| Some people
talk about marriage as though it... 500 |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|02:40 am] |
Some people
talk about marriage as though it were homosexual love
It's not the girl they fancy, but her old man or her
elder brother they admire
"I don't approve," said his mother"It's no good to
marry an official's daughterShe'll want you to wait
on her instead of waiting on youBesides, a
daughter-in-law should come from the same village
Girls from other districts are always a bit unsuited
in temperamentYou won't be happy with herThis Miss
Six is a returned student, so she couldn't be very
young The faces of his two sisters-in-law, who had
never graduated from high school and who had been born
and raised in that district, both bore an expression
of agree ment
His father remarked, "She's not only studied abroad
but has a PhI'm afraid Hung-chien couldn't manage
her," as though Miss Six were some sort of hard object
like a brick which would take the stomach of an
ostrich or turkey to digest
"Our Hung-chien has a Ph too," protested his
mother"He's not in ferior to her, so why isn't he a
match for her?"
Stroking his beard, his father said with a smile,
"Hung-chien, that's some thing your mother just
couldn't understandWomen who've done a little
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book learning are the hardest of all to handleThe
man has to be a step above her, not an equalThat's
why a college graduate should marry a high school
graduate~ and a returned student should marry a
college graduateAs for a girl who has studied abroad
and received a Ph no one but a foreigner would
dare marry herOtherwise, the man would have to have
two doctor ates at leastI'm not mistaken about that,
am I, Hung-chien? It's the same idea as 'Marry a
daughter into a greater family than your own, but take
a wife from a lesser family than your own'"
His mother said, "Of the girls suggested by the
go-betweens, the Hsus' second daughter is the best
I'll show you her picture later
The matter is taking a serious turn, thought
Hung-chienAll his life he had detested those modern
girls from small towns with outdated fashions and a
provincial cosmopolitanismThey were just like the
first Western suit made by a Chinese tailor with
everything copied from a foreigner's old clothes used
as a model down to the two square patches on the
sleeves and trouser legsNo need to protest nowIn a
few days he would make his getaway to Shang hai
His father also said that there would be many
receptions given in his honor, and with the weather so
hot, he should be careful not to stuff himselfHe
must make courtesy calls to all family elders, for
which his father would let him take his rickshawWhen
the weather cooled off a little, his father would take
him to perform the rites at his grandfather's grave
His mother said she would have the tailor come the
next day to fit him for a silk gown and pants, and for
the time being his brother Feng-i had two gowns and
could lend him one to wear when he went visiting
For dinner that evening, his mother herself prepared
fried shredded eel, chicken wings in soy sauce, stewed
chicken with melon, and shrimps cooked in wine-all his
favorite local dishesShe picked out the best pieces
for his bowl, saying, "How terrible it must have been
for you, living abroad for four years with nothing to
eat!"
Everyone laughed and said she was at it againIf a
person ate nothing abroad, how could Hung-chien keep
from starving to death?
She said, "I can't understand how those foreign devils
stay alive! All that bread and milkI couldn't eat
them if they gave them to me free
Hung-chien suddenly felt that in this family
atmosphere the war was something unbelievable, just as
no one can think of ghosts in broad daylightHis
parents' hopes and plans left no room for any
unforeseen circumstancesSeeing them thus so firmly
in control of the future, he too took heart and
thought that maybe the situation in Shanghai would be
eased, and there would be no outbreak of |
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