The Mystery of Revenge (2 page)

In the hallway that led to the back door of the restaurant were two storage rooms across from each other. “This is your uniform,” Yi-yun said as she turned on the light of the room on the left hand side and pulled down a uniform from the top shelf. “Put it on before you come into work. The Coffin Face loves to see her employees walk in with red uniforms.” Noticing the obvious bewilderment on Ann’s face, she lowered her voices and added: “Coffin Face is our nickname for Mrs. Chang, the owner of China Dragon whom you’ve just met.” She burst out laughing when she saw Ann’s facial expression. “Oh, you’ll get it by the end of the day. Believe me,” she said convincingly, “a coffin is softer than her
face.”

The uniform, an old-fashioned short-sleeved Chinese outfit with fake gold buttons, was a little too tight, but Ann squeezed in anyway because she didn’t want to spend money on a new one. In the bathroom mirror, she saw herself wrapped in a piece of shiny red cloth that was darkened somewhat by odd patterns of purple
flowers.

“Let me show you around quickly,” Yi-yun said and drew Ann away from the mirror. “There are only a few minutes left before the door
opens.”

“Hello, how many? Two?” Mrs. Chang was greeting the early birds at the front desk. Her voice was so sweet that Ann had a hard time relating it to what she had just heard. The guests, an old couple, were led to Ann’s area, one of the four sections that had mostly small square tables. “Enjoy your meal,” Mrs. Chang said before walking slowly
away.

Ann smiled, remembering what Yi-yun had just told her: “Smile when you talk, smile when you walk, always smile when you face
customers.”

“My name is Ann. I’m your server tonight,” she said, smiling. “What would you like to drink?” In the corner of her eyes, she could see Mrs. Chang standing behind a column a few tables away, listening.

“CC and water,” the old man said, lifting his eyes from the dinner menu. “No
rocks.”

“Screwdriver,” the woman said. Her eyes had been fixing on the menu since being
seated.

The pen moved at a snail’s pace as Ann tried to write down what she heard but didn’t understand. “CC and water, no rocks. What is a school driver?” she wondered. “It isn’t the name of a drink, is
it?”

The heat she felt on her back intensified. “Calm down,” she told herself. “You know you have to do this. You can do it.” Gathering all her strength, she kept cool while walking steadily toward the bar. “CC and water, no…” she repeated the exact words to Yi-yun, one of the two bartenders behind the
bar.

“No ice?” Yi-yun asked helpfully while grabbing a flat-bottomed glass from the
shelf.

“No, he didn’t say ice.” Suddenly panicking, Ann thought that she had written down the wrong order. Why would anyone want rocks in his
drink?

“What did he say?” Yi-yun looked at her with her big eyes sympathetically. “Did he mention
rocks?”

“Yes,” she answered with a small
voice.

“It means ice. What else?” Yi-yun asked, pouring some liquor into the
glass.

“Something that sounded like a school driver,” Ann said, red-faced.

Yi-yun nodded with a knowing smile. “It’s a cocktail, screwdriver.”

“Oh! Thank you! I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said gratefully as she put the two drinks onto her
tray.

Yi-yun
grinned.

As soon as the drinks reached the table, the customers were ready to order. Before she could turn in the orders, however, two more customers were led into her area. Trying to be quick and efficient, Ann picked up her speed and ran toward the
kitchen.

“Stop running!” Ann stopped, and her heart leaped to her throat as a low and malicious voice pierced into her
eardrums.

“Serve the new customers first!” Mrs. Chang hissed. “Never let customers wait without providing
water.”

Ann nodded but didn’t dare to look at her boss’s face, which could be well imagined by her
tone.

As quickly as she could, Ann brought the drinks to the second table, placed the orders for the first table, and was more than ready when the new couple wanted to place their orders for
dinner.

“What’s the difference between Hunan Beef and Peking Beef?” one of them asked curiously. “I can’t decide between the
two.”

“Both are hot and spicy,” Ann murmured hesitatingly. Although she had spent several nights memorizing all the names of the dishes on the menu before she came to work, she never thought of reading the ingredients. “Human Beef is chewier, cooked with red peppers, onions and scallions…” Mrs. Chang stepped in from
behind.

“Sounds great, I’ll have the Human Beef then,” the customer said
happily.

Ann was wondering if this would be her first and last night at China Dragon when customers started to pour in, and the Coffin Face became too busy to watch
her.

It turned out to be a busy night. From 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Ann served more than twenty tables. Although her legs were sore and her shoulders were hurt, she was happy because the weight of her pockets increased by the hour. It was the first time since coming to the United States that she had been able to make decent money. All of the other jobs she worked on campus paid only $5 to $6 an
hour!

“Dinnertime!” Yi-yun waved to her in front of a big round table next to the kitchen door. A few minutes later, Ann joined her coworkers to have a late night meal with the owners, Mr. Chang, the chef, and Mrs. Chang whose face was indeed as hard and tight as a coffin and hadn’t cracked a smile since Ann walked into the
restaurant.

“Take a menu home, and study it,” Mrs. Chang said, pressing her thin red lips to make her voice sterner while munching on a jumbo black tiger. “Remember all the names of the dishes and the
ingredients.”

“Okay,” Ann said quietly. Even though the Coffin Face didn’t mention her name, Ann knew she was the one being addressed. She stole a glimpse at her boss whose face looked like it was covered with heavy glue, stone hard and ice-cold.

“Next time, if you made a mistake again, you’ll be fired,” the Coffin Face said to her when Ann rose to leave. “I can’t stand a fool around
here.”

Ann stretched her arms, taking a much-needed deep breath as soon as she reached the corner of Main Street. It was dark. The stores on both sides of street were closed. From a remote distance, she could hear the cars passing hurriedly on the highways. “What a night!” Ann sighed when she massaged her sore legs and
arms.

“If I were you, Ann,” she heard a voice behind her and turned. “I would try to remember the names of the cocktails as well.” Yi-yun was on a bike, carrying a backpack. She had already changed into a sweatshirt with a college logo on it. “This is the alcohol menu,” she said, dropping a hardcover menu into Ann’s hands. “Read it through, and try to remember the names. As long as you can pronounce the name, I can make the
drink.”

“Thank you!” Ann was so moved that she was almost in tears. “You’re so
kind!”

“Not at all,” Yi-yun said with a smile and biked
away.

“See you tomorrow!” She
waved.

Ann’s eyes followed Yi-yun into the darkness while waiting for her roommate to pick her up as the city bus had stopped running. That night, Ann knew she had found her best
friend.

Chapter 2

Yi-yun was stirring when her roommate Amy left for school in the early morning. Suddenly realizing she didn’t have to keep up with her old schedule anymore, she sighed contently and went back to sleep. When she finally got out of bed, it was almost eleven in the
morning.

It felt a bit strange being home during a school day, but Yi-yun utterly enjoyed it. Ever since she moved to Boston, she had rushed around grudgingly, juggling work and school. In the mornings, even when she didn’t have classes, she still had to head to campus, trying to finish her homework so she wouldn’t be late for work in the afternoon. She had to work four nights a week plus two full days during the weekend, first as a bus girl then as a waitress and a bartender at China Dragon. It was pure luck that she could finally put a halt to this painful life and be able to enjoy a relaxed morning at her own pace. Wearing a big smile, Yi-yun went to the kitchen to fix herself a healthy breakfast—cereal with low fat milk, a glass of orange juice, and an apple. Very soon she should make Fang Chen lunch and take it to his office because he had a class in the early afternoon. While blowing her hair into a fashionable hairdo after showering, Yi-yun quickly ran through a few possible lunch items in her
head.

So far, the relationship between her and Fang Chen had been more than agreeable. He was rich, his family owned a high-tech firm in Singapore, and he was very smart. When he came to America, he was armed with a BS degree, a green card, and loads of cash. Now, with a future doctoral degree in stock, he had almost everything Yi-yun wanted in a man. Just imagining being able to quit her job and walk into China Dragon as a customer made her giggle with
joy.

The door of Fang Chen’s office was readily opened when she knocked. “What are we having for lunch?” Fang Chen asked when he saw Yi-yun. He had been anxiously waiting. “I’m
starving!”

Yi-yun smiled, dropping a quick kiss on his cheek, which made Fang Chen beam like a little child, and set down a brown
bag.

To be honest, Fang Chen wasn’t the type Yi-yun had in mind for her mate. He was short, balding on the top, and wore a pair of thick glasses that looked like the bottom of a classic Coke bottle. It was amazing how different his appearance was from what she had imagined in a man. Her dream of a mate was tall and well built, with big smoldering eyes, and dark hairs. But Yi-yun had learned a valuable lesson as soon as she entered the real world. A handsome young man was worth nothing if he couldn’t provide his girl a decent living. In the past few years, she had dated quite a few good-looking guys in China as well as in the US, but none of them could or was willing to support her financially. The tuition Fang Chen paid for her alone was more than ten thousand
dollars!

“Ham and egg sandwich, my favorite!” Fang Chen claimed happily and took the sandwich out of the brown
bag.

“Have you washed your hands yet?” With a frown, Yi-yun took the sandwich away from him. “You have to wash your hands first,” she said
firmly.

“I haven’t touched anything dirty,” Fang Chen said, a little embarrassed. “Look, my hands are clean.” He showed her his hands with a red
face.

As she watched him munching on the sandwich, however, Yi-yun remembered the question that was worrying her. “When do you think we should look for our new apartment?” The arrangement was that she would move in with him in a few days, but they hadn’t found a new place
yet.

He stopped chewing. “I’ve been thinking about it this morning,” he said with some hesitation while forcing down a mouthful food with water. “What do you think if we keep my apartment?” he asked, looking up at her
nervously.

“It’s a one-bedroom apartment!” she protested. It would be scandalous if people found out that they were sharing a bedroom. As far as Yi-yun was concerned, they were just good friends casually dating, she hadn’t planned to share a bed with him
yet.

Fang Chen’s face turned a deep red. “The cheapest two-bedroom apartment in Boston costs more than a thousand dollars,” he said wearily. “If we keep my apartment, we could easily save up to several hundred a
month.”

“What would people say if they found out we were living together without being married?” she blurted out angrily. She thought she had made her case crystal clear when they discussed about their new agreement last week—she would cook and do laundry for him, and in exchange, he would help her with rent and
tuition.

“I can sleep on the couch,” he said, dropping his
eyes.

“It won’t work,” she interrupted him, fuming. “You’re Chinese. You know how the Chinese think!” Although she could care less about old traditions, it was America after all, Yi-yun didn’t want to be the target of finger-pointing and the center of mass gossiping in her community. Who cared if Fang Chen slept in the living room? The apartment had only one bedroom, and she could never pass as his
roommate.

“I know, I know,” he said, suppressing a dejected sigh. If money could buy peace, he would gladly pay extra. But the fact was, even if they were living together in a two-bedroom apartment, their arrangement would still generate rumors and
gossip.

“It would be different if we were engaged,” Fang Chen murmured under his breath, trying hard to choose the right words. As he saw it, moving in together as a committed couple was the only way to avoid
gossiping.

“What did you say?” Yi-yun was quite confused. Marriage wasn’t something she had even
considered.

Fang Chen tried to explain, but he was so nervous that he didn’t know what to say. Instead of backing down, however, he took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Yi-yun, I don’t know how to put this, but I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time. I love you, and I want to spend my life with you,” he said as he kneeled down in front of her. “Will you marry
me?”

Her jaw dropping, Yi-yun stared at him in disbelief. What was he saying? Was he proposing marriage? She found the answer when she looked into his eyes—the eagerness, the love. Gosh, what should she say? She had never thought about marrying him because she didn’t love him. He might be her boyfriend, even though she preferred to think of him as a good friend who was willing to help her financially, but that was
all.

What should she do now? Bewildered, Yi-yun stole a glance at him and saw he was so nervous that he was trembling. Tears swelled in her eyes and her visions blurred. Oh, hadn’t she been waiting for this moment since she came of age, a husband and a home of her own? Why should she be hesitant? She had given up the dream of Prince Charming a long time ago; if she were to marry somebody someday, he could be the right
choice.

“Will you?” Fang Chen asked
anxiously.

“Yes,” she said in a quiet and quivering voice. She tried to smile, but instead, the tears ran down like loose pearls. It was very silly indeed, but she couldn’t help
it.