Monday, February 11, 2008

Chinese New Year Part 1

Today I didn't go to my morning classes again. Couldn't get rid of what had happened during the third day of Chinese New Year.
We drove all the way to Ipoh to see father. We agreed to have reunion dinner at home on the eve of CNY before going to Ipoh on the first day of CNY. However, when Didi and I rushed back home on the eve, he left a note about 20 pages long and went back alone in the morning even before Baby woke up. He didn't tell us anything about it at all. How he suddenly got his bus ticket which was usually out-of-stock during CNY, we had no idea. We reached home feeling disappointed and unbelievable. It was him who asked us if we wanted to go back with him. We agreed that Didi would drive the four of us to Ipoh and the three of us would come home on Sunday ( my school starts on Monday ) while he would stay longer in Ipoh. But he failed his promise, leaving us no food at home and only instant noodles for the eve of CNY. Didi called him and asked why he didn't keep his promise but he hanged up the phone.
So Didi drove us to Ipoh to see him and his family later. He wrote in his note that he decided to leave 3M kindergarten to my care since I am the 'boss'. As soon as I reached 18, he told me that the business was registered under his name so it was illegal, thus he needed to transfer the ownership to me before anyone found out. I trusted him that he was borrowing my name for this family business. Although time and again when something went wrong with this business he pushed the blame on me as the 'boss', I didn't blame him. However, he suddenly left everything to me without telling me anything and giving me any documents, now. We had to discuss matters with him. I needed the appropriate documents to manage 'my business'.
When we reached xiaogu's house at about 4pm on Saturday, we asked him why he left so irresponsibly. He defended that he called Didi and Didi said that he would go back first on the eve while the three of us would join him on the first day of CNY. Totally different stories. We were stunned, as usual. We then tried to talk to him about the business. My god! He didn't want to give me the documents but want me to manage the business! They went around the bush about this but in the end he refused to give and his sister supported him that I should continue the business trusting that the business is mine. They made it seem like I wanted the documents because I didn't believe the business is mine. Totally wrong. I needed the documents to run this business. This had nothing to do with whether I trusted him or not. They were good in shifting the focus of things like this so that people would fall into their trap and I would finally lost focus on asking for those documents. Even when I we asked whether we could use the money that 'my business' earns and xiaogu thought it fine, he refused and xiaogu turned to support him.
He kept accusing me of writing that he didn't do any work in 3M but only collect money. I didn't do anything of this sort and asked him to prove it. Actually we suspected that he read my blog. But in any case he didn't dare to show me what I wrote that offended him in front of his sister. He said this was a private matter which he would discuss later with me and I was stunned. What I thought of at that instant was he wanted to silence me if he ever got to talk to me about this private matter. Didi and Baby later agreed with my instinct. But something wasn't right. He kept telling everyone that we blamed him for Mama's death even though we didn't. Didn't even dare to. If he didn't do it like that in 'my father's success story' of my blog or if he could find reasons to support himself he should be furious at us. But he didn't even dare to scold me for writing this. The only possible reason for his unusual behaviour was that I was right in my blog. Thus, when he asked xiaogu to leave so that we can discuss this private matter, I defended saying that I didn't do anything and I was not scared. Somehow she sat back down after a moment. Besides this, he kept saying that we wanted those documents not for ourselves but someone made us to. But he didn't dare to say who. We told xiaogu that he had been saying this for very long but there was nothing of this sort. She asked me what Mama told us about him and I replied that she only told us that father loved us.
Everything was not successful. He already prepared his answers. Whether he'd give Didi and Baby money for their studies depends on our attitude. We have to pay for utility bills at home ourselves. If he comes back and continues the business, he wants everything to be like before, meaning that he wants to control all the money and we have no freedom of using 'my business' money. Even when we told his family how he beat Mama and us anyhow using cane, chairs etc, they defended him. His mother even suddenly scolded Didi 'eat shit' in Hokkien when we were crying for Mama and our fate. We couldn't get anything done. Seeing that there was no point staying there, we left.