The Mystery of Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page A

bureau where Fang Chen kept his underwear andsocks.
    Her in-laws had sent them a fat check as their wedding gift. After some serious discussions, she finally agreed to deposit it so they could use it as a down payment when they were ready to buy a house with a yard. She had wanted to buy it immediately, but Fang Chen persuaded her to wait until he finishedschool.
    “We can’t buy a house now,” he had said, “when I don’t even know where my future job will be.” She had to agree he had a point. They would definitely have to move if he got a job in New York City, or some other cities. She secretly hoped it would be New York City because she had never been there, and everyone had told her it was a great city to livein.
    Three years into his PhD program, Fang Chen had been extremely busy working on his dissertation while working as a teaching assistant, so he left his new wife alone with his credit cards, which pleased Yi-yuntremendously.
    Among all the activities she loved, shopping was on top of the list. In Shanghai, her family lived not far from the shopping district where the roots of some department stores could be traced back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when capitalism was first introduced to the country. As soon as Yi-yun was old enough to walk to school by herself, she had enjoyed window-shopping along the way. She saw the store windows change from almost bare to plentiful as the country transformed following the end of the Cultural Revolution. Although she didn’t have money then, she was satisfied to walk by and look at the colorful windows every day. Once or twice a year, her parents would take her to the stores and let her choose gifts for her birthday and the Chinese New Year. These were the happiest times in her life as she went through all the items she liked, then picked a few that she couldhave.
    She stopped window-shopping only after she moved to Boston when it became a torture. Walking along fashionable streets clustered with brand-name stores brought her mental agony. Her heart twisted in pain every time her eyes caught an item she would love to have but couldn’t afford. And there were so many! Although she found a decent job almost immediately thanks to Mrs. Chang, whom Lisa said was enchanted by Yi-yun’s good looks, the owner of the China Dragon believed beautiful young women would attract clients, the money Yi-yun made from waiting tables and bartending had to go to her tuition and rent first. After paying thousands a semester for her education, there was nothing left for her to spend on herself, no matter how hard she worked. To survive, she had to share a tiny apartment with another student, eating bags of instant noodles for months before she could afford something as simple as a pair of jeans. To make the matter worse, she had no relatives in Boston; nobody would walk her into a store twice a year and let her choose whatever she wanted for her birthday and Christmas. She was totally alone andpenniless.
    So she had a ball when she was finally able to shop. In the first few months, she spent hours and hours walking around Back Bay, running her fingers through racks of fine clothing at department stores and boutiques on Newbury Street. It was a thrill to see herself in the mirror, wearing various outfits; she had never looked so pretty andstylish.
    Besides shopping, Yi-yun also enjoyed being at home, so much so that she quit school almost immediately after her marriage. That allowed her to get up late, fix whatever she wanted to eat, and clean the apartment at her leisure. In between, she would laugh herself to tears or cry herself silly watching soap operas or sitcoms on their huge new TV. It was a very nice change from being poor and constantly on the run. In fact, she was so content that she thought her life in the United States had turned out better than she had everdreamed.
    “You’ll never find such a life anywhere in the world,” her mother had replied when