Chapter 7 — Ten Years Waiting for a Taste

About half an hour later. He walked out. He went to the living room. Van Lam is sitting on the sofa, applying a mask and looking at fashion magazines. These past few days, the atmosphere in the house has been as cold as an ice cellar. Tieu Tiep didn't talk to her. Mr. Co went on a business trip. I only do things that are part of my job. In this house, it seems like she is the only one still living in that sophisticated, spotlessly clean world. Mr. Co walked in front of her. Pulled out the magazine in her hand.

“Let's talk.”

He said. Van Lam took off his mask and frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“I'm busy.”

“Talking about Tieu Tiep.”

“Talk about the picture.”

Van Lam's face changed.

“That painting? It's just a painting, do you need to overdo it?”

“It's not just a picture.”

Mr. Co said.

“That was the last bit of light in our son's heart.”

"Now it has been extinguished by your own hands."

“Co Dien, can you stop talking so exaggeratedly?”

“What's wrong with educating your own son?”

“What I do is not called education.”

Mr. Co looked at her.

“That's called destruction.”

You don't continue to argue. It seemed he had made some decision. He turned and went into the kitchen. I'm preparing ingredients for dinner. He stood in front of me.

“Miss Truong.”

The voice was extremely solemn.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday.”

“Can you... can you wrap the dumplings one more time?”

I was stunned. His eyes were extremely determined.

“Package of Thai vegetable filling.”

He added.

“Pack a little more.”

“Feed us two.”

He said "the two of us". Completely sidelined Van Lam. This is not a simple request. It's a public declaration of war. After Van Lam tore up that painting. This is Mr. Co's toughest response. I want to use this way to talk to Van Lam. Also tell everyone in the house. There are things that cannot be banned by rules. He wanted to personally rekindle the extinguished light in his son's heart. I looked at Mr. Co. He was no longer the weak man who cried at night. I nodded vigorously.

“Okay.”

“Sir.”

“Tomorrow, I will pack dumplings for you two.”

10

Saturday morning, I woke up very early. Mr. Co also wakes up very early. He's not wearing a suit. Also don't wear a golf shirt. Just wear a gray t-shirt and normal sweatpants. He helped me dig up all the chopped vegetables in the yard. Under the morning sun, we process the freshest ingredients. Tieu Tiep also woke up. He was wearing small dinosaur pajamas and standing in front of the kitchen door. Looking at us curiously. Mr. Co waved at it.

“Tieu Tiep, come here.”

“Today we are going to do something big.”

I wash the vegetables, Mr. Co chops the meat, and Tieu Tiep is in charge of delivering the food. For the first time, the kitchen had a bit of fire and smoke. There is a feeling of family. When we were almost done wrapping the dumplings, Van Lam came down. She wore a silk nightgown. Hair is a bit tangled. She looked at the three of us. Look again at the white, round dumplings on the cutting board. His expression looked like he had just seen an alien.

“What are you… doing?”

“Dumpling package.”

Mr. Co did not raise his head.

“Can't you see?”

"Co Dien, are you crazy?"

Van Lam's voice become out of control.

“Didn't you hear what I said a few days ago?”

“I told you, this house is not allowed to have that thing!”

“This is also my house.”

Try to stop the work at hand. Look at Van Lam.

“We will definitely eat these dumplings today.”

Twelve noon. I finished boiling two large plates of dumplings. Hot smoke was brought to the table. Mr. Co put five pieces into Tieu Tiep's bowl. Fill one of your bowls again. He picked up his chopsticks.

“Eat, son.”

“Don't touch it!”

Van Lam rushed over. She pressed her hand on Tieu Tiep's bowl.

“Don't eat!”

She glared at her son.

“Have you forgotten what I said?”

"This is garbage! Eating it will make you sick!"

Tieu Tiep looked at his mother and then at his father. The chopsticks in his hand fell to the ground. It's about to cry.

“Van Lam.”

Mr. Co spoke up. The voice was so calm it was scary.

“Let go of my hand.”

“I won't give up!”

Van Lam also defied everything.

"Co Dien, today do you have to oppose me for a maid, for these tattered things?"

“Have you forgotten what you promised me before?”

“You said you would forget the past and become a man worthy of me!”

“What about now? Just for a few bites of food, do you want to destroy everything?”

“The past?”

Mr. Co burst out laughing. In laughter filled with sadness.

“Damn, if you can really forget that would be great!”

He suddenly stood up. The force was so great that the back seat fell down. The chair hit the floor, making a loud sound.

“What do you think I forgot?”

“Is it poverty? Is it suffering?”

“No!”

“What you forget is that your mother once soaked in muddy water for three days, just for a few hundred pounds of food!”

“She has a lung disease and is coughing up blood, dyeing half of her pillow red, but still can't bear to spend money on treatment!”

"When she was about to die, she still remembered that she had never seen him graduate from college with her own eyes!"

His voice gets louder and louder. Every sentence is heartbreakingly painful.

“Do you know what I regret most?”

He pointed at the plate of dumplings, tears welling up in his eyes.

“This is it!”

“Before I entered college, she packed a suitcase full of dumplings for me!”

"You criticize the countryside, you feel humiliated!"

“Damn it, you threw them into the trash at the station!”

“You didn't even turn your head to see what your mother's expression was like at that time!”

“I thought what I threw away was just a bag of dumplings!”

“Later I realized, what I threw away was the last bit of memory between me and her!”

He shouted the last sentence. Both hands rest on the table.