Yen Bang was neat in his faded military uniform, slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door. Binh An felt happy so he kept smiling like when he was young. Khanh Ngoc nudged her brother and whispered: "Look at Mom, she looks like she's in love." So Khanh Thi deliberately spoke loudly so her father could hear:
- Dad, it seems like mom is in love.
Yen Bang knew that the two children were deliberately teasing their mother. Especially Khanh Ngoc, who had been mischievous since she was little, but was very obedient. Khanh Thi knew how to give in and pamper her younger sister, so the house was always filled with joy. That was also the result that Binh An had been taking care of for so long. She was very skillful in all relationships, from within the family to outside society. A mother who had never used corporal punishment or scolding ineducating her children, yet the two children were still attentive, obedient and filial. She also never let her own anger and frustration tear apart the peace and happiness of the family. There were times when Yen Bang felt admiration, so he blurted out a few compliments, but she clicked her tongue and said: "It's not a big deal, it's just that you know how to apply the art of living that everyone knows." So Yen Bang could only smile. Today she was happy, perhaps because she saw her husband wearing this bag. It was a souvenir bag from the Cambodian battlefield that had worn out in some places and Yen Bang couldn't bear to throw it away. Seeing that, she washed it and embroidered a few fallen leaves, a clump of old bamboo and some young grass to cover the worn areas, so it was as pretty as it is now. Yen Bang turned around and scolded the two children lovingly before leading the bike to the gate:
- Too much work, help your mother. Aren't you two afraid of being banned?
“Being grounded” was the only measure that the mother used with these mischievous twins, but it was extremely effective. Because every child was afraid of being forced to stay home by their parents, not being allowed to run around or hang out with their neighbors. It became a habit, whenever the two brothers felt they had done something wrong, they would automatically not leave the house. But every time, the two children were taken out by their father to play. The mother knew, but she pretended not to, and that was it. Hearing the father mention the grounding, the two brothers giggled and tiptoed into the house.
Looking at the two children's gestures, Binh An both laughed and felt extremely happy. For her, happiness is very simple, as long as the whole family is healthy and happy, she already feels very happy. The happiness she has today is largely thanks to the loving arms of her parents and Yen Bang back then. Also because of the fate that the land has touched people, Madagui took care of the whole family until the day her parents passed away and returned to the land. Suddenly, old memories like a sweet stream filled with love flowed back at the same time...
 |
| Illustration: Phan Nhan |
In 1982, the innocent orphan girl, just seventeen years old, left the countryside to go to Saigon to help out in a popular restaurant owned by Mrs. Lam's younger sister, according to Mrs. Lam. It was just a small restaurant, but it served noodles in the morning, rice at noon, and coffee and soft drinks in the evening. She picked vegetables, washed dishes, and also worked as a waitress. At first, the restaurant's customers were only motorbike taxi drivers, three-wheelers, cyclo drivers, or street vendors, lottery ticket sellers, and occasionally a few passersby who stopped by to rest and drink. Since the pretty country girl came to help, the restaurant became more bustling at night and the customers became younger and younger. So the girl was only responsible for serving tables and serving customers. Her real name and the old clothes she brought from the countryside were all carefully put away to make room for the appearance of a genuine Saigon girl. Saying she is a genuine Saigon girl is just to sound cool, but in fact, she still retains the simple features of a country girl and is clumsy in communicating in a new living environment. The luxurious clothes she is wearing look beautiful but are all cheap clothes that the owner took her to buy from old clothing stalls. According to the owner, you have to buy from people who only have a few clothes spread out on a small plastic sheet or from people who only have a few clothes in their arms to sell on the street, then it will be both cheap and beautiful, because those are the things left by rich girls who want to exchange for a little money to improve their meals during the subsidy period. It is true that beauty is in silk, looking at the outside appearance, no one would have thought that this is the country girl from a few months ago. In just a few months, she and the popular shop seem to have transformed into a strange figure with a very special attraction. The shop's night customers are getting more crowded and more complicated.
“Hey, boss. Sell something else. If you lack capital, I will invest. I will teach her some more hospitality skills for free, and you will surely be rich. But she has to be mine alone. I will take a few more shipments and then I will marry her…” Those were the words of the white-eyed guy who had been hanging around the shop all week from somewhere. His slanted gaze revealed his cunning and cunning. Mr. Tu De felt extremely worried. He was worried about the longevity of the shop and also about Binh An. He did not expect things to be so complicated. At first, he only hoped to do a little better business to save up for Yen Bang’s future. Because his son was still struggling with malaria to the point of exhaustion. He was discharged after the fiercest campaign of the 7th Division against the KPNLF's Sokh San camp, forcing the Khmer Rouge to flee to Thailand. He still wanted to volunteer in the neighboring country, but because his health did not allow it, he had to return for treatment and is still in the Military Hospital. From the day he and his wife learned about Binh An's situation, they both wanted to bring her into their son's happiness.
The girl was really pitiful. A few months ago, Mrs. Lam brought her here and told the couple: “She is a girl. Her house is in the upper village. Her mother is very sick so she asked me to bring her down here to work to earn some extra money to help pay for her mother’s medicine. You guys give her mother three months’ salary in advance and she will pay it back gradually.”… It was not until last week, when the girl timidly asked for money for her work that the couple realized. It turned out that her mother was pregnant when her father was on leave before following the liberation army to prepare to march to Saigon. On the day the whole country celebrated the victory, her mother carried her two-month-old daughter and ran back and forth to wait for news of her husband. Then her mother collapsed when she heard that her husband had died. When she was five years old, her mother left her to follow her father because of the difficult-to-cure postpartum illness. She grew up in her grandmother’s arms. When her grandmother died, she was left alone again. It was really hard for a girl to live alone when she was of marriageable age. When men and boys came to her house and she refused to receive them, they would criticize her: “You’re an orphan and poor, but you’re acting all arrogant and conceited. One day you’ll be single and no one will want to take you.” If everyone who came to her house was friendly, people would gossip: “What kind of girl doesn’t abandon her when she’s old or young.” She was wondering how to live to please the world when she met Mrs. Lam, who was visiting her relatives in her hometown. She heard that her younger sister in Saigon had just opened a cheap restaurant for the poor who needed a maid. So she packed her bags and followed Mrs. Lam down here. Who would have thought that in this day and age, she would have been fooled like that? Luckily, she still had some humanity, otherwise…
It seemed that the night had come back to the small shop earlier, because the sun had not yet set and there were already a few groups of young men and women stopping by to listen to music. They said they were listening to music, but in reality they just ordered a few coconuts and sat chatting, sometimes even challenging each other to see who could win over the girl. Mr. Tu De felt happy and secretly wished that this small shop would always have the innocent, pure atmosphere like those young men and women; then one day not far away, his son Yen Bang would return healthy and there would be the sounds of children playing mixed in with the bustling laughter. But that white-eyed, thin-faced, and slanted-looking guy was always a haunting presence in his mind. Then the bad feeling in him began to happen. He arrived. His juniors waved their hands to chase all the children away. His wife hurriedly mixed drinks according to the customer's wishes. As soon as his special cup of coffee was placed on the table, he started to touch the girl. The more Binh An trembled and struggled, the more his men laughed smugly. He pushed the girl down on the chair and stood up. Holding the cup of coffee in his hand, he began with the art of receiving guests that he had told her: “You have to puff out your chest and walk a little more gracefully, smile seductively at me and then walk closely behind me like this, skillfully touch your chest to my body before putting down the cup of coffee, and…” Binh An’s whole body was covered in goosebumps but she still tried to endure. Mr. Tu De saw that he could no longer stand still and watch, so he calmly walked out, his face serious: “Don’t act rashly. Do you see that the girl is scared to death? I’m telling you, if you want to do anything to my daughter, you have to look closely at my face first.” His men stood up and surrounded him, and he waved his hand in concession: “If she is the boss’s daughter, then all the better. This guy doesn’t need to beat around the bush anymore. This day next week, this guy will bring betel and areca nuts. Ok! Father-in-law, remember that. Wait for your husband to listen to his wife.” After saying that, he stood up. One of his men understood what he meant, so he slammed the bill down on the table and pulled each other out of the shop.
The shop closed early. Mrs. Tu hugged Binh An and comforted him: “Starting today, you will be our child. With your father and mother here, no one will dare to bully you. If you want to cry, just cry loudly. Cry until you are satisfied and then go take a bath…” Hearing that, Binh An felt even more sorry and cried like a three-year-old child. That night, the whole family stayed up all night. Mr. Tu discussed: “We have to find a way to stop them, these guys are not joking, sooner or later something will happen to the shop and Binh An”. Mrs. Tu told him: “Or we should report to the police or local authorities, then we will feel more secure”. Mr. Tu De still felt it was not right: “What reason do we have to report? We have to have evidence, we have to prove it, how can we just talk, who will believe us. If we wait until something happens to report to the authorities, then our whole family will have a broken head, broken forehead, and maybe even lose our lives”. Binh An timidly spoke up: “Yes, how about you and Dad temporarily return to the countryside with me. I still have a small house in Madagui. Consider it as temporarily closing the shop so that you can rest for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Yen Bang…” Mr. Tu and his wife thought there was no better way, so they considered it as a temporary concession to them and went away for a while.
Yen Bang recovered, before returning home, he and Binh An wanted to go back to see how his parents' shop was. As soon as they got off the car, both were shocked. That familiar shop had disappeared. Before their eyes was only a pile of ruins. After hearing the neighbors' story, Binh An urged Yen Bang to quickly return to the bus station for fear of missing the last bus. Luckily, he was still on time, there was still a double seat near the end of the row. Sitting next to him, Binh An thought to herself, at least it would take nearly four hours to get home, right at night. But Binh An still felt worried and embarrassed. That time when she brought her parents home, she felt so embarrassed that she fumbled when introducing them to everyone as her husband's parents and had to say the same thing when reporting to the local authorities. Her parents had promised the neighbors that when Yen Bang returned, the whole family would have a party to introduce them to the neighbors. For a long time, coming back and forth to take care of him and today, together they returned to his parents' old shop, Binh An was still natural as if everything had been planned. Why did she feel so nervous sitting next to him, shaking from the inside out. The closer she got to home, the more embarrassed she felt, embarrassed to the point of embarrassment, to the point of blushing. Luckily, it was dark at night so no one could see her like this. "Are we almost home yet?" Binh An was startled when she heard Yen Bang ask and she looked at him blankly with just one word "Yes?". He smiled and repeated: "I asked you if you were almost home yet?". Only then did Binh An hurriedly say: "Driver, pull over, pull over..." Getting out of the car, Binh An walked first, Yen Bang followed behind. Because she had to lead the way, Binh An felt even more embarrassed, she walked as if she was walking on clouds, occasionally turning back to see if he could keep up with her. Seeing that gesture, Yen Bang felt that this girl was really adorable. And then, he quickly stepped forward, tightly held that trembling hand and said: “Don’t worry too much, the whole village already knows that your parents are your parents-in-law, so of course I am your husband. Go home, rest, prepare all the procedures, choose a good day and then we will hold the ceremony to introduce ourselves to the neighbors as your parents promised everyone, and that will be one thing done”. Hearing this, Binh An quickly interrupted: “Is there anything else?”. Yen Bang laughed: “Of course, it’s between you and me. Outside, we are husband and wife. At home, you have full authority to decide, when you feel that we can completely belong to each other, you can send a signal, only then can we share a bed…”. “This guy, really…”. Binh An threw back a vague sentence and suddenly ran away. Luckily, Yen Bang was a soldier used to wading through the forest, so it wasn’t difficult to chase after her.
So everything went as planned. The simple wedding of the orphan girl was also attended by local authorities and neighbors who came to share the joy and happiness. Not long after, Khanh Thi and Khanh Ngoc were born at the same time. Mr. and Mrs. Tu De were not too worried about the destruction of their humble shop. They lost their small shop, but in return they got a gentle and caring bride who took good care of her husband's family. Moreover, there was the sound of children singing happily in the house day and night. And I heard that those white-eyed men were also in prison for smuggling and deforestation. Mr. Tu sighed: "I don't know if they will reform or will continue their old ways and will return to the way they were"? Mrs. Tu sighed: "I just feel sorry for their parents"...
*
- Mom, the food is ready. But why isn't dad home yet?
- Dad is still preparing something with the aunts, uncles, and friends from the Veterans Association. Just save the rice for Dad and we'll eat first.
- Yes. Help me prepare dinner, brother...
Seeing the little girl running into the house, urging her older brother to prepare dinner, Binh An felt so happy and grateful to her parents. She thought to herself: if she hadn't met her parents and Yen Bang that day, she doesn't know what would have happened to her now?...
Source
Comment (0)