The silk trousers!
(Baonghean) - Calling Dong village a collection of funny stories wouldn't be wrong. One of those stories, absolutely true, is about a father-in-law giving his daughter-in-law a pair of silk trousers. At this point, those "experts" in adultery "suspicions" start speculating about some scandalous affair with incestuous details. No, not that bad. It's much more endearing!
The thing is, Mr. Thao's family had only one son. He and his wife had difficulty conceiving, and they only had one child. Yet, at just twenty-two years old, he insisted on going abroad. Not only did he go abroad, but he went all the way to Europe. And after going to Europe, he married a woman there. And after marrying a woman there, he volunteered to… live with his wife's family! Man proposes, God disposes, and the couple were powerless to prevent the loss of their son. They felt both pity, regret, and anger towards him; twenty-two years of nurturing and raising him were suddenly plunged into emptiness after his phone call last month. Oh my God, their son Hai was handsome, tall, kind, well-behaved, intelligent, diligent, hardworking, and studious… In short, he lacked none of the qualities of a typical Nghe An native. There are plenty of girls in Dong village, elementary, middle, and high school teachers, so why don't you come back here to choose, get to know, woo, court, fall in love, marry, and have children instead of going after a "foreigner"? I'm angry at you, and I'm angry at myself too, and I'm even angry at my wife. A child's bad behavior is the mother's fault, that's right, it's because she was lax in her management, she was bureaucratic and detached from the people, she didn't believe in "it's for me, by me, and for me," that's why things turned out this way. Now I'm still a neighborhood committee official, how am I supposed to explain this "Vietnamese people prioritize using Vietnamese goods" policy to the neighbors?
A few days ago, I went on Facebook and saw Hai post pictures of his in-laws, and it made my stomach churn. Are these really our in-laws? What kind of giants are they, with such bushy beards? And the mother-in-law too, in her sixties, yet her hair is still bright blonde, and she's grinning from ear to ear in that dress! Oh, my in-laws, how can we have heart-to-heart conversations, how can she chew betel nut, how can he drink green tea, and how can we play chess together? So sad, so very sad, son, and so angry at your mother! And soon there will be a grandson! Who will hold him, who will teach him to sing "Grandma, Grandma, I love you so much"? Oh dear, just thinking about my grandson with that name, "Smit" or "Anna," makes me break out in a cold sweat.
"Beep, beep"... the phone buzzed with a text message. It was still from that damn son of a bitch: "Next Monday, I'm bringing my wife home to introduce her to the family." Oh my god! An atomic bomb is about to explode in our village!
A week flew by so quickly. Hai brought his wife home. Oh dear, how pitiful! Hai, the son of Mr. Thao, is so tall and strong, yet he only reaches up to his daughter-in-law's ear. The villagers of Dong rushed to offer their blessings, less to congratulate the couple and more to see them. They even gossiped, "Mr. Thao's family now only knows how to spend US dollars." Well, since the potatoes are already in the pot, "parents give birth to children, but heaven gives them their personalities," who can resist his preference for foreign goods? Besides, if our son marries someone from far away, then other families will marry someone from a distant place too.
Seeing his daughter-in-law awkwardly trying to speak Vietnamese, he felt a pang of sympathy. In the morning, his wife would bring him a pot of sticky rice. Watching her pick up her chopsticks and nibble, he couldn't help but laugh. What endeared him to this reluctant daughter-in-law was that she knew how to wear a conical hat, albeit clumsily. Well, that was clever, a sign of some knowledge of traditional customs. Once, he shared with his daughter-in-law, "Wearing a hat and a traditional ao dai makes you even prettier." His daughter-in-law mumbled something to Hai. Then that good-for-nothing son came over to him, "My wife said she really likes wearing a Vietnamese ao dai; she'll definitely go buy one herself today." Hearing that, he was overjoyed. He wanted to see his daughter-in-law wearing a conical hat and a traditional ao dai, going around offering betel nuts to the neighbors…
It's true that his daughter-in-law went to the city to buy the ao dai herself, thankfully her Vietnamese wasn't too bad. The only problem was, she was so honest, so mechanical, so rigid. When she said she'd buy an ao dai, she only bought the dress, not the pants. As soon as he got home, seeing his daughter-in-law wearing a pristine white conical hat, a lilac-colored ao dai, and tiny shorts, and carrying a tray of betel nuts… Oh my God, he blushed and sped off on his motorbike. A little later, Mr. Thao hurriedly returned with a pair of silk pants. As he handed the first gift to his blonde, blue-eyed daughter-in-law, he said, "Culture has to be consistent, my dear!"
Nguyen Khac An
