Ms. Golden Branch (01)

Edited by Adela Karliner(2019-12-07)

(01)-1968

        In 1968, old Mr. Li finally looked forward to the visit of his son Dr. Weng Li and daughter-in-law Lily from the United States.

        In 1960, Mr. Li’s son Weng went to the united states, spent three and a half years getting a doctorate from Princeton University, did post-doctoral research at Cornell University for two and a half years, and then went to Columbia University to teach for a year. At that time, U. S. immigration was particularly restrictive to Orientals; It took them seven years to get their green cards, If Weng had not taken the opportunity to attend the 1968 International Biochemistry Conference in Tokyo, Japan, nobody knew how long it would have taken to visit his old father, so Weng and his wife were also particularly excited to return to his homeland for a visit.

       "Unfortunately your biological mother was not able to wait for your visit!”  Mr. Li sighed to his son and daughter-in-law with a great lamenting sigh. In those days, China and the United States did not have diplomatic relations, which made Taiwanese students going abroad to study in the United States or coming back to visit very difficult; they had to face the pain of being separated from their families.

       "Have to go to sweep my mother's grave,” Weng, the son sighed helplessly, and his eyes reddened behind his glasses, “I asked her to forgive us for not being able to fulfill our filial duties!"

     "Now let's go back to clean ourselves and rest for a while,” Mr. Li announced. Then, to the chauffeur Lao Yang, who was carrying the luggage behind him, Mr. Li requested: “Lao Yang, please come early again tomorrow, we will all get up early, Lao Yang will take us to Yangmingshan cemetery to worship our ancestor and burn some incense before the sun comes out.”

     "Lao Yang, haven’t see you for seven years,”  Lily said to the driver with a smile, “Now, you have put on a chauffeur's hat, wearing a driver's uniform, not only do you looks younger, but also full of vitality."

     "Miss Yu... Ah, we should call you the Li family’s fourth daughter-in-law now!”  Lao Yang answered politely, In the Li clan, Weng is the number four among all his male first cousins from his father’s side, so according the tradition of Li’s clan, Lily was officially the ‘number four daughter-in-law’. “one of our bank's new rules; the driver must wear a uniform when operating the bank’s business car.”

        In keeping with his chauffeur's uniform, before opening the car’s rear door, Lao Yang specifically touched his cap edge with his right hand, his right heel suddenly clicked the heel of his left foot, issuing a surprisingly big, clicking bang, Lily’s sight followed the sound and noticed that Lao Yang’s new leather shoes were really shiny and bright.

     "Having lived in the United States for seven years,”  Lao Yang asked again, “eating their bread and butter every day, how come you are not fattened up, It seems that you have lost weight?"

     "Am I thinner?" Lily asked  Lao Yang as she  stepped into the back seat, “That's because it's not easy to leave home and stay abroad."

       "Lao Yang,” Weng, who had always liked to sing the opposite tune to Lily’s, told Lao Yang, “she is dieting every day to make herself this thin.”  

       "Number four Weng,” Mr. Li said to his son as he looked out from the car window in the car at Taipei City, “my new apartment is still on Peace East Road; the location is not far from the old Japanese-style dormitory where we used to live.” Weng had left Taipei for seven years, only to see the market was more prosperous than before and the streets had not changed much, but the number of cars on the road had greatly increased.

      "Hey, Mr. Li's new house has a new bathroom, a new gas stove, all authentic new-style modern devices!”  Lao Yang interrupted while driving.

      "Your new mother is not very much older than you are,  her surname is Tang, you can call her Aunt Tang, some people call her sweet lady ...”  Old Mr. Li blushed and smiled for a moment.

     The old man suddenly thought of something, staring at the car's mirror, and asked his son and daughter-in-law: "Yeah, what expensive gift did you buy for Aunt Tang?"  

     "Well, we bought a new electric razor for Dad." In 1968, the electric razor would have been a very avant-garde gift from Weng, who was just starting to get paid.

     "In the same shopping mall we also bought a large jar of face cream, a large box of face powder for our new mother, they are all made in the U.S.A.,." The mall which specializes in cheap goods, is not far from Weng's school, and is the only shopping center they have ever visited outside the supermarket.

      "Face cream, face powder?... Lao Yang, let's take a left turn and go to the Star Jewelry Shop." The old gentleman said thoughtfully to the driver Lao Yang.

     Lao Yang parked his car on the street, sitting in the driver's seat to stay on his post. Old Mr. Li led his son Weng and daughter-in-law Lily into the jewelry store.

     "Hello Mr. Li!”  as soon as the three of them entered the jewelry shop, they were warmly welcomed by manager Chen, “please sit down, please sit down, welcome, welcome."

     "Is the pair of earrings still here?” The old gentleman asked, “please take them out and show us one more time.”

     "Yes, yes, yes! Knowing honorable sir, that you were interested in buying them, we have put them aside for you!" As soon as Chen waved, an assistant trotted in carrying a small velvet box in two hands.

     "This pair of earrings and the necklace you and the lady Tang bought last month were made by the same great craftsman.” manager Chen opened the velvet box and was very attentive, “that is, not only is the craftsmanship top-of- the-line, but the quality of the material is also the best! Just look at the lovely color! Our twenty-four karat pure gold is flashing with a yellowish shine! It definitely is not the gold which has a red tint in it; experts know right away that it is imported from Hong Kong, not the local Taiwanese gold."

     A young maid brought out four cups of hot tea right away.

    "Can you give us another price break?" Mr. Li asked.

     "The price is too low! It can’t be any lower,” Mr. Chen shouted as if he had been insulted, “we jewelers are loyal to our old patrons; losing money is ok, but we can’t lose an outrageous amount!"

     The elder Mr. Li took a roll of New Taiwanese bills from his pocket and, after paying the money, placed the velvet box containing the earrings in the hands of Lily.

      With Lily holding the jewelry box in her hands, the trio got back in the car parked on the street.

     Their car was crawling on Taipei’s crowded streets for a long time, before it finally arrived at Mr. Li's new home.

(To be continued)