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I will send you a two story okay and after you will se
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I will send them by paragraphs because they are so long okay?
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Red String
WITH THE EXCEPTION of the slight rustling of dried stalks where the rice had once grown in the spring, the silence was as oppressive as the lamp Ju-Lin felt in her throat. She gazed at the parched rice paddies and wondered when she had last seen a raindrop. The severe drought had dried all the crops and spread despair across the land like wildfire. Now, it had suddenly taken on an even more ominous meaning, for Ju-Lin had felt her world come to a crashing halt with her father's words moments earlier. "Ju-Lin," het father had said that evening, "the time I dread has come. There is so little food left that even the crickets have failed to chirp. Our family will surely die from hunger if I do not take this wretched step. I can only beg your forgiveness for needing to sell you, my only daughter, in exchange for food, but alas, there is no hope left!" Ju-Lin sobbed with her parents, who were miserable at the thought of her being a slave in some wealthy household. She knew she would be the one to go, as she was the oldest and the only girl, for custom dictated that sons remain at home to carry on the family name and honor. She could only pray that she wouldn't have to leave soon. As luck would have it, though, a kind, old matchmaker happened to stop by their farm that very night. Now, this match-maker, or moi- yun as she was called, was very well known in her business. She had the knack of bringing people together from different villages so that both the couple and their respective parents always felt completely satisfied with the match. The moi-yun was returning from a wedding, when she stopped at Ju-Lin's home to rest and became aware of the family's dire situation. The old woman knew she would not be able to persuade the parents to lose face by selling a son, so she offered to pay a handsome sum for Ju-Lin. "I'm getting too old to do this work without help," said the matchmaker. "I will make sure that your daughter is provided with food and shelter as long as she performs her duties well as my assistant." Her parents sighed with relief. "Ju-Lin," admonished her mother the next morning as she helped her daughter pack her few things, "make sure you do as the moi-yun says, for you belong to her now." "Yes, Mother, I will. Do not worry." Trying hard not to shed tears, Ju-Lin bowed in farewell to her parents. Then she picked up the moi-yun's belongings along with her own and respectfully followed the old woman out the door. After many days of travel, they reached a more bountiful countryside, untouched by drought, where the moi-yun lived in a house grander than any Ju-Lin had ever seen before. "Ju-Lin," explained the moi-yun the next day, "I am not as young as I used to be. That is why you are here. First, when I am at home, you must help me with the cooking and cleaning around the house. When I am traveling, you must accompany me to help carry my things. In return, you shall have enough to eat and a small allowance each month. Is that understood?" "Yes, most honorable Mistress. I am so very grateful. I will do my best to help you in any way I can." Faithfully, Ju-Lin kept her promise. After finishing her chores, she often had time to observe the moi-yun as she dealt with her many clients. Ju-Lin listened closely and admired how the old woman was able to choose the right people for each other every time. Finally she had to ask: "What is the secret of your amazing success, Mistress?" "There is no magic to this, Ju-Lin," she said. "Helping people make the right choice in a partner is my passion in life. As the story goes, even at birth, that old matchmaker, God in heaven, ties an invisible red string around the foot of a boy and a girl destined to spend their lives together as husband and wife. No matter the distance or the circumstances, nothing can break this string. With each passing year, the string becomes shorter and shorter until fate has its way, and the two are finally united. I consider myself merely a facilitator, a means of shortening that string to help the two meet.