Travel Fate - Overseas Chinese Women's Writers Association Women's Literature Anthology. 2006 Edition

Author: Zhou Fen-na
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Reading the works of female writers from overseas often reveals additional meanings of women's literature in history. For example, it is not only about the resistance and deconstruction of traditional patriarchal pressure and gender order, but also about women's confidence in the poetic power within their own life experience, as well as their appreciation and fulfillment of their artistic talent as women. Both of these aspects require breaking through the thick layers of history. Reading this book, you cannot help but feel that they balance and harmonize resistance and appreciation, deconstruction and release with such ease, almost magically. In foreign lands, they fully unleash their literary potential as women, and at this moment, what moves people is not just the charm of the female text.
Receiving a letter with an unfamiliar address, I quickly opened it—it was from Shen Zhu! Shen Zhu was my roommate when I lived in a rented house in the U.S. for my studies. Her love story was considered news in the local community at the time. Because our rooms were separated by just one wall, I became her confidante and learned the whole story. Alas! Youthful and reckless, who doesn’t desire love? But love is not something one can simply demand. Shen Zhu’s approach to seeking love, though not something I fully agreed with, I never judged her for it. My own path in love had always been smooth, and I neither lacked for love nor had the heart to kick someone when they were down. Shen Zhu was not beautiful—she never was, not even as a child. She never turned into a swan from a crow. With her short and stocky figure, her only redeeming feature was her bright eyes. Her short nose, flat and broad, and her round, pimple-covered face left her with that looked like the surface of the moon after being squeezed. Many times, in her moments of self-pity, Shen Zhu would break mirrors in sorrow. The sound of the shattered glass was nothing compared to the piercing pain of her heartbreak. The scattered pieces on the floor were like the shattering of her dreams of love.
In her youth, which girl doesn’t dream of romance? Yet, she was rarely the protagonist on the stage of love. Every time a play was staged, Shen Zhu would eagerly squeeze onto the stage full of hope. As soon as the music started and the lights came on, she would freeze in the spotlight, relegated to a minor role or a dull, motionless background! Then, Shen Zhu met Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping was tall, with a high, Greek-style nose and full, thick lips. His cheerful smile often revealed a set of straight white teeth, and beneath his unruly, thick eyebrows lay deep, welling eyes. When Shen Zhu first met Zhang Ping, she was well-behaved, though she had been tempted by his looks. She certainly didn’t let herself harbor unrealistic fantasies. Moreover, it was widely known that Zhang Ping had a fiancée back in China, and the gold ring on his ring finger glowed in the sunlight. Whether due to subjective awareness or objective circumstances, Shen Zhu and Zhang Ping seemed like two points that would never intersect. Even if they were forced together, it shouldn’t have gone wrong.
But how could it be? Men are men, and women are women. Under the right timing, circumstances, and mutual attraction, things often take unexpected turns! Shen Zhu and Zhang Ping often attended class reunions together, so even though they didn’t interact privately, they would still chat and laugh when they met. One time, they crossed paths at a dance. That night, Shen Zhu, who was used to being a wallflower, noticed Zhang Ping enter and sat gloomily in the corner, staring blankly. Was it the dizzying, spinning lights above the dance floor, or the few cocktails she had consumed? Shen Zhu stood up, completely forgetting the between the sexes, and walked gracefully toward Zhang Ping. With a bit of alcohol in her system, she posed like a blooming sunflower, charming and delicate.
“Why is such a handsome and charming guy sitting here alone, lost in thought?” Shen Zhu asked in a coquettish voice. At that moment, Zhang Ping was feeling down after failing an important exam. He had come to the dance to dance and distract himself, but as someone who was already taken, he hesitated to let himself go. He wanted to pick someone young and pretty, but feared gossip, and choosing someone unremarkable left him indifferent. When someone suddenly appeared before him, Zhang Ping was taken aback. Upon realizing it was Shen Zhu,