The sun has yet risen and the sky was between ash grey and Alice blue. The chilling wind came through the oxidized window guards,
waking up the mere skeleton. Liang slowly sat up and starred outside the
windows, until the sun was there. He picked up his hard bristled toothbrush and yellowish cup, stood up,
leaned on the ruined wall and walked out from his room of 60 square feet to the
shared bathroom outside. He kept his steps soft so that he wouldn’t wake up
anyone behind the thin wooden boards.
“Good morning, Uncle Liang,” his neighbor Xiao Zhang moved
sideways carefully so Liang could pass. “Will you come and join our dinner
tonight? Peipei’ll make grilled
pork and bean curd stick in hot pot.”
What a
sweet couple, he thought. “I’ll be
there. Thanks,” Liang nodded and smiled gently, and went straight to the bathroom.
After washed, Liang returned to his room and started
dressing. He then took out a yellowing pawn ticket as what he did every morning and night. A pair of shabby bangles. His
head drooped and his eyes were blurred. Why
haven’t you left something to me?
“I
have bought some grilled pork, dear!” Shuixian jumped into the room and
exclaimed. “We have good meal tonight! And we can buy a new thick coat for you tomorrow!”
Liang
was so surprised that he put down his work. “Where is the money from?”
“Um…some
free-lances from toys factory…”
“I
don’t know they will pay you so much…”Liang blinked and quickly turned to his
annoying accounting work.
He hastily finished the overnight wheat bread as breakfast,
left the flat with his little blue trolley. A group of strong men with tattoos
held bundles of metal rods, setting up stalls for the hawkers. Liang walked
down the street, crossed the bystreet and got into the wet market. Greeted by
his friend Lao Chen, he shouted, “any cardboard?”
It was until 8p.m. that Liang was back to the small flat. He
felt extremely hungry when he found the house filled with the smell of grilled
streaky pork. People were busy going in and out the shared kitchen. He saw Peipei,
Mr. Cheung’s fiancée, wearing a pink apron with heart-shaped pattern. Why the backs of every woman are so
attractive?
Xiao Zhang was wearing a similar one as Peipei’s. He was
holding a fiery old-fashioned pot and
glancing left and right. Liang stepped forward and opened a small folding table
for him to put it down. “Thanks!” Zhang said, and then turned back to the
kitchen for tableware. Finally everyone came out and had their bowls and
chopsticks on hand.
“Xiao Zhang, you have a good housewife and a good cook!” a
middle man Chuangfan laughed.
Xiao Zhang giggled, “She still has a far way to go!”
Liang looked up at the blushing lady, then the chuckling man,
and nodded, “The dishes have a taste of home.” A taste of love.
Mrs. Zhang had a bite of grilled pork and raised her head, “As
I always mention, ‘it’s the most essential thing for women to firmly grasp the
stomach of men.’ This is the major and the only criterion of being a good
housewife.”
Shuixian
cooked well, too. Her best dishes included streamed fish belly with tofu base,
stir-fried choi sum with beef and, of course, grilled pork and bean curd stick in hot pot. My favourite
dish.
“How is today’s work?” Mrs. Zhang asked Liang. Peipei got into Zhang’s room due to an incoming call at
this moment.
“Not bad. I have earned around one hundred dollars today.”
Xiao Zhang took a mouthful of rice and questioned, “Seems
less than usual?”
With a shrug, Liang took one more piece of streaky pork. This is too greasy for me, though delicious.
“Why don’t you find a job
in goldsmith shop? I have heard that you made great and gorgeous golden
accessories for wedding in the early days,” Chuangfan wondered insouciantly.
It surprised the other
around the table. Mrs. Zhang was so excited, “Really?! You may be a great help to us!”
“Oh please Mum!” Xiao Zhang pulled her sleeve but Mrs. Zhang pushed him away.
She lowered her voice, “We need a pair of
pretty gold bangles for our lovely daughter-in-law.”
“I don’t craft for a number of years already,
Mrs. Zhang. All skills are gone. And I have no
material.” Liang was thinking about having one more piece of the juicy pork.
Mrs. Zhang moved to his left-hand side, “that’s fine that’s fine. We have bought a
pair from a pawnshop. You know we can’t afford the brand new ones. So I would
like to ask if you can do something to make the bangles as pretty as a brand
new pair……Oh is everything well, Peipei?” she gave a big smile to the
girl and whispered to the shocked man, “so the deal is made, hehe. I’ll bring
the bangles to you tonight later.”
Then Peipei started whining about her boss
and heavy workload, which stopped Liang from rejecting Mrs. Cheung.
Mrs. Zhang took
out the bangles quickly after Peipei was left. The
bangles surprised Liang much. He knew this
pair of gold bangles with dragon and phoenix on them well. The delicate
material, the handcraft and the weight of 1.26 ounce per one. The tiny scratch mistakenly
made on the upper side near the interface. The “囍” (happiness) craving with vines around. The hollowed-out design. The
daffodils craving. He knew too well about them. He carefully opened them, and
in the interfaces he found the Chinese characters “良” (Liang) on one bangle and
“仙”(Xian) on another. His hands were trembling. His vision was
blurred. He nearly shouted out. They are my work! They are the pair of Shuixian and mine!
“It
looks so beautiful, Liang! Thank you!” Shuixian turned in circles holding the
bangles.
“It’s
only a trivial,” Liang scratched his head and said, “I should have made a
prettier
pair for you. Sorry.”
“I
am satisfied already! See! The design is so special and advanced!”
Shuixian’s
mother folded her hands. “But how heavy are they?” she doubted with a frown.
As the gold used was too soft and light, the bangles were a bit deformed.
They also became dull with little black spots due to the passage of time and
several resales. And there were a few scratches across the phoenix and the character “囍”. And now they got tears
on them.
Liang began to collect information about operating
a goldsmith shop himself. At his 40th birthday, finally, he had
enough money, which was the whole of his property, to rent a small stall and
run his own business in Mong Kok. He was busy from day to night and sometimes
he slept in the stall. People came in and out all the day, without buying or
ordering anything. “It’s too expensive.” “It’s not worth.” “More designs and
better quality can be found in the chain shops.” The days were even harder.
“I should have
known that I am never a good businessman.” he cried.
He was again exhausted, returning home at 11p.m..
When he opened the door, he found a smoking cup of hot Xianpian tea on his desk
in the living room, as usual. He became energetic instantly.
Liang held the
pair of bangles with dragon and phoenix tight. They went further deformed. This is the most significant thing
representing Shuixian.
The doctor’s words kept looping in his mind - There
are some newly-found medicines for pneumonia, which may help your wife. Effective. But
expensive. Liang ran to home without the slightest hesitation. He breathed deeply when he had searched every
corner of the flat for anything valuable. Nothing. But only a stack of pawn
tickets – a set of shabby tea cups, a pack of shabby clothing, a pair of shabby
bangles. He knelt down on the floor with his hands covering his face and the
house in a mess.
Should I keep them myself? His hands were shaking and his
heart jumped faster and faster. Shuixian!
He looked around his room, his bed and his tools. I got nothing else! Nothing! The weather became bleaker in this
deep night of late winter. The sound of wind was roaring. The moon was hindered
by the thick and heavy cloud. There was nothing else, except Liang and the pair
of bangles. He saw every scene of him and her, from the day they knew each
other, in someone’s party; to the first dating, which was in Dai Pai Tong; to
their simple wedding, the happiest day; finally to her funeral, and the days
without her. He looked at the
bangles. The phoenix with scratches. Why haven’t
you left something to me?
But they now belong to Xiao Zhang and Peipei. The
sweet couple is like Shuixian and me. Liang struggled. Like Shuixian and me. They worked hard for each other. They
supported each other. They had profound relationship. They loved each other. They
talked. They laughed. They comforted each other. They argued. They dug at each
other. They were reconciled.
They fought for life together. Nothing was about materialism. All is about love,
the deep emotion inside them. Like
Shuixian and me.
In the funeral of Shuixian, Liang gave Shuixian’s
mother the only picture of his wife.
“Don’t you want it?” she burst into tears.
He shook his head.
He
turned and saw the stack of pawn tickets.
A pair of shabby bangles.
He
gave a knowing smile to himself. He placed the gold bangles in warm water and
cleaned them with neutral detergent, then wiped them with a soft dry cloth. He
took up his tools, started working.
Liang gave his mother-in-law a sad smile, “Our love
is not limited to any matter.”
The
sun has yet risen and the sky was between ash grey and Alice blue. Liang
eventually fell asleep. On the bed, there was a pair of gold bangles with dragon
and phoenix on them, which looked like the completely new ones, and a pawn
ticket beside the mere skeleton. In the interfaces of the bangles, there were
no longer the characters “良” (Liang) and “仙”(Xian), but “張”(Zhang) and “佩”(Pei).
Liang smiled sweetly as if Shuixian was now by his side. He knew he was a lucky
man since he owned a stack of pawn tickets. A
pair of shabby bangles.
