CHAPTER THREE: It Would Be Wonderful!

"It would be wonderful," Chow Xin Yi said excitedly, the elation evident in her voice. "You will persuade father to allow us to come back to Yang Hui town and chase our dreams, won't you Yi Nuo?"

"I can't promise that with certainty," Chow Yi Nuo said and tore her look away from her sister's face. "You know the stubborn nature of father." She looked down into the courtyard where their father was still busy moving from one lory to the other , making sure that their furniture was loaded as fittingly as possible so that it did not break along the way.

When she heard him yell at one of the workers, a cold knot of anger and resentment tightened in the pit of her stomach, a flash of almost physical pain. She wondered what made her sister think she would be able to persuade their father to allow them to come back to Yang Hui town and chase their dreams if that was not his intention. Once more, she recalled with bitterness how her father's refusal to allow her to go to the museum had nearly damaged their father-daughter relationship that had always been remarkably close.

"Please try to talk to him, won't you, Yi Nuo?"Chow Xin Yi pleaded persuasively. "He always listens to you and this time round he will. Just try."

"I'll try," Chow Xin Yi said doubtfully to close the delicate subject.

Behind them and from the adjacent room, their mother's voice rose, the edge of complaint in it making them take keener interest on what was happening down there at the courtyard. At that very moment, their father craned his neck and looked up, as if to see what they were doing at the window.

"Yi Nuo, what on earth are you doing here at the window instead of helping me pack?" Their mother asked sharply. And to Chow Xin Yi, "Xin Yi, run downstairs and check what is happening. Are we ever going to leave?"

"They have completed loading the lorries, Xin Yi," Chow Yi Nuo said nonchalantly. Turning to her sister and nudging her urgently, she added, "Here comes dad, quick let's go! We better be found in the company of mom when he comes, otherwise he will spoil our day with his sharp tongue!" They giggled as they rushed out.

The two girls were with their mother gathering suitcases, placing them at the doorway ready to carry them downstairs when their father entered the now empty living room.

"Ready to go?" Chow Mingze asked, addressing no one in particular."We must start our journey straightaway if we are to get to Feng Shen early enough to offload the trucks and arrange the furniture in our new house."

That short speech poignantly brought reality to them; they were now about to leave Yang Hui town for good. Chow Mingze cleared his throat loudly. His wife, Lan Chunhua took a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose. The four of them stood there for a moment in s sudden silence, each one of the keeping their thought to themselves. But one thing that was clear to all of them was that the flat that had been their home for so many years, stripped of all furniture, of all personal possessions, all books, pictures and ornaments,now looked bleak and shabby.