Athitaw Hla Aung - Suzy Wong

Chapter (1)

The young woman pushed through the revolving door and walked towards the crowd waiting for the ferry.

All the women waiting for the ferry were wearing trousers and cotton shirts. Almost all the men were wearing sandals and gold teeth.

Now the young woman has her hair tied back in a ponytail and is wearing long green jeans that barely cover her knees.

I was thinking, "It's strange, isn't it?" A Chinese girl is wearing jeans. How can I explain it to someone who has never experienced it?

I watched as he walked over to a street vendor who was sitting on a stool and handed out coins. The vendor, wearing a tattered hat, folded a piece of Chinese newspaper and added coins. Then he took the ten-cent coin that the young woman handed him.

The young woman turned around and came out. She picked up the yam with her red-painted fingers and stopped about three feet away from me, eating it without thinking.

I think she might be the daughter of a very rich Chinese tycoon. Or she might be a schoolgirl. Or she might be a shopkeeper.

It is not easy to judge the real lives of Chinese girls.

I split the kernel with my teeth. I flip the split shell over and over. Then I take out the rice inside with my teeth and eat it. It's very easy.

On the other side of the young woman is an old Chinese man with a high collar. He stands on a dark wooden cane, stroking his foot-long white beard. A child, wrapped in a cloth and wearing a silk scarf, looks around at the woman. A young Chinese man with thick glasses is reading a book, almost touching it to his nose. The book is called “Aerodynamics.”

The young woman took another piece of bread and was biting it with her white, even teeth. At that moment, her eyes met mine, as she was staring at her. I thought it was a gesture that intrigued me. So I spoke up.

"I wish I could do that too."

"Ha..."

"It's like eating a meal... no matter how hard you try, you can't eat comfortably."

"Don't talk"

He immediately turned his face away. He looked down at the crowd waiting to take their places on the ten-deck deck below. Below, it was crowded with coolies, Chinese fisherwomen, and Chinese men with tattooed bodies.

The young woman continued to eat with great restraint. I tried not to feel anything in my heart.

I've always been bad at making friends with young women. I've always been a bad judge of character in this regard.

After a while, he seemed to feel sad. That's right. He looked at me in a corner of his eyes. He also seemed to think that I had been misunderstood.

He immediately turned to the other side. Then he glanced at her again. Then he controlled his tone and asked.

"Are you a sailor?"

"Me, sailor... I'm not..."

He seemed to be a little relieved.

"Sure."

"Oh, I'm very sure."

"Okay... if you want to talk, we'll talk."

"Well... good job."

I laughed a little as I said that.

"But let me find out why you don't like the sailors."

"Not me... Dad"

"Does that mean your father doesn't like sailors?"

"No... My father said the sailors captured a lot of girls and caused them trouble."

"So your father has restricted you from talking to the sailors?"

"No... my father said he'd beat you if you talked to the sailors."

"Well... then your father must be quite wise."

"Yes... wise"

The ferry arrived. The crowd moved towards the ship. The two of us climbed aboard and took a seat on one of the wooden benches on the top deck. The ferry is owned and run by Chinese people. They are very professional.

We sat down on the bench before the hull of the ship shook from the engine's speed and the crashing waves.

After a while, the ship left the port of Kowloon. It passed large cargo ships and giant containers anchored at anchor.

Across the strait, Hong Kong lay before us. Hong Kong, situated on a small stretch of coastline that stretched for only a few hundred yards.

The rugged coastline stretches for miles. On it, small islands are densely packed. Along the long coastline, there are also large sea turtles, otters, and otters. They are endlessly beautiful.

Beyond them, a mountain looms over Hong Kong. On that mountain, white shacks and luxury homes owned by human beings.

Our ferry sailed around the Koh Llang Peninsula and across the strait to Wan Chai Port. Wan Chai District is located on the eastern side of Hong Kong and is the most densely populated.

I turned to look at the young woman next to me. Her face was round and delicate. Her dark eyes were long. Her eyebrows were arched, as if they had been drawn. Her cheekbones were strong, making it clear that she was of Mongolian descent.

“Are you from the North?” I asked.

"Yes, Shanghai..."

"But now I live in Hong Kong..."

"At the North Point"

"Very nice place"

That's why he's on the ferry now. The northern point is beyond Wan Chai. It's the closest if you get off at Wan Chai Port. The whole area is inhabited by wealthy Rakhines and big houses.

“Yes... I prefer Repulse Bay, the house there is better.”

"You're saying you even have two houses?"

"Four" "Even the big four?"

I know some rich Chinese people own two or three houses. But even four houses is a record. Some rich Chinese people are very rich. Compared to Europeans who say they are very rich, Europeans are rich enough to be poor.

“Are all those houses in Hong Kong empty?”

"Yes, only in Hong Kong. My father is very rich, you know that, right..."

He seems happy. He is like a pure and innocent child.

"That's great, but where are the other two houses?"

The young woman counted the two houses she had mentioned with her fingers. Then she counted them one by one.

"Number three is on Gongju Street, number four is on the top of the mountain, number five..."

"There is no number five."

“Yes, I forgot... Number Five in Happy Valley, but that house is small, you know... There are only ten rooms.”

"Oh... I remember what happened," I laughed again.

"So, about cars... how many cars does your father have?"

Rich Chinese people buy more cars than houses.

"A car... I'll think about it."

The young woman raised her eyebrows. She counted with her fingers crossed. After a moment, she let out a small laugh and gave up.

"Oh... I forgot how many cars there were."

"There will be a private car for you too."

“No... I'm really scared of taking a car, but the tram doesn't matter, you know... I like taking the tram.”

He gave me a handful of the dried fenugreek seeds he had bought for ten cents.

"If you want to eat, eat."

“I want to eat it, but to be honest, I don’t know how to peel it, you’ll have to teach me.”

"Try it first..."

I tried many times. But the rice husks were broken into small pieces between my teeth. There was no way to get good rice. My inability to tolerate fat made the young woman giggle. She covered her face with both hands and laughed. Her ponytail was shaking.

After a while, he stopped laughing. However, his face was smiling sweetly with happiness. Then he put the peeled chia seeds between his teeth.

He showed me how to separate them. He flipped the shell back and handed me a single, easily removable, single-seeded grain.

"Well... I do the same thing, but the roasted chia seeds you eat are like the seeds that are easier to peel."

"No... it's all the same..."

"Then I give up, what's your name..."

"Waung Mi Lin"

"Mi Lin... it's a very cute name."

"What's your name..."

"Robert Lomax...or Lomax Robert, as you call him."

"Love"

"No... a voice"

"Robert... where do you live?"

"Well... to be honest"

"On the mountain?"

“Well... yes, I live in a hostel in the southern part of the country, called the Sunset Hostel.”

My answer is probably the closest to the truth. I actually stayed at the Sunset Hostel until three or four days ago. I only moved to Wan Chai three or four days ago. I'm currently staying at the Nam Kook Hotel. However, I can't say that I was at the Nam Kook Hotel because I don't know anything about the young lady.

"Are you a government official or do you work at a bank?"

"No... not both. I started working in a rubber plantation, and it's been about two months since I left that job. I wanted to paint."

"What is painting?"

"Drawing toys"

I looked in my bag for the sketchbook to show him. I couldn't find it, but then I remembered that I had left it at the Namco Hotel. I thought, "I won't talk about it anymore."

"Well... I understand, painter."

"Until now, I still can't call myself an artist."

From then on, she and I started to get along. So I stepped up. I invited her to go out with me for dinner one night. The young woman bitterly refused.

"Then let's have lunch."

"No way"

The young woman shook her head vigorously. The ponytail dangling behind her head also shook vigorously.

“But I want to see you again, Mi Lin. Maybe we can meet again sometime?”

"Cannot find"

"Why?"

"I'm getting married soon."

He explained to me about the upcoming marriage. -

According to Chinese tradition, it was arranged by her parents. She had never met the man she was going to marry, but she had seen a photo of him. He was a very handsome man in the photo, and he had a lot of money.

However, I can't date him even though I'm not married to him. Chinese girls are different from English girls. Their Chinese girls don't have the same freedom that English girls have. English girls can have many boyfriends at the same time, and they can go out with those guys, and they can give hope to every guy they date.

He had heard of an English girl living on the mountain, who had been with many boys for many years, and who had finally married a very high-ranking official in a Hong Kong temple.

However, for Chinese girls, such behavior is unthinkable, Mi Lin explained to me at length that purity is a rule that cannot be ignored in marriage, that the groom's parents have the right to check whether the girl is pure or not on the wedding day, that if the girl is not pure, the marriage is void, and that the girl has no other choice but to go out on the street.

"You know, right? That's why I've never had a boyfriend, and I've never even had sex with a man."

He spoke with a great deal of composure.

"Yes?"

That's all I can say. I was also shocked by his openness.

"Never... I've never even been a child."

"Well... good job, you still have plenty of time left."

I wondered if it was the true character of Chinese people to speak so openly when they first met.