Miss Chopsticks

  Though the stoical Two did not utter a word of complaint about her father’s decision, the day after the bride-gifts arrived, Li Zhongguo found his wife clasping the dead body of her daughter in her arms. Two had been fished out of the well that morning. It was just before Spring Festival and the weather was freezing. She was wearing nothing but her underwear, her clothes carefully put away to be passed on to her sisters.

  Agony clutched at Li Zhongguo’s heart, and his head, which he had just started to raise, was lowered once more. When people came from the the local town to say that Three could fill the gap left by her sister, he was thrown into confusion and didn’t know what to do. He knew that he must send her, but at night his wife would whisper that, if he did, she would follow her second daughter into the well. After days of anxiety, his decision was made for him when Uncle Two spirited Three away in the night. There was nothing left for Li Zhongguo to do but accept that all his hopes of becoming a ‘man of standing’ were nothing more than dust in the wind, and his family line would end with him.

  But now that Three had found a job in the city with a handsome salary, her father found that he commanded a certain respect. For nearly fifteen years now, peasants had been allowed to leave their villages to find work, and thousands of men, who had not been able to make anything of their lives at home, had packed their bags and gone off to the city. Although they did menial jobs for low pay, working on building sites and acting as night watchmen, the money they brought home was still far more than they could ever hope to earn in the fields. In some villages, so many men left that the women and children had to take charge of the farming themselves. However, it was far more unusual for women to leave. Although the men who came back to the village for Spring Festival talked of how more and more country girls were finding their way to the city, it seemed they often worked in shameful professions. Sometimes they earned money with their bodies, or else they were shut up in factories doing unskilled labour, where you had to ask permission to go to the toilet and got your pay docked for doing so. It was truly unheard-of for a girl like Three to be posing for photographs in broad daylight with so many city folk, and a great credit to the father.

  As the Spring Festival holiday reached an end and Three began to pack her bags in order to return to Nanjing, all the girls in the village clamoured to go with her. Uncle Two’s daughters chattered around him like magpies and Three’s younger sisters looked at Li Zhongguo with pleading eyes. Uncle Two, who was the family’s authority on city life, was troubled by all the commotion. Three was not ready to take people back with her, he said, and they should wait until she had carved out a proper life for herself in Nanjing.

  The next Spring Festival, Three brought back even more money, making people even more envious. For the whole of the holiday, her good fortune was the sole topic of conversation in the village. From family kitchens to the Production Brigade office, all anyone could talk about was who should go to the city with her. Of course, the older generation didn’t begin to imagine that a ‘chopstick’ could ever become a ‘roof-beam’, but those banknotes Three had brought home were the genuine article: why not let a chopstick earn money?

  Li Zhongguo was more cautious. Chopsticks can easily snap, and if something should happen to one of his daughters, it would bring great shame. On the other hand, he knew in his heart that Three’s success had won back a lot of respect for his family – or, as the Chinese call it, ‘face’. Even his wife, who was usually terrified of everyone, had the confidence to speak. And when he thought of his dead second daughter and his accusing, tearful eldest daughter, his resolve hardened: he couldn’t let the girls endure the sufferings of the peasant life.

  The question remained: who should go? It was obvious that Four, who was deaf and dumb, couldn’t accompany her sister. That left Five and Six. Five had a reputation in the village for being ugly and stupid, while Six was the only girl in the area to have finished middle school. If an ugly girl is away from home, her parents have little to worry about. As for educated girls, Li Zhongguo had heard that they landed the plum jobs. He decided to send them both.

  So it was that, two days later, Uncle Two led Three, Five and Six out of the village before the first glimmer of daybreak had appeared above the horizon. He wanted to catch the Tofu Lady before crowds of people arrived looking for jobs, and it was better to spend the night travelling than in an expensive city guesthouse. During the two hours it took to walk through the fields to the bus station, Uncle Two issued warning after warning to the girls, terrified that their innocence might make them prey to bad men: never smile at a man or listen to his compliments; remember that he had never heard of a city man making a proper wife out of a country girl. He continued his lecture during the three-hour bus journey, telling them everything he knew about city customs: how you had to wash every day after work and clean your teeth morning and night; how a man couldn’t go out into the street without a shirt or a woman without her trousers; how women painted their faces and wore perfume; and how, when you went to a public toilet, you had to take paper, and sometimes money so you could get in.

  Three dozed through Uncle Two’s lecture, her head lolling every time the bus went over a bump, but Five and Six listened wide-eyed as their uncle described to them a world that they could hardly imagine.

  ‘Don’t nod your head when going into a shop, otherwise the attendants will force their goods on you and you’ll end up paying through the nose for them. Don’t go into shops where there aren’t many people or goods: those are for rich people. And you can’t spit on the ground or wipe off snot on walls or trees …’

  When they arrived in Nanjing, it took them half an hour to walk from the bus station to the Tofu Lady’s shop, Five and Six staring around them in astonishment at the cars, the people and the big buildings. Thoughout their walk, Uncle Two’s lecture did not stop: ‘Lower your head and say “Hello” when you enter a building and don’t forget to turn back and say “Goodbye” when you leave. Always bow when thanking people …’ By the time he saw the Tofu Lady, his throat was dry and hoarse, and he had hardly any voice left to speak.

  Although Three had met the Tofu Lady many times since she had started working at the Happy Fool, it had always been at the big willow, never at her shop. She was astonished by the change. The basic hole-in-the-wall, greasy and black from deep-frying, had been transformed into one of many standardised units, and the lane had become a designated ‘food street’ in the market, with shops selling all manner of delicacies. Gone was the school desk with its graffiti, and the bench onto which everyone had squeezed. Gone, too, was the oil-drum stove. In their place were four small, red-painted tables, a proper cooker and a glass-fronted cabinet to hold the disposable bowls and chopsticks. There were pretty pictures on the walls illustrating the well-known stories of ‘The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea’ and ‘The Goddess of Heaven Scattering Flowers’, and a picture of a plump baby boy with a carp in his arms, symbolising abundance (Three felt bad that such a lively fish had been given to an ignorant baby to play with). Most puzzling to Three was a picture of a blond, blue-eyed Western child eating a skewer of stinky tofu fritters and giving the thumbs-up. Had Three’s reading been good enough to decipher the slogan underneath, she would have known that it said ‘Tofu Lady’s world-famous stinky tofu fritters!’ The Tofu Lady was extremely proud of this ‘international’ advertisment, which she said she had got from a student at one of the vocational colleges in exchange for twenty bamboo skewers of tofu. The student had simply pasted over the ice lolly in the child’s hand.

  Uncle Two pushed a couple of tables together and piled them with the gifts they had brought. The Tofu Lady started to peel off the wrappings, all the while trying politely to refuse his generosity.

  ‘There you go again, bringing me things! Didn’t I tell you not to bother? You’re wasting your energy – you won’t make me like you any more than I already do, you know. Anyway, it’s not like it used to be: if you’ve got the money you can buy this sort o
f thing in every big city in China, you don’t need to go to the countryside for it … Aiya, this year’s sticky rice! This will be wonderful in an eight-treasures pudding. The stuff you buy in the city’s always a year old. And money chillis? I’ve not seen chillis like this for years, with so much oil they look golden. Did your family grow them? Look at this powdered lotus root, you can’t get it this pure anywhere in the city; they all cut it with powdered chalk! And I’ve been telling everyone about your dried sweet potatoes. That lovely sweet taste stays in your mouth for hours, and they’re delicious all year round, steamed, fried or boiled. What’s this? Some of those little grass carp the fishermen used to feed to the pigs until they discovered they could change the name to ‘whitebait’ and made big money! Aiya, you’re treating me with so much respect it’s embarrassing. I know they say a drop of kindness should be repaid with a river of gratitude, but that doesn’t mean you have to bring me big presents every single time, or pay tribute every year! I’m really doing well out of you lot!

  ‘Now, who have you got with you this time? Are these two looking for work too? Well you don’t need me to wave the flag this time. Three’s a clever girl who knows what’s what, and money’s really growing on trees at that big willow these days. Three, you must have seen – it’s really busy there: hordes of people looking for work or workers. And our Mr Guan has just opened an office by the tree – an International Business Affairs Office, specially to help people like you find companies to work in! These intellectuals are quick off the mark, aren’t they? He didn’t have to invest any money, he just got the local government to set him up …

  ‘Hey, girls, am I boring you with all this talk? All right, all right, I’ll fry you up some tofu. When you’ve finished you’d best hurry over and find yourselves a good spot next to Mr Guan’s office. I won’t go with you today. It’s just after the holidays and business is good, I can’t get away. Besides, they’ve got a whole system going under that tree now. Newcomers can figure out what’s what in two minutes, and Three knows everyone there anyway, so she can sort you out. You’d best let your uncle tell you a thing or two about how to answer people’s questions. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t forget to tell any potential employer that you’ve got brothers in the city. There are some dirty old men with funny ideas around here. Those …’

  Uncle Two was concerned that the Tofu Lady’s good-natured advice would terrify his two nieces who knew very little about men, so he hurriedly interrupted her.

  ‘Thank you, but please don’t worry about feeding us. It’s safer if we go and bag ourselves a place now – besides I’ve got to catch the noon train.’

  ‘That’s too bad! Listen, take some tofu with you then. I’ll put some seasonings on now. It won’t be very crisp, but the main thing is you won’t go hungry! Take five sticks each, that’ll keep you going till lunch. Oh, and if you two girls don’t find a boss today for any reason, come and squeeze in with me for the night. Don’t waste your precious money getting ripped off in those thieving guesthouses.’

  By the time they had thanked the Tofu Lady, and found their way to the big willow tree, it was already ten o’clock, and there were lots of people milling around. It was easy to spot the ones who were looking for work. They were standing about with their luggage, their faces frostbitten from field work, the girls dressed in the bright colours that country girls wear – cherry pink, bright green, orange and sky blue. The employers were obvious too. They had well-made clothes in subdued colours and wandered through the crowd with a relaxed expression on their faces, looking people up and down.

  Since the start of their journey, Five had simply followed her uncle and older sister wherever they led her, her mouth open and her eyes wide in amazement. Because she couldn’t read, the fact that there were signs everywhere saying things she couldn’t even guess at bewildered her further. Six, however, was far more anxious to take control of her own destiny. After all, she was the only sister to have spent more than a short time in school. She was determined to prove that her education had been worth all the sacrifices the family had made. When she saw how many people were looking for jobs, she was filled with fear that her dream of a new life in the city would end before it had begun.

  ‘We’re too late, aren’t we?’ she asked anxiously. ‘No one will want us now, will they?’

  Uncle Two tried to reassure her. ‘Don’t worry. Those city bosses all have big business dinners late in the evening, and then the nightclubs keep them busy till the cock crows. They haven’t turned up yet. The bigger the boss, the later he comes.’

  Meanwhile, Three had found some acquaintances.

  ‘Uncle Wang, Uncle Li,’ she called out, ‘are you still arguing over that chess game? And how are you, Auntie Luo? Who’s selling the best vegetables today?’

  The group of old people by the willow tree smiled in recognition.

  ‘Oh, it’s young Three! Are you here looking for new staff for your Happy Fool?’

  ‘Introduce us to your sisters. Are they looking for work? You must take them to see Mr Guan. You can always trust the people you know. His business is doing so well he doesn’t need to turn up before ten-thirty, however long the queue is.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think Mr Guan will make young Three queue! Good luck comes to good people.’

  Three was very touched by their kind words. Two years of working in a restaurant where customers sometimes looked down on her for her country ways had made her deeply aware that polite words should always be treasured. There weren’t many city people who would be so considerate to a migrant worker. Shrewd Six, on the other hand, was paying more attention to their faces than their words: she had noticed that the old men and women looked exactly the same as the ‘high officials’ in Three’s photographs.

  ‘Hey, girls, looking for work?’ Two middle-aged women, one fat, one thin, dressed in white uniforms with two red bars on the sleeves and collar, were making their way towards the three sisters.

  ‘Yes, yes, these two are,’ said Three, pushing her sisters forward. ‘We’re sisters from the same village. I’ve already got a job but this sister is very good at housework – she can cook, or do anything around the home – and my youngest sister is the cleverest girl in our village. She’s the only one to finish middle school, and she can speak some foreign English too!’

  ‘We don’t need secretaries, we just want an honest, simple girl who’ll stay at her post and do the work.’

  The women’s uniforms had the words ‘Dragon Water-Culture Centre’ printed on the left breast. Neither Three nor Uncle Two had any idea what this meant, but they didn’t dare to ask in case they were laughed at.

  They saw the two women muttering in each others’ ears. Three strained to hear what they were saying, but all she could make out were a few broken phrases: ‘… not too pretty, she’ll be headhunted … too confident and she’ll make trouble …’

  Finally, they seemed to come to a decision.

  ‘Miss,’ the fat woman said to Five, ‘have you worked in the city before?’

  Five was dumbstruck. She had never been called ‘Miss’ by anyone, let alone been spoken to in such an amiable manner. Embarrassed by her silence, Uncle Two jumped in to apologise.

  ‘I’m sorry, ladies, this girl’s never been away from home before and she’s not much of a talker anyway. Please don’t mind … Come on, Five, these Managers are speaking to you.’

  The thin woman gave him a disapproving look.

  ‘Listen, sir, we don’t need you to play the big man here. Women can speak for themselves in this city.’

  ‘That’s right,’ added the fat woman turning to Five with a kind look on her face. ‘Miss, if you want to find a job, you’re going to have to do the talking yourself, you hear?’

  Poor Uncle Two stepped back in confusion. In his village, people called him a ‘weak seed’, barely a man at all, and yet now in the city they were accusing him of being a ‘big man’.

  Five summoned all the courage she possessed to an
swer their question.

  ‘I … I’ve never been away from home, not even to the other villages, because the fields and the market are only two li away from where I live. But, even though I haven’t been to the city, I’m a very good worker …’

  ‘Well said,’ approved the fat woman. ‘Now tell us, what’ll you do if you miss home?’

  ‘Cry, I s’pose,’ answered Five.

  Three tugged at her. ‘What’s the good of crying? Tell them you’ll get used to it.’

  ‘I’ll-get-used-to-it,’ Five repeated mechanically.

  Both women spluttered with laughter and exchanged a glance, apparently thoroughly satisfied with Five’s honesty.

  ‘So, what wage are you looking for?’ the thin woman asked.

  ‘I … don’t know …’

  Five looked beseechingly at Uncle Two, but now that the two women had taken him to task, he didn’t dare raise his head to look at them. By this point, Three was getting anxious. She realised that she had forgotten to talk to her sisters about what salary to ask for, and she was terrified that Five would lose this opportunity. With all her advantages, Six would have no difficulty finding work, but Five, inferior in appearance, education and intelligence, was another matter. The two women appeared to be genuine (only big companies supplied uniforms like that), and Five couldn’t afford to let this piece of good fortune pass her by.

  ‘Well, this is what we are offering,’ said the thin lady. ‘You’ll start on an unskilled worker’s salary. Food and lodgings are included, as well as tips. How does that sound? Shall we go and sort out the contract now, or would you rather go and see what else is available?’