Gold Mountain Blues - Ling Zhang [217]
Kam Sau burst out laughing. “You never used to talk like that, Mum! You’re worse than the servants now.” “You know what she said?” Six Fingers continued. “She blurted out that her brother needed to fork out for a dowry at the end of the year. If that isn’t crap, I don’t know what is. Your brother sends home every cent he earns in Gold Mountain to support the rest of us, and she wants him to support her family as well.”
“Well, dumb or not, you chose this daughter-in-law. My brother had never even seen her when he led her into the bridal chamber. You’ve only yourself to blame.”
Out of the whole family, only Kam Sau dared to be so blunt with Six Fingers. Her mother could only sigh in response: “She looked like a steady young woman in the photo, and when we visited their house, she was polite though she didn’t say much. Who would have thought that she would turn out so dumb? There was no point in her learning to read. The few characters she learned went in one ear and out the other.”
“What about ‘marriage for love,’ like Mr. Auyung’s always talking about?” said Kam Sau. “If my brother had got to know her first, he would never have settled for her.” “Well, men have nothing to fear, do they?” exclaimed her mother. “If they don’t like this one, they can find another one to marry. But women have to stick with what they’ve got, whether the man’s good or bad.” “That’s the old way of thinking, Mum,” said her daughter. “Even the Imperial concubine Wen Xiu fought for a divorce from the emperor Xuantong, so why can’t other women?”
Kam Sau raised her head to begin braiding her hair and saw shadows settle on her mother’s face. She smiled: “Did you and Dad really marry for love?” she asked. “My great-auntie says that Dad broke off his engagement to another girl for you, and had to pay her off with all the goods he’d brought back from Gold Mountain. Is it true?”
There was a long pause, then Six Fingers finally said reluctantly: “He paid by giving up a few Gold Mountain suitcases, but I nearly paid with my life, so we were even.” “So you and Dad married for love!” said Kam Sau with a triumphant smile. “But you wouldn’t let my brother marry for love. Mum, you’re a tyrant!”
Six Fingers didn’t understand what Kam Sau meant by “tyrant” but the rest was clear enough. “So what’s so great about marrying for love?” she demanded. “I was only eighteen when I married your father. In more than thirty years, he’s only visited three times. The last time he left, you were still in my belly. He’s over sixty now, and he refuses to come back to me without digging out that last gold ingot. Even if he was to come back tomorrow, all the sweet nectar’s gone, dried up. What’s the point in that, eh?”
Kam Sau’s smile faded at Six Fingers’ words and she could think of nothing to say. She had never seen her father. To her, he existed only in the photos and dollar letters he sent home from Gold Mountain. But sometimes, when her mother read her father’s letters home, she could see him pass like a light over her mother’s face.
They heard a heavy tread on the stairs. Kam Sau did not need to look round to know it was her sister-in-law, Ah-Hsien, coming down. She was heavily pregnant and walked as if she was dragging a wooden bucket behind her. By the time she arrived in the kitchen she was sweating profusely. She came to a halt, and asked: “Are the trotters ready?” Six Fingers gave a cool smile. “I assume you’re addressing the question to me? I happen to be your mother-in-law.