Across 300 Years, I Love You

Block catching, B**ch!

6 September 1994

[Yongqi's POV]

For the past 4 days, I watched and observed the world that surrounded Elizabeth. Fast moving carriages that are no longer powered by horses, moving pictures in a box, people speaking to each other over long distances by using grey coloured devices. I marveled at how in this strange world, humans are able to function without Kings and Queens to guide them and that women follow very little societal rules and are able to work in a job.

I watched with disgust as those arrogant pricks moved into Elizabeth's apartment behaving as though her parents owed them a living. I had accidentally bumped into a clandestine meeting behind hushed doors the night before.

The old lady was discussing with Ric and Lily about the bankruptcy and the creditors that they are hiding from. Apparently, Ric and Lily had borrowed money from a local mafia gang.

The people living with Elizabeth had been leeching off her dad's paycheck and her mom's savings without contributing a single cent. Moreover, Elizabeth and her mom are the ones who did all the scrubbing and cleaning of the house.

It did not feel right that Elizabeth, her brother and her mom had to eat the leftovers of Llyod and Virginia. Sometimes, that pair of siblings left fragmented pieces of fish and vegetables with gravy for the trio to eat. Sometimes, it was only just the gravy with rice.

Internally, I struggled. I did not want to spoil Elizabeth's birthday today, yet, I felt compelled to tell her the truth about the creditors that would be knocking on their doors soon.

"These people are a ticking time bomb, biting the hand that feeds them." I thought to myself, feeling the fury building up inside me watching Llyod lying on the couch lazily, chatting on the phone.

"Llyod, may I have the phone now? I need to make a call urgently." Elizabeth's mom asked with a polite tone. Lloyd turned with his back facing her, ignoring her.

"Llyod, it's already been 3 hours since you are on that call." Elizabeth's mom tried again with no response from Llyod.

I heaved a sigh watching the rude spoiled brat. In the Qing dynasty, this would have warranted a punishment from the family elders. Such a behaviour would not be tolerated.

Given the unpredictability of my time here in this strange place, I might not be around to look out for Elizabeth. Yet, how can a child like her protect the family from the infamous creditors?

"Elizabeth, we are going to the playground today. Our neighbours have prepared some food to share with everyone. Since it is your birthday, you will get an extra 1 hour of playtime" her mom said with a slight smile, giving up on Llyod.

Elizabeth's eyes lit up. She looked in my direction and gave me a playful wink.

The playground felt like a children's playdate party. The mothers would lay out a mat to display all the food for everyone to help themselves with. The dads would be absent from the scene. There were 4 other children and a pair of identical twins.

"Let's play block catching." T.J, the elder twin said.

"Elizabeth, since it is your birthday, you get to pick the block." J.J, the younger twin added.

The rules of the game were simple. An apartment block would be chosen by common agreement. All children would run and hide along the stairs and common corridors of the chosen apartment block. A catcher is chosen by scissors, paper, stone. Running and hiding outside the boundaries of the chosen apartment block would be considered cheating and an automatic loser of the game and thus, the next catcher of the game.