The Language of Threads Read Online Free PDF

you’ve arrived! I’m Ah Woo. Song Lee told me you would be coming. It’s hot outside. Why in the world didn’t Fong have you wait inside? Come in, come in!” Her round, open face appeared ageless around her warm smile.
    Pei followed Ah Woo into the cool, cavernous kitchen, which smelled of garlic and green onion and something slightly foreign. Just being out of the sun brought her relief. When her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, Pei saw a large, open room with unlit charcoal fires for several woks set in a wide, concrete counter. On top of the counter a swath of long-leafed mustard greens and turnips lay beside a freshly killed chicken. To one side of the room was a round wooden table with the remains of lunch—the thin translucent bones of a steamed fish, some bits of ground pork with pickled vegetables, a few hardened grains of rice clinging to the sides of bowls. Pei’s mouth watered. She wondered if the Chen family had just finished eating.
    â€œPlease sit, please sit,” Ah Woo said. “Leen, please take some of these bowls away!”
    At that, a gray-haired woman barreled through the door and began to clear the table of bowls and cups. “Always Leen,” she mumbled to herself as she stacked the bowls.
    Ah Woo paid no attention to this complaint, but poured Pei a cup of tea. “I’m sorry for all this mess. We’ve just finished eating.”
    â€œNot the family?” Pei let slip.
    â€œOh no, not in here!” Ah Woo laughed, high and shrill. “I can’t imagine Chen tai ever sitting at this table.” Her round hand lay flat against the worn, scarred surface.
    Pei blushed at her mistake.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Ah Woo said reassuringly. “You’ll soon learn the ways of the household. When I first arrived, I had no idea one family could ever live in such a big house. Why, back home, my entire village could live comfortably here!”
    â€œHow many are there in the Chen family?” Pei asked.
    Ah Woo sat down. “There are six members of the immediate family, though three of the four children are away at boarding school. Only the youngest, twelve-year-old Ying-ying, is at home right now. But she is a handful all alone! And Chen tai’s sister often comes to stay. Let me tell you about the position we need to fill.” Ah Woo sat back in her chair as the old servant Leen reached over and cleared away the last of the bowls from the table.
    â€œI . . . I don’t have much experience doing domestic work,” Pei admitted.
    Ah Woo smiled. “Many have come from the silk work, especially now with the Japanese devils swallowing up Canton. Nothing you’ll learn here is harder than your life at the silk factory. If you can loosen threads from cocoons and unwind their silk in boiling water, surely you can draw a hot bath or launder a few clothes. Why, when I first came to Hong Kong, I thought I wouldn’t last an hour.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t an easy life. But there’s nothing here you can’t learn to do within the first week. We’ve all had to start at the beginning. You’ve already met Fong, who came here less than a year ago from the silk work.”
    Pei swallowed the discomfort she’d felt with Fong, and asked, “Are there many servants in this household?”
    â€œToo many! But Leen and I have been here the longest. We’re too old for them to kick us out now. Chen seen-san is a very wealthy man, and can afford to have an amah to take care of his family’s every need.” Ah Woo paused. “I’ve seen many faces come and go over the years, but usually there are eight or nine servants working here continuously. The three of us live in thehouse full-time, while the others go home to their own families in the evening.”
    Pei was astonished at the number of people it took to care for the Chen household. Even at Lin’s house in Canton, there