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Her name in Chinese means Plum Blossom. Because she was born in a severe, cold winter, the flower language was meant to be a source of strength against all the hardships. Then it becomes the curse of her life.
Every morning she wakes with the sun. She never slept long after turning 60. She is reluctant to waste more time sleeping, despite the fact that she is barely noticed.
Her husband is also lonely, but he figures his own way out. He plays chess with himself, reads history books, watches news happening millions of miles away, as if in search of something missing from his own life. She could never touch his loneliness.
She bends over with a broom, dragging it across every yellowed tile on the floor. Her sweat soaks her floral shirt like a crucian carp just fished from an aquarium. She will cook fish today. She always slaps the fish on the chopping board with all her strength to ease their suffering.
After laying the meal on the table, she leaves the house. She doesn’t want to be a dying fish on the chopping board waiting for her last slap. She would rather do it by herself.
She walks to the train station, holding her phone with a broken screen tightly. It contains all the chat history between her and K, her secret cyber lover.
K, a careless young man, is the only one who listens and talks with her. K sings her love songs; K sends her his photos; K comforts her when she feels wrong; K shows her the world outside. She feels a flower of happiness growing from beneath a heavy stone. But happiness has a price, and K needs money. So, each time he sings a song or says something sweet, she transfers him money. She’s happy to do it. Meanwhile, she dreams days and nights about standing in front of him, listening to his singing voice. So, she investigates the photos he sent and finds the place where he lives. She is ready to pay the price no matter how expensive it is.
People on the train look at her strangely. Normally, women her age would have a companion on a long-distance train like this. She ignores their gazes and curls her body into a silent cocoon.
She waits for K at an abandoned park shown in most of his pictures. One day, two days. Finally, K shows up, with a cool young girl – L. L wears a loose graphic tank top and denim shorts. Under the sun, the blue eyeshadow on her eyes glitters like a butterfly.
L takes her to their place because K needs to run another errand. The house is a mess. She could barely find a spot to sit. L makes her a cup of tea. When she sees the cup of chrysanthemum tea – she often mentions to K how her mother made it for her when she was young – she immediately understands L is the voice who chats with her online all the time. Women know how women want to be loved or be tricked.
She fishes her bills out of her purse and gives them to L. L smiles. She asks L, could you sing me a song?
L says K is the one who sings.
She shakes her head.
L can’t refuse her imploring face anymore, so she starts to sing an old Chinese folk song.
Her eyes are always red
Tears swirling in her eyes cannot fall
Ninety-nine times I can’t stop missing her
I wanna give her all the love she needs
I wanna jump to her bottomless pit
After singing, she stares at L’s black eyes. L’s voice is like gentle waves lapping at her. L breaks the silence, “Sister, you should rest now.”
“Could you take me in? I know I’m old and have so many wrinkles on my face. But I can cook and clean for you. I won’t bother you,” she says. Then she opens her bag and takes out a bag of jewelry. It contains her grandma’s necklace, her jade bracelet, her silver wedding ring, and so on.
“These are all I have. Take it.”
L looks at the jewelry, “You’ve come a long way, sister, go to sleep.”
Next morning, K and L are gone along with her money and jewelry.
She wakes up by a knock on the door. It’s the police. They’ve come to arrest the fraudulent couple. The police tell her that they’ve done the same scam with 15 other old women. She turns on her phone and finds K’s account has been canceled.
The police ask her, “Do you want to go home now?”
Silence.
She can’t think of where her home is except her dead mother’s womb.
About Yuhan Wang: Yuhan Wang (she/they) is a Chinese writer/director, actor, producer and filmmaker. Yuhan holds a BA in fashion communication from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. In 2022, she moved to Los Angeles as an MFA candidate for the graduate film directing program at CalArts. Yuhan’s practice focuses on the social dilemmas among people, especially womanhood. Story for her is a weapon to fight against all the cruelty and a shovel to dig the tenderness from life.
Stories Matters is a mentoring program founded by best-selling author and award-winning documentarian Leslie Zemeckis. Co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) and ENTITY Mag, the writing program focuses on craft and confidence. Guest professional female authors join weekly, mentoring the next generation of female storytellers. A six-week intensive challenges every writer to work on an 800-word story about “A Woman You Should Know.”
