Part One.
1.
Learning Chinese isn't hard.
But I was. Constantly.
I met Chen Dongyu in a bookstore. She approached me and, as soon as I saw her, I was glad she did. One look at her and I was smitten. But, here's the thing, I don't know if I'd have had the balls to approach her. But she took my balls and drained them day after day. I never knew that someone could do that. Especially a girl like her.
She didn't seem like the type and I loved that.
"Can you recommend me any books?"
Now, many people dislike the classic Chinese accent. I love it. I also love the flat, round faces that aren't considered classical beauty in China. But that's not my problem. At that point, liking her up and down, my only problem was how would I get this babe to come home with me.
Turned out it wasn't a problem.
"What are you interested in?" I asked. I hoped she was interested in me; wanted to read me. "These are horror novels. Do you like getting scared?" If she did, she could cuddle up to me to feel safe.
"Maybe. They have cool covers." She had a cool cover.
She picked up a copy of Salem's Lot. Stephen King. "Is this one good?"
"I haven't read it in years. I was thinking of re-reading it. It's about vampires."
She could be a vampire and suck the life out of me -- I wouldn't complain.
"Vampires?" Her flat, round, pretty face was blank. She didn't know what a vampire was, did she?
"Yeah," I said. "You know vampires?" I asked, watching her thin fingers on the book. I wanted them on me. Anywhere on me. "They drink blood."
"Oh." Her eyes lit up. They were thin and dark and hypnotic to me. "Maybe jiangshi? Yes, I know. I like. Scary."
"Jiangshi," I said. "Is that the Chinese word? You're Chinese, right?"
She nodded and smiled. "Yes, I am from China. And you said it perfectly. Jiang shi. Jiang shi is not quite the same as your vampire here," and she pointed to the book. "They eat qi, not blood."
"Qi. Hey that's coo. She nodded. "Jiangshi," I repeated. "You know, I've always wanted to learn Chinese. But I heard it was too hard."
"It will be easy for you," she said. "I think you're speaking is already hen hao."
"Hen hao," I repeated.
"See? That means very good." Dongyu giggled. "You said very good very good!"
"Well, then I definitely want to learn," I said. "How hard can it be?"
Dongyu turned the book over, then flipped the pages. "Not as hard as reading this book. I think you will have to help me."
"I will if you'll help me learn Chinese," I said. I looked right into her eyes. She looked down at the book and smiled.
"Okay."
"Okay? Deal?"
"Yes." She looked at me then. "Deal."
"Shake on it?"
She narrowed her already narrow eyes. "Shake? Like this?"
She shook her body lightly.
I laughed and she laughed, too. Good sense of humour. Absurd, maybe. Unexpected, for sure. I liked it. A lot.
I held out my hand. "Shake on it. It's a deal."
She put her slim hand in mine and already I didn't want to let it go.
2.
We had coffee nearby and I read her the first page of the book. Dongyu said she "loved" my speaking voice. Well, the feeling was mutual. I asked her to read some in Chinese and she said this book might be too hard.
"Just try," I said. "I can explain any words you don't understand."
I had a feeling that, being a student at the university, her English was totally fine but I suppose there's a difference between Salem's Lot and a nursing degree. Nursing. Imagining Dongyu in a nurse's uniform made me hard almost instantly.