WangYueBG

Wang Yue was born in the city of Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China, an only child, his mother dying during his birth. He was a weak baby, born blind, and there were times that it was thought he wouldn’t make it, but he had a strong spirit. His father is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and also the Local People’s Congress for the city of Lanzhou. In simplest terms, he is head of the Ministry of Taxation for Lanzhou and has had his eye on the position at provincial level.

Yue’s father loves him but as a single father and a moderately high ranking political official, he never really had time to parent a child, let alone a disabled one. That duty was joyfully taken on by his own parents, Yue’s paternal grandparents. Yue’s maternal grandparents wanted nothing to do with him and made that painfully clear to him. He’s gotten over it and doesn’t let it bother him much anymore.

His paternal grandparents doted on him as Yue had always been a sweet and quiet child, even as a baby, and was deeply respectful and loving towards his NaiNai (grandma) and YeYe (grandpa). His family, through political connections, was quite wealthy for a moderate-sized city like Lanzhou, and they sent him to the best school for his condition, Tianshui Special Education School in the city Tianshui, still in Gansu Province. With a 2hr travel time between the cities, Yue spent the weekdays in a dormitory there and weekends at home with his father or with his grandparents until the age of 12. He stopped going to his grandparents’ home after that and refused to speak to them.

His father was unable to look after him alone despite Yue’s gentle independence streak and sought an answer. That was when a sullen young man Yue’s same age of 13 was moved in. This new companion was Li TianXiao, nicknamed TianTian by Yue. TianTian refused to open up to Yue for quite some time, feeling resentment that he was sent away by his parents. Neither child knew the circumstances of TianTian moving into the Wang household.

Over time, TianTian tested Yue, showing him a cold, indifferent side that Yue felt was a shield to protect his “brother” from the pain of abandonment. A serious incident happened that changed TianTian and Yue’s relationship forever and now they are truly inseparable. TianTian looks up to Yue, despite Yue’s blindness.

TianTian: Why do you bother like you do? The other kids in your class who come from high ranking families push others around and make their disabilities someone else’s problem. I can’t even get you to slow down and let me get the door for you sometimes!

Yue: One side of my family believes I am a shame, a burden. The other side coddled me and would rarely let me do things for myself. I want to be my own man, TianTian. I want to know that my life thrived or failed by my own hand. I want people to look at me and see joy, see strength, see loyalty and devotion. I don’t want to lean on others. I want others to lean on me. If a blind guy like me can make it on his own, I can inspire others to try their hardest. I want to be remembered as someone who mattered, who cared, not as that blind rich kid from Lanzhou. TianTian: You talk too much, you know that? blushes furiously, touched deeply by Yue’s words

Yue: laughs Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to. reaches out to ruffle TianTian’s hair, who lets him do it

Yue excelled in his basic courses but was most drawn to creative writing. TianTian was also sent to school so he would be a good companion for Yue, though less attention and money was spent on him. Yue made up for that by always helping TianTian study. TianTian found he had a great eye for Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, and with Yue’s flair for Chinese poetry, the two collaborated to make gorgeous Chinese scrolls, flowing with artistic beauty and romantically prophetic words. Their work was sought out by many and the pair found they could even sell their more beautiful works.

Not wanting to be bound to his disability, Yue, with the help of TianTian, worked out to make himself strong. During one workout session, Yue pulled a muscle badly and his father sent him for massage with a well known Tui-Na (simplified to “Tuina”) massage therapist. Yue was so enamoured of the man’s skill and demeanor that he begged him to become an apprentice. It took a lot of cajoling but the man finally relented, telling Yue that if he went to a specific academy for massage therapy and he passed with high marks, the man would take Yue on.

It took a lot of convincing from Yue to get his father to agree to it and Yue had to play into his blindness in a way he didn’t feel proud of, but he got permission and funding. He spent his semesters trying to master the classes, from Tuina ‘massage’ to Gua Sha. He avoided cupping and acupuncture due to his blindness, as those practices should not be done by ‘feel’ alone.

He graduated top of his class and when he returned to the man who promised to apprentice him, he said the one thing that quickly convinced the man that Yue was the right student. “Sifu Zhang, I have learned everything you asked of me and I know nothing.” Yue’s humility pleased him the most and he happily took on his new blind apprentice.

The two worked together tirelessly, Yue always listening and soaking up what his teacher said. He never asked questions to argue or debate, he only asked to understand, and Sifu Zhang encouraged Yue to make the most of his physical strength and the awareness the young man’s blindness fostered within him. TianTian was frequently used for “homework”, which he didn’t mind one bit!

When Yue reached the age for university, his father insisted his son go abroad for school, TianTian accompanying him as his companion. Yue protested but his father insisted, a fear in his father’s eyes that Yue had never seen before, so he agreed. He was sent to London to study at University College London where he got a Masters degree in psychology with a minor in sociology, with the purpose of being able to become a therapist and run his own practice. He melded this knowledge into his Tuina practice where he used both massage and talk therapy to work with clients. He worked on his English fluency while in London and speaks English with a hint of a British accent. He joined a Chinese massage academy as a therapist out of a shared office.

One day on his way to work with TianTian, he was kidnapped, his best friend being knocked out and unable to help him. Faceless men warned him that his father had crossed the wrong man back in China and that he, Yue, could pay the price for it if he didn’t push his father to ‘make things right’. He was released unharmed and immediately called his father and told him everything. His father sounded entirely too calm for such a situation, as if he had expected this and told Yue he would need to leave London and move further away from China.

The plan was to send him to America, California specifically, and help get his therapy practice established and to live out his life there, making the best of it with TianTian at his side. When Yue argued against this and asked if TianTian had been consulted, who had been listening in on the phone call, said he not only acquiesced, he agreed with this. Before Yue could say much else, the plan was set in motion and he and TianTian packed up and moved to Prospect California.

It was there that Yue would begin the newest chapter of his life.