厂子垮了夫妻俩也下岗了。下岗了怎么办?夫妻俩一咬牙，把所有的积蓄拿出来开了家饺子店。起初饺子店的生意还不错，可近来却愈来愈冷清了，夫妻俩急得像热锅上的蚂蚁，团团转。

The factory went to hell and both husband and wife were laid off. What were they to do after being laid off? The couple gritted their teeth and took out all their savings to fund a dumpling shop. Business was brisk at first but growingly slack recently. The couple milled around like ants on a hot wok.

屋漏偏遭连阴雨!就在夫妻俩闷闷不乐烦恼不已之时，妻子的金戒指又不知什么时候弄丢了，那还是夫妻俩热恋阶段，丈夫特地送给妻子的定情礼物。

The roof will leak exactly when it rains! When the couple was sullen and vexed, the wife lost her gold ring at an unknown time. The ring was an engagement gift bought by the husband when they were deeply in love.

妻子难过得几乎泪如雨下。丈夫的心里也疼，但丈夫毕竟是男人，男人应该大度，男人不会疼在脸上，于是丈夫从容不迫地劝妻子说：“店子里里外外我们都找遍了，还是没找着，是不是一不小心包在饺子里了?”经丈夫这么一指点，妻子的眼睛唰地亮了。妻子转悲为喜，十分急切地说：“那我们赶紧把所有的饺子打开看看?”丈夫并不赞成，丈夫却说：“打开所有的饺子多烦!我们累得还不够吗?不如，索性让别人帮我们吃出来?”妻子将信将疑：“真能吃出来?”丈夫盯着妻子：“也许可以!就算吃不出来，打开饺子去找也是白搭。”妻子一想也是，便依了丈夫。

The wife was so sad she almost wept buckets. The husband also felt his heart ache, but anyhow he was a man – a man should be broad-minded and never show pain on his face. Therefore, he persuaded his wife at ease, “Every nook and cranny of the shop has been searched, but still the ring can’t be found. Has it been carelessly wrapped in a dumpling?” Enlightened, the wife changed her sorrow into joy and her eyes brightened up. “Then let’s hurry and tear open all the dumplings to have a look?” she suggested eagerly. The husband, however, wouldn’t agree to that. “How troublesome it is to tear open all the dumplings! We are still not tired enough? It would be better to let the others help us eat it out?” The wife took that with a pinch of salt. “Will they?” The husband fixed his eyes on his wife. “Maybe! Even if they don’t, it would be a waste of time and labour for us to tear open all the dumplings.” Thinking that her husband’s words were reasonable, the wife followed his suggestion.

很快，丈夫就在饺子店前贴出了一张醒目的告示：“因生意火爆，忙乱之中，本店女主人的金戒指不慎包进了饺子里，为了答谢顾客们对本饺子店的青睐与厚爱，今后不论谁吃饺子时吃出了金戒指，我们都忍痛送给他(她)作为纪念。只是，恳请各位吃饺子时，千万不要太性急，如若不慎让金戒指卡住了脖子，本店概不承担任何责任。”

Soon an eye-striking notice was hung out in the front of the shop, which stated, “Due to booming business and rashness, the hostess of this shop has wrapped her gold ring in a dumpling. However, in return for your good graces and deep love, we’ll give it, although reluctantly, to whoever eats it out for memory’s sake. Thus, please don’t gorge on the dumplings too greedily lest it might get stuck to your throat. For this the shop shall shoulder no responsibility.”

妻子斗大的字识不了几个，也无心去看告示上在说什么。

The wife couldn’t read much and was in no mood to try and read it, either.

围观的人越来越多。告示的内容一传十、十传百，饺子店里又热闹起来。

A growing number of people crowded around and the gist of the notice was passed on from oneperson to ten folks and again from ten to one hundred. The dumpling shop hustled and bustled again.

每个吃饺子的人都很留心，妻子也十分紧张地扫视着店子里每个吃饺子的人。可吃饺子的人走了一批又一批，就是不见有谁吃出了金戒指。

Every customer ate the dumplings with full caution and the wife’s eyes also scanned around nervously. Nonetheless, one batch of customers went away after another, but none could eat the ring out.

这天忙碌完后，妻子终于不安地问起金戒指来。“金戒指是吃不出来了，它压根儿就没包进饺子里。”丈夫不紧不慢地说。妻子惊讶了：“那怎么办?”丈夫回答：“还能怎么办?它就在我的上衣口袋里!”说完得意洋洋地掏出那枚金戒指，双手捧着将它还给了妻子。妻子的目光一亮，高兴得不得了。

After another busy day, the wife enquired about the gold ring again uneasily. “They can’tanswer you because it was never wrapped in a dumpling in the first place,” the husband said neither quickly nor slowly. “What should we do?” The wife was surprised. “What should we do!” the husband answered. “It is in the pocket of my jacket!” After that was said, he took out the gold ring gleefully and presented it to his wife with both hands. The wife, her eyes sparkling, couldn’t be happier.

“金戒指肯定是你存心藏着的，干吗骗我?”稍稍平静下来，妻子嗔怪丈夫说，“看你把我急得……”丈夫就嘿嘿一笑：“不是想吃出金戒指，会有那么多顾客光临我们的饺子店?早让你知道金戒指让我藏着了，你会那么虎视眈眈地注视每一个吃饺子的顾客，让他们都信以为真?”

“You must have done that on purpose. But why did you keep it even from me?” After composing herself slightly, the wife upbraided her husband gently. “Look how I had been worried …” The husband smirked. “But for the gold ring, would we have had so many customers? Had I let you know earlier that I had stashed it away, would you eye up every one of them menacingly to prove the point.”

妻子这才恍然大悟。她十分怜爱地用手点了点丈夫的鼻尖：“你呀，你!”

Enlightened, the wife dabbed the tip of her husband’s nose with her finger lovingly. “You, you!”