Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 7

Eighth Chapter: Looking Back – How Could a Golden Dragon Be Confined to a Pond? (A rhetorical question implying someone with great potential is stuck in a limited situation.)

The three-day hot spring trip came to an end. On the way to work, I stopped by the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) ticket office in Xidan to book two plane tickets for my parents, who were going to Hainan for a vacation. I approached a woman in a China National Aviation uniform behind the counter, who was writing something while looking down. “Excuse me, I’d like to book two first-class tickets to Hainan for… Chen Qian!” Hou Longtao was stunned, seeing the smiling face of the woman who looked up.

This was the delicate face that had appeared countless times in his dreams, the woman who haunted his thoughts, now right in front of him. Happiness often arrives so suddenly that it’s hard to believe. Memories flooded his mind, leaving Hou Longtao speechless.

Seven years ago, seventeen-year-old Hou Longtao was enjoying his summer vacation before his final year of high school. One day, after playing basketball with his classmates, he was riding his old bicycle back to the courtyard when he saw a girl leaning against the wall at the entrance of his building, wearing a white dress and looking tall.

Back then, Hou Longtao was quite the ladies’ man. Although he wasn’t particularly handsome or wealthy, he was bold, attentive, smooth, and had a decent sense of humor, so he had a pretty good success rate with girls. He made a habit of checking out every girl he saw, and if she was pretty, he’d go and chat her up. This had gotten him into quite a few fights. Today was no different. He rode his bike toward the girl. He would have been better off not looking, because one glance deeply affected him. The girl’s beauty was breathtaking. Hou Longtao rode his bike into the building entrance, his eyes glued to the girl’s face.

The front wheel hit the first step, and he fell off the bike. As he lay on the ground, he saw the girl cover her mouth and smile at him. The word “angel” flashed through Hou Longtao’s mind. The cocky confidence he usually had around pretty girls vanished, and he ran upstairs without even locking his bike…

Later, he told Long Yi about it and learned that the girl’s name was Chen Qian, and she was a friend of Long Yi’s girlfriend, Wang Li. She had come with Wang Li to see Long Yi that day. Hou Longtao pestered him until he agreed to set them up. A few days later, Wang Li and Chen Qian came again. Since Long Yi’s parents were at work, the four of them hung out at his house. After chatting for a while, Long Yi took Wang Li to the back room to fool around, leaving Hou Longtao and Chen Qian in the living room to watch TV.

Hou Longtao felt nervous in front of a woman for the first time, and his words came out jumbled. He went to the bathroom and slapped himself hard twice, saying to himself in the mirror, “Relax, relax, you have to win this woman over.”

He came out of the bathroom a changed man. Although he was still a nervous wreck inside, he appeared to be chatting and laughing easily, occasionally making Chen Qian giggle. Later, they started playing cards, playing “Pulling the Big Cart,” a simple card game. Hou Longtao was incredibly bored, but seeing the dreamy beauty so happy, he didn’t mind. Hou Longtao lost several games in a row. Anyone who knows how to play “Pulling the Big Cart” knows how hard it is to lose, which showed that his mind wasn’t on the game. His attention was completely focused on Chen Qian. He noticed and remembered every smile and frown of the girl.

Chen Qian was lying on the large sofa, and Hou Longtao was also sitting comfortably, leaning against it. Their heads were almost touching. Smelling the fragrance of her hair, the beast in the boy’s heart stirred. “I can’t take it anymore, she’s too beautiful, I want her. If I have her, I’ll never look at another woman again, and that’ll be good enough for her.”

Just as the girl won another game and sat up, Hou Longtao suddenly pushed her back down and kissed her lips. The unsuspecting beauty turned her head, and the boy’s kiss landed on her cheek. Although he didn’t fully succeed, it still left a pleasant sensation, further igniting the fire in his heart. He hugged her tighter, determined to kiss her.

Chen Qian was surprisingly calm and didn’t scream, but kept shaking her head, not letting him succeed. Although Hou Longtao was two years older than the girl, he seemed very immature at this moment. He pinched Chen Qian’s cheeks with one hand, preventing her from dodging, and finally captured her lips, forcefully pushing his tongue into her mouth. But Chen Qian clenched her teeth, refusing to let him in, so he had to lick back and forth on her neat, white teeth and pink gums.

Chen Qian was wearing a denim suspender dress with a black short shirt underneath, flesh-colored stockings, and flat sandals. To be honest, it wasn’t a great outfit, but her beauty completely overshadowed the mismatched clothes.

Hou Longtao’s hand reached into her skirt, heading straight for her lower body. Just as his fingers touched her panties, the girl suddenly struggled, “No… don’t!” He quickly withdrew his hand and kissed her wildly. After a while, he began his second attempt. This time, ignoring the girl’s resistance, his fingers resolutely parted the crotch of her panties and touched her. The moment he touched that flesh, his fingertips felt as if they were melting.

Chen Qian struggled even harder, “No… don’t do this… please…” Tears welled up in her eyes. Hou Longtao’s heart softened, and he withdrew his hand, sat the beauty on his lap, and kissed her face. “You’re screaming like I’m raping you.” Chen Qian didn’t answer, just looked at him with a flushed face. The girl’s watery eyes almost stole his soul, and he kissed her neck again. He quietly pulled down her zipper and quickly slipped his hand into her clothes from behind, grabbing her breasts in her bra.

With her breasts now in his grasp, Chen Qian only shook her body slightly before giving up resistance. Her breasts, which could be held in one hand, were extremely soft and truly irresistible. Just then, Long Yi finished with Wang Li and walked out of the back room. The girl on his body let out a soft cry, and Hou Longtao knew she was shy, so he quickly got up and blocked Long Yi in the aisle. “What the hell are you doing out here? Go back to the room and wait a while.”

Long Yi smiled, “Then you have to take me to the arcade later.” “Okay, okay, just go back in.” Watching Long Yi go back into the room, he returned to the girl he didn’t want to leave for a moment. He put his arm around her slender waist, gently stroked her knees, and kissed her lips. Chen Qian held Hou Longtao’s shoulders. “Am I your girlfriend now?” “Only if you want to be.”

“Damn it,” Hou Longtao cursed himself in his heart. “Have you ever seen such a beautiful girl? She’s asking you if she’s your girlfriend, and any answer other than ‘yes’ is stupid. What ‘only if you want to be’? You idiot.” “I’ve never let another boy touch me like that.” Chen Qian lowered her head, her blush deepening.

“God, I love her so much.” Looking at the girl’s gentle, weak, and pitiful appearance, a sense of responsibility arose spontaneously. Hou Longtao didn’t say a word, just held her hands tightly and kissed her repeatedly…

In an arcade in Xibianmen, two boys walked in. Several people who were already playing inside greeted them, “Longtao, Long Yi.” “Brother Tao, Long Yi, what took you so long?” While playing the arcade game “The Knights of Valour,” he told Long Yi about Chen Qian. “Isn’t she especially tender?”

“Not really,” Long Yi replied casually, smoking a cigarette. “Some of the older guys at our school often hug her, but she doesn’t dare to say anything. But being groped by you like that is probably a first.” “Bang!” Hou Longtao kicked the arcade machine hard, startling not only Long Yi but everyone else in the room. Although the boss felt sorry for the machine, he didn’t dare to say anything to these punks who hung out there every day.

“Who the hell was that? I’ll bury them.” It was the first time Long Yi had seen Hou Longtao so angry. “Brother Si, forget it, they’ve all graduated, where are you going to find them?” Hou Longtao was really going crazy, and he felt even more responsible for protecting his beloved girl. But he didn’t expect that in the next seven years, he would never see this beauty who haunted his dreams again…

School started in a few days, and Hou Longtao was immediately overwhelmed by his senior year studies. Although he was a bit of a delinquent, he was very filial to his parents. They also had high hopes for him, so he had to study hard. He knew that Chen Qian was attending the flight attendant training class at Chongwen High School, but he didn’t have time to see her, so he wrote her letters instead. A dozen letters in a row went unanswered, and Hou Longtao instinctively felt that something was wrong, but Chen Qian’s words always made him believe that they had a future. Two months later, he finally received a reply. Looking at the delicate handwriting on the envelope, his excitement was overwhelming.

“I’m very happy now and don’t want a boyfriend, you understand what I mean, right…” In black and white, Hou Longtao was busy with the college entrance examination at the time and didn’t have time to dwell on his heartbreak, so he didn’t feel much pain. When he went to college, it was like entering an amusement park, and he spent every day hanging out with his classmates. He even felt that a girlfriend would be an obstacle to his fun. In those three years, Hou Longtao never thought about Chen Qian again. He had become a player again, not believing in true love. He had completely forgotten Chen Qian, or so he thought, until…

Hou Longtao boarded a flight to the United States. Because he had to clear customs in Shanghai, the plane had to land at Hongqiao Airport first. As it landed, he felt something was wrong. The taxiing speed was too fast. The passengers in the cabin were shaking, the lights were flashing, and he saw thick smoke coming from the engine (actually, it was caused by the friction between the tires and the ground, but he didn’t know that at the time).

Hou Longtao thought, this is it, my time has come, because he was sitting next to the right wing. If the engine exploded, he would definitely be the first to go. The plane finally stopped after rushing off the runway, five meters away from a firebreak in front of the wheels. If the plane had stopped a few seconds later, he would never have had to go to the United States again.

On the plane, when the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, Hou Longtao was really in tears, but those tears weren’t because of fear of death. It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death, but in that moment of life and death, there was no time to be afraid. An extreme sadness made him cry.

In an instant, he thought of Chen Qian, thinking that he would never have the chance to see her again, and that feeling made him more sad than death. Hou Longtao finally understood that he had never forgotten that girl, she was just hidden, hidden in the deepest part of his heart. Hou Longtao still loved Chen Qian deeply. Did he really know what love was?

When a man is faced with death, the only thing he can think of is the girl he hasn’t thought of once in three years—is that love? He thought it was. Hou Longtao was surprised to find that for the first time in his life, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with a girl. He didn’t know whether to thank God for letting him understand his true feelings or to hate him for making his life so unhappy. In the first two years of studying in the United States, not a day went by without thinking about Chen Qian. He knew that unrequited love wouldn’t lead anywhere, so he tried to find her. He went to the CHINAREN alumni directory [an online directory for Chinese people], but she wasn’t listed; he asked Long Yi to ask Wang Li how to find her, but Long Yi didn’t take it seriously, probably because he didn’t believe that Hou Longtao would really love a girl; although Hou Longtao would return to China once a year, it was nearly impossible to find someone in a city with a population of tens of millions in just a month and a half.

He had no choice but to study hard every day, striving to finish his studies as soon as possible so that he could return to China and focus on finding the girl of his dreams. He didn’t care how much time, energy, or money it would cost him. The only thing that confused him was that, even if the hope was slim, if he really found Chen Qian, and she was already married, what should he do? His conscience wouldn’t allow him to destroy someone else’s family (and he didn’t know if he had the ability to do so), but it was even more impossible for him to forget Chen Qian.

Later, Bao Ding graduated from the police academy and joined the police station, helping Hou Longtao find the addresses of all the women named Chen Qian who were born in Beijing twenty-two years ago. Hou Longtao wrote a long letter, pouring out all his feelings and thoughts for Chen Qian, and sent it to every one of them, hoping that God would see his sincerity and let a miracle happen. Hou Longtao knew that Chen Qian probably already had a boyfriend, and he didn’t dare to expect that he could win her over with just one letter, but he couldn’t stand not knowing where Chen Qian was and how she was living.

Another year passed, and the letters he sent were like stones sinking into the sea, which really broke his heart. Later, something else happened (not winning the lottery), which made him a playboy again… “Sir, is there anything I can help you with?” The woman’s delicate voice pulled Hou Longtao back to reality. The woman in front of him was clearly Chen Qian. She had grown taller and her body had matured, but her beautiful face hadn’t changed at all, except for a bit more charm.

“You… you don’t recognize me?” “Hou Longtao…” the woman said softly. “Didn’t you receive my letter?” “I received it…” Chen Qian avoided his eyes. “Is there anything I can help you with?” “She received my letter, but she chose not to reply. It was like this seven years ago, and it’s still like this seven years later. This woman doesn’t care about me at all.” Hou Longtao’s heart was in turmoil, and his usual eloquence had vanished. He turned and rushed out of the business hall before anyone could see the tears in his eyes…

He sat in the car with his eyes closed for more than two hours, still unable to calm down. Although Xue Nuo, Ru Yan, and Yue Ling were no less beautiful than Chen Qian, the first woman he fell in love with was always the most beautiful in a man’s heart. The phone rang. “Hello.” Hou Longtao’s voice was still a little shaky. “Manager Hou, what are you doing? Please come to the company immediately, we’ve been waiting for you for ten minutes.” Hearing Xu Ruyun’s stern voice, he remembered that she was going to convey the instructions of the head office to the heads of various departments this morning.

“Hou Longtao, now is not the time for love, there is still a major event to be done.” Hou Longtao forced himself to stop thinking about Chen Qian for the time being and drove toward Guomao [Central Business District]…

Unparalleled and Unmatched

(How Could a Golden Dragon Be Confined to a Pond?)