Sweet Wife in My Arms

"Liu Tongye! Stop right there!"

Tongye stopped walking and turned to look behind her. A smelly shoe flew towards her and smacked her right in the face. Before she could react, a large figure barreled towards her and began to beat the living daylights out of her..

Tongye screamed as the blows rained upon her. Her mother, hearing her screams, quickly armed her husband and her sons with shovels and clubs. They ran out of their house to see what was going on--they were the richest family in the village now, and they could not imagine who would dare hurt their daughter, Liu Tongye.

When they emerged from their house, they saw Tongye pressed against the ground, her face swollen and bruised. Beside her was a group of young ladies, wide-eyed and frightened.

Mrs. Liu's jaw dropped when she saw the person beating her daughter--it was Qinghua's mother, Mrs. Xiang.

"Mrs. Xiang, what do you think you're doing?" Mrs. Liu shouted shrilly.

Mrs. Xiang drew herself to her full height. She gave Liu Tongye one last vicious kick, and then sat heavily on the ground. She pounded her thighs as she wailed, "Oh my god, what have I done?! How could I have sent my darling daughter to that horrible place?!"

"Liu Dazhu! Your entire family ought to be struck by lightning! Your daughter Tongye is a heartless demon, and so are you and the rest of your family! Your Tongye sold my darling daughter to a brothel! My Qinghua refused to prostitute herself, so she escaped and worked her way back home. How many of our precious daughters has your family ruined? Well?"

Liu Tongye's family was stunned to hear Mrs. Xiang's loud accusations. The entire village was just as shocked: What was going on? Suddenly, a woman detached herself from the crowd of onlookers and quickly pulled her daughter away, her face white with fear.

The woman was frightened, but she was also angry and resentful. If Liu Tongye had taken her daughter away, she would never have been able to see her daughter again. She shot Tongye a disdainful glare--so Tongye was a prostitute! That explained her revealing clothes. She did not care what Tongye did for a living, but she could not forgive her for selling the other village girls into prostitution as well.

The parents of the girls who had yet to be taken away by Tongye were relieved. The parents of the girls who had already gone with Tongye, however, were distraught--they began to yell at the Liu family, demanding that their daughters be returned to them. If the Liu family did not return their daughters, they would take the case to the city and sue the entire Liu family.

Qinghua helped her mother to her feet, and then brushed the dirt off of her.

For the first time in her life, she was grateful to have her mother with her. Her mother loved her brother better, but she was still her mother. Mrs. Xiang loved her children, and she would not stand aside and let an outsider discipline her children, much less bully them.

The "son-in-law" Qinghua presented to her mother was actually Uncle; he had regained his memories, and now remembered who he was. He came from a wealthy family--how wealthy, exactly, Qinghua did not know, but then again she did not really care. Uncle had told her he was grateful to her for sticking with him at the lowest point of his life, and he wanted her to stay with him for the rest of their lives. Qinghua had liked the idea, and that was that.

Uncle gazed at the plum trees that grew all over the mountain. His eyes flashed as a thought occurred to him.

A few years later, Plum Village had become famous for their plums. Uncle had spent a lot of money repairing the roads and building a factory for his plum business. The factory was staffed by the local villagers, who helped in the manufacture of plum juice and plum wine. Now that everyone had a guaranteed source of income, the entire village prospered. The girls that Tongye had kidnapped over the years were found and brought back to the village, where everyone respectfully avoided talking about the girls' sordid past. The girls were not to blame, after all--as long as they turned over a new leaf, there was nothing for them to be ashamed of.

But there were all kinds of people in the world, and some of them refused to see the error of their ways--like Tongye, for example.

Tongye was still working her "job." She was rich, but she had brought dishonor to her family. Her parents were so ashamed of her they could no longer look anyone in the face.

The mountain plums were ripe again. It was going to be another bumper year.

And that was how the story ended.

It was a warp. They had finished principal photography for the movie.

Yan Huan treated the production team to dinner. They had been her "family," so to speak, over the course of the production, but now it was time for everyone to go home. Before they parted ways, however, Yan Huan said something to Huang Ming that made him wonder if he was hallucinating.

"We'll make a sequel."

Yan Huan saw the surprised look on Director Huang's face, and nodded reassuringly as she repeated herself. "Yes, I'm not kidding. I'm completely serious."

"I'll fund the second movie as well, and I'll get other investors, too. Don't worry, everyone will get a larger paycheck for the next movie. Just remember to keep your schedule open--we'll aim to get the sequel ready for next year's Chinese New Year lineup."

Yan Huan looked at Huang Ming. "I'm counting on you to direct the sequel."

"Oh, I couldn't hope for anything more." Huang Ming had not told anyone yet, but he had been thinking about making a sequel to the movie. He was therefore surprised that Yan Huan had decided on it before he had even gotten around to fleshing out his idea. The first movie wasn't even in cinemas yet, and Yan Huan had already gone so far as to promise to fund the sequel. He did not know what to feel about that, especially when no one knew how much money the first movie would make. If they lost money on it, he would not be able to look Yan Huan in the face.

But he did not voice his doubts right then and there. They had just finished filming, and it was time to celebrate--he could not very well say that the movie was probably going to be a box office flop. That would be horribly depressing.

He laughed awkwardly.

After the dinner, Yan Huan did not set out for home right away. Instead, she would spend the night at the studio, and leave for Sea City the next day. Just the thought of not having to wake up early the next day to work was a load off her chest, and she slept soundly that night.

She was exhausted. She had had many things on her mind, and once she was free of them she realized that she was dead tired.

As she drifted in and out of consciousness, she heard her phone ring. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she groped for her phone, took the call, and placed her phone next to her ear.

"Lu Yi..." she mumbled, her voice full of sleep.

"Get some rest. I'll pick you up tomorrow." Lu Yi's calm, steady voice was like a beautiful lullaby to her ears. It was not a gentle voice, but it was deep and soothing all the same.

"Okay," Yan Huan mumbled automatically, too tired to properly process the conversation. A moment later, she had fallen asleep.

The phone in her hand slid down the pillow, away from her ear. She had forgotten to hang up, however; Lu Yi could hear her quiet, steady breathing over the line.

He knew then that she had fallen asleep.

Lu Yi sat in his office chair, transfixed by the sound of Yan Huan's breathing. He was alone in his office. There was a pile of documents on his desk he needed to sort through, but he could not move--he kept his phone plastered to his ear as he listened to the steady breathing from the other end of the line.

It was late at night; some people--like Yan Huan--were blissfully asleep. Others--like him--were hopelessly wide awake.

After a long moment, he reluctantly hung up.

Lu Yi made short work of the documents on his desk. He picked up his coat as he got to his feet.

When he left his office, the guard at the door saluted him.

Lu Yi nodded to the guard. He walked to where he had left his car, and started it. Instead of driving home, however, he made his way to where Yan Huan was staying.