The first thing Jinyi notices when she arrives at Aunt Mei’s house is the pussy willow plant. Gold nugget ornaments hang on its spreading branches. The plant stands taller than her aunts, uncles, and cousins in the living room. Every year, family and friends gather at Aunt Mei’s house to celebrate Chinese New Year.
“Jinyi, you look lovely in that purple dress,” Aunt Mei welcomes her.
“Happy New Year, Aunt Mei,” greets Jinyi. “I wish you good health.”
Aunt Mei pulls out a Hong Bao (red packet) from her purse. “Here…for you.”
‘Thank you, Aunt Mei!” Jinyi smiles. Chinese New Year is her favorite festival because she receives many Hong Baos. A tradition is that elders bless children by giving them Hong Baos. These red paper envelopes symbolize luck and contain money. Although Jinyi likes getting money, she is fond of red packets for another reason: Jinyi is a red packet collector.
Jinyi takes a closer look at the red packet Aunt Mei gave her. It has eight lanterns in a circle. Her eyes sparkle. It’s a design she doesn’t have yet.
Aunt Mei points to a big album Jinyi carries and asks, “Is this your red packet collection?”
“Yes,” Jinyi replies with pride. “I brought it to show everyone.”
“I can’t wait to see it, but first you must eat.” Aunt Mei nudges Jinyi to the buffet table.
Jinyi thinks about her unusual hobby. Red packets come in different sizes and prints. Their decorative pictures range from dragons and words of good fortune to popular characters like Hello Kitty and Pokémon. She saved her red packets for three years and also asked her classmates for theirs. Jinyi persuaded them by saying, “You will throw away your empty packets anyway. Why not give them to me?” In total, she collected 185 different styles of red packets.
Jinyi looks at the trays of food on the buffet table and feels hungry. She spent the whole morning arranging her red packets. Now they’re perfect. Jinyi takes a huge serving of noodles and a cup of water filled almost to the brim. She tries to balance everything with her album under her arm when suddenly Splash! Both the drink and the album land on the floor.
“Nooo!” Jinyi lets out a scream. Water had splashed all over the album. She bends down and grabs the album, flipping the pages open. Many red packets are wet, wrinkled and discolored.
A crowd surrounds Jinyi. Aunt Mei and Jinyi’s parents console her. But Jinyi bites her lips and stares at the album.
How disappointing and embarrassing. Why am I so clumsy? she thinks. My red packet collection is ruined. There’s nothing to show now.
Jinyi removes the wet red packets from the album and wipes them with a kitchen towel, but they are so damp they tear into pieces. Great, thinks Jinyi. I’m making it worse. As the broken pieces mesh together, textures overlap and colors swish and mix. Jinyi recalls something she does in school.
“Aunt Mei, do you have a piece of white cardboard?” asks Jinyi.
“Yes,” Aunt Mei answers, looking puzzled. “What do you want to do?”
“You will see,” says Jinyi. “I need to borrow a pencil, glue, and your hairdryer, too.”
Jinyi spreads out the wet red packets on a table. Using the items from Aunt Mei, Jinyi draws outlines on the cardboard and tears more red packets. She examines each piece. Where is the best place to fit this pattern and color on the cardboard? She carefully glues them one by one, filling up the outlines. Finally, she switches on the hairdryer and blows it over the cardboard. Her artwork is complete.
“This is for you Aunt Mei,” says Jinyi.
Aunt Mei takes a deep breath with one hand over her mouth.
“A peony!” Aunt Mei exclaims. “Look at the different shades you created for the petals. It’s beautiful.”
“I know it’s your favorite flower. Hope this peony collage brings you prosperity,” says Jinyi.
Aunt Mei gives Jinyi a tight hug. Friends and relatives take turns to admire the peony collage. Jinyi looks at the audience around her. This is better than I imagined!
Jinyi feels a tap on her shoulder. It is Uncle Tao.
“Jinyi, can you make a red packet collage of my name? I want to display it in my office.”
“Sure, Uncle Tao.” She beams.
Uncle Tao’s request reminds Jinyi of something important. I need to come up with a cool signature for my collages. I’m a red packet collector and artist now!
~The End~
Illustration Copyright © 2010 Roberta Baird
Copyright © 2010 by Edna Yap