'Taiwanese night market' in Sunnyvale CA - Regions / San Francisco Bay Area, Norcal - Hungry Onion

'Taiwanese night market' in Sunnyvale CA - Regions / San Francisco Bay Area, Norcal - Hungry Onion

my grand-daughter

The Jade Rubies

Now everything sacred and dear to him was gone. He had to sacrifice his wife, his two beautiful daughters, Hing and Jasmine, his business, and his integrity. It was a pity really. His daughters were to marry into good families, but now that would change because of his greedy, impetuous moves. Disgraced, he couldn't find any other way out. He recalled their last discussion ,the scene still vivid in his mind. Rosie had argued with him when he suggested that this was the only way out, but in the end, he did what was necessary. What she wanted didn't matter. Now she could no longer speak. She was gone. He couldn't envision his girls starving so he did what he had to do.

He took a deep breath. It was time for him to join his wife. He picked up the gun with his right hand and aimed it at his right temple. The metal felt cold next to his skin. He twisted it sideways. His fingers tightned on the trigger ...then blackness.

The Jade Rubies

Less than five miles away, another man sat alone in his downtown office, his body bent over his desk. Despondent, he took off his glasses, rubbed his forehead, and stared blankly at his ledger. Althought lighted, the lamp offered no comfort -- only stark reality. Heartsick over what he had done, he wished at that precise moment that he was blind. He stared at gun he had purchased, and took stock of the scene in front of him on his thick, royal blue rug. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He gasped and watched the bright red blood of life drain from his beloved wife's body. He got up, bent over Rosie's body, and picked up the two jade rubies grasped tightly in her hand. He put them in an envelope and addressed it so that someone he trusted would somehow see to it that his daughters got them. It had come down to this, selling off all their jewels so that he would not lose face. Rosie had tried to help him, but it was too late. Everything was his fault. He had let her down. He believed that things would get better, but they never did. Now he had nothing. He had lost it all because of one man -- the man he couldn't find to destroy. He had been a fool. He had believed Wong Yuen Sik's words and all the time it was only words, empty words that meant nothing. It was a scam.

The Jade Rubies

The Jade Rubies --

Prologue - 1904

In a residential section of Guangzhou two men quarrelled, "Sai-kai-yai, you've messed with me once too often. I'll see you in Hell before I'm through with you." The fat man lifted his gun to aim at the arrogant young man in front of him.

The thin man's eyes flashed in anger. He reached behind his back to fell the razor-sharp blade of his knife. He turned slightly, gripped it. and deftly threw it at his target.

A gunshot blast exploded and a bullet zipped by, deathly close to his ears. Wong Yuen Sik breathed a sigh of relief when he stared down at the smoking gun that had fallen out of the fat man's hands. He shrugged his shoulders, not at all affected by the stunned expression on the dead man's face. He reached down to retrieve his weapon, wrapped it in his handkerchief, and quickly exited through the back door. He paused to look around. So far, so good- no one saw him.

More to come --

Twin Cities Daily Planet Article 2009

Read my article "Gung Hay Fat Choy" - The Year of the Ox: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2009/01/21/gung-hay-fat-choy-%E2%80%93-happy-new-year-year-ox.html

Article From Asian Nation

Here is my article in the Asian Nation: http://www.asianpages.com/news/050105_news.html