Shan Shan, Come Eat! – Epilogue 3

The Chinese Bayberries Diary

Shan Shan’s favorite fruits are available in spring and summer. In March and April there are strawberries, then followed by bayberries. She likes to eat strawberries, deliciously red, fragrant and full of juice. However, eating bayberries is because of paranoia.

At that time, Shan Shan was in high school. That year the bayberry season arrived early. Shan Shan was biking home from school and saw bayberry stalls along the road, saliva drooling. At home when she asked her mom to buy them, her mom said: “It’s early in the season so too expensive, let’s wait a few more days to buy.”

Shan Shan is a good child who understands her family’s finance. Over ten yuans for a pound of bayberries is a luxury so she did not insist on eating them and obediently waited for the price to drop.

Doing well in high school was the important thing, so Shan Shan did not take this matter to heart. After some time has passed, she suddenly remembered and asked her mom: “Where are the bayberries? When are we buying them?”

Her mom answered: “There are no more bayberries. The season is over.”

From then on, Shan Shan is stubborn about bayberries.

Although not her favourite, she always buys some when she sees them. Even in college when there was not much money to spend, but if there were bayberries, she would buy even if it cost more than ten yuans a pound. After marrying Boss, it had been a surprise to know that there is a bayberry tree in the family’s backyard.

The tree is probably a few years old. The housekeeper says each year the tree yields a few hundred pounds of fruit, all the bayberries are big and juicy. The Feng family cannot eat everything so some are made into wine while others are boxed up and given out as gifts.

From the time the bayberries can be picked, Shan Shan continues to eat until the end of June, not skipping a single day, eating emotionlessly. On the other hand, Feng Teng feels his teeth ache as he watches. At night when kissing her, the mouth is filled with the sweet taste of bayberries.

“Don’t you feel soreness in your teeth?”

“No.” Lying on his body, Shan Shan explains about her stubbornness and concludes, “It’s true that the best thing is something we can’t have. Was I too easy when I agreed to marry you?”

Feng Teng’s closed eyes snap open and he scowls at her: “From the time I was little to now, I always have the best of everything.”