Chapter 3: More than a Sister

Plates, glasses, vases—nothing in the house escaped. Everything ended up in pieces.
“Miss Yijun, please! Don’t smash that!”
Auntie Lan and Mrs. Zhuang held on to me for dear life.
“Let go! Let go of me!”
They wouldn’t, so I grabbed their hair.
“Ow! Help!”
Cries and shouts filled the house.
Mom was out. There was no way those two could stop me.
“Call Madam! Get the guards!”
Before the guards arrived, another tea set and two telephones lay shattered, along with two overturned tables. Fruit had rolled all over the floor.
Two guards caught my arms, but even then I tried to wriggle free. Mrs. Zhuang clung to me, sobbing.
“Please, Miss Yijun… You have to stop… There’ll be nothing left…”
The house was a wreck. Several curtains had come down too. All my handiwork, in barely fifteen minutes.
Mrs. Zhuang kept crying while Auntie Lan hurried outside to wait for Mom.
A few blasts of a car horn announced her return. Her heels clattered toward us, faster and louder, then stopped short.
Shock spread across her face. No wonder. The room was in ruins, and Mrs. Zhuang and I stood there with our hair in wild disarray, looking like a pair of lunatics.
Then her gaze hardened.
“Let her go!”
Her voice strained with the force of the shout.
Mom had never spoken to me like that. For the first time, I felt a little afraid.
She strode over and slapped me.
“Mom… You hit me.”
My eyes lifted to hers in disbelief. She’d never hit me before.
“And shouldn’t I?”
The image of her kissing Tong Xueyou that morning flashed through my mind. I bit my lip.
“Of course you can hit me. Tong Xueyou’s your daughter, isn’t she? I hate you! All of you! You’ve all been lying to me!”
Big Brother and Tong Xueyou arrived together.
Mom collapsed onto the sofa in tears.
“It’s my fault. I’ve spoiled you until you think you can do whatever you please. Now I’m paying for it.”
“Mom…”
Tong Xueyou rushed over to comfort her.
“It’s my fault. I caused all this. Yijun’s acting this way because she’s angry with me.”
She came to stand in front of me.
“Hit me. If it will make you feel better, I’ll take it. But please don’t take your anger out on anyone else, and don’t upset Mom.”
She thought my anger had passed. Thought I wouldn’t dare hit her.
My hand flew up, but before it could reach her face, someone caught my arm.
“I told you, if you want to hit someone, hit me. Don’t blame your sister.”
My teeth sank into my lower lip until it bled. Salt and iron spread over my tongue.
“What’s going on?” Mom got to her feet, looking from my sister to Big Brother. “Yijun knows you’re together?”
Tong Xueyou nodded.
“What’s wrong with Boshan being with your sister? Is that any reason to throw a tantrum like this? You’re old enough to know better. They’re both ready to get married. Your brother was always going to marry someday. You can’t keep clinging to him like a child—”
“I’m not a child! I… I…”
But I loved Big Brother. I wanted to marry him!
“Auntie Lan, call Jianfei. Tell him to come home early today. I can’t handle her anymore. Her father can deal with her himself!”
Dad didn’t frighten me. He was my own father, and I was his only flesh and blood. He’d never have the heart to hit me.
By the time he got home, the mess had been cleared away and everyone had calmed down.
“Upset your mother again, Yijun?”
He sat beside me and drew me into his arms.
“When are you going to grow up? Your sister was so sensible at your age.”
My sister again. A little spark of anger flared inside me.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Your brother and sister are getting married. We kept it from you because we didn’t want it distracting you from your studies. Now that you know, that’s just as well—we were looking for a chance to tell you anyway. I know how fond you are of Boshan, but he has to marry someday. And someday, you’ll get married too.”
“I’m not getting married!”
“Don’t be silly. How about this? You wanted to work at the bank, didn’t you? I’ll let you. But you have to promise me you’ll stop making a fuss.”
Pouting, I turned away and refused to answer.
Dad looked at Mom.
“Have you chosen a date?”
“Sunday after next. We want to hold the wedding before the New Year, and there aren’t many auspicious dates left. Besides, it’s all within the family. We can skip a lot of the formalities and keep things fairly simple.”
“What do you and Boshan think, Xueyou?” Dad asked with a smile.
“We’ll leave it to Mom,” Tong Xueyou said.
“Same here.”
“Good. Sunday after next it is.”
Dad was still smiling. Nothing I said or did was going to change his mind.
Sunday after next. So soon!
No. This couldn’t happen. There had to be a way to stop them.
After turning it over and over in my head, only one option remained: tell him how I felt. Make him understand that this wasn’t a little sister’s love for her brother. I loved him the way a woman loved a man.
Surely he had feelings for me too. He and Tong Xueyou just happened to be close in age and to have studied abroad together. Then my own years away had given her the perfect chance to slip in.
The mirror showed a girl with big, sparkling eyes, curls cascading like a waterfall and soft, rosy cheeks. Even I wanted to kiss that face.
Who could possibly resist me?
Pretty as I already was, a little dressing up wouldn’t hurt. After combing my hair, I filled in my brows, added lipstick and dusted on some powder. From the wardrobe came my favorite pink dress, the one with the full, fluffy skirt.
Out in the backyard, bright lights illuminated the carp in the pond. Water curved through the air and splashed into the pool, sending ripples spreading in overlapping rings.
A little adjustment softened the nearby lights. The corners glowed a dim amber, with light and shadow mingling around the pond.
Perfect. So romantic.
Just imagine Big Brother’s face when he saw me. Then he’d take me in his arms…
Hee-hee. How exciting!
And he’d say he loved me too.
The thought brought a silly grin to my face.
Big Brother, my darling Big Brother. You were mine.
“Big Brother, are you asleep?” I asked when he answered his phone.
“Silly girl. Would I be answering if I were asleep?”
“Come downstairs.”
“Where?”
“By the pond.”
“…All right.”
The sight of me all dressed up clearly surprised him. Then he smiled.
“Our little princess won’t let anyone get some sleep tonight?”
“Because…”
A little flutter of nerves caught me off guard.
“There’s something I want to tell you,” I said sweetly.
He smiled and waited.
“I… I…”
Just blurting it out wouldn’t be romantic enough. The moment needed a little preparation.
“Could you… stay and… talk to me for a bit?”
“Of course.”
He leaned closer.
“You’re acting a little strange today. Why all the stammering? Have you got yourself into trouble? Been picking on someone again? Oh, you went out with Jiajia and the others yesterday. Did you get into another argument with Wenyuan? Did you hit her again—”
“Big Brother! I didn’t hit her! Do you think I enjoy hitting people? Last time, she went too far, so I… Why bring that up again? Dad’s already told me off…”
My temper was beginning to rise.
No, no. This was no time to spoil the mood.
“Let’s not talk about it.”
Standing up straight, I did my best to look demure.
“Do I look pretty?”
“Very pretty.”
He gave me a thumbs-up.
“Then… do you like me?”
“Of course I do,” he said without hesitation.
“Really? Then marry me!”
He froze.
“You… What did you say?”
“You just said you liked me, didn’t you? If you like me, marry me.”
My wide eyes stayed fixed on his face.
“Oh, no. That’s not…”
He frowned.
“You’re my little sister. Of course I love you.”
“Your sister? We’re not related by blood!”
Big Brother was Dad’s adopted son. Dad had been poor when he was young, then so busy building his business that he was still unmarried past thirty-five. Grandma had been beside herself. Afraid he’d reach old age without any children, she’d arranged for him to adopt Big Brother.
Later, Dad married Mom, and Tong Xueyou came into the Tang family with her. Then came me.
“Yijun…”
He looked at me as though he had no idea what to do.
“Listen to me. One day you’ll meet the man who’s right for you. Someone you love, who loves you back.”
“You don’t want to marry me?”
His helpless gaze met mine.
“You don’t want to marry me?”
Still no answer. He was afraid of saying something that would hurt me.
Big tears began rolling down my cheeks. He immediately pulled me into his arms, soothing me as though I were a child.
“Don’t cry, Yijun. Please don’t cry… It’s my fault. I’m sorry…”
He didn’t love me. He didn’t want to marry me.
How could he?
I shoved him away and screamed, “I hate you!”