Shengliver’s Note: Danny’s family are so extraordinary that this entry does not feature one member but all of them.

A high school senior, Danny is excellent both academically and socially. Her optimism and candour impress all around her, and she probably has to owe her success to her sunny disposition. Speaking in a ringing voice, she chats with the boys boldly.

Her mother, who works as a saleslady at a local supermarket, is kept busy by the job. When Danny has a day off and goes home on the weekend, she will help with household chores like cooking and laundering. I commend her for her part at home, saying she definitely cheers her mum up by lightening her load.

Danny’s mother had good looks as a girl. One day a neighbour, a matchmaker, introduced her to a young lad, who was to become Danny’s dad. The two fell in love at first sight. After the first meeting, the young pair went on a lot of dates. They finally went steady.

The trouble was that the young man was from a poor family. Danny’s grandmother was pigheadedly opposed to her daughter’s relationship from the very start. The young man was not welcome in the girl’s home. And the girl was told to sever ties with him as soon as possible.

Despite the mother’s reservations, the couple were fond of each other and their affection deepened as time went by. They decided to tie the knot. When Danny’s granny learned about their decision, she flew into a rage. She declared that such a union shall never go ahead as long as she was still on the face of the earth.

Her strong objection was dwarfed by the young couple’s affection for each other, though. They planned their wedding and went ahead with it in spite of the mother’s fury. The lad and his friends came over to the girl’s home, dropped the presents in the house, and carried the girl away to the groom’s. Danny’s granny provided the daughter with no dowry at all on the wedding day.

While the ceremony was going on, the crone came over and made a scene. She cried and yelled in an attempt to disrupt the wedding. Did she achieve her ends? Of course not. The nuptials proceeded, and the young man and the young woman were pronounced husband and wife.

After their disputed union, the young couple were not allowed to visit the mother. The mother said that she no longer had this daughter of hers.

When Danny was born on a snowy day a year later, her grandmother came over to her home and made an exhibition of herself. She protested angrily about the birth of the child. As a Chinese saying goes, however, rice done cannot be undone. The old woman could do nothing but leave the new family alone and keep her mouth dead shut.

Danny’s parents have been self-sufficient ever since their marriage. The father is industrious and the mother diligent. The family have been improving their livelihood all the while. They got a TV set, a fridge and all the other modern conveniences as their wealth accumulated. In time, they bought a new home in town and moved in. With more than a roof over their heads, the family live comfortably in their own flat. As cold and hostile to the family as the granny is, her attitude has softened a little, because the daughter, Danny’s mum, gives her cash gifts sometimes.

Speaking of money, Danny’s granny loves nothing more in the world. Only cash can open up her eyes, as a Chinese proverb goes. Here is one more example to illustrate it. Danny’s aunt, her mother’s elder sister, her granny’s eldest daughter, was fading away from cancer, but the old woman still asked her son-in-law, Danny’s uncle, for money. What did she use it for? She blew it all on a sightseeing tour of the country with her friends.

“What a woman!” I exclaimed, when coming to the end of Danny’s journal entry about her unusual family. I found myself praying, “God, send this Chinese woman down to hell upon her death! She does not deserve a place up there in heaven.”