8" Ten Ping (HA0007A)

In the 1950s, life in China was very harsh. Practically all meals include only rice, sweet potatoes, and its leaves. Meat was unaffordable. We were always hungry.
One day, one of our relatives invited our family to join their wedding, but due to the limited budget and seating, they have only invited my grandmother to join. As weddings guaranteed a wide sort of tasty food, and a full stomach, my grandmother kindly urged me to go on behalf of her.

“Ten Ping,” she said, “Go join the wedding on my behalf, eat more and enjoy yourself.”
I felt overwhelmed. On one hand, I was very excited to join a rare joyous occasion; on the other hand, I did not want to pilfer my grandmother’s chance of having a full belly.
Every day, my grandmother had already saved what little we had for my siblings and me. She would usually eat the leftovers with some hot water so that the water would trick her stomach to feel it was full.
I looked up to my grandmother with a determined face, and said, “Grandma, you should be the one to attend, they invited you, and not me.”

My grandmother smiled, patted my head on the back, and turned away. I stood motionless as I saw her take a pen to write my name on the invitation card, and promptly proceeded to mail it back to our relatives.
I was slightly annoyed that I was ignored completely, but I was also quite excited. I dreamed immediately of the feast that I was going to have. My mouth was already filled with saliva.

On the wedding day, the feast did not disappoint me. Twelve different colorful dishes were set on a round table in front of me. Being the youngest on the table, I had difficulty reaching my short arms to take the food in the middle. Fortunately, the other guests on the table seemed to adore me and helped me by transferring food on the table onto my plate. Soon enough, my plate already had a little mountain of food.
I stared at my plate with delight, pondering what to eat first. There were fish deep fried in orange sauce, beef marinated with chili, steamed chicken with spring onion and soy sauce, prawns larger than my fist… I quickly grabbed the chicken and put it in my mouth. The juice of the chicken seems to squirt from the meat itself, delicious!

“Wow!” I exclaimed. I heard a laugh emanate from the table, and I found the guests on my table looking at me with amusement on their faces. My face blushed.
A 40-year-old lady who sat beside me kindly informed me that we were not supposed to eat before the groom and bride appeared. I timidly put down my chopsticks and sat up straight.
The groom and the bride arrived shortly after. The bride was wearing a beautiful red dress. I stared at them blankly as I started dreaming what wedding dress I would wear when I grow up. My grandmother would definitely spend all her savings on this one, I grinned. Then I thought about my grandmother. How was she? She was probably putting my siblings to bed right now, my poor worn-out grandmother.

I then looked at my plate with a sense of guilt; I was enjoying myself when my grandmother was sitting back at home with an empty stomach. This was when something fell into place; there was something I must do.
I looked around the wedding hall to see if anyone was looking at me. To my delight, everyone was fixated on the groom and bride, and I felt more confident to carry out my plan. I secretly took out my handkerchief, and then one by one, I grabbed the chicken from my plate and placed them onto my handkerchief. I held the corners of the handkerchief and then I folded a knot and placed the package back into my pants pockets.
I looked around again, no one was looking.

After a joyful night, I returned home to find my grandmother waiting for me. I rushed up to hug her and proceeded to tell her all the wonderful things at the wedding: the bride’s dress, the great food, the nice guests… And then I reached into my pocket and took out a black soaked handkerchief. I untied the knots and reached out my hands to hand over the chicken to my grandmother.
“Look Grandma,” I urged excitedly, “I got you some of that fantastic chicken from the wedding! “

My grandmother had an odd expression on her face as she stared into the chicken. I followed her gaze onto the chicken and found out to my disappointment, that the handkerchief had soaked most of the soy sauce and juice from the chicken. I was about to look up apologetically when my grandmother took me into her arms and gave me the tightest hug.
“Ten Ping,” she sobbed quietly, “you are really my gift from heaven.”