"Oh, no." Ching Chi shook his head. "It is raining far too hard. I'll speak of the matter again to my son."
Ching Cha adjusted his wei li (rain hat) the straighter and shuffled off through the downpour. As he went he muttered something that sounded like "Wou tou meng." If that is what he really said, he called Ching Chi a stupid old noddy.
But Ching Chi merely laughed. He had no intention of beating Ah Mee, his "pearl in the palm," his son.
Now whether Ching Chi was right or wrong is a pretty question. Some persons answer it one way, and some, another. But there is no question about this. . . . Ah Mee was terrible. If anything, he was as bad as that lazy Ah Fun, son of Dr. Chu Ping. Here is their only difference. Ah Fun never did what he was told to do. Ah Mee always did what he was told not to do. But he did it in such manner as to leave a loophole. He always had a perfectly good excuse. Take the matter of his uncle Ching Cha's cabbage patch. . . .
