Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
By now I had fully developed the knot of guilt in my stomach. Mr. Han wasn't stupid,
even though, with our cockeyed cover stories, we may have treated him like he was.
Today, adding to my shame, he offered us lunch. Upstairs, around a low table in the kit-
chen, we ate meat and vegetables in the Sichuan style, and a spicy dish of preserved black
beans from the family farm, where their parents and extended families still lived. The Hans
sent them money regularly. That was why they had come to Guiyu in the first place; there
wasn't enough work where they came from. They'd been here for fifteen years. The locals,
they said, still treated them like outsiders.
Back downstairs, we had another three dozen small cups of tea. Mr. Han sat in front of
the computer, paused the movie that was playing, and checked the commodity prices. Fig-
ures filled the screen. It was important for him to know the current price of gold and other
materials so he didn't get ripped off by his buyers. His computer also stored the video feeds
from the security cameras in his workshop. With a few clicks, he brought up a high-angle
shot of Lang and me raining grief on circuit boards.
Mrs. Han wants to know again why you're not married, Cecily said.
They had asked a dozen times. They couldn't have known that I spent most of my free
time asking myself the same thing. I realized, though, that this was an opportunity for me
to answer at least one of their questions honestly.
“Tell them that I was going to get married, but the woman changed her mind,” I said to
Cecily.
She translated.
They say that's terrible, Cecily said. That it's really embarrassing. But that I shouldn't
tell you they said so.
“Do they have any advice on how to find a good wife?” I asked.
Mr. Han nodded. Choose someone who loves you, he said. It doesn't matter if you love
her. Just make sure she loves you.
I couldn't decide if this was horrible advice or profound. “Shouldn't we both love each
other?” I asked.
Choose someone who loves you and who takes care of you, advised Mrs. Han. Don't
just choose someone who you love. And if there are things you don't like about the person,
you'll come to see past those things and love her eventually.
They told us their love story. Mr. Han had pestered his wife-to-be to give him rides to
work on her scooter. They had written a long series of love letters. Mrs. Han said she still
had the letters he had sent her.
