Huanying! Welcome to Shanghai, China. The place of all the peculiarities. Where everyone have their own stories about the families living there, especially the Xu's. Their ancestral house that they own for many generations have an infamous garden w...
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Like every person who had ever fallen in love, Johnny Huang wondered what in the hell was wrong with him.
Timmy had all this energy, this frustration, and it came of him and surged through him when they kissed. Every time he thought of it now, he had to sit down and put his head between his legs and when he finally caught his breath, he had to drink two glasses of water to cool his fever.
What made him light-headed and changed the color of every room he entered to bright, fantastic red had scared Timmy to tears. What was wrong with him that he could take so much pleasure from the same thing that caused Timmy so much pain?
Johnny was doing what he'd always done, making up his own agenda under the guise of it being romantic, carrying it through and all the while losing track of what was real. Timmy was real and he was scared. What did he really know about him anyway? What did anyone really know about Timmy Xu?
That afternoon, he has been sitting at his desk in the University during office hours before his night class, thinking of that very thing, when he saw Selena, the head of the Arts Department, pass by. He called to her and she popped her head in.
"How well do you know Timmy Xu?" Johnny asks,
"Timmy?" Selena shrugged and lean against the door. "Let's see. I've known him for about five years now. He caters all our department parties."
"I mean personally, how well do you know him?"
Selena smiled in understanding. "Ah. Well, personally, I don't know Timmy well. You've been here for a year, I'm sure you've noticed certain... peculiarities in this town."
Johnny leaned forward, curious to know where this was going. "I've noticed."
"Local legend is important here, as it is with other provinces. Mr. Ma in the English Department tackles it in his course." Selena walked farther in and took a seat opposite to Johnny. "For example, I was sitting in the movie theatre last year and two elderly ladies came in and sat behind me. They were talking about someone named Li Yi Feng and how he was the strongest man in town and he was going to tear down a rock wall at the back of their property for them. I've been looking for someone to remove some stumps in my backyard so I turned around and asked them if I could have his number. They told me he had a waiting list and he might not live long enough to get to me. It turns out that the strongest man in town is ninety six years old, but local legends has it that in every generation of Li, there's always one named Yi Feng, who is born with superior strength and that's who you want to help you with hard labor." Selena explained.
"What does this have to do with Timmy?" Johnny asks wondering,
"Locals believe that what's grown in the Xu's garden has certain powers. They also have an apple tree that is talked about in almost mythic proportions around here. But it's just a garden, and it's just an apple tree. Timmy is mysterious because all his ancestors are mysterious. He's really just like you and me. He's probably even more savvy than the average person. After all, he is smart enough to turn that local legend into a lucrative business." Selena explained again.
