My take on the first meeting between Chor Lau
Heung and Song Siu Ching, requested by JoNe. Romance, action. 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 here to read all CLH'84 episodes). Special thanks to all
my CLH/FD/MB regular readers, you guys have kept me going! Click this to read this fan-fiction at my
new Jianghu blog.
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| Song Siu Ching's and Chor Lau Heung's first 'dance', ep 1 |
The First Dance
Han
men didn't dance with Han women. Unlike the Mongols or the Shendu people, a
dance between a man and a woman was not part of the Han culture. It would be
the women who performed the ethereal dance and the men enjoyed their dancing,
preferably while drinking good wine. However, King of Thieves Chor Lau Heung
had danced several times with the woman he loved. He particularly treasured
their first dance. Oh, she wouldn't call it a dance, of course, she would call
it something else. "Rudeness" or "show off" might be her
opinion of that moment. But he would always remember it as the opening dance
between them.
It
was a very fine day when Lingering Fragrance went with So Yung Yung, Li Hung
Chao and Sung Tim Yi to see Zo Hing Hau. They had broken their journey at the
restaurant one town away from the Cup Villa. The girls ordered food while he
selected the wine. They were about to dig in when they overheard a little drama
on the seat across theirs.
"Twin
Bliss, Glorious Emerald, Gold and Silver in Splendour. You don't know the names
of those dishes? Hah, so much for being called the best restaurant in
town!"
Chor
Lau Heung cast a glance on the neighbouring table and saw a petite girl having
an argument with the waiter. The girl was definitely pretty and cute, but she
seemed to be from a rich family hence her stroppy streak. She held her pretty
little nose up high such that it might soon reach the ceilings. Not to be
outdone, the waiter cited their recommended menu to the upstart girl
("sweet and sour fish, salted beef..."). Although she wasn't
impressed, she finally relented and asked the waiter to cover the table with
her order. When the waiter, understandably, showed his doubt, the girl produced
a gold sycee enough to provide sustenance for a peasant family of four for at
least three weeks. Eyes widened, the waiter changes his bossy attitude to a
more subservient one typical of what people of lower ranks usually adopted when
trying to be in the higher-ranks' good book. The upstart girl then ordered the
restaurant's best wine as an addition to her lavish meal. She then happened to
look at Chor Lau Heung, who cast his rakish smile and lifted his own wine cup
to greet the girl. She snorted and looked away.
"Food
that much just for a girl?" Tim Yi commented. "What a waste of food!
And what an upstart girl she is!"
After
gently reminding Tim Yi not to judge people by their cover, Lingering Fragrance
glanced at the rich girl again. Indeed, she didn't give the impression of a
girl who ate much. But then, oh how wrong he was. The food came, and the girl
enjoyed the dishes with gusto. One would wonder what she did to remain in shape
with such an eating habit. The wine then came; she received it with the
excitement of a four years old.
"Hah,
Chor tai-gor strikes again," commented Hung Chao as she witnessed Chor
tai-gor's behaviour. "You just can't leave a pretty girl alone, can
you?"
"You're
wrong," returning his attention to his adopted sisters, he smiled. "I
am not interested in her. I'm interested in her sword." That wasn't a
total lie. He was indeed interested in a dark green jade sword which the girl
brought and laid on the table. However, he was actually also interested in her.
Something about her intrigued him.
"Whats
with the sword?" inquired Yung Yung. Chor Lau Heung then narrated a story
about Lady Kung Sun, a very famous swordswoman who reputedly owned a beautiful
dark green Jade Sword. Upon her passing six centuries ago, the sword had been
in the possession of imperial families. Somehow, it had now fallen into the
hands of a girl from a rich family.
"Hah,
I wonder how she got the sword in the first place," commented Tim Yi. Lau
Heung had been wondering about that too. Being his nosy self, he couldn't stand
it anymore. He just had to know about the sword, and about the girl. He rose
from his chair and invited himself to the girl's table.
"Miss,
that looks like nice wine you're about to enjoy. Aren't you feeling desolate to
enjoy it yourself? Don't mind me joining you?"
She
looked at him with the "here we go again" expression. Obviously she
wasn't a stranger to being courted out of the blue by a stranger. Twirling her
hair, she replied, "I don't drink with shallow people who think they are
perfect."
"Excellent!"
Chor Lau Heung brazenly stationed himself on a vacant chair next to her.
"I never think of myself as perfect, and no one ever called me 'shallow'
either." Then, he unabashedly took the only wine cup from the table; her
wine cup.
And
thus their first dance began: she reached forward to retrieve her cup, he bent
backwards on his seat to evade her. He circled the cup around the girl just to
tease her, but then pulled it back again as she almost grasped it. Twice, his
cheek almost brushed hers, and - despite his stuffy nose - he could detect a whiff of her exquisite
fragrance. He wanted to linger there next to her cheek, but she kept fighting
for her cup. Seconds later, he got his chance. She was positioning herself such
that she was behind him, arms grappling forward trying to tackle the wine cup.
He easily locked her arms in front of him. As she valiantly held
onto the cup and pulled several times in an attempt to free her arms, he lifted
the cup and drank the wine, effectively making her "serving" him.
Laughing, he then released his hold on her. She staggered backwards several
steps, looking capitally offended.
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| ...and his cheek almost touched hers... ep 1 |
"Nice
wine, very nice wine!" He chuckled. "A pity that you didn't have the
chance to taste it!"
Ignoring her dismissal, he
then proceeded by inquiring about the Dark Jade Sword. When she didn't deign to
impart any information, he asked her to guard the valuable sword carefully.
Returning to her snob mode, she replied that she was more than qualified to
safeguard the sword. Despite her obvious failure in retrieving the wine cup
from him, Chor Lau Heung played along. He rose and fist-greeted the girl,
apologising for offending "a skilled swordswoman". He then left her
to return to his own table, wondering whether it would be the only encounter he
had with the girl. What an interesting encounter it was, though!
However,
minutes later, two thieves managed to snatch the Jade Sword literally in front
of the girl's pretty, snobbish nose. With glee, he registered her panic
expression as she realised her sword was missing before he jumped from the
second floor to easily retrieve the sword from the thieves with just two or
three movements.
"Miss,
I don't think you're qualified to own this sword," he said a
matter-of-factly as he later handed her sword back. As predicted, she of course
glared and snapped.
"I
didn't need your help! And I certainly hope we'll never meet again!"
With
that, and not bothering to thank him, she left, leaving him totally wanting for
another meeting. Despite the girl's wish, they did meet again that evening in
an inn. The next day, he had to rescue her from a pervert monk, but not before
ridiculing her for her over confidence. He was certain that he'd never met her
again afterwards. At least, the girl would make a valiant attempt to avoid him
if she ever saw him on the street. However, when they met again at Sit Yi Yan's
Sword Villa, Chor Lau Heung couldn't help feeling elated that their paths
crossed once again. After their night excursion at the Sword Villa to
investigate the apparent deaths of Zo Ming Lai and Sit Yan (in which he held
her hands for the first time with her welcoming it), he found her an immensely
interesting company. He then had a second dance with her when she rummaged
through his belongings the following night. She tried to escape him, but he
pulled her arms and locked her in a teasing embrace as she, again, heroically
tried to free herself. As with the first dance, although it lasted for only a
few seconds, he found himself increasingly attracted to the girl and hoped to
know her better. He did know her better afterwards, and ever since, through the ups and downs of their relationship, he had
accumulated many cherished moments with her. Still, one of his most prominent
memories with her was their first encounter, their opening dance, that
afternoon in that restaurant.
-xxx-
"What
are you thinking of?"
Lingering
Fragrance broke his reverie and turned to see the love of his life standing
behind him. They just parked the Fragrant Boat on a beautiful small bay a few
hours ago before sunset. Inside the zither chamber, Sung Tim Yi's fingers
danced with the zither strings to produce exquisite melodies as usual. The half
moon just rose at the horizon, illuminating the evening sky with its heavenly
silver streaks.
"Siu
Ching," he gave a slight nod to acknowledge the subject of his
reverie, who was approaching him with two cups of wine. The sleeves of her soft
pink garment billowed slightly in the evening coastal wind. He thought he never
saw her that poetic before. "Look at the moon, it's so splendour."
Song
Siu Ching looked at the moon and smiled. "It is indeed beautiful. But were
you thinking about the moon?"
Chor
Lau Heung chuckled. Always the observant one, this girl. "No, I wasn't
thinking of the moon." Upon her raising one eyebrow, he added, "I was
thinking about our first dance."
Siu
Ching tilted her pretty head. "Unlike the Mongols and the people of
Shendu, you Han men don't dance with us Han women. I certainly don't recall any
dance with you."
"Well,
perhaps we should start that couple dancing habit then..." Lau Heung
looked deep into her eyes. The girl blushed and looked away after failing to
hold her gaze. He smiled and continued, "...for I clearly remember the
first dance between us, and it was beautiful."
"Really?"
She looked back at him and shook her head. "I don't remember."
"Oh,
but I do." Chor Lau Heung took one wine cup from his lover's hand and
places it on the deck floor. He then moved behind her and circled his arms to
embrace her as he held the other cup in front of her. He kissed the crown of
her head, inhaled her fragrance and felt her melting in his embrace.
"Although you should be the one holding and defending the cup from behind,
I remember it was something like this..."
-xxx-
Author's note:
Shendu or Tianzhu was the ancient name the Chinese scholars gave to the Indian
subcontinent (or the Sindh region). Since centuries BC, Indian men and women
had been enjoying folk dances where they would pair up to dance and sing
together. I'm definitely not an expert on ancient Han dancing, but based on my
poor viewings of wuxia, couple dances (or at least dance between men and women)
were only practiced by the Mongols, the Uyghurs and other ethnic tribes. I
certainly never saw a scene where a Han man danced with a Han woman in the
traditional context. Having said that, I'm prone to mistakes, so do correct me
if I'm wrong. This fan fiction was requested by JoNe, hence l thank her for her
request. I also took the liberty of modifying some conversations, but in general,
it still follows the original scene of the first meeting.
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