The annoying but lovely girl - a Chor Lau Heung 1984 fanfiction

Chor Lau Heung’s subconscious thoughts as he drifted into and out of comma after the fight with Yat Dim Hung, and also his musing on the events before and after he took a wrong medication in eps 11 (click here for the summary of all episodes). Particularly inspired by the way Chor tai-gor reached for Siu Ching when he had the heart attack. Chor Lau Heung 1984 is the property of Gu Long and TVB HK. This fanfiction is dedicated to Michael Miu Kiu Wai and Barbara Yung Mei Ling. I own nothing but my love to them and this series. Click this to read this fan-fiction at my new Jianghu blog.

Chor tai-gor had a heart failure due to wrong medication, ep 11

The annoying but lovely girl

Chor Lau Heung tried to raise his chi to balance the storm of energy within his chest. The imbalance was too great though; the internal storm attacked him back, causing him to double over coughing. He gasped as he felt a greater pain piercing his chest from within. One of his hands grabbed his chest as the other hand reached forward towards the people around him. His adopted sisters and a girl wearing a pearly white dress he successfully saved earlier. Siu Ching...

His hands reached hers as she called his name in panic. He couldn't respond, but he desperately needed to hold onto her hands as an anchor. He felt his chi slipping away and he needed her to ground him, thus he felt a tiny flush of relief as her small hands firmly holding onto him. He coughed again and then heard the commotions around him. Yung Yung's and Tim Yi's voice, then Siu Ching saying something about giving him a pill. Then he felt someone opening his mouth and force-fed him the pill. He automatically swallowed it, hoping for the best.

Fat chance. A few seconds after the pill dissolved into his throat, he felt as if inferno exploded inside his chest. In his heart. The turbulent chi inside his chest burst in a spectrum of internal conflicting energies, causing raging fire within. He gasped and coughed blood before the world around him swirled into a vortex that took him away. The last thing he remembered was hands holding him in panic and the girls screaming "Chor tai-gor!".

-xxx-

The wildfire inside his chest still danced the dance of death when his chi somehow managed to stabilise slightly. He felt like swimming in a raging oceanic fire, his hands reaching upwards in a desperate attempt to surface. Some voice was filtered into his subconscious. The girls. Yung Yung, Tim Yee, and Rosie...

Then he remembered. The pill. Siu Ching had told Yung Yung to feed him the pill. She might have force-fed him the pill herself. Then the inferno in his heart.

It wasn't her fault... She didn't know...

They helped him to sit down as Rosie saved his life by channelling her inner power to him, thus lending him some desperately needed chi for a while. He then struggled to answer Rosie's question on his condition. "My heart... is burning..." he struggled to say that. Then he felt some girls laid him back on the bed. Now they were blaming someone. Siu Ching. She didn’t know it would back fire...

With difficulty, he whispered for them to stop fighting. He couldn't even say it the first time he tried, so he tried harder. "Stop it..."

The girls stopped fighting. Infernal pain in his chest wrecked his body again before he managed to say that they should take him to see Dr Cheong, for only the great doctor could save his life now. He then heard Rosie ordering Sugar to prepare the carriage and Siu Ching begging to go with them. As Rosie denied her that option, the other girl was adamant that she should be permitted to join to prove her innocence. He wanted to tell them it was okay for her to go with them, yet darkness claimed him once more.

-xxx-

One could tell when one was at the hands of the expert. For Chor Lau Heung, he could tell this from his burning heart that started to calm down. Perhaps it was the pungent smell of herbs at Dr Cheong's place. Perhaps it was also the Doctor’s cool touch as he examined his pulse. But somehow he knew something else also soothed him. It was when he struggled to open his eyes to greet the kind doctor when he saw a blur of a crying girl in white. Siu Ching... So she is here...they let her come...

He slipped away into his burning cloud again, still trying to keep his head on the surface, with more faith this time. He heard vague conversations about the pill again, Siu Ching saying something, the girls' retort, and Dr Cheong's calming voice. He then felt another pill sliding down his throat. He accepted it with faith, knowing that it was Dr Cheong's. 

Not that it was Siu Ching's fault. She just wanted to help...

He couldn't say that though, for as the burning sensation in his heart subsided, he drifted into a cool, welcoming sleep.

-xxx-

Chor Lau Heung guided his chi through his blood vessels. Healthier blood cells were supplying the required oxygen to his healing body. He adjusted his breathing and tried to focus on that instead of to what just transpired for the last few days. He succeeded in having nothingness for a few minutes before his mind, his ever active mind, jumped in again, bringing a recent memory of black and white.

Black. The main colour of Yat Dim Hung's garment as he showed himself, declaring that he had to take Siu Ching with him. White. Pearly white. The colour of Siu Ching's dress and her pale face as Fell Cut shoved his sword on her throat.

Then flashes of light as the assassin attacked him with his famous movements. He remembered he had dodged all of them, even disarming the sword and thrusting it into a rock. He then launched bare hand counterattacks as he somersaulted and back flipped to avoid Dim Hung’s deadly palm strikes that would surely follow his blocks. Although Dim Hung’s trademark movement was the forehead sword strike, the assassin also had powerful energies stored on his extremities, such that avoidance was necessary.

Then Lingering Fragrance had his chance. He blocked Dim Hung’s rear attack and back-kicked his old friend’s chest with one foot to destabilise the opponent. However, as the kick propelled Dim Hung forward, the assassin still found time to retaliate with a similar kick to Lau Heung’s own chest, causing the latter to gasp as he staggered backwards. Extremities! Dim Hung’s feet that he wasn’t paying attention to!

Chor Lau Heung remembered that he had stopped and said that he was lucky to avoid death from that kick. Dim Hung replied in kind, that he had been too lenient to himself, and thus this round was Chor’s to have. Lingering Fragrance let his old friend limped away from the scene before he activated Song Siu Ching. He then staggered towards Sue and Rosie to activate them before reaching for Sugar and the brave Inspector Ying. He then remembered darkness for a while before he found himself in an inn, in his under garment. He then tried to stabilise his chi, which led to the pill drama, and then to him being in this room at Dr Cheong’s clinic.

Exhaling, he wondered about Siu Ching. He hadn’t seen the girl for a few days, for Yung Yung et al always tried to block her access to his room. He did inquire about her to Sugar the other day, which was a bad move, for the wilful girl just made a face and shrugged. At least he knew that the mysterious girl was still in the clinic, for Rosie then said that Siu Ching was attending to Inspector Ying. Chor smiled and made a note to go out and find the girl himself later if his sisters were not being cooperative. He then returned to his meditation for a few minutes before a knock on his door returned him to the present.

“Come in,” he said without opening his eyes. He heard the door open and a girl walking in. Somehow he knew it was Siu Ching from her walking pattern. He opened his eyes and, to his relief, found that it was indeed Song Siu Ching, still in white, approaching him.

"Chor tai-gor," said the girl rather timidly. Since when is she a timid girl? Lingering Fragrance smiled inwardly as Siu Ching tentatively approached him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better," smiled he. She smiled back and sat at the chair next to the bed. 

"Ah good," she said. "I was almost charged for murder, you know!"

Murder? He tilted his head downwards toward her sitting form. She was very petite after all. "It's all misunderstanding, don't take it to heart."

She shook her head and told him that it was what the three girls thought of based on their misperceptions and prejudice on her. Then she admitted that she was indeed a wilful, straightforward person who couldn't care less about other people's opinions. She then rather brazenly asked if he did not like her, to which he rose from his bed, chuckled and responded that he liked straightforward people, for they never really intended to hurt you. His answer seemed to satisfy her. She then asked if he did not find her annoying.

"As for that," he turned to face her cute face and lightly touched her nose. Twice. " – I think you're lovely when you're annoying."

She blushed furiously. He loved seeing her blushing. Then she turned serious again as she said that Yung Yung, Rosie and Tim Yi (or Sugar as they often called her) didn't share that opinion. When he said he didn't think that was the case (and why would the girls be hostile to her anyway?), she threw her arms heavenward and said that of course he didn't think so, for he was a man after all!

He chuckled again but didn't say a thing. Instead, he enjoyed watching the cute, stubborn, annoying and lovely girl in front of him ranting her frustration for a while before suddenly becoming subdued. He didn't like it when his Siu Ching became blue like that. Wait, did he just inwardly claimed she was his??

"What's the matter?" he gently touched her shoulders.

"Nothing," said the girl. What a lie. As a rule of thumb, if a girl looks sad but she says it's nothing, it means a lot of things. But he gave her time to compose herself. She finally, again timidly, asked if she could request him something. He said yes, though he wondered what would the request be.

Then he heard it. "Can I call you 'Chor tai-gor' once more?" 

He was totally baffled. "Of course! You can call me that anytime you want." In fact, he loved it every time Siu Ching called him that, although the three girls also called him that. He was about to ask what she meant about it when she indeed call him 'Chor tai-gor'' then cried. He held her shoulders again and made her facing him. 

"What’s wrong?" Stop crying please. I really don't like to see you cry.

Sniffling her tears, Siu Ching then explained that she still felt guilty about the pill thing. "But I swear I didn't know it would back fire like that. I swear, Chor tai-gor..."

Chor Lau Heung shook his head as he embraced her for the first time in his life. Oh he did embrace her twice beforehand (first was during their first meeting when he "stole" her wine, second was when he caught her rummaging through his belongings), but those were without her consent. This time, not only she didn't object, she actually buried her pretty little head in his embrace. Lingering Fragrance let her cry until she calmed down. Then he helped her to sit and poured her some tea (no wine was in the room, they had banned wine for him until he fully recovered). She sipped the tea and seemed to have calmed a bit when she remembered to pour him a cup. They then sat down and enjoyed their tea for a while. They chatted about mundane things until he involuntarily yawned. Damn the herbal medicine he'd been taking; it made him sleepy! Siu Ching then rose and said she'd let him sleep then. He smiled.

"Okay. But I will see you tomorrow?"

She quivered for a few seconds before smiling. "Of course. See you tomorrow."

He bid her good night and watched her retreating figure as he felt grateful that both of them made through the ordeal alive. He really enjoyed the girl's presence, and if receiving Fell Cut's fatal kick and swallowing the wrong pill were the prerequisite for being with her, he knew he'd gone through it again.

Yet, he wasn't meant to see her the next morning, or many mornings afterwards. He was drinking his morning medicine bowl-fed by Rosie when Dr Cheong entered the dining room. They greeted him in gratitude, sincerely thanking him for his expertise. Then, Chor Lau Heung remembered how he hadn't seen Inspector Ying for a while, hence he inquired about the brave inspector. Dr Cheong confirmed that Mr Ying had recovered and he even had a new pair of hearing-enhancing silver ears. Lau Heung was about to congratulate Dr Cheong for his expertise when the kind doctor dropped an unexpected piece of news.

"By the way, Miss Song left this morning with Mr Ying. She specifically asked me to tell you to take care."

A dropped pin would be heard in the deafening silence afterwards as a void suddenly formed inside Chor Lau Heung. No wonder she'd been acting so weird last night...she was planning to leave after all...

Tim Yi broke the silence by lamenting how they (particularly herself) had been treating Siu Ching badly, hence her sudden departure. Yung Yung and Rosie also offered their apology and that they'd chase her and bring her back. Lingering Fragrance could see that they meant it, that they truly regretted their hostility towards Siu Ching. But all had been said and done, and nothing they could do to reverse it.

"Don’t bother. Since she'd decided to leave, let’s not bother her again," he said. But he couldn't hide his own disappointment or the feeling of a sudden loss in his heart. 

"I'm so sorry, Brother Chor..." Tim Yi's regret brought him back to his surroundings. He nodded to forgive her. There's nothing else he could do now.

The annoying but lovely girl was gone and he didn't know when he'd see her again.

-xxx-

Author’s note:

I really think that Chor tai-gor actually wanted to reach out for Siu Ching when he failed to balance his chi in that inn room. Of course he could just be reaching out for anyone, but it’s interesting for me (after watching CLH’84 for the 3^rd time this past few weeks) that he reached forward where SC was instead of to his right or left where Sugar and Sue were. And Chor tai-gor also tried to stop the girls bickering despite his injury. I think he really fell for SC... hard!

Re: Chor tai-gor's and SC’s first embrace, real embrace, I think it was in ep 20 when she confronted him about distancing himself from her. After saying how much she just wanted everything to be like it used to be, she rested her head on his chest. A few seconds later, he tentatively embraced her. The second one might be in ep 32 when he finally gave his words that he’d take her to roam the world carefree after reinstating the Emperor. I’m not sure if the final embrace on the boat was #3, but if it was, then they didn’t have a lot of embrace in this series. But he did have many scenes with her when he held her hands/shoulders, so that was good, I suppose...

I decided that I also liked Sue’s original name (So Yung Yung) and Sugar’s (Sung Tim Yi – or were they Su Yong Yong and So Tim Yi in Canto? Can’t tell!), but since I still find it hard to catch Rosie’s original name (other than “Miss Lee”), I decided to keep writing her as “Rosie”. Check this lovely message board for other MB (Michael-Barbara) fanfictions!