Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 233

Hui Liang opened her eyes. That was it! They needed to go to her grandmother.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Dad, how come grandma speaks Cantonese but you don’t?” asked Hui Liang, in the car. They
were driving to her grandmother’s home. Her father shrugged. “I know how to speak in Cantonese, but
I’ve forgotten how to read or write it.”
“WHAT?!” Hui Liang nearly shouted.
“When I was in middle school,” her father said, glancing in the rear-view mirror, “I was sent to
the UK. I finished all my schooling there, and came back here to live with your grandmother.” He stopped
the car.
Hui Liang emerged from the car and stepped on the porch. She touched the mahogany door,
revealing more memories in her mind. She shook her head and pressed the old-fashioned door-bell.
Almost at once the door opened.
“Hui Liang!” Grandma exclaimed, “and…”. Grandma looked delighted as she hugged both of
them.
“We were wondering if you know who this letter is to?” blurted Hui Liang.
Her grandmother took the letter in her thin, fragile hands and began to read. She looked surprised
as her eyes met the address.
“Who is it to?” inquired Hui Liang.
Grandma looked at her and said, “It is written to me”.
“What?!” Hui Liang gaped at her grandmother. Grandma opened the letter.
“Read it, ahma,” Father insisted. Grandma started.
“My dearest sister, I am sorry about the argument we had years ago. I have realized you were right.
I am coming to your house, to ask for forgiveness and to celebrate the New Year with family. Your sister, Li
Jing.”
After Grandma finished reading, there was a cry outside. Hui Liang stepped forward and opened
the door. There, in the doorway was Li Jing. Grandma’s and Great-Aunt Jing’s faces broke in huge smiles.
They ran forward, despite their great age, and hugged each other.
Father called the rest of the family, and they all gathered in the backyard, gazing at the beautiful
stars, at the iridescent fireworks forming pictures in the sky, at the skyscrapers towering above them in the
purplish-pink sky.
There’s no place like home, thought Hui Liang, surrounded by her wonderful family.