英文小说阅读：LOVE AND HATE IN LAS VEGAS

耳语者

LOVE AND HATE IN LAS VEGAS

by Michelle S. Lin (Zhang Shih-mei)

ISAAC CHEN (23), an orphan of improvised background, has become a handsome and talented star in the Peking Opera troupe that performs regularly in China’s most renowned opera house.  One evening, standing in for an injured friend, Isaac performs at LiYuan Theater where many foreign tourists come for a taste of China’s theatrical brilliance.  Among the audience is an American talent scout, SCOTT JOHNSON (45).  Impressed with Isaac’s dazzling performance and onstage presence, Scott recruits the young star for a famous Las Vegas circus.   

Elated, Isaac shares the good news with his long-time girlfriend, ANNETTE ZHANG (20), English major at the prestigious Beijing University.  Unlike Isaac, Annette comes from a loving, respected family.  Her father is a professor while her mother a doctor.  With high hopes for their smart and beautiful daughter, the couple disapproves of Annette’s relationship with Isaac.  But in love, she disregards their objection.

On the night before he departs for America, Isaac, nervous and scared, suddenly has second thoughts of leaving his homeland and the woman he so desperately loves.  Annette reassures him that everything is going to be just fine and a glorious future awaits him in America.  “You’ll take American circus to a new height.  You will be their number one star just like you’re here.”   She smiles confidently. Touched by her support, he promises that he won’t let her down and that as soon as he makes enough money, he will send for her right away.  They embrace and spend an intimate night together.

Meanwhile, in Saratoga, California, an angry, rebellious Chinese American, LYDIA WANG (19), the daughter of the CEO of a successful high-tech firm, is out carousing with her gangster friends.  In a seedy underground club, they gamble and drink.  Lydia is gifted in the game of blackjack.

At home, her mother, DOROTHY WANG (45), is furious and sick with worries.  She goes into Lydia’s messy room to find her daughter still out.  Scattered all over the room are art supplies and bold, abstract paintings that scream of angst and rage.  Dorothy shakes her head at her daughter’s artistic expression and storms into her husband’s room to shout at JAMES WANG (52) for not caring about their children.  Dorothy and James are trapped in a bad marriage and have kept separate bedrooms for years.   

Lydia drags herself home, stinky drunk.  Dorothy scolds her.  The mother and daughter are at each other’s throats.  In a fit or rage, Dorothy disowns Lydia.  “Get out of my house!  I never want to see you again!”  Hurt and rejected, the hot-headed Lydia immediately storms out the door.  Her mentally retarded younger brother, GEORGE WANG (16), chases after her.  A tearful farewell as Lydia drives away.  Her father watches her go from his bedroom window.  

All alone, Lydia doesn’t know where to go.  She sees a deck of cards in the passenger seat and remembers her friends mentioning Las Vegas.  A sudden inspiration strikes.  She turns the car around and heads toward Las Vegas, a city of neon lights and endless pleasures, of bars, casinos and resorts.

Isaac is now training in the big Las Vegas circus.  But instead of being the star of the show, he just has a minor part and receives dismally low pay.  Lonely and homesick, he writes Annette often but hides the truth from her.  Instead he tells her how well everything is going for him in America.  “It’s wonderful here and I can’t wait for you to join me!”

In Beijing, Annette treasures every letter Isaac sends her, savoring his every word.  Her university friends tell her how lucky she is to have such a devoted boyfriend and that the two of them are going to live happily ever after in America.  As they tease, Annette is suddenly overcome with a wave of dizziness that she dismisses as exhaustion.  Annette has been staying up late every night, writing Isaac back, telling him how proud she is of him and that she misses him so much.

Back in Las Vegas, Lydia is looking for jobs in the casinos which promptly rejects her as  she is underage.  “You have to be twenty-one to work in the casinos.  Now get lost, kid.”   Running out of money but too proud to call home for help, Lydia sneaks to the back of a famous restaurant owned by Max Hong, looking for scrapes of food.  A kind-hearted prep cook from Ningbo, China, LIU MING (40), helps her out.  He takes her into the kitchen, pretends she is his niece and fixes her up a sumptuous meal.  As she tells him her dire straits, he refers her to his musician friends in the circus who helps Lydia get a job as the circus manager’s gofer.

Back in the Bay Area, Dorothy deeply regrets kicking her daughter out, but it’s too late as neither she nor James has any idea where Lydia has gone.  George has refused to come out of his room until his dad and mom bring his sister back.  It’s a big mess.  Little do they know that their daughter has fallen in love in Las Vegas.   

Soon after starting work in the circus, Lydia meets Isaac and is attracted to him.  They become fast friends.  However, devoted to Annette, Isaac has politely turned down all of Lydia’s romantic advances.  In the meantime, a role for a leading part has opened up and with the encouragement of his friends, Isaac decides to try out for it.  He starts a rigorous training program.   

As Isaac falls in love with his life in America, Annette finds out that she is pregnant with his child.  She is too ashamed and scared to tell her parents or anyone her condition.  She tries to write Isaac about it but doesn’t know how to begin.  So she waits.

Meanwhile, on the day of the circus try-out, Isaac has a terrible accident and breaks his leg in three places.  He is rushed to the hospital with Lydia at his side.  After a three-hour long surgery, the doctor says he will walk but never be able to perform again.  The news devastates Isaac.  And because of his injury, the circus has no use for him and is forced to ‘let him go.  Therefore, upon being released from the hospital, Isaac has one month to find another job before having to get sent back to China.

Ashamed of his failure, Isaac can’t bring himself to write Annette.  He tells himself that he will contact her as soon as he has the situation under control.  Meanwhile, Annette keeps waiting for his letters which have stopped coming.  Anxious and worried, she calls the circus and is told that he has left the troupe.  “We don’t know where he went.”   Annette decides that she must go look for Isaac and tell him that she is carrying his baby.

Through a good friend, she finds a job as an interpreter for a Chinese bio-tech company that’s headed to America for important meetings and conferences.

耳语者

As Annette heads west, Lydia helps Isaac through physical therapy
while brainstorming ways to keep him in America.  She teaches him
how to play blackjack so he can apply for a job as a dealer.  But none
of the casinos will hire him as they do not want the trouble of helping
him apply for an U.S. work visa.  Things are not looking good and
money is getting tight.  Lydia goes to the casino to try to win some
money but ends up losing her savings.  

Annette arrives in Los Angeles.  After series of meetings and
conferences, she hops on a bus headed for Las Vegas.  She has two
days to find Isaac before having to return to China.  With his picture in
hand, she starts with to the circus, then heads to the hospital, following his trail, talking to anyone who knows Isaac.

In the meantime, Lydia realizes the only way to keep Isaac in America is if he marries an American.  So she proposes to him.  Initially Isaac says no but Lydia pushes, “Let’s just do it and we can figure out the rest
later.  I know what I’m doing.”  Isaac still seems unsure.  She
continues, “It was your dream to come here.  Don’t give it up so
easily.”  Isaac thinks it over, finally agrees.  They get married in a
small Vegas chapel, joined by their small group of friends.  

Annette sees the couple step out of the chapel as man and wife.  
Witnessing Isaac embracing and kissing Lydia, she runs off as fast as she can before crumbling to her knees.  Her heart is broken.

Like a zombie, Annette wonders aimlessly in Las Vegas.  She flops
down in front of a slot machine and just stares off into space.  At the
high-rollers’ table is MAX HONG (52), a Chinese immigrant turned
successful restaurateur with several high-end eateries in Vegas.  
Noticing Annette is being asked to leave by the casino security guard,
he tells his assistant to see if he could help the poor girl.  But Annette
just stumbles away.  

Isaac and Lydia are back in their apartment.  Awkwardly Isaac says he
will sleep on the living room couch.  But Lydia asks him to sleep in the
same room as her.  Awkwardly Isaac sleeps on the floor.  They spend
the night in silence.

Annette huddles in a dark, trash-strewn alley with large dumpsters.  
She sees pieces of broken glass on the ground.  She picks up a piece and starts slicing her wrist as she keeps mumbling, “Mommy’s sorry, mommy’s sorry.”  Tears flow.  

Later that night, Liu Ming, the prep chef at Max Hong’s restaurant
carries two large garbage bags to the alley.  He throws them into the
dumpster when noticing blood on the ground.  He sees Annette
slumped against the wall.  

Max is in his restaurant checking the books and making sure everything is in order for tomorrow when Liu Ming runs in, screaming, “A girl, a
dead girl!  Call the police!”  Max hurries to the alley with Liu Ming and
recognizes the girl as Annette.  He lifts her limp head only to discover
that she’s still alive as the siren approaches.

In the hospital, the doctors work Annette.  Max pretends to be her uncle
and is in the waiting room.  From his wallet, he takes out an aged photo of a young woman who looks very much like Annette.  A doctor comes in to update Max on Annette’s condition.  She will be fine.  “We are even able to save her baby.”  The information surprises Max.

Annette momentarily awakens to see Max standing over her.  He asks if she would like him to contact her parents.  A tear falls.  He sees her
pain and speaks reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I will take care of
you.”  She falls back to sleep.

Feeling responsible for Isaac and their marriage, Lydia finally decides
to go home.  To her surprise, her parents, who have been going out of
their minds looking for her, are ecstatic to see her.  They welcome
Isaac to the family with open-arms as they know that it was he who
brought their daughter back to them.  And for the first time, Isaac learns of Lydia’s well-to-do family background and knows that his life is
changed forever.  Lydia’s father quickly brings his new son-in-law into
the family business.  Isaac proves himself to be a competent businessman.  He is also wonderful with George who looks up to him like a big
brother.  Suddenly everything is falling into place.

While Isaac settles into his new, blessed life, Annette stays with Max.  
She tells him her story and how she is at a complete loss.  Max offers to put her up and give her a job in his restaurant business so she can
remain in America and have her baby.  After much debating, Annette
accepts his offer.  Like Isaac, she, too, works hard and shows
tremendous potential and drive.

耳语者

After having her son, ERIC ZHANG, Annette attends night school and gets a degree in restaurant management.  She soon heads up two of
Max’s top restaurants in Las Vegas where she meets many colorful
Sin City personalities.  Through all this, she stays with Max and learns
that the woman in the photo he keeps in the wallet was his daugther
who died many years ago.  Annette and max share the same house but never the same room.  Their friendship is deep and powerful but they
always remain respectful of each other.  Eric grows up with “Uncle
Max” as his father figure.

However, Annette has never forgotten or forgiven Isaac.  One day, she
coincidentally saw a picture of Isaac in Chinese newspaper article
about high-tech tycoon, James Wang’s new son-in-law.  In that
moment she knows that her love for him has turn into hate and revenge burns in her heart.  From that day forward, she collects everything about him that she can get her hands on.

When Eric turns seven, he asks Annette, “Who is my father?”  She
tells him that he’s dead but the persistent young boy wants to know
more about his father and keeps asking question after question.  
Annette loses her temper and slaps him.  “Don’t ever mention him again!”  This is the first time Annette ever hit her son.  

A few years later their marriage, Isaac and Lydia have JOANNA CHEN
who is to be their only child.  Lydia had complications during the delivery and can never have any more.  Though Isaac has become a beloved
and indispensable member of the family, her relationship with Lydia
always remains awkward as if there’s an insurmountable divide
between them.  

Twenty years pass…

Both Isaac and Annette are now extremely successful in their respective careers while their children Joanna (20) is a sophomore at UCLA and
Eric (27) is a graduate student at the same school.  Members of the
same Asian American student organization, the two young people soon meet through mutual friends and are attracted to each other.

Joanna introduces Eric to her parents.  There’s an immediate
connection between Eric and Isaac who is very taken with this bright
young man.

Eric, too, is impressed with Joanna’s parents.  Isaac appears to be a busy, successful and ambitious businessman while Joanna is classy
society lady who dapples in art, painting birds, flowers and beautiful
landscapes that lack the passion and energy of her earlier work.  In fact, Joanna is not at all like her former firey self.  And behind this image of
perfect couplehood, Lydia and Isaac have become strangers, their
marriage in trouble. Isaac buries himself in work while Lydia has
developed a drinking problem.

Meanwhile, Annette has begun her revenge.  She hires a private
detective to follow Isaac while sending him threatening anonymous
letters that contains information that no one should have.  But what
rattles Isaac the most about these letters is the haunting, personal tone of the writer.  It’s as if the writer knows him better than himself.  Before long, there are inflammatory newspaper and magazines articles that
damage his public image by questioning his business decisions, the
direction he’s taking the company which is in decline.  Isaac tries to
find out who is behind this dirty scheme but has little luck.  

Isaac attends a computer convention in Las Vegas.  Eric invites him to
the family’s restaurant so he can meet his mother.  When Annette sees Isaac at the table talking with her son, her heart momentarily stops.  
She takes a few moments to collect herself and calls her son, telling
him that she can’t make dinner and to please give her most sincere apologies to Isaac.

A week later, she seeks out Isaac.  They finally meet after twenty years.  
Isaac is guilt-ridden upon seeing Annette who is cold and remote.  
He tries to explain what happened twenty years ago but she won’t
give him the time of day.  She gets right to her point.  The only reason
why she has asked to see him is because they need to put a stop to
their children’s romantic involvement.  Isaac feels that they shouldn’t let their bad blood affect their children’s happiness.  Deadpan, she
says, “Eric is your son.”

Knowing the truth, Isaac immediately forbids Joanna to see Eric.  
“You’re to never see him again.”  She asks why?  He won’t give
her a reason.  Heartbroken, Joanna goes to Lydia for help, begging
her to speak to her father.   After days of arguing with his wife, he finally
tells her about Annette.  Lydia slaps him upon hearing his secret past.   

Meanwhile, Annette has also commands Eric to stop seeing Joanna.  
In fact, she wants him to quit school, come home and learn the
restaurant business.  As it so happens that his beloved Uncle Max is
diagnosed with late stage stomach cancer and Annette has decided to marry him after all these years.  She wants Max to spend his remaining days with her as his wife.  Eric refuses to listen to his mother and
continues seeing Joanna.  Finally Annette has no choice but to tell him
that Joanna is his half-sister.

耳语者

Devastated and furious, Eric runs away and refuses to talk to his
mother.  In the meantime, Isaac orders Joanna to marry a friend’s
son, HANK WANG (30), whose family is in the software business.  
Isaac hopes the marriage will help expand the company.  In order to get Hank’s father and other potential investors interested, he commits
accounting fraud.

Through all this, Max fades fast.  Before he passes into
unconsciousness, he tells Annette that she must let it go and find a way to forgive Isaac.  Because if she doesn’t, her son will be only who
sever.  

Through friends, Eric learns that Joanna will be getting married.  
Though knowing a future between them is impossible, Eric decides
that he must speak with her before she walks down the aisle.  He
sneaks up to the bridal suite at a beautiful wedding chapel.  Joanna
looks stunning in her wedding gown.  She is in tears upon seeing him.  Hank storms in to find them in each other’s arms.  He immediately
takes a swing at Eric.  They go after each together in an all out fight.  
Joanna gets between them and falls down a steep flight of stairs.  
She dies.

Isaac weeps for the loss of his daughter while Lydia has turned into
stone from her grief.  She blames Joanna’s death on Isaac whom
she has given herself up for.  She tells him, “I loved you but it’s over
now.”  At Joanna’s funeral, Eric shows up to confront Isaac.  He asks him why he had abandoned him and Mom.  “You’re a liar.  I hate
you!”  He shouts into his face, drawing his fist but can’t bring
himself to hit his father.

Annette finds Eric a drunken mess in a cheap casino motel room.  She aches to see her son in such a state.  Remembering what Max told her, she realizes what she must do.  

Lydia, on the other hand, is consumed with hate.  Aware of her
husband’s illegal business conduct, she contacts the authorities
and Isaac is arrested for accounting fraud.  With all of his assets
frozen and his family and friends gone, he is alone in jail and unable
to get good legal defense.  At his most desperate hour when all hope
is lost, Annette comes to his aid.  She hires him a top-notch lawyer and stands by him during the trial as they both realize that the love between
them was never really gone.  Guilty of the crime, the judge sentences
him to prison.  As the guards take him away, he hears someone call
out, “Dad!”  He turns around to see Eric in the courtroom with
Annette.

Months later…

Annette and Eric wait in the prison visiting room and rise up when the
guards bring Isaac.  The three of them are left in the room, gazing at
each other.  All the love, all the hate, all that was lost, all that was found.  They are finally united.  

THE END

脱茧

看不懂，太吃力了

耳语者

中国人的故事。

糖糰子

稍等。。。慢慢研究下~~~~~~~~~~~眼晕的厉害~

stone

我又眼睛痛了~~~休息一下再来