“Men are indeed unfaithful, has Kongcu forgotten me and left me to suffer and endure longing for days. You are so cruel, Kongcu. Have you perhaps found a new lover?” Shi Men hugged her and laughed while kissing her.
“Ah, don't think wrongly, dear. I was busy with business matters, but today I left work to give you a gift. I bought it from the Temple Market.”
Shi Men reached for A Thai who was waiting outside with a large bundle. When the boy came in and unwrapped the bundle, it turned out to be rolls of silk cloth and various kinds of beautiful and expensive jewelry. Kim Lian happily accepted the gift and called Bu Ying to serve them. Bu Ying, who was scolded and beaten every day, had become like a living doll, dared not to move in front of Kim Lian so she felt no hesitation to have her intimate meeting with Shi Men in front of her stepdaughter. Soon the shameless pair were sitting close together, eating from one bowl and drinking from one cup. After feeling satisfied, Kim Lian even dares to invite Shi Men to her house through the back door, followed by Bu Ying who served them. A Thai was ordered to wait at Mother Wang's house. Upon entering the room and seeing a yangqin (dulcimer) on the wall, Shi Men then asked Kim Lian to play him a song. With a shy demeanor, Kim Lian then played the dulcimer and sang. The shrill sound of the dulcimer accompanied her melodious singing, and Kim Lian sang a romantic song about the joy of a woman who greets her long-lost lover's return. Like being enchanted, Shi Men watched her delicate and petite fingers playing and dancing on the strings of the dulcimer, and also watched the mouth of his lover singing. After the song was finished, Shi Men was so amazed and gave a loving kiss to his lover's mouth.
“Ah, it turns out you are a great artist” he exclaimed. “Truly, I have never met a woman as great as you, in this whole city!”
“Ah, you're flirting. If only your heart would always be directed at me like this, and you won't forget me.”
“No, it's impossible for me to forget you, my beloved” Not long after, they closed the room door and Bu Ying was ordered to clean the table and wash the dishes. Shi Men, intoxicated by the beauty and skill of Kim Lian, without any shame removed Kim Lian's silk shoes, poured wine into the shoes and drank from it. They both then flirted and plunged into waves of insatiable desire.
They made love like two fish in a clear lake, like two Hong birds in the sky. Both were masters in that fascinating game and only after the sun set in the west, they parted. As usual, Shi Men gave a modest gift to Mother Wang who had been sitting in the kitchen with Bu Ying. Lust is like a fire that burns, the more fueled, the more fierce it becomes, never knowing extinguish, never knowing satisfaction. The more it is obeyed, the more it becomes. However, such a thing is not real love, but mere lust. And lust, like all other passions, tends to fade, become bored, even bring all kinds of conflict if obeyed and allowed to grasp oneself.
A month had passed and Kim Lian felt lonely because she had never seen a shadow of Shi Men during that time. She didn't know that during that time Shi Men had been engrossed with other women. A thirty-year-old widow named Mong Yu Lok, who was far more experienced in terms of love games compared to Kim Lian, had been taken by Shi Men as his third wife, replacing the deceased Co Tiu. Besides this, also a prostitute, a young and smooth young girl named Sun Siu Oh, was made his fourth wife after it turned out this maid also had special qualities that pleased Shi Men.
It's no wonder that Kim Lian didn't get a chance because during that month Shi Men was engrossed with his two new lovers who he had pulled into his family in his home. On a morning in the beginning of summer, when the weather was at its hottest, Kim Lian ordered Bu Ying to prepare a warm bath. Kim Lian waited while sitting on a bench, only wearing thin and skimpy underwear. Who knows maybe today he will come, she thought full of hope and longing. She had been preparing every day to receive Shi Men's visit, even had prepared food cooked by her own hands.
"Men don't know gratitude!" she muttered several times. Because there was nothing to do, Kim Lian daydreamed until she felt sleepy, so she threw herself on the bed and fell sound asleep. Two hours later Kim Lian woke up grumpy. Bu Ying came to inform her stepmother that the warm water for bathing had been prepared.
“Try to bring the fried meatballs I made earlier,” she said. If Shi Men doesn't come, she might as well eat the delicious meat dish herself. Bu Ying quickly brought the food requested by her stepmother and with her small delicate fingers Kim Lian counted the round meatballs.
“Eh? I fried thirty pieces, why are there only twenty-nine left? Where's the other one?” She scolded Bu Ying with frowning eyebrows. Loneliness and disappointment because Shi Men never showed up made her desire unfulfilled and as a substitute, she became very angry.
“I don't know, maybe you miscounted?”
“Impossible! I've counted it two or three times. These meatballs I made for young master Shi Men, how can you be so cheeky to dare to steal one? You are a lowly servant who doesn't know gratitude, you don't know when you're full. Watch out, I'll hit you!” Overwhelmed with anger Kim Lian opened Bu Ying's clothes so that the skinny child's back was exposed. Kim Lian then whipped the bare back with her whip thirty times, causing the child to scream and squirm.
“Are you going to admit it or not? If you don't admit it, I'll hit you a hundred more times!”
“Yes..., yes...” Amid her painful screams, Bu Ying shouted. “Stop whipping... I took one because I... was very hungry.”
“I knew you stole it and you dare to accuse me of miscounting. You're a thief and don't know gratitude! No wonder your stupid father didn't educate you well while he was alive. Now he's dead and you dare to fool around in my house? Huh, I should tear you apart, you shameless burglar” She whipped once more hard so that Bu Ying's cheek, which was hit by the whip turned red, then she threw her whip and ordered Bu Ying to stand near her and fan her body which felt hot after whipping. After Bu Ying had fanned her for a while, Kim Lian who was still angry said.
“Turn around, I want to teach you a lesson so you won't forget and dare to fool around in my house. Even though she was terrified, Bu Ying turned her face and with both hands, Kim Lian scratched both of Bu Ying's cheeks with her long sharp nails so that both cheeks were bloody marked. Only then did Kim Lian feel satisfied and she kicked Bu Ying out of her room. She then bathed, dressed up, tidied up her hair and took her usual place, that is, under the tent outside her house. As she walked out, she saw A Thai riding a horse carrying a bag. “Heii, A Thai, where are you going?” Kim Lian shouted. A Thai was not a stupid boy and he was often invited by his master to visit this house and had often received small gifts from Kim Lian, so he immediately got off his horse and approached the woman up to the front door.
“I was sent to the Military Commander's house to present some gifts.”
“Eh, A Thai, what has your master been doing at home?” Kim Lian invited the boy into her house.
“Why did he disappear and I never see his shadow? Has he got a new lover?”
“I don't think so. The busy work makes him unable to visit you.”
“Ah, work! Isn't that an excuse to abandon me for a full month, without a word? What kind of work?” The teenage boy smirked.
“Say it, what kind of work?”
“Well, various kinds of work. Even if I tell you, you won't understand” A Thai answered with an attitude of playing hard to get.
“Oh, you rascal! I will hate you until I die if you don't want to tell the truth!”
“Okay, okay, dear lady. But promise that you will not tell my master.”
“I promise.”
“Well, my master, just married Mrs. Mong Yu Lok...” The boy then told the story of how his master was crazy about Mong Yu Lok, even took her as his third wife replacing his deceased third wife. Hearing the story, Kim Lian couldn’t hold back her tears that fell down her cheeks.
“Come on, don't cry,” the boy tried to comfort her. “My master's birthday will come soon and he will definitely come here. You better write a few lines of words, and I will deliver your letter to him.”
“Ah, that's a good idea! I will gift you a new and beautiful pair of shoes, made by my own hands. And I look forward to his arrival on his birthday. But beware, you rascal, if he doesn't come!” Kim Lian ordered Bu Ying to serve tea and cookies. Then she herself went to her room to write a letter with flowered paper and in no time she had written a series of poems titled: "The Flower's Message" A message from a flower stalk to him the beetle have you forgotten already
about the first meeting when you under the pretense of love
sucked the sweetness of flower nectar?
why leave the flower waiting for the beetle's return
Glossary:
- Kongcu: Honorific term in Mandarin, often used to address a young man of higher social status.
- Shi Men: a character's name in the story.
- A Thai: a character's name in the story.
- Kim Lian: a character's name in the story.
- Bu Ying: a character's name in the story.
- yangqin: Chinese hammered dulcimer, a string musical instrument.
- Nenek Wang: a character's name in the story. "Nenek" means grandmother in Indonesian.
- Mong Yu Lok: a character's name in the story.
- Co Tiu: a character's name in the story.
- Sun Siu Oh: a character's name in the story.