5. “A Love Letter at Sea”

After retiring from the university, I came alone to the seaside in Tamali, Taitung, rented a place, and settled there for the long term.

Surrounded by beautiful mountains and clear waters, with a retirement pension sufficient to support a comfortable life, I spent my days wandering along the beach, walking barefoot through the waves, lying on the warm, soft sand while watching the clouds and listening to the wind.

Sometimes I would hike through the hills, immersing myself in fields of golden daylilies and lilies, breathing in the fragrance of flowers carried on the salty sea breeze.

With a relaxed pace of life and a peaceful state of mind, I enjoyed the lingering glow of my sunset years after retirement.

One day, I had just returned from a walk along the beach when I noticed half of an envelope sticking out of my mailbox.

I pulled the envelope out.

The elegant handwriting looked strangely familiar.

Inside was a letter and a photograph.

It was a picture of Xiufeng and me together on a cruise ship during the year we graduated from high school.

The letter was brief. It said that when the Lotus cruise ship docked at Hualien Harbor one week later, she hoped I could come to the pier and meet her.

I looked at the date on the letter.

The cruise ship was scheduled to arrive at Hualien Harbor tomorrow.

I returned to the house and dug out the suit I had worn thirty years earlier. I rode my black motorcycle into town, took the suit to a dry cleaner, and then went to a barbershop for a haircut and grooming.

Early the next morning, I drove my motor home to Hualien Harbor.

After walking for about ten minutes, I arrived at the pier.

Sure enough, a cruise ship was docked there, and passengers were streaming down the gangway one after another.

About fifteen minutes later, a stylish, graceful woman in her thirties came toward me, pulling a suitcase behind her.

As her facial features gradually became clearer, I suddenly recognized her.

Wasn’t she Chen Xiufeng from thirty years ago?

The woman was holding a photograph.

When she reached me, she asked, “Excuse me, are you Chen Qu-Fei?”

“Yes, I’m Chen Qu-Fei. And you are...?”

I studied her facial features, feeling as though I had suddenly crossed into another lifetime.

“Before my mother passed away, she instructed me to find you.”

“Your mother? She passed away? Are you Xiufeng’s daughter?”

“Yes. My name is Chen Nian-Fei. My mother and I lived in Kyoto, Japan, for many years. She passed away just last month.”

“Chen Nian-Fei? Your facial features look almost exactly like Xiufeng’s did back then.”

“To make sure you would recognize her, she copied herself and gave birth to me.”

“Copied? You mean...?”

I was completely bewildered by what the young woman was telling me.

“Twenty-five years ago, my mother gave birth to me through asexual reproduction. She never married. She once told me that throughout her entire life, she would never be with another man besides you.”

Her words were calm, yet they struck me with the force of a meteor.

“Why would she do such a thing? You two...”

I lowered my voice, unable to finish the thought.

“My mother wanted me to take her place and accompany you.”

“How did she know that I had secluded myself here on the coast of Tamali in Taitung?”

“Instinct, I suppose. My mother told me that she had broken up with you on the beach in Tamali all those years ago.”

The young woman followed me to the parking lot and got into my motor home.

As we drove into the streets of Hualien, I wanted to show her some hospitality as her host.

“The mountains and sea here look exactly like the paradise described in my mother’s diary, a secluded place untouched by the troubles of the world.”

Nian-Fei looked completely relaxed.

Then she said, “I would like to settle down and live in such a poetic and picturesque place. I’m grateful that my mother arranged all of this.”

“You can’t be serious. I’m already an old man in my sixties. You should go back to Japan.”

“I sold all of my mother’s properties in Kyoto. I came here to accompany you and help you fulfill your dream.”

She spoke as casually as if she were discussing something completely ordinary, but I was utterly confused.

“Fulfill my dream? At my age, what dreams could I possibly have left?”

“Your dream of making movies!”

She continued, “My mother carefully read the more than one hundred movie scripts you wrote, as well as every screenplay and story you posted online. Before she passed away, she instructed me to sell her properties and come find you with the money.”

“But do I still have the physical strength to make a few movies?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

The young woman took a small metal container from her handbag.

“From now on, take one pill every month, and your physical condition and appearance will remain exactly as they are now.”

I asked curiously, “How can it be so miraculous? Where did these pills come from?”

The young woman slowly explained.

“After my mother left you and came to Japan, she enrolled in medical school at Kyoto University. After graduating, she stayed on in the research department and devoted herself to biochemical research and development.

“This pill was the starting point of her fortune. She continued improving it over and over again until its effects finally became completely stable last year, shortly before she passed away.”

“I see! Your mother was already a scientific genius back then. Unfortunately, I had elderly parents to care for and could not leave Taiwan.”

As I spoke, my thoughts returned to thirty years earlier.

Xiufeng had asked me to go to Japan with her to study, get married, and build a family.

I would study art, while she would pursue medicine.

But at the time, I could not leave Taiwan.

All I could do was say goodbye to her with a heavy heart...

When the motor home returned to Tamali, we settled the luggage.

Nian-Fei put a backpack over her shoulders and asked me to accompany her to the beach.

When we reached the shore, the sea breeze swept through her long hair.

She took a small yellow-jade urn from her backpack.

I knew it was a cremation urn.

The young woman walked into the seawater until it reached her knees.

She opened the urn and scattered the ashes into the waves, murmuring something under her breath.

Fifteen minutes later, Nian-Fei turned around and walked back toward me.

A blush rose across her face.

With a shy smile, she said, “From today on, we are husband and wife.”

She reached out her hand and took mine.

“My mother said that you would cherish me with the same love you had for her.”

I looked into her serious face and smiled knowingly.