As Li Cheng scooped up and packaged dumplings for his customer, a middle aged man with a crooked jacket and slightly unruly hair, he smiled at him with a look of unequaled happiness. Li Cheng loved his job; it brought him great pleasure to be able to serve up his dumplings to the people of Shanghai. There were many reasons he loved his job, but one was that it helped to carry on the legacy of his grandfather, Li Xiang.

Li Xiang had been a respected and lauded character in the street food arena of Shanghai. He had had many friends among the other vendors, which was very rare in the street food industry, seeing as how everyone was fighting for the customers to buy their dumplings, or no, my scallion pancakes, or definitely not, try MY delicious pork buns. In the world of street food, Li Xiang had come out on top, not with sneaky tricks or bribes, but by a much kinder act: becoming friends with the other vendors. The other vendors learned to love Li Xiang for his kindly manner, and also his deft selling skills. If they were nice enough, he might give the others tips.

It also didn’t hurt that Li Xiang’s dumpling recipe was the best of the best. Passed down generation to generation, many marveled at the delicious and tender taste of the vendor’s scrumptious dumplings. It was said that the Li family’s dumpling recipe had been passed down to their first ancestor by the Kitchen God himself. Many customers described the dumplings as soft little pillows of heaven, and constantly came back for more. In fact, Li Xiang had a devoted customer group built up not a year after he had taken over the business from his father; or at least, that’s what the old men who played mahjong on the other side of the street said.

But even with all of the rumors of Li Xiang’s greatness and legendary status as the “Dumpling King”, Li Cheng still saw him as kindly old yeye. Li Cheng had actually been given his name by Li Xiang. As his mother told him, Li Xiang had picked out Cheng because he wanted his grandson to accomplish many great things. Li Cheng had many fond memories of his grandfather, such as when he came to Li Cheng’s house to help Li Cheng with his school work in the afternoons. Li Xiang always had plums in his pockets on those afternoons; plums were, and still are, Li Cheng’s favorite fruit. He often thought it was because they reminded him of yeye.
Another fond memory he had of his grandfather was when he went to the stall to help sell the Li family’s dumplings. Li Cheng would rise as early as possible, giddy at the experience of helping yeye with the family business. Li Cheng would always rush to the corner where the Lis’ sold their goods, and had been selling for generations. He had loved setting up their little stall, because yeye always decorated it with little poems, written elegantly on delicate rice paper. Yeye would find a new one every night in one of his many poetry books, and write it down on a scrap of paper, for the local calligrapher to paint for him. He would then replace the oldest one with the fresh poem; because, as yeye said, “The old must always replace the new, in every way.”
After setup, Li Cheng and his grandpa would quickly start making the dumplings. This was Li Cheng’s favorite part; to learn how to make his family’s most prized possession. He loved the look of pure happiness his yeye got on his face whilst making the dumplings; you could tell it was his absolute favorite thing to do, to make those round little balls of dough, and pinch them into the perfect shape, then fry them up just to the right amount of crispiness. Ever since the first time he had helped his grandfather, and had seen his devotion to the dumpling making business, Li Cheng had promised himself he would wear that same look of sheer glee mixed with joy on his face when he continued the family business.
Li Cheng had continued on helping his grandfather into his teens. As the years had passed by, Li Cheng had noticed the changes in his grandfather. He was no longer as quick with the dough, nor could he reach up as high to hang his poems. Finally, he went to the traditional doctor down the street, and found out about his arthritis. It pained the whole family to see Li Xiang slowly lose the ability to make his greatest treasure; dumplings defined the man, and he was slowly losing the ability to make them as well as he could in previous years. After his diagnosis, Li Cheng went off to college for four years; even though he knew he would become a dumpling seller like his grandpa, his parents wished him to go to college. As soon as he got back, though, he noticed immediately the changes in his beloved yeye. Even though the arthritis had taken it’s toll, Li Xiang was starting to become forgetful; not remembering the other street vendors names, putting too much spices into the dumpling’s dough mixture. Eventually, the family learned yeye not only had arthritis, but dementia also.
As the months went on, yeye steadily grew worse and worse. Li Cheng had to take on running the shop, while yeye was now consigned to his bed. One day, Li Cheng rose up early, like he did those many years ago, to go and get one of the poems written down. As he went out, he heard a voice and stopped. Yeye was calling his name. Li Cheng stepped into his grandfather’s room and smiled kindly at the old man.
“My boy,” yeye rasped, “I just wanted to tell you one thing before you left. Remember, the old is always replaced by the new.”
“Thank you, yeye,” Li Cheng whispered, kissing his grandfather’s forehead as the old man fell asleep.
As Li Cheng came back that night from a hard but fulfilling day of work, he knew. His mother told him mournfully that his grandfather had died peacefully that morning in his sleep. With tears in his eyes, Li Cheng went to his bedroom quietly.
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As Li Cheng looked up from scooping the rest of his customer’s dumplings, he smiled warmly again at the old man while sealing his package.
“Thank you for your services, my friend. Come again soon!”
“You are very welcome. After all, you have the best dumplings. The new truly has replaced the old.”
As the old man walked away, Li Cheng watched with a smile. His yeye had never spoken that saying to anyone but him.