The Pair of Gold Bangles

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 40^th 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.