Gold Mountain Blues - Ling Zhang [268]
Ah-Hsien pressed her lips together. The barb had hit home.
“I won’t get anything, and you won’t have anything either, so we’re even.”
“Big Head Au’s got a wife, and in the new society, he can’t take you as a second wife. If you hang around him, you’ll end up with nothing.”
Ah-Hsien flushed and then grew pale as she listened.
“I know you hate me. I’ve never treated you well ever since you married into this family, and you’ve had to put up with being a grass widow for years while Kam Ho was away.”
Six Fingers undid her bun and the black cloth which covered it, took from it a couple of heavy gold rings, and gave them to Ah-Hsien.
“Don’t tell anyone. Find yourself a decent man to marry, put all this trouble behind you and live out your life in peace with him.”
Ah-Hsien took the rings and her eyes reddened. She looked as if she wanted to say something but could not find the words. Finally she nodded without speaking and left the room.
When she had gone, Six Fingers slumped on the stool as if the effort of talking had exhausted her.
“Everything your father amassed over a lifetime, I’ve lost the lot.…”
The sound of her voice echoed in the empty room.
“Your brothers will come home one day, and I won’t have left them anything to inherit, apart from a few family letters, and some photos as mementoes.”
Kam Sau grew distraught. She could not bear to hear her mother talking about her death. She gripped her hands between her own. “Please don’t worry,” she begged her. “Ah-Yuen and I have met Liu, the head of the county government, several times at meetings. He’s a good man and very friendly. We’ll go and see him tomorrow and tell him what’s happened. He only has to give the word and I’m sure they’ll return everything to us.”
Six Fingers shook her head. “The world has changed. No one can stop it. Don’t wait till tomorrow. Take Wai Heung straight back there now, in case anything else happens.”
Six Fingers had a plan of her own. The gold rings she had given her daughter-in-law were not the last of her possessions. She had more valuables hidden in her shoes, but would not use them until her daughter and granddaughter had left. She had heard about two women in neighbouring villages who had killed themselves after being classified as landlords. One had thrown herself into a well, and by the time they pulled her body out, her belly had swollen like a woman about to give birth. When they poked her navel, brown water spurted out. The other cut her own throat with a vegetable knife. There was so much blood, the shoes of the people who took her away stuck to the floor. Six Fingers did not want to die such a vile and humiliating death. When she was little and living with her elder sister in Red Hair’s house, she had heard her nephew’s tutor tell the story of Second Sister Yu in the Red Chamber Dream who kills herself by swallowing gold. This was the kind of clean ending that she wanted for herself.
“Yes, go now,” urged Mak Dau. “Wai Heung’s just a young girl. She’ll be terrified if there’s more trouble.” Thinking that she would see Mr. Liu in the county town first thing tomorrow morning, Kam Sau reassured her mother once more that there was no need to worry, took her daughter by the hand and turned to go.
It was too late. Suddenly there was a hammering on the bedroom door. A timid voice said: “Kam Sau, open the door!” It was Ah-Hsien.
As Kam Sau did so, she found herself swept back inside by furious villagers who crowded past her, pushing Ah-Hsien in front of them.
Big Head Au jabbed Six Fingers’ forehead angrily with his finger. “So, Mrs. Kwan, you think you can hide your valuables from us, you evil woman!” “They … they saw them … I didn’t tell them!” stammered Ah-Hsien, not daring to look her mother-in-law in the face.
Big Head’s blow had broken the skin, and a drop of blood rose and spread, congealing between Six Fingers’ eyebrows like a big black wart.
“So what else are you hiding?