Read Online Inheritance by Lan Samantha Chang - Free Book Online
Authors: Lan Samantha Chang
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modern marriage, free of the vicious treatment and terrible isolation of being a new daughter-in-law in a big house. Li Ang’s job was dangerous, but the threat of civil war had diminished now that the Communists and Nationalists had reached a truce. She would certainly be able to persuade him to take a safer job as a staff officer.
She assured herself that Li Ang was inferior to her. He was clever enough, but unrefined. Oh, she saw his handsome face, his height and strength, his ability to please people; she knew he would become somebody. But now he was a soldier and his family was nothing. They had just the uncle’s broken-down shop. She assumed that Li Ang knew he was inferior and would therefore be more open to her guidance. She clung to this advantage: that marrying Li Ang had made her safe, that his family was of such low stature it would be impossible for her to truly fall in love with him. This would save her from the fate that had overcome her mother. No, she would be careful. She knew how dangerous it was to get overly attached, how treacherous it might be if she grew to want devotion from the man she married.
THE IDEA OF LETTING Yinan find someone herself was out of the question. Yinan had no experience with men; she was unusually shy. Moreover, Junan didn’t trust her judgment. She might be inclined to marry a man because she had taken pity on him, or for some other foolish reason. Junan didn’t want to see Yinan sentenced to poverty as the result of a sentimental inclination.
As a married woman, she was entitled to bring up the subject with her father. The following night, after dinner, she went to his room. When she explained the situation, she saw an expression of unmistakable weariness cross his face, and she began to wonder if she might be asking too much of him.
“His older brother owes me money,” he said, of Deng Xiansheng. “That is why he tutors Yinan without pay.”
“If she is engaged, she won’t need a tutor anymore.”
Her father nodded.
“What about the Chens?” she asked.
“That boy is worse than she is. Let me think this over.” But in the following days, he said nothing about Yinan, and Junan began to wonder if she would have to take the matter into her own hands.
She was surprised a few weeks later when he handed her a letter he had received from Nanjing.
21st Year of the Republic
13 December
Cousin and brother,
My belated greetings to you in this season of falling frost.
I am writing to you in response to your recent letter regarding your younger daughter Yinan. Since then I have made inquiries, but nothing promising emerged until today. Lo Dun of Ningpo recently decided to marry, and I have taken the liberty of mentioning Yinan.
As you know, Lo Dun is from a good family and over the years he has made a decent and steady income. He lives with his mother, and I thought that perhaps an older woman might provide a kind of maternal figure for your daughter. Moreover, Lo Dun is a steady, well-settled man. His intentions are most responsible. Please write to me and let me know what you would like to do.
Your brother-cousin,
Baoding
Her father told Junan that Lo Dun was a decent man, and so he had gone to town and telegrammed his cousin to proceed. But his cousin had wired back that the match was not entirely certain. Lo Dun’s mother wanted a face-to-face meeting. Eventually it was agreed that Lo Dun and his aged mother would come to the house for tea the following week. It would be Junan’s job to coach Yinan.
At the evening meal, Junan peered thoughtfully at her sister. Yinan was eating spareribs, two slim fingertips placed at each end of the bone, her long neck bent gracefully as she leaned forward. She had never been beautiful, but that slender neck, vanishing into her limp collar, brought to mind a kind of innocence that went beyond mere youthfulness. Her shuidou scar, a shallow blemish high on her forehead, could be fixed, perhaps with powder, when she and Lo
She assured herself that Li Ang was inferior to her. He was clever enough, but unrefined. Oh, she saw his handsome face, his height and strength, his ability to please people; she knew he would become somebody. But now he was a soldier and his family was nothing. They had just the uncle’s broken-down shop. She assumed that Li Ang knew he was inferior and would therefore be more open to her guidance. She clung to this advantage: that marrying Li Ang had made her safe, that his family was of such low stature it would be impossible for her to truly fall in love with him. This would save her from the fate that had overcome her mother. No, she would be careful. She knew how dangerous it was to get overly attached, how treacherous it might be if she grew to want devotion from the man she married.
THE IDEA OF LETTING Yinan find someone herself was out of the question. Yinan had no experience with men; she was unusually shy. Moreover, Junan didn’t trust her judgment. She might be inclined to marry a man because she had taken pity on him, or for some other foolish reason. Junan didn’t want to see Yinan sentenced to poverty as the result of a sentimental inclination.
As a married woman, she was entitled to bring up the subject with her father. The following night, after dinner, she went to his room. When she explained the situation, she saw an expression of unmistakable weariness cross his face, and she began to wonder if she might be asking too much of him.
“His older brother owes me money,” he said, of Deng Xiansheng. “That is why he tutors Yinan without pay.”
“If she is engaged, she won’t need a tutor anymore.”
Her father nodded.
“What about the Chens?” she asked.
“That boy is worse than she is. Let me think this over.” But in the following days, he said nothing about Yinan, and Junan began to wonder if she would have to take the matter into her own hands.
She was surprised a few weeks later when he handed her a letter he had received from Nanjing.
21st Year of the Republic
13 December
Cousin and brother,
My belated greetings to you in this season of falling frost.
I am writing to you in response to your recent letter regarding your younger daughter Yinan. Since then I have made inquiries, but nothing promising emerged until today. Lo Dun of Ningpo recently decided to marry, and I have taken the liberty of mentioning Yinan.
As you know, Lo Dun is from a good family and over the years he has made a decent and steady income. He lives with his mother, and I thought that perhaps an older woman might provide a kind of maternal figure for your daughter. Moreover, Lo Dun is a steady, well-settled man. His intentions are most responsible. Please write to me and let me know what you would like to do.
Your brother-cousin,
Baoding
Her father told Junan that Lo Dun was a decent man, and so he had gone to town and telegrammed his cousin to proceed. But his cousin had wired back that the match was not entirely certain. Lo Dun’s mother wanted a face-to-face meeting. Eventually it was agreed that Lo Dun and his aged mother would come to the house for tea the following week. It would be Junan’s job to coach Yinan.
At the evening meal, Junan peered thoughtfully at her sister. Yinan was eating spareribs, two slim fingertips placed at each end of the bone, her long neck bent gracefully as she leaned forward. She had never been beautiful, but that slender neck, vanishing into her limp collar, brought to mind a kind of innocence that went beyond mere youthfulness. Her shuidou scar, a shallow blemish high on her forehead, could be fixed, perhaps with powder, when she and Lo
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