The Zhang family's restaurant sign had been hung, smashed by troublemakers, refurbished, and finally stabilize…
The Zhang family's restaurant sign had been hung, smashed by troublemakers, refurbished, and finally stabilized after many twists.
On the day they went to collect the new sign, Zhang Ankang was seven years old, only reaching his mother's waist.
He followed her across the street, past Harmonic Span. The towering horses loomed taller than him. The shops displayed wonders he'd never seen. His mother pulled him along, steering him clear of the bustling crowds and lavish storefronts, but though she dragged his body forward, his eyes lingered behind.
At the carpenter's workshop, saws and planes screeched, wood shavings swirling in the air.
His mother crouched to inspect the new sign, while he sat on a stool, looking around, at the sign, and at her.
The freshly carved sign was huge, the characters for "Zhang's Eatery" bold and imposing, making his mother seem even thinner, even smaller. Her old wooden hairpin, worn for years, swayed before his eyes, blending into the flurry of wood shavings, just another tiny speck in the storm of sawdust.
He stared longer than he had at the horses and fancy shops on the way here.
He remembered the customers at the eatery often saying to his mother: "Find yourself a supporter, at least then you could afford a new hairpin.
Zhang Ankang wondered: "What would a new hairpin look like?"
By ten, he understood.
A new hairpin was like the tall horses on the street, the exotic treasures in the shops, the grand new signboard in the carpenter's workshop. It was something bright and unmistakable, something that wouldn't disappear into a cloud of sawdust.
With it, his mother would become someone who "lived well", someone with backing, someone spared from the world's gossip.
On the way back, crossing Harmonic Span again, the horses still loomed over him, the shops still overflowed with strange, nameless wonders. His gaze shifted from his mother's wooden hairpin to a jewelry shop, where customers streamed in and out, and glittering hair ornaments lined the displays.
A shopkeeper called out, "Jin's Jewelry here..."
His mother yanked him roughly, "Watch where you're going, you scamp!"