A: Letter and two envelopes addressed to Shi-he Eng from Yao-yun Eng of the Zee Tai Co. Hong Kong. Greetings to who opens the letter! I received what my brother sent from the Ju-chang store at Lo Province (Los Angeles?) recently: I have received the 100 dollars you enclosed and have known the various things you mentioned. I will follow the instructions in your letter, enclose the 100 dollars to which I add three dollars and sixty cents to make a grand total of one hundred and three .... Sent it to Yi-yuan and delievered it to Guo -chiang for thier expences. Hope you do not mind. As for the matter of Shi jing's building a house ... I thought Shi Jing had report ed to you that is why I did not inform you in detail. Shi-jing built a house last year. He spent about two thousand and five hundred dollars or so of his own money. I suppose he did not use the one thousand dollars you sent back last year either. It was Shi-jing's initial plan to repair the patio of the old house, the walkways of the main gates and small gates and to replae the teak wood doors. Those doors have been purchased, however they they are not to the likings of Guo-chiang's mother. That is why they are not replaced. Now you have separate budgets for your own family expenses. Shi-jing just had a daughter. He went back to little Lu-song around the second or third month last year. The house Ming jie built costs about two thousand dollars. I suppose you are aware of it. Shi-di returned and built a house on the 7th of the 11th month. Shi-hui tore down hhis old house on the second and started to build a ne w one. Feng - o ;must be grown up now? I plan to release her birth infomation maybe send to the Lee's at Shun-nan village. Guo chiang is now studying .... Nowdays everything in Tang shan is getting expensive. Hope you make money saving a priority. Shi-zhu's brother and Gui wen's sister already wondering in the celestial world, which is agreat pity. Family members of all the brothers are dwelling inpeace. Hope you do not worry. I wil inform you of the rest next time. I herein wish you wealthy peace. For Shi-he brother to examine. On the sixteeth day of the tenth month the year of JI (1909) Yao-yun wrote B: Greeings to who opens the letter. I received a letter from brother Shi-run recently which mentioned that my brother would like to wihtdraw three hundred dollars from the money you deposited at the Zee Tai wing Store to invest on the shares of the of the Mantai store. The inforamtion about the shares will take some more days to be done. I will send another letter to inform you. Your family members are dwelling in peace. Guo chiang is studying in local village this year. Shi-jing has not yet returned to little Lu Song. Maybe he will launch forth in the seventh or eighth month. Ya-o has grown up, but has not had any arrangement for her marriage. I already asked your family members to release information on her birth time. The prices for grains and rice are going up this month. Youhad better send more money home for expenses. I selected a date which will be the twenty ninth of the fifth month for installing the beams and constructing the house. This is what I wanted to inform you. I am herein wish you a wealthy peace. For brother Shi-he to examine. On the 18th day of the 5th Month the year of Geng (1910)

Letter

1999.060.111