Chapter 19: Self-inflicted Misfortune

Mr. Yan is the marketing manager of a food company in Brighton. Although he was born in the United States, he has retained the industriousness of the Chinese people. Therefore, in addition to his formal work at the food company, he also runs a small supermarket in the Weida community where he lives, which is managed by his wife.

Mr. Yan's wife is from Binhai. They met by chance when Mr. Yan went to Binhai for business negotiations, and she then gave up her job in Binhai and married him.

That day, as usual, Yan Shi drove home from work. At this time, private cars were still a novelty in the country, a sign of wealth and power, but in the United States they were already commonplace. Generally, as long as a family was slightly well-off, they could afford a private car. As the marketing manager of the company, Yan Shi naturally had to buy a car with the company's fuel subsidy.

When Yan Shi drove into the garage, he was told that his garage fee was overdue and needed to be renewed before he could continue using it. This came as a big surprise to Yan Shi. He knew that the garages in the Veda community were rented out on a metered basis. Except for the villas, all the parking spaces in the garages belonged to the property company, so if you needed to use the garage, you had to pay a certain amount of rent to the property company.

'But didn't I just pay the rent in January this year? And it was for a whole year, so how could it expire so soon? And why wasn't I notified in advance?' Yan Shi felt very puzzled.

The doorman told him that it was because the rent for the garage had been temporarily adjusted, so his garage was more than six months in arrears. As it was a temporary adjustment, there was no prior notice. Yan Shi felt helpless, but there was nothing he could do. After all, he still needed to use the garage, and parking there without paying would result in a fine. He had no choice but to go to the property management office to pay the outstanding fees before coming back with the new contract to park his car.

After parking the car, Yan Shi went home and saw his wife sitting in the living room in a daze, not having prepared any dinner for him. He asked curiously, 'What are you doing sitting in the living room? Aren't you cooking for me today?'

His wife looked up and shook out a few bills and said, 'These are the tax bill from the tax office and the reminder from the gas, water and electricity department. Please explain to me what's going on. Where did all the money you said you used to pay the taxes and utility bills go?'

Hearing his wife's words, Yan Shi's eyes suddenly widened: 'This is impossible, I only paid last week.'

His wife sneered, 'Keep up the act. You said you paid it, so tell me what these bills are about.'

His wife slammed the bills on the table, turned her head and ignored him. He immediately picked up the bills on the table and, after reading them, was immediately dumbfounded. He muttered, 'How can this be? I really have already paid these fees, so why are reminders still being sent?'

As he watched his teacher's performance, his wife just laughed coldly and said nothing. His teacher, not believing in miracles, took out his briefcase and rummaged through it to find the receipts for his payments. But his wife didn't even look at them and said, 'I'm not even going to look at this stuff. I don't know what you did, but I know that the departments are like the King of Hell, coming to collect!'

His teacher also got angry and said, 'Why are you being so unreasonable? I did pay, and the receipts are all here. What more do you want? I don't know what's going on either...'

Yan Shi paused here, and then continued, having thought of something: 'When I got back today, the garage guard said that I owed money for the garage. But we only paid in January, and you were there at the time. Even if there was a temporary price increase, it wouldn't have reached the stage of being in arrears. How much did he actually increase it by? Do you think that the price increase in the garage is also related to our tax bills and utility bills?'

Just as he was about to prove it, the door to his room was knocked on as soon as the dialect master's words had finished. The dialect master looked at his wife, because normally it was the woman who opened the door, but this time his wife had no intention of doing so. Helplessly, the dialect master had to get up and open the door himself.

The person who had come was their neighbour, also Chinese. As soon as he entered, he asked the dialect master, 'Our family received a lot of tax bills and reminders for utility bills today, but I only paid them a few days ago. What's going on? And the garage fee has also more than doubled, so I'm now in arrears. But I clearly renewed the lease with the community in January. Has this happened to you as well?'

'Yes, it has. I was just talking about this with my wife. Why, is it happening to you as well?'

Yan Shi nodded desperately and tried to give his wife a wink to show that he was innocent. His wife immediately stood up and came over.

The wife took the bill and compared it with the previous one, then said, 'It's true that we just paid these recently, so why do we have to pay them again?'

'Could it be that the city government has introduced some new policies and regulations? But there doesn't seem to be any news about it!' said the neighbour outside the door.

'If it's a new policy or regulation from the city government, that would be fine, but those Americans definitely won't agree to it. A senator will definitely protest, and then these inhumane policies and regulations will be abolished, and we can just ignore them,' said the wife of the teacher.

However, the way things turned out was always unexpected. As soon as she finished speaking, she heard someone coming up the stairs. It was the staff member from the property management company. He came up to them and said, 'I have some news for you. Starting today, the sanitation and property management fees for your community will be increased. Please go to the property management office within three days to pay the additional fees.'

After he finished speaking, the staff member was about to continue going up the stairs, but they were stopped by Yan Shi. 'What? The property management fees have also been increased? Are you messing with us?'

The staff member turned around and said, 'It's your business what you think, but this is not just for your family, it's the same for all Chinese in the VIDA community.'

'What do you mean? Just the Chinese have had their property fees raised? What about the garage rental?' Yan Shi asked, noticing the emphasis in the staff member's words.

'That's right, just you Chinese!'

The staff member left them with these words and went upstairs, leaving Yan Shi and his neighbours looking at each other in shock.

'What's going on? Why are the fees being raised for us Chinese alone? Isn't this bullying?' my wife complained, and Master Yan and the neighbours nodded in agreement, because they all felt the same way. Then they heard someone say behind them

'Who says we don't have our own councillors? Who says you called the police to get rid of the councillors who came to the community to spread the word? Mum and auntie, I beg you to think about this: if we had our own councillors who could speak for us in the council, how would the city government dare to have such a policy? If you don't help them, that's fine, but you drove them away. Now this situation is the result of your own misdeeds!'

When Yan Shi and the others turned around, they saw that it was their son. Yan Shi's wife slapped him and then angrily scolded him, 'Why did you come out if you weren't studying in your room? Children should mind their own business. What do you know? Those people aren't running for councilor. I think they're just here to scam money. Only a little brat like you who knows nothing would believe them. And I think they're the ones who caused this whole thing!'

Finally, Master Yan's wife pointed at the child's nose and warned, 'I'm telling you, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll teach you a lesson!'

The neighbour agreed, "Exactly, otherwise how come nothing ever happened before, but this time after they arrived, our fees were raised?'

The child, however, was unconvinced, saying, "I don't think so, it's obvious that we don't have any rights! I came out to say that the school just called and said my tuition fees are going up.'

Echoing the child's words, the teacher's phone rang. After answering the phone, his face immediately changed. After hanging up, he said, 'It was the bank. He said my credit has been adjusted and this month's credit bill must be paid within a week, otherwise they will take measures. At the same time, our mortgage interest rate will also be adjusted and will increase by 8%.

'Facing the news from the child and the teacher, the teacher's wife immediately wailed, 'This is going to drive us to death! How can there be such a reason to target us?'

Yan Shi frowned and said, 'This really won't do. There's no reason for us to pay so much more than everyone else. Let's go find the other Chinese in the community and go to the district council together to protest, demanding that the council intervene and revoke the unreasonable policy that targets us.'

The neighbour asked doubtfully, "Is that okay?'

Yan Shi shook his head and replied, "I don't know either, but it's the only thing we can do now.'

Time passed. The next day, Yan Shi contacted other Chinese in the Veda community and they all came to the entrance of the Fenway District Council building, holding protest signs high in the air and shouting at the council building: 'We completely protest the city government's racist policies. We are American citizens and we demand equal treatment. Please do not allocate excessive taxes and living expenses to us, we cannot afford it!'

Due to the excessive increase in fees, almost a thousand Chinese came today, filling the square in front of the council building.

Yan Shi and his wife were also among the crowd. His wife looked at the many people around her and said happily to Yan Shi, 'I didn't realise that there were so many Chinese people in Brighton. This is the first time I've seen so many of them together since our wedding. The council will definitely have to compromise and cancel the increase, won't they? Maybe under the pressure of so many of us, the city council will even help us reduce some of the fees!'

Compared to his wife's optimism, Yan Shi frowned and said, 'I don't think we should be so optimistic. This is not your country, and the council will not compromise so easily. We should still go to that councilor that our son mentioned. He might be able to help...'

Before the words of the teacher were finished, his wife interrupted, 'What kind of shit are they, those so-called congressmen? What use would they be? I think they're the ones who started this whole thing. I'm lucky I'm not having trouble with them! Look, there are so many of us here, do you think they'd dare to get rough? That would be big news. Back home, even the governor would have to back down!'

'But this is in the United States, and we are just Chinese,' said Master Yan.

As if to prove Master Yan's words, as soon as he finished speaking, a team of riot police with shields entered the scene. They marched in a neat formation, directly separating the crowd from the council on either side.

Seeing this, Master Yan panicked: 'No, let's go quickly, we're in trouble!'

But his wife did not agree: 'What else can they do? It's obvious that they are racially discriminating against us. We are petitioning legitimately and have a reasonable case. Can they possibly use violence?'

Before his wife finished speaking, she heard a few bangs over there, and several tear gas canisters were fired into the crowd, causing an immediate commotion. Then the riot police took big strides towards the crowd, waved the rubber batons in their hands, and smashed them over people's heads.

Panic spread through the crowd. Everyone instinctively started to back away and run when the tear gas was fired. When the riot police charged, the people became even more of a mess. Everyone ran around like headless chickens, screaming and crying in a loud chorus.

In the chaos, Yan Shi and his wife were separated. Yan Shi desperately called out his wife's name, but when he finally pushed his way through the crowd, he found a white police officer brandishing a rubber baton thicker than his arm, and viciously beating his wife.