Chinese Tea Story

 Krystal Chung was a beautiful woman of clearly Chinese appearance. She had an oval goose-egg face, high forehead, long delicate eyebrows, a flat nose with a pale tip, and a mouth like a cherry with a cupid’s bow upper lip.

At the time of their initial introduction, Arthur and Krystal were both single, unattached and feeling unloved. Their relationship had blossomed naturally over a mutual appreciation of the finer aspects of Chinese tea and a love of Chinese fish cuisine and fermented bean juice.

Arthur had been incrementally spending more time with Krystal until one eventful night he found himself sharing her bed after they had both overindulged in a few bowls of fermented bean juice. Their friendship had then progressed to the point of becoming a permanent relationship. This was despite their vast differences in age.

Business at Krystal’s café had boomed for a few days after the war between the Bikers and the Russians on that fateful night not so long ago. But trade had since fallen into the doldrums. The atmosphere in the town had deteriorated with the pub destroyed in the fire and most of the other businesses remaining boarded up. People drifted away from the town centre and took to drinking tea at the bowls club.

Fermented bean juice had been favoured by a certain class of customer at Krystal’s café who objected to the price of alcohol being charged at the pub. Those people had often ordered just a bowl of prawn crackers and a jug of bean juice followed by some Chinese tea. But even those people were not spending much time on main street now that it had become a wasteland. They had taken to drinking tea at home instead of bean juice at Krystal’s café.

If you hadn’t acquired a taste for fermented bean juice you would want to throw up on your first taste. But once you were hooked on this delicious hot beverage you would order a bowl immediately you hit town.

Krystal and Arthur agreed to re-establish Krystal’s café in Arthur’s hometown which had been untouched by the Biker war. They decided to call it the Chines Bean Juice And Fish Café. There would be an emphasis at the café on the juice part of the business because it was cheap to produce, was very popular and was not subject to any annoying government liquor licences, alcohol taxes or duties.

Arthur had proposed to Krystal on a romantic balmy night as they sipped tea  and enjoyed the view of the cove from his launch at the jetty. She didn’t hesitate. She accepted. They soon commenced planning for the wedding. It would be a big affair.

A positive thing about the bean juice café scheme was that they would not be directly competing with Glady’s greasy spoon café. They did not want to cause any antagonism with Glady’s who they planned to ask to be maid of honour. Glady’s was a great friend of Arthur’s, but she was by no stretch of the imagination, a maiden – anyway they knew she would be happy to help out at the wedding.

Arthur’s young assistant, Dennis, agreed to be Arthur’s best man.

They decided to re-purpose Arthur’s Fishing Tours downstairs office into the cafe and convert the large upstairs front room of the building into the Fishing Tours office. They would live in Arthur’s residential section of the building, which was also upstairs, at the rear.

Krystal had many relatives who wanted to attend the wedding. It was decided that they would charter a jet to fly in ninety-seven of them from Shanghai to the town via Sydney. After the wedding the guests planned to immediately return to Sydney where they had scheduled a brief stop- over while some of them checked out some real-estate investment opportunities they had been researching from home in China. It was a tight program for the guests.

They set about planning a great wedding party. Krystal was the bride – not the chef.

She would be wearing a traditional long red Chinese wedding dress with tiny brightly coloured shoes peeking out below the dress.

O a matter of course, a traditional Chinese tea ceremony would be the focus of the wedding preliminaries.

Krystal started work on the menu and the food arrangements

An excellent chef would be included with the other guests flying in from Shanghai. 

Arthur and Krystal had asked the semi- retired pastor from the local Church to officiate. He was a pale, tall, stooped old guy with masses of unruly white hair who was  struggling with being slightly hard of hearing, named Stanley Prideaux. Stanley was thrilled to be asked to do the honours. He mostly officiated at funerals these days and hadn’t done a wedding in years. He hated all the boozing at the usual weddings and he was now pleased at the thought that Chinese tea would probably be the man focus on the beverages. This invitation to do a wedding had given him a fresh lease on life.

Krystal and Arthur had invited Sam Gawler and Natasha Medvedev to the wedding. They were shocked to learn that apparently there had been a serious mishap during a storm at sea involving a ship the couple had been travelling on as passengers. They had both been listed as missing.

But here was Natasha in town for the wedding. She had come. She told everyone there was no way she was going to miss this wedding. They were all so surprised and happy to see her again after the shocking news they had learned about her disappearance.

Natasha had a story to tell. She explained how she had been rescued at sea and taken to Shanghai by some very kind people on a fishing junk.

She said her worst experience in Shanghai had been when she was targeted in a scam around a fake traditional Chinese tea ceremony. The scammers had focussed on anyone foreign looking because they usually carried plenty of cash. The scammers became furious when they found out Natasha carried no cash or credit cards.

She said she had got into a vicious fight over Gawler while they were civilian passengers on the container ship with a woman called Amanda, who was the ship captain’s wife. She said she knew Amanda had been fucking Gawler and she said she was in such a rage that she couldn’t stop herself from trying to smash the bitch.  She said she lost out in the fight and had been pushed overboard by Amanda.

 She had been struggling to stay afloat against the waves for what seemed like hours, she was just about finished from exhaustion, when she had been extremely lucky to float up against a fishing buoy. She had clung to the buoy for hours until she had been found by the Chinese fishing junk. She felt she was almost done for when the people on the junk hauled her from the water. “I will always remember those guys,” she said. “They were my salvation. They looked after me, kept me warm and dry and fed me and took me to Shanghai.”

 She said she had spent a week in hospital in Shanghai recovering from her ordeal clinging to the fishing buoy.

 She had asked for help from people in the hospital to find any of Krystal’s Chung’s relatives – “would it be possible to find members of the Chung family in Shanghai” she had asked. Natasha knew from what Krystal had told her that the relatives would be somewhere in Shanghai. With a great deal of luck her helpers at the hospital had located Krystal’s number eight aunt in Shanghai.” It was a small miracle,” she said. “There are more than 27 million people living in Shanghai but that didn’t stop my friends at the hospital from trying to find Krystal’s family.”

She said Krystal’s relatives had used the open umbrella search system whereby a label of a missing person’s details would be carried by a someone through certain parks to call for anyone knowing the whereabouts of the missing person or their family.

Krystal’s family were amazed that a stranger, Natasha from Australia had found them. They welcomed her into their home and looked after her as she recuperated.

The whole Chung family was excited about Krystal’s upcoming marriage. Natasha was invited to fly with a group of them to Australia in their chartered jet for the wedding.

And here she was, in town.

A large red open-sided canvas canopy stood on a grassed area adjacent to Krystal and Arthur’s new café. Inside the tent were rows of wooden benches with chairs along each side.

In accordance with Chinese custom there would be a traditional tea ceremony then just a very brief wedding ceremony late in the afternoon with the main event, the after-party Banquet commencing immediately after the ceremony. The banquet party was expected to continue well into the night.

Krystal said she was planning a huge feast for the banquet consisting of twelve courses as was the Chinese custom.

Krystal told Natasha, “There would be ample supplies of bean juice with fragrant pickled vegetables of the right colour and texture spicy or plain, dough fritters fried golden and crisp and flat bread flaky, and sesame studded.”

She said she was planning many more delicacies such as;

“Chickens fried with walnuts cooked in the imperial style.

Crispy ducks with roses carved out of carrots with celery leaves attached.

Sweet and sour fish with ample sauce.

Dishes of cabbage juicy and green with large and yellow chestnuts.

She was also preparing to serve oil brazed prawns, stir fried battered eel and spicy squid.

Of course, there would be buckets of steamed rice and fried noodles.

The most important toasts of the evening would be made by the bride and groom themselves. After one or several courses have been served and eaten, the couple will walk from table to table, offering toasts to thank their guests for attending and bringing generous gifts. “

The bride and groom will toast each table, saying ‘gan bei!’ (dry cup) and bottoming up their cup each time. At some weddings, guests will make return toasts to the couple, and the bride and groom must always drink up.

Sometimes at weddings the drinking would become too difficult for the bride or groom; perhaps they feel too drunk to continue or have an allergy to alcohol. To overcome this, the best man and maid of honour will accompany the couple and, if need be, will step in to drink in their place, saying “Here, let me help you!”

Krystal said “This type of drinking is a Chinese way of showing good spirit and respect, and it is not uncommon for the bride or groom to be completely drunk by the end of their wedding banquet. “

*******

Natasha stood before the crowd and kicked off the ceremony.

“Welcome one and all,” she said. “I am thrilled to be here with you all and especially my very good friends, the wonderful Chung family. I love you all so much. You saved my life and brought me back here for this fabulous event today.

“Now I would like to introduce the Pastor Stanley Prideaux.” 

Stanley came forward and stood before the crowd.

He said. “Welcome everyone to our beautiful little town. It is not at all usual for us to have such a wonderful gathering of guests.

“We are gathered here today to unite Krystal and Arthur in the bonds of matrimony. If anyone can show just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”

There was silence from the crowd

Stanley said to Arthur.

“Do you, Arthur, take Krystal, to be your lawfully wedded wife? From this day forward, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?

Arthur to Krystal

‘I do.’

Stanley said to Krystal

Do you, Krystal, take Arthur, to be your lawfully wedded husband? From this day forward, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?

Krystal said to Arthur

‘I do.’

Stanley said to Arthur.

“Please take the ring you have selected for Krystal . As you place it on her finger, repeat after me:”

“Krytal. I give you this ring, as a symbol of my love. I ask you to wear it as a sign to the world that you are my wife. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Arthur repeated the pledge.

Stanley asked Krystal.

Please take the ring you have selected for Arthur. As you place it on his finger, repeat after me:

“Arthur, I give you this ring, as a symbol of my love. I ask you to wear it as a sign to the world that you are my husband. With this ring, I thee wed.

Krystal repeated the pledge.

The happy crowed laughed,cheered, and whistled.

Stanley said. “In so much as the two of you have consented together in matrimony, and have witnessed the same before this company, by authority vested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Arthur, you may kiss your bride!”

Arthur, with his arms around Krystal moved his face closer to her for the kiss.

He was pale, sweating and breathing heavily. He faltered, slumped and dropped his arms. His legs crumpled and he fell heaviy to the ground.

 The crowd gasped. Some guests rushed towards the front to help. But they could not find a pulse. Arthur had died of a sudden heart attack. Four men came from from the crowd and together with Krystal guiding them, they carried Arthur to the café. They set Arthur down on a long bench and covered him with a table cloth.

The plan for the wedding had been for the Best Man and Maid Of Honour to offer toasts to the couple, telling funny anecdotes or making sentimental speeches.

This plan was now in tatters.

Now someone would need to arrange a funeral for Arthur.

Natasha gathered three of Krystal’s aunts. They were now her firm friends. She told them they needed to work out what to do next. They decided to settle the crowd by serving them Chinese tea and later some bean juice. The aunts set about organising the tea while Natasha went to find Krystal, Dennis, and Gladys to work out how to go forward now.

 They decided to postpone the banquent until the next morning and to hold a funeral for Arthur right away. Denis said his brother-in-law was a carpenter and he had some coffins in his workshop which he always kept ready for emergencies in the town.

Fortunately Stanley Prideaux was still on hand to officiate at the funeral.

If the wedding had progressed, the plan was for the most important toasts of the evening to be made by the bride and groom themselves. After one or several courses had been served and some food eaten, the couple would walk from table to table, offering toasts to thank their guests for attending and bringing generous gifts. The couple would drink Chinee tea, wine or bean juice. The bride and groom would toast each table, saying ‘gan bei!’ (dry cup) and bottoming up their cup each time. Guests would make return toasts to the couple, and the bride and groom must always drink up.

If the drinking became too difficult for the bride or groom; perhaps they felt too drunk to continue or had an allergy to alcohol the Best Man and Maid Of Honor would accompany the couple and, if need be, will step in to drink in their place, saying “Here, let me help you!”

This type of drinking is a Chinese way of showing good spirit and respect, and it is not uncommon for the bride or groom to be completely drunk by the end of their wedding reception.

But all those planned events were not going to happen tonight.

*******

It was early in the morning when Krystal and Dennis called all their guests to gather at the tent. They had an announcement to make.

 They were getting married.

 The banquet would go ahead after all. The mountains of food would not go to waste.

It all made pefect sense. They had been secret lovers since the time at Regina when Arthur and Dennis had slept on Arthur’s launch at the jetty and they had all spent so much time together.

But Arthur always went off to bed in the below deck cabin early leaving Dennis and Krystal together. That was when their romance had flourished.