Translated…
Mama and Papa Yao’s Harmony Shop went into operations back in 1980 on Shui-Yuan Street of Shulin District in Taipei County, other than the assortments of groceries, it’d also sold Chinese and western breakfasts too, and in the summers, it’d had a shaved ice shop too. The couple worked hard, to support the family of six. Daddy Yao who migrated from China, fought alongside the Nationalists all the way when he was younger, in the end, the troops retreated to Taiwan, and he’d settled down here too. Being a soldier, daddy Yao is quiet, but, in order to mix with the crowds locally, and communicating with his customers, he’d always attempted to speak some off-tone Taiwanese that people usually couldn’t understand. Mama Yao was from a tea farmer family in Nantou, although she’d gotten NO education, but she’s very assertive in working, does everything by herself, carried the budgeting for the household, as well as the shop too. The taro yam combo had helped Papa and Mama Yao to gain their needed reputation, and, the Harmony Shop became a place where the neighbors come to exchange information too.
That was a time, when the economics in Taiwan was just taking off, also a time when we’d shared everything. The neighbors watched out for one another, and from time to time, the neighbors were asked, to look after each other’s kids too. And, the shop was from time to time, used as a temporary nursery center. Because the town of Shulin was still yet to be developed, there were, a lot of the skilled workers and their families who lived here, and, in order to satisfy the appetites of these skilled workers, the Harmony Shop’s meals, other than being made-to-order, the meals were also, very huge in portions too.
Mama Yao who nickeled and dimed, used more produces than she should have, but, she was able to, make up for the differences in cost in other manners. And so, the youngest son—Chubby, had once see the Doraemon comic book that he’d bought that he’d finished up, and the very next day, it was, on display at his family’s store windows. The comic book was wrapped up with care by Mama Yao, inside a sealed, transparent plast bag, the $35N.T.s each became $25N.T. per volume, sold as second-hand books, with two extra pieces of candy too, and every time the comics were placed onto the shelves, they’d flown off of it quickly. Several times, Chubby Yao had, attempted to prevent his mother’s bad behaviors, but, his mama always used, “if I don’t do this, are you guys going to, feed yourselves?”, to silence him.
On top of that, the loofas that grew on their own at the entrance of the streets, under the “developments” of Mama Yao, had become a contribution to the shops too—Mama Yao would place the empty alcohol bottles right underneath the plants, to collect the dews that dripped off the fruits on its own, named it, “the Essence of Loofa”. Mama Yao told, that the liquid can make you beautiful, make your skins baby soft, but, Chubby Yao had always had his own doubts about that.
Mama and Daddy Yao would work for almost sixteen hours a day, waking up at 4:30 in the morn, after the breakfast rush, they’d started preparing for the lunch rushes. In the afternoon, the two of them would take shifts of an hour and a half’s rest. In the evening, after their four children came home from school, their work of the day can finally slow down. But, at ten at night, they’d needed to prepare the items to be sold in the morning again.
In 1995, Daddy Yao who’s almost seventy, because of his working too hard over the years, his physical health started deteriorating, at the same time, the Harmony Shop started being tested: the very first super convenience shop showed up at the corner of Shuiyuan Street. Originally, we’d all thought, that it was, just something that won’t last, but, it’d become, this thing that the Harmony Shop can’t weather through. Without much struggles, the Harmony Shop handed the over-decade-long established clientele to the newer, fresher super convenience shop. It’s weird too, and, perhaps, it was, right around the same time, that the originally connected streets became separated by the walls, and the neighbors contacted one another less and less. And, Daddy and Mama Yao, after welcoming several of their grandkids, considered their health statuses, and finally made the decisions—to END the operations of Harmony Shop.
The Harmony Shop now, is still Chubby Yao’s home currently, it’s just, that he’d kept guard over this three-story house, and every now and then, the memories would come up. Those wonderful days of old would always make people curl up at the lips, with tears coming out the corners of their eyes. That was, the era, of something worth remembering.
So, this shop had, bore witness to the changes of the years, of urbanization, it’s a historical thing, I suppose, and now, you’re, keeping guard over the places, keeping those memories intact.