live together when yiyi had got pregnant already.
Yiyi’s body was getting ponderous, taitai seemed kind to her these days. Smile came back to yiyi’s pale face though she was still silent most time. She expected the new life passionately. She started to make children’s clothes with xiaofeng, and also go to garden everyday. Every night yiyi was eager to see Mr.Wu to show him those children’s clothes. She also liked the way Mr.Wu talked to their unborn child in her belly. Yiyi was happy and satisfied. Mr.Wu was aware of her happiness quickly, he felt as if they were in Hangzhou few months ago, where they were having happiest time together. One night Mr.Wu told yiyi that he heard her father and his wives were relying on opium too much, and her father’s business was getting worse. When he said that, he signed, “Opium destroyed a lot of people’s life.” Yiyi was worried about her father, her closest relative in this world, but how could she help? She knew her father wanted to paralysis himself from the reality what he could not change. Mr.Wu saw her anxiety, he comforted her, “Don’t worry; he has enough money to buy opium.” Mr.Wu did not know what happened in our family house in Beijing, and the pain my father suffered, yiyi thought. But she didn’t say anything.
It was winter now. Taitai went to one of her friends’ party, and Mr.Wu went to his office in Hankou road. Xiaofeng assisted yiyi had a walk in the garden. Yiyi enjoy the seldom freedom and winter sunshine. “Yitaitai, be careful.” Xiaofeng reminded her as if she was a little child. It was nearly the time the baby would be born. Yiyi was a little afraid of giving birth, this was her first child. Mr.Wu said he would send yiyi to the western hospital ran by the British. Yiyi did not know what would happen on her in a hospital, she was reluctant to go to a hospital ran by the foreigners. But Mr.Wu said the western hospital could cure the disease that Chinese doctor couldn’t, and gave birth in that hospital could secure new baby’s safety.
This was a normal winter day, cold and cloudy. As usual, Mr.Wu went to work early, and taitai was still asleep as she played majiang (a kind of card game) last night. Yiyi felt ache at noon. The ache came more and more frequently. Xiaofeng said she was going to give birth and run to ring Mr.Wu. When Mr.Wu hurried home, yiyi was nearly faint; she was so pale and weak. Mr.Wu took yiyi to the hospital immediately. The British doctor said that if they came a little bit late, yiyi would die. The boy baby was born; he was a plump boy as beautiful as yiyi. Yiyi saw him as soon as she awoke. “He is so lovely, my baby. I’ll use my all life to love him.” Yiyi smiled and said to herself.
Too weak to back home, yiyi stayed in the hospital for a few days while Mr.Wu took the baby home after five days when he was born. Mr.Wu was so happy and so did taitai. “I’ve got my son!” Mr.Wu announced cheerfully.
When yiyi was in the hospital, taitai and Mr.Wu named the baby as zhanpeng. Taitai told Mr.Wu that yiyi’s mother was mad and it was better her raised the baby not yiyi. This was the first time Mr.Wu heard about yiyi’s mother’s story. He soon attributed yiyi’s abnormal silence as the mad gene from her mad mother. He felt as if he was cheated by yiyi and her father. He was disgusted about that and soon started to disgust yiyi. He soon hired a breast feeder for zhanpeng and arranged a small house near the jiujiang road for only yiyi and her servant xiaofeng to live.
Yiyi had been lived in this isolated small house with her only servant xiaofeng for two months. Everyday yiyi was waiting for taitai giving her son back, but two months passed by, taitai even did not allow her to see her son. Yiyi wanted to ask Mr.Wu, but she never saw him after her living in this house. Yiyi felt desperate and helpless. She recalled everything about her new born baby, his round face, his choppy hands and legs, his smile when he was full….. Yiyi could not fell into asleep every night. She sited silently all day and all night, sometimes burst out sobbing. Xiaofeng felt so sorry when she saw yiyi like that. She knew that taitai wouldn’t give the baby back to yiyi, she had heard that taitai said she was the mother of baby zhanpeng and she would raise him up.
Yiyi was getting worse and worse. Now she was always anxious. One second she sat stilly, and the other second she would ask xiaofeng nervously, “xiaofeng, where is baby, he is hungry, he is crying.” And the following second she would burst out loud crying, “where is my son, I beg you, I beg you give me my son.” Sometimes she mumbled and smiled, “oh, baby, oh oh, don’t cry, baby.”
Spring was coming, but yiyi felt extremely chilly. It was a sunny day. As usual yiyi was holding a small pillow and talking, smiling, crying to it as if it was her little son. When she saw Mr.Wu came in, she immediately jumped up and dragged Mr.Wu’s arm, “give me my son…, give me my son!” She cried, shouted, and started to tear Mr.Wu’s clothes. Mr.Wu shocked, he grabbed yiyi to stop her; yiyi seemed to use all her strength to hit and bite him back. Finally Mr.Wu yelled, “You this damned! You such a mad woman just like your mother! Unbelievable! That’s my family’s unfortunate!” Mr.Wu burst out; he pushed yiyi away and gone.
“Haha,..hahaha….” “Oooh,…..oooh…give me my son! Give me my son!” “Haha,….xixi…oooh…” Not long later, people all knew there was a mad young woman lived in No.13 jiujiang road and she had a mad mother who died many years ago.
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