Notes

Jiang Huazheng, nicknamed as Peanut, is the new character introduced to the reader. To some extent she is responsible for the marriage between Wen Fu and Weili.

Weili now relates to her daughter the experiences, which eventually takes all her innocence and replaces it with maturity. All the blissful moments of her life have gone with the disappearance of her mother.

Now, she has come to a place, Tsungming Island, where her life changes dramatically. Favoritism breeds in this new house, where the elders of the house foster an indifferent attitude to her and are always partial to Peanut, her cousin. Therefore although Weili and Peanut are cousins, Peanut is always the loved while one whereas Weili can only expect bitter criticism. Weili feels no sense of belonging in such a hostile atmosphere. The Chinese New Year is the time when there is much excitement in the house. Even though Weili is one year older to Peanut, New Aunt hands over the money for the shopping to Peanut. Peanut and Weili, along with Little Gao and Little Gong, go to the marketplace, which is bursting with festivity.

After her motherÂ’s mysterious disappearance, the entry of Wen Fu in WeiliÂ’s life informs the reader about the major change that is to come in the chain of events. Wen Fu is a bold actor who has a personality, which appeals to the youngsters. He also knows the skill of attracting the attention of the girls (Peanut and Weili). A parallel can be drawn between Wen Fu emergence and the prediction of the fortuneteller. The girls are ardent believers of such fortunetellers. This particular fortuneteller who Peanut approaches predicts a bright future for her, as she pays the fortuneteller well. In the case of Weili however the prediction is grim, as she has no money of her own to bribe the fortuneteller so that she can predict a better future for her. This luck factor is a recurrent motif throughout the story. The emergence of Wen Fu in the guise of a dragon symbolizes the devilish role that he is going to play in WeiliÂ’s life.

Weili’s initial reaction to Wen Fu’s proposal is sheer ecstasy. For her, it is like a dream come true, as if she has ‘won a big prize.’ Frankly, Weili has no true love for Wen Fu. At this point of time, Wen Fu symbolizes a hope, a ray of light. She sees this as a golden opportunity to escape from her present desperate position. Only later does Weili realize that at that time she had just felt happy, and that happiness has no direct links with true love for a person. Weili’s observations about Wen Fu at their first encounter at the market place as, ‘so bold, so clever, funny and daring’ were not enough reasons to get married to him. But at that point of time, Weili considered herself to be the luckiest person on earth.

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