The Princess and Ming-huá

Part 2

2

Life had been generous to Chong Seng. As owner of an international trading company, money was not an option.

Married to Khoo Mai Lee, she too had her family roots in the Melaka area.

Chong Seng and Mai Lee lived in Singapore where Chong ran his business. They raised their family in Singapore and now, all but one of their six children had left home. Ming-huá at 17 years old is in her senior year at a Christian girl's school at Paya Lebar in Singapore. She is a very attractive Chinese girl and tall for her race and age.

After purchase settlement of the old mansion Chong, Mai and Ming-huá travelled to Melaka to inspect their acquisition.

The place was not habitable. Time had taken its toll and dirt and filth littered the house and grounds.

An architectural company was engaged to inspect and advise on restoration. Chong and his family met the consultants on site for an inspection of the property.

While her parents were engaged with the architects, Ming-huá slipped away to explore. First, she looked into the rooms on the ground floor. They were void of and furniture but were littered with all kinds of rubbish. Nothing of interest attracted Ming-huá's attention.

"Boring" she thought.

She shuffled from room to room looking here and there, kicking the odd piece of rubbish and overturning it.

Tired of the ground floor, Ming-huá found the staircase leading to the first floor. This could prove more interesting, she thought. The stairs were in sound condition, so she climbed the once lavish, ornate stairs to the first floor.

There was a large open landing at the top of the stairs and a hallway lead off to both the right and the left. First she walked along the hall to the right. Doors opened into various rooms. Nothing of interest. Ming-huá felt a tinge of disappointment. Maybe she had expected too much. Something different. This was just a dirty old house.

Ming-huá turned and returned to the stairs. She was almost going to abandon the idea of looking at the hallway leading off to the left but she changed her mind. The hallway was the same by all appearances. Doors opening on both sides. After passing two doors on her left, the rooms facing the front of the house, Ming-huá stopped at the first door on her right. She tried to open it but it appeared to be locked. She tried again, but the handle would not yield.

"Why is it, of all the rooms in the house, this is the only door that is locked?" she wondered.

Ming-huá, bent down and tried to look through the key hole. It was blocked. She then got down on her hands and knees and tried to peer under the door. While the gap was reasonably large, she could not see much at all.

Annoyed by this obstruction, Ming-huá was determined to open this door somehow or another. She wondered what could be blocking the keyhole. Could it be the key on the other side? She now wondered what to do. Maybe an insect had built a nest in the keyhole. How to find out?

Ming-huá devised a plan. She went to the other rooms in search for a sheet of newspaper or something like. After some searching, she found a large piece of cardboard. Now she needed something long and thin that she could poke into the keyhole. There was nothing suitable lying about. Feeling frustrated, Ming-huá then recalled seeing a chopstick on the floor of the kitchen on the ground floor. She hurriedly descended the stairs and retrieved the old chopstick. She returned to the locked door and found that the bamboo chopstick was thin enough to push into the key hole.