[Blue Jacaranda] 蓝花楹 - Chapter 6 何木屋语2021-09-18 07:06:16
Blue Jacaranda
澳洲：何木
Chapter 6
Melody, who had already made a quick trip in and out the house, standing on the top of the pathway waving to the two boys, “Hey, you know what, there is a hammock in the backyard, so very incredible!”
“A hammock?” Peter looked up, with multiple bags in his hands, followed by Jason whose hands were also fully occupied.
Jason was confused, “What is Hammock?”
“Well, it is a piece of cloth hung between two trees,” said Peter.
“Oh, I see,” replied Jason, “How many of them?”
“Only one and it belongs to me, and perhaps Lotus,” Melody claimed. “You boys can’t touch it.”
“Melody, are you sure?” said Peter, winking at her in a tacit manner. “Not even me?”
“No, not even you,” Melody said cheerfully, coming down a bit as though to help them with the bags, “You bad egg, I know what your little mind is thinking about.”
Jason caught their hint, laughing, “Okay then, you naughty couple can sleep between the trees, while Lotus and I will sleep inside the house.”
Lotus, who had also come out and heard them, chimed in, “Jason, you better sleep in the open vineyard and I will take the entire house.”
Jason imitated Peter’s words, “Lotus, are you sure? Not even me?”
“Absolutely no,” Lotus replied, her face blushing.
?Inside the house, Melody’s voice rang here and there. “Look, Peter, look at the cabinet full of wine glasses, of all types and shapes, I have never seen so many varieties. Actually I had been trying to collect them, but in the shops like David Jones, there are only a few but regular ones. In the following two days I might get drunk simply for these glasses.”
In another minute, she discovered another ‘treasure’, “Come, come, Peter, see this nice outdoor furniture set, so delicate, and romantic, overlooking the entire region. We will have the most fantastic picnic.”
“So, you will get drunk simply for the furniture as well?” laughed Peter, “You sound like it is the first time you have seen nice things.”
“Well, every time, and every thing is different,” said Melody, sending a kiss to his cheek.
“How about every body?”
“You bad egg…”
Melody looked so happy. She was the little girl who had just found the longest icicle at her Beijing Si-he-yuan, instead of a refined grownup who had driven fancy cars, worn fancy clothes, lived in luxurious apartments, and who had put herself into an envious position among her classmates and friends.
Peter, amazed by her naked happiness, couldn’t help but collect her in full, kissing her most passionately. And as their interaction escalated further, they both had the urgency to absorb the wholeness of each other.
With their limbs entangled, like two dragonflies in the season, they skimmed up the stairs, bypassing the other couple in a room unpacking things. And no sooner had they entered another empty room, they stripped all the things on them, and wrestling onto the bed, they let their passion run its due course.
“Oh, my god,” exclaimed Melody afterwards, “You forgot to put on a condom.”
“I don’t mind if your lonely egg has got a visitor,” said Peter carelessly. He then gathered a lock of her hair, and with it, he brushed the top of her breasts.
Melody had endured the sensation for five seconds, before she broke out giggling and dragged his hand down to suppress it. “Peter, I never knew you could be so violently beautiful,” then, she whispered to his ears, as if there were others in the room, “but I love it, it is the best I have ever had.”
Peter, recalling his forceful strikes crushing into her, chuckled, “you should never underestimate a young man’s potential, Melody.”
“How much more potential do you have?”
“Double the size of yours.”
“Size D?”
“Size Z,” said Peter and at once feeling his member surging to life again, jumped at Melody, taking another savage invasion to her territory.
Then, they heard Jason calling them, “Hurry up, you crazy people, it is time for wine tasting, Peter, reserve your energy, there are still forty more hours remaining in the Hunter.”
Without a specific winery to go for wine-tasting, they drove around the place, and as soon as they saw a sign telling its existence, they drove in.
Jason pointed at a sign at the doorstep, “See, that is the kind of education I had received when I first visited Hunter Valley.”
Lotus, who seemed today determined to be everything disagreeable with her boyfriend, spoke in jest, “With another girl?”
Jason answered her with a kiss, and said to the group, “Now I will be your guide of the tasting tour."
Inside the room several groups of tourists were already flirting with the shiny glasses. Jason, excited promptly at the sight of the bottles, led them to sit on the high stools in front of the counter. A pretty waitress came over, smiling her friendly smiles, speaking perfect Australian English, repeating the words that must have been said by her for uncountable times. However the lively conversation between her and Jason mostly fell on deaf ears of the other three in the group.
“I can only drink a little bit,” said Melody, “I need driving, and you guys feel free to get drunk, except Peter, you can’t get too drunk. And we will have the real drinking back at our lodge.”
Thus checked upon by Melody, they decided not to linger there tasting more than they had wished. About the time to leave, they were deciding how many bottles they should buy.
“At least a dozen bottles?” said Melody, “Each of us would have at least three during our stay?”
“Well, we can always get out to buy more if we like,” said Peter.
“No, the shop may close at night time. And I don't want to go out, there is little difference between the bars and restaurants here and Sydney.”
“Melody, aren’t we going somewhere for dinner tonight?” asked Jason.
“Well, I prefer to stay at our beautiful place.”
“I know you can’t wait to lie on that Hammock,” Peter chuckled, “and touch those wine glasses. But have you considered what to eat? We can’t just drink all night long, or can we?”
“Peter,” Jason said, “why don’t we buy something and you, the best cook among us, can cook for us, to make use of the kitchen facilities? We are not fussy eaters, except Melody, haha..”
“I am okay, even peanuts are okay for me tonight,” returned Melody.
“Don’t worry, Melody, I won’t let you just eat peanuts,” laughed Peter, “We will have a BBQ beef, Oh yes, how about Kangaroo?”
“Fantastic, if only we can find it in Woolworth,” said Jason agreeably.
And later in Woolworth they did find Kangaroo meat on one of the shelves. And the steak fry-cooked by Peter, was a bit tough, but still eatable to the girls after their boyfriends had cut it for them. But the food was not the key enticement for the party. To Melody, it was the shiny, shapely glass that had enticed her to drink and eat anything in the content, and to Peter, it was Melody’s exuberance, plus Lotus's special, out of character charm today, that had spurred him to drink one cup after another, and to Jason, it was the free airing of his knowledge about wine that had kept his glass rattling on and on, even if the other three had not paid much attention to his educational discourse.
And to Lotus, it was actually Peter’s presence that had enlightened her. It had long been her secret that she fell in love with Peter in the first year on the campus. But Peter, back then, was a mere ‘dumb’ high school graduate, not seeming to have received any love signal from her. Then, just as she had gathered enough courage to go with him more bravely, Peter was seen dating Melody who had been the centre of attention in the Chinese students circle.
Her sadness and jealousy, from the failure of her first love, were then crowded out by her utmost helplessness in the situation, and later by the chase of Jason whom she knew she liked but not 'loved’.
“Peter,” started Lotus, with a boldness surprising herself, “Let’s bottom up, as two accounting classmates, for the many help you have given me with my study.”
Excited by the unusual toast, Peter raised his glass, touching Lotus’ glass with a beautiful clang, “Yes, yes, let's bottom up, and thank you too for …” he paused in his search for proper words, but before he had found them, Melody took the chance to make fun of him, “for what? Peter, for Lotus’s gratitude, and her love as well, hahaha...”
Lotus’s face went instantly redder. In the moments of her consternation she lost words.
“Melody…” Peter said, shrugging it off, “I am the loveliest, am I not? Though not the sexiest, as it was already claimed by you.”
Jason, finding this as a better topic than the type of grapes, took his turn. “Seriously Peter, I believe I am the loveliest and also the sexiest.” Then, he stood up and without hesitation he threw off his sport suit, exposing his upper body, and began to flex his bicep and chest muscles, like a passionate chimpanzee.
“Oh, my god,” Melody cried out, putting her hand upon her mouth. “Let me see how hard it is.”
Melody got up and went around the table. Then with her fingers she was squeezing Jason’s bulging bicep as hard as she could. The performer, thus further excited like a bull having spotted a red scarf, went on his live show as if in a bodybuilding competition.
Peter, highly amused, echoed Melody’s frequent “Oh my god”, and then began to imitate Jason, hitting at his own chest like crazy.
Then, goaded by Melody, Peter also joined the show. And although his muscle refused to budge much, he was performing like a qualified bodybuilding star. And Melody was more than happy to help fulfil his mission or illusion, exclaiming loudly as she pinched him hard here and there, short of grabbing the things between his legs. “Wow, what a lump here, wow what a hard stuff there, Oh, my dear Peter, yours are really massive, what a superman!”
So Peter, with pain in body but joy in mind, imitating every gesture Jason was making.
Lotus, the only seated audience, was laughing off her stomach.
Then Jason said, “I strongly demand our female friends do the same, for the sake of gender equality.”
At once the other three stopped to take a deep breath.
“You, Liu-mang,” Lotus scolded him, after digesting what Jason was hinting about.
“Yes, you very Liu-Mang,” followed Melody.
Facing the fierce opposition from their female counterparts, Jason took one step back. “Okay, okay, how about this, you don’t have to be naked like us, you can still have your bras on, fair?”
“Again, no, no, absolutely no,” shouted Lotus. But Melody yielded a trifle, and thinking it was no more than a bikini exposure on the beach, she said tentatively, “Okay Jason, I am fine, if only you can get your Lotus on board.”
But there was no way Lotus would agree with this. Jason's many promises and kisses went to no avail.
So, the other three had to give up the tantalising idea, and the most disappointed persons were Peter, for the sake of Lotus, and Jason, for the sake of Melody.
But their disappointment was easily overcome by more joyful drinking.
As requested by Melody, they had to change glasses as frequently as they poured the wine, and soon enough, more than half of the glasses in the cabinet were taken out for their appreciation, and ended up crowding the table in the dining room as well as the sink in the kitchen.
And as anticipated, each of them was sufficiently drunk, and Jason began to spit out whatever he had in his mind.
“Damn the US, why does it have to challenge China’s South China Sea? See, by the name it is China’s sea, are they blind not to see this? And damn Australia, why does this small country have to follow the US so closely, like a running dog, attacking China who has given it the prosperity for the last twenty years? In 2008, when the US caught the financial crisis and hurt the entire world, who had come to save Australia out of recession, it was China… Now they said, China is their ‘frenemy’, why must they treat China as their enemy? The two countries are so far away from each other, without any historic frictions and territory issues like China with Japan or with India, and who are so complementary economically? How blind-sighted and arrogant are these politicians… The bloody westerns, Anglo-Saxons, who thought somehow they are superior to Asians, to us Chinese. And everybody knows that it is racism at play when dealing with geopolitics. Democracy, freedom, human rights, values, bla bla bla, all are mere excuses for their duplicity, in the nutshell really, is that these people can’t tolerate non-Anglo-Saxons to be better than them …”
Peter, who usually didn’t have much political bias, also found his tongue slippery at this moment. “Jason, you such a Wu-mao, though I mostly agree with you. But again, what can you do? We don’t have much say back in China, and nothing at all in Australia and in the US. And as one of the new generation of Chinese, I don’t like the authoritarian way of doing things. I want participation, active participation. But can you really participate in the way you wish in China? That was perhaps why westerners don’t like our system, rather than the racism you have grieved about here. Therefore, whatever you have got in your troubled head you can’t change any of the things running in the countries. Nobody in China may give a damn of what you are really thinking about, no matter how much love you may want to show the motherland. And also remember this, the stronger China doesn’t automatically mean You, as an individual, will be stronger and better. It is perhaps only for the benefit of the few elites who have the most political and economic resources in the country. Think also of the terrible Gini Index in China, the severe inequality plaguing Chinese society, and the shameless exploitation of workers’ leisure hours by increasingly greedier capitalists, the notorious 996 working culture. Politics everywhere is dirty, with the power struggle among groups of people, leading to some better off, some worse off. And also don’t forget there are more than 600 million people whose monthly income is less than 1000 yuan, can you imagine, a meagre $200 a month in terms of Australian Dollar. And also don’t forget the skyrocketing house price that robs generations of savings! So what does a stronger China really mean for the average Chinese, even when China has become the number one in the world of which you are so proud?”
“No, no, you are wrong Peter, every country has problems, those Gini Index and poor walks of people etc. But I am talking of international relations, about the basic respect we Chinese must deserve from the western countries. What we China wants is territorial integrity, for example, Taiwan, we want it united. What is wrong with this asking? It is one China, but the US just doesn't want you to be united, that is all about it really.”
“But if you were in the shoes of the US, you would most likely do the same. So we are not in a position to judge others if we can’t behave in a better way. And you never gain your respect by asking for it, it is fighting like the one in the Korean war in the 50s that could settle the matter of respect for human beings.”
“There you get the sense, I agree that respect can’t be earned by asking politely.”
Lotus, who had drunk the least, decided to calm Jason down. “Jason, you are just talking aloud, not doing as much. At least Peter studies well, who may contribute more in the future to however great a course China has set on. So Jason…you really need to study harder, watch less YouTube, do your English better and …”
Jason, his red eyes staring at Lotus, cut her off, “Lotus, what is wrong with you today? If you love Peter so much, say so frankly, I don’t give a damn.”
The air was at once chilled by his words. Peter was dumbfounded, and Lotus, with her face suffused with the colour of scarlet, had tried to say something but, from her trembling lips, nothing had come out, and within seconds she was in tears.
Melody, touching the glass as if it were her own breasts, raised her eyes, deciding to rescue the situation. “Well, well, you guys are extremely, extremely funny, worrying so much about things you should not worry about. Why about this political stuff, why don’t you just enjoy your life, enjoy the beautiful things, the smooth glasses and, the beautiful sex, and everything else life is giving you? All those dirty politics, struggles, fighting, blood and death, power, and control, are just a bunch of greedy people who want to manipulate the innocent majority. We never lack revolutions, then what would happen after the revolution? Everybody will get better? Please be a sensible, sympathetic person to find the beauty of living, not just fighting each other, talking down to each other, claiming all sorts of unimportant things...”
But Jason kept racing on in his savage mood, under the influence of alcohol and as much as out of his newly found jealousy. “Melody, stop talking like that. You are a great beneficiary from China’s rise, you are exactly getting what a powerful country can give to its citizens. You can’t say it is not important only because you are already at the top of the food chain in society.”
Melody fired up, “Jason, what the hell are you talking about?! I got much from the country? When my father worked like a dog, drinking to death in order to get the piece of a contract, where were your fathers and all other people? Every bit of the money my father made was from hardship, sweat, and blood ...”
Jason, unyielding, fought back. “Melody, you are totally wrong, millions of people have been working just as hard, just as bloody, even much much harder than you father, but most of them are still at the very bottom of the society, worrying about their everyday Make-ends-meet. It is not yet a fair country, you can’t deny you have benefited from it, with certain advantages many of us lack.”
“So what,” stood up Melody, in a threatening stance like one about to grab a bottle to crack the skull of an adversary, that at once shook off the drunkenness of the atmosphere. “You want a revolution? You want another revolution like the damned cultural revolution, to take it from rich people, from the capitalist, to make it an equal and ideal society for you?”
It was now Peter’s turn to stem the reeling off situation, “Please, please, no more politics, now let's cheers,” he clanged Melody’s glass and then Jason’s.
“Bloody hell,” Melody left the seat abruptly, going towards the bathroom and Peter, sensing the utmost distress in her voice, followed her.
In the bathroom, Melody burst into tears, with her emotional downpour comparable to when she had heard of the death of the Jacaranda tree. Peter lent his plain chest to receive her sorrow, as she whimpered out her grievances. “Bloody Jason, what is he saying? Is it because I am rich, that they have to take it from us, like what they had taken my grandpa from us?”
“Medley, okay, okay, my dear, calm down... take it easy, nothing like that, Peter didn’t really mean it, it was just his drunkard words, take it easy, baby…”
When Melody had at last gathered herself, she told Peter to go out so that she could use the toilet.
Back at the table, Jason and Lotus both wore a worried face, and Peter decided to share them a secret. “You know what, Melody’s grandpa suicided during the Cultural revolution.”
Jason was taken aback, “Ah, really?”
“Yes, it has been a constant heartache for her family.”
When Melody returned, Jason raised his glass full of wine, “Sorry, Melody, please accept my apology. I now empty this glass, and you take the amount as you like.”
Melody’s face began to clear up. She grabbed the bottle and filled up her glass to the brim. “All right, I accept your apology, now, bottom up.”
Later at night, when Peter and Melody were making love, Melody suddenly came up with a peculiar idea, “Peter, do you think Jason and Lotus are also doing it right now?”
“Who cares, Melody, all you need is me, see, just feeling me inside you,” he said, making his slow moves.
Melody pushed him over from her, and rolling up she straddled him.
This was a wild tigress in action.
“Slower, slower, Melody,” begged Peter.
Melody, made aware of the consequence of her activity, paused for two seconds. “Peter, you just presse me a bit to give me a stop moving signal.”
Minutes later they finished the course. Whilst Peter wanted to sleep, Melody couldn’t, “back to the question, Peter, do you think Jason and Lotus are doing it tonight? Especially after what Peter has said to her about you?”
“Of course they are doing it.”
“How many times, you reckon?”
“Oh my god, Melody,” Peter pinched her buttock. “Why are you so curious about others? Unless…”
‘Unless what?” Melody bit his lips. “Say, unless what?”
“Unless you are fancy about Jason’s muscles?”
“How do you know?”
Peter sat up, like a wounded tiger groaning, “Oh my god, what the hell Melody, are you crazy? Are you serious?”
Melody, collecting her sanity, laughed it off, “Peter, of course not serious, I was just kidding..”
She then hunted him down, and climbed onto him, beginning to kiss him everywhere to make him happy.
Thus satisfied, Peter decided to forgive Melody’s mental infidelity.
~ To be continued ~