Table for Two

Mrs. Xiu stood in the kitchen of her country home as the day was preparing itself to start. She looked at the fresh produce that sat on the kitchen table and tried to figure out the menu that she was going to have for herself that morning. The ingredients were fresh and still had the morning dew stuck to them. These were the cabbages and carrots that she grew in her own home garden. There was even a ripe papaya that she had picked early that morning.

Mrs. Xiu decided to have a simple salad and fresh papaya for dessert. She placed the papaya inside the freezer and moved to prepare the ingredients. Just as she was chopping up the salad, Mrs. Xiu heard a knock at her front door. She frowned involuntarily. While she often entertained guests, they normally just strode into her house without warning. The kids would come flying in through her backdoor, and the adults would walk in through the front door and Mrs. Xiu would serve them drinks and food.

City folks might find that to be a bit intrusive but that was how things were at the countryside. People were friendly and convivial. Furthermore, Mrs. Xiu loved to entertain guests so she did not mind the intrusions.

Therefore, when she heard the knock on the door, Mrs. Xiu was confounded. Her normal house guests never knocked and they rarely came so early in the morning. The last time someone knocked on her door was when her son-in-law, Lin Kang came to visit her.

Until now, Mrs. Xiu could not really make sense of the man's intention for visiting her that day. Looking back, Mrs. Xiu could concede that perhaps the man had his heart in the right place but it felt like such an insult to her personally. Thankfully, the man seemed to have listened to her advice.

Mrs. Xiu did not tell Xiu Ling of her husband's visit because she did not want to intervene into the couple's relationship. On top of that, Mrs. Xiu believed her daughter already had a lot on her plate and she did not want to add more to it. Since Lin Kang's visit was something that she could handle on her own, Mrs. Xiu decided to leave her daughter out of it.

However, Mrs. Xiu was honestly worried that her blowing Lin Kang off would have a negative repercussion on Xiu Ling. Perhaps the man would get angry and Xiu Ling would suffer because of it. Mrs. Xiu felt like thanking her lucky stars and the Gods that watched over them when she found out that did not happen. Through her correspondence with her daughter, Mrs. Xiu realized Lin Kang also had not breathed a word about his visit to Xiu Ling. However, he did take her advice and start to treat Xiu Ling better. That could have been the man's attempt to prove to her that he really could live up to his promise and show her that he could treat Xiu Ling well. Lin Kang could be just trying to prove a point but as long as her daughter could stand to benefit from it, Mrs. Xiu could not care less why he did it.

Another knock on her front door brought Mrs. Xiu back from her reverie. She quickly put the knife that she was using to prepare her ingredients away and yelled at the front door, "Coming!" as she walked towards it. For a split second, Mrs. Xiu wondered whether it could have been Lin Kang paying her a second visit but Mrs. Xiu ultimately decided against it. The chance of that happening was very low, the man was busy and had better things to do than to come disturb an old lady like her.

Well, Mrs. Xiu was half-right. When she opened the front door, the person that stood beyond it was not Lin Kang but someone that was closely related to Lin Kang.

"Madam... Mrs. Lin," Mrs. Xiu breathed. It was Lin Kang's mother and Xiu Ling's mother-in-law standing at her porch. Mrs. Xiu did not even know how to respond to this woman who was her in-law and at the same time, also someone that she had served in the capacity of a house servant before.

Why was she there? Where did that put the two women's relationship? What was Mrs. Xiu going to refer Mrs. Lin as?

Mrs. Xiu was stunned and it was Mrs. Lin who took up the thread of conversation, "In-law, it is so wonderful to see you. I actually came today because I wish to talk to you about something related to Xiu Ling."

Mrs. Lin had a smile on her face and she did not look like she was there to complain about Xiu Ling but Mrs. Xiu did not know how to think of the whole situation. She realized how disingenuous these rich people could be. She even remembered how cruel Mrs. Lin was towards her when she was in Lin family's employment. Beneath her surprise, there was ire and Mrs. Xiu was considering slamming the door shut. Thinking back to the treatment that she had suffered under the woman's hands, Mrs. Xiu could not think of a reason not to slam the door.

However, that reason soon showed itself. While Lin Kang was tactless, that did not mean that the rest of his family was lacking in that trait as well. In fact one could say he fail to inherit any tactfulness from his mother.