ChaoLi was good people, too, from a good family. Chen, yes, of course, but her immediate family was also solid. She was herself a good person, and JuPing was in a position to know, since ChaoLi worked the reception desk during week days, through which all of JuPing’s business visitors came. Before that, she had been JuPing’s tea server.
JuPing consulted the family’s genealogical registry. No consanguinity within five generations, the first common ancestor going all the way back to Chen LiQiang. That was no impediment.
“And you say you have not yet asked her to be your wife, JieMin?”
JieMin blushed.
“No, Chen Zumu. Not without your blessing.”
“Very well. You have my blessing, JieMin. May you have many healthy children.”
“Thank you, Chen Zumu. But what of our parents?”
“I will speak to the parents, JieMin.”
“Thank you, Chen Zumu.”
Their business concluded, they sat for another fifteen minutes contemplating the garden as the sun rose in the sky.
JieMin had asked ChaoLi to picnic with him for Sunday lunch. She had not forgotten, and he was sitting in his apartment at eleven-thirty when there was a distinctive knock on his door.
Tap. Tap-tap. Tap.
JieMin opened the door, and she was there, in lavalava and flip-flops. He wondered again at the sheer voluptuousness of her.
ChaoLi’s American heritage had come out in a more American figure than a normal Chinese one. That is, she was a bit thinner in the middle, and a bit bigger at both ends. The effects were subtle, not exaggerated, but, taken together, the effect was magnified.
“Hi, JieMin.”
“You remembered.”
“Of course, I remembered, silly.”
They went down to street level and across to the Uptown Market. At the cafe, they picked out items for their picnic, and, as the counter people made their lunch, JieMin bought a basket and tablecloth at a nearby stall.
“A basket, JieMin?” ChaoLi asked.
“It’s not a picnic without a picnic basket.”
“And a tablecloth?”
“A little extra something. And it’s big enough we can sit on it, ChaoLi.”
“So extravagant.”
“Not for multiple uses. I hope this is not our last picnic, ChaoLi.”
She kissed his cheek.
“So do I.”
There was a city park between Arcadia Boulevard and Hospital Street, and between Twelfth Street and Thirteenth Street. It was only two blocks away from the Uptown Market at Fourteenth and Market.
They walked to the park, JieMin carrying the basket.
“JieMin, move the basket to your other hand.”
He did, which freed up the hand on her side. She took his hand in hers and they walked hand-in-hand down the sidewalk.
In the park, JieMin spread the tablecloth out on the grass. From here, they could see the plantings – subtropical flowering plants with huge, gaudy blooms. Children played on the playground equipment nearby.
They sat and ate their lunch, watching the children play. Many of the children were Chen, as the park was so close to the compound and it did not require crossing Arcadia Boulevard.
“I hope to have children some day,” ChaoLi mused as they watched.
“I do, too. I like watching them play. Discovering things. In a child’s eyes, the whole world is new.”
He was rewarded with a laugh like little bells.
“You’re a poet, JieMin.”
“I just say things like that so I can hear you laugh, ChaoLi.”
After they were done with their lunch, they moved the basket out of the way and lay down next to each other on the tablecloth. They held hands and stared up at the sky, and watched the wispy afternoon clouds drift to the west in the onshore breeze.
“ChaoLi?”
“Yes, JieMin?”
“ChaoLi, will you marry me?”
“What about our families, JieMin? Do we not need to consult them?”
“I talked to Chen Zumu this morning. She has given us her blessing.”
“Oh, JieMin! If Chen Zumu has given us her blessing, then our families will surely agree.”
“Does that mean you will marry me, ChaoLi?”
She rolled toward him onto her side. He turned his head to look at her.
“Yes, JieMin. I will marry you.”
ChaoLi kissed JieMin on the mouth.
She tasted like summer flowers.
They tarried in the park most of the afternoon. They did not overdo their affection here, in the park. That would not be appropriate behavior. They were Chen.
But there was no hurry now.
The promise had been made.
They had dinner that evening in the family’s restaurant. This time they ordered the fifth soup, the fifth and sixth appetizer, and the fifth and sixth entrees. There was no sixth soup on the menu. The shared and tasted as before.
When they got back to the apartment building, they rode up to the eighth floor. ChaoLi pushed the button for the tenth floor as JieMin got off.
“I need to speak to my parents, JieMin. I will see you later. Thank you for a lovely day.”
JieMin went to his apartment and called his mother. Chen Zumu had called her, and told her about the potential marriage. She had said wonderful things about ChaoLi, who had worked in her household for several years, first serving tea, then manning the reception desk through whom all of Chen Zumu’s and Chen Zufu’s important visitors came.
“This is the girl who showed us to your apartment, isn’t she, JieMin?” FangYan asked.
“Yes, Muqin.”
“She is very pretty. In an American sort of way.”
JieMin smiled.
“Yes, Muqin. She is very pretty. And she is a very nice person.”
“She has a nice laugh, too.”
Like little bells, JieMin thought.
“A person with a nice laugh means they use it a lot,” FangYan added.
“Yes, Muqin. I think you’re right.”
JieMin was sitting in the other armchair, the one in the northeast corner of the apartment, looking out his window at an angle toward the downtown. He could see the university buildings from here, three blocks east and fourteen blocks south.
In just over three
