18 July 2003 - Wasted a day waiting in HK airport but saw no signs of Jerry, could not give him the presents. The next following week, will be busied with exams & work. No way at all to follow Jerry's schedule, so Shelly & I decided to take a day leave off work on 14 July 2003 again, to take a gamble, we booked a flight from Shanghai to Cheng Du, Cheng Du to HK & HK to Shanghai ticket. See if we are lucky enough to be able to catch a glimpse of Jerry.
Early in the morning, Shelly & I both took the 8:45am flight from Shanghai to Cheng Du, waiting for Jerry's arrival. At around 12:30pm, Jerry's flight reached!! At gate no. 2 exit, Shelly & I waited there. Eversince 9 March 2003 till today, it had been 4 months plus that we have not seen Jerry!! Finally, our dreams will come true! We were both really excited & nervous! We waited for quite a while but still have not seen Jerry, my whole heart sank.. We chatted with some of others Jerry fans who were also waiting at the airport, that we realized Jerry might be having his meal at the VIP Lounge. Shelly & I then realized that we both had not eaten anything at all, feeling hungry, we went to fill our stomach.
After our meal, we are preparing to confirm our tickets to HK. In Cheng Du Suang Liu airport, there are 2 stories, when we are walking from the inside to the outside, along the pavement, we saw a lot of Cheng Du fans waiting outside the VIP Lounge area, Jerry must be inside!!! As Shelly & my tickets are for different class, so we checked in & passed the security & went to the VIP Resting area to wait for Jerry, the security was very tight in the VIP Resting area, & as it is facing the entrance of the VIP Lounge, Shelly & I kept our faces fixed in that direction hoping to see Jerry.
At 14:45pm, there were a lot more people, all rushing to see Jerry, we also went along with the crowd. At 14:50pm, finally JERRY APPEARED!!! His manager & assistants were walking in front & behind him, with security guards protecting him. We stood there, saw him take down his backpack, walk through the scanner door. At that moment, I simply can't believe my own eyes. Jerry is in flesh & blood, so real standing right infront of me! Then he entered the VIP room with all his crews. At this time, we are only left with 20 mins to boarding. So we went into the waiting area & sat right at the back, 10 mins later, Jerry came!!
At that moment, 2 female airport staff held onto Jerry & refused to let him leave! Jerry remove his backpack, took out a can of Pepsi & gave it to one of them, 2 of them began to snatch for it & forgot about Jerry. Jerry quickly left, slowly he is walking towards us. I immediately went up to him & pass him the presents which we had wanted to give him. Shelly passed the letter to him. At this very moment, I was rooted to the ground, motionless, I could only remember saying : "Jerry, we came from shanghai, this ping pong racket is for you, coz the other time in Nanjing, saw you & Zai playing ping pong, you played well." I really thought of praising him more but then I could not remember what happened next. I could not even hear what Jerry said. Shelly said I looked so stunned & shocked & my eyes just froze!
When we board the plane, there were total 8 seats in 2 rows. I sat at 1C right next to Shelly. But next to me, dividing me is a small passageway & Jerry came in!! He sat right in front of me!! The crew state that we should not be a hindrance & no photo-taking are allowed. As the crews were busying arranging their stuff, Shelly walk right up to Jerry & said to him, "On 6 July, we went to HK to fetch you but sadly we didn't manage to see you, as we had to work on the 2nd day, we had no choice but to leave."
Jerry, with his electrifying eyes replied : "I'm so sorry." Shelly immediately said "It's ok, heard that your job is done, so we flew to Cheng Du to fetch you this time." I immediately said "You must come to Shanghai ok? We will treat you go eat big crabs!" He just looked at me & smiled. At this time, some fans came along & took their seats near us, all of us were soo happy!! His manager also sat down. In the whole area, there are just Shelly, me, some Xu fans (left & right) at the back row is Jerry, Xiao Zhi, Li Siu Fang & another foreigner.
2 hours flight journey began, we at the front kept turning & looking at Jerry, he looked just like a small little boy, he cannot keep still at work, at times, he played with the cards on flight, then he packed his bag, then he flip through the in flight magazines. I can't help not looked at him!! Once he actually looked up at me & smiled. My heart flap, my jaw dropped open & I just plainly stared at him, my god!!! I must have looked so stupid in front of him!!!
Next the stewardess came to distribute newspapers, she gave everyone a copy & then said to us, "Guess you 2 won't need any papers right? Just looked behind enough already!" Jerry & his manager laughed. We were sooo embarrassed, our face turned red. Xu fans from HK gave him a VCD which they made it themselves, Jerry went to his bag & took out a small DVD player, he view the VCD on the spot! So cute!! HK fans claimed that they too have the same model of DVD player which Jerry had, but Jerry quickly replied, "This is not mine, I borrowed it from someone else, my own DVD player is a big one!!" using his hand actions to frame out how big his DVD player is, soooooo adorable!!!
At this time, food is served, Jerry's face immediately light up!! Just like a little boy when he see food! And he really eats a lot!! He ate salad, fruit platter, noodles, 2 buns, 2 biscuits, fruit juice & cold water in just an hour!!! The way he drank his fruit juice is not like us, slowly sipping it, but he drank it like a cow!!! In just a gulp! After eating, he began to sleep, after awhile later, his manager slept too. We all did not dare make any noise to bother them & just let them sleep. Shelly & I are soo busy awake by looking at him, he had soo many ways of sleeping, just like a boy! His expressions are plenty. like opening his mouth, frowning, smiling, so many actions...he slept till his blanket dropped on the floor. Looking at his healthy skin glowing. his long eyelashes were soooo captivating. just like an angel!!! At this moment, I only wished for one thing - that is for time to stop! Stop at this moment now!
Around 17:00om, I got up to go to the toilet, behind there were some stewardess at the back, we started to chat a little. Then I saw Shelly waving for me to go over. I went over & she pointed at Jerry saying that he want to go toilet. I sat down & Jerry stood up & ran for the toilet. when he came out, looking at him, gives me the feeling that he had conquered the whole plane, he is so tall & so huge that he seems to occupy the entire plane!!! Shelly & I were actually chatting but we stopped & looked at him he nodded his head to us as if to signal that he is making contact with us to say hi. & he walk back to his seat, we both smiled broadly.
When the plane landed in HK, Jerry was still sleeping, the stewardess wake him up gently. All of us were removing our luggage & left accordingly. We stood outside & waited for him, when he came out, I told him, "Jerry, you must exercise ya, don't forget to use the ping pong racket we gave you." Shelly asked "When are you coming to Shanghai?" His expressions were as if he were thinking about something, he never answer. Right outside the exit, there were a lot of fans waiting for him. We both shouted "Bye Bye Jerry" & he disappeared with his crew quickly. We quickly went to confirm our transit tickets back & chatted with other fellow fans.
At the Gate 3, we saw 3 HK fans, they told us that Jerry is upstairs at the Resting room, but what a pity, the last flight back to Shanghai is at 19:15pm, while Jerry's flight will only take off at 19:40pm. Shelly & I both waited till 19:00pm, we had no choice but to hop on the plane back to Shanghai, ending our special & memorable 1 day journey. The feeling of having Jerry so close & yet so far is undescribable, the thought of leaving him breaks our hearts, we left with a heavy heart. Our only console is to hope to see Jerry again!
Source: Shanghai Jerry fan
Translation by: Ross- Singapore