Chapter 34 - The End (2/2)

He got married with another woman because she looked like Dong Ci in youth. She was pure and lively. She wore the same perfume as Dong Ci. It smelt fresh and sweet, like the scent of the grass after rain. Luo Nan often buried his head in her shoulder and cherished the illusion that Dong Ci was still by his side.

Dong Ci went to many cities to look for Chen Qi, and mistook someone else for him several times.

There was a newly built villa estate next to the rose garden that Chen Qi had given Dong Ci. It was also entitled “Rose Garden”. There was a gardener working in it. He had the same surname as Chen Qi. His name was Chen Bo. He was an unattractive middle-aged man with a slight stoop. One day Dong Ci went to the rose garden and saw him pruning roses.

“Are you Chen Qi?” she asked.

“No, I’m Chen Bo.” The gardener picked up a pair of scissors and skillfully cut off the unnecessary twigs and branches. “You must be mistaken.”

“Let’s get married.” Dong Ci looked at him with loving eyes. “I love you. I’ll never let you go again.”

The marriage of Chen Bo and the beautiful woman Dong Ci, became a fantastic story circulating among the people living in Rose Garden. A gardener suddenly became the owner of a villa. After marriage, he didn’t need to do the gardening anymore. All he needed to do was to enjoy flowers and plants.

The neighbors often gathered together, talking and discussing animatedly.

“I heard that woman came here for her ex-lover.”

“I heard that the gardener had cosmetic surgery.”

“Impossible! He’s merely a gardener. He’s from the countryside.”

“So, is he the woman’s ex-lover?”

“I don’t know. Do you know?”

“God knows!”

…

Dong Ci was cooking in the kitchen. The gardener was watching TV on the sofa. A little girl was playing with her pet rat on the balcony. She was not good-looking. When night fell, the meal was ready. They sat down to eat at the dining-table.

Dong Ci looked at her husband and daughter gently and thought, ‘Thank God, our story has a happy end.’

‘I miss the old times. I’m always full of melancholy. I want to meet you again. Every day I wait for you to come back. I find myself in a blind alley, but I have no way to retreat. I just wait, kneeling before the image of Buddha, praying and meditating. I thought Buddha would grant me my wish, but reality let me down. Is it because I’m not sincere enough or Bodhisattva is not at home?

Actually, I should have known that your gentleness was a kind of mercy.

But I can’t learn how to forget you.

Actually, I should have said goodbye to you.

I shouldn’t indulge in your tenderness and mercy.

But I’m still deeply addicted to it.

I’m on the edge of pleasure and pain.

I don’t know how to face your tenderness and mercy.

I can no longer get comfort from it.

I can’t hold back my tears anymore.

When I think of your tenderness and mercy,

I don’t regret falling in love with you.

I will remain loyal to you forever,

though you have made me heartbroken…’