“Is work tiring?”
“Not tiring, not tiring, I really like working.”
“Ziyue should eat healthier okay.”
“I knowww~”
Unlike Grandpa Yuan Longping who is a very impressive grandpa,
my grandma is just an ordinary grandma.
A Grain of Rice Passes Three Trials
When I was little my parents often told me stories.
My mom would hold me and read “The Legend of Yue Fei,”
my dad would tell me before bed all kinds of stories he’d heard from childhood.
There was one called “The Golden Gong and Drum” that he told me, Zinan, and Kaikai over and over many times,
so much that Mia heard it once when she came home with me.
Children’s curiosity about the world is infinite,
and after hearing a story I’d pester my dad for more stories.
But how can a person’s limited story inventory satisfy infinite curiosity?
So later my dad often told me stories from when he was little.
“What kind of person is your mom?”
I asked my dad. He thought, then said:
“Your grandma didn’t have schooling,
but she has great wisdom.”
My understanding of grandma
was built from my dad’s words and descriptions.
Later in elementary school,
grandma came to Guangdong and lived with us for a few years,
so I could also hear grandma tell me stories with my own ears.
“A Grain of Rice Passes Three Trials” is a story grandma liked to tell.
The gist is that the suffering but kind protagonist passes three trials with one grain of rice.
Good people are rewarded, teaching us to be kind.
Even though this story has no twist, no setup,
it’s stayed in my heart.
Diligent and Thrifty
After grandma stayed in Guangdong for a few years,
she still had to go back to her hometown in Hunan.
When she left she was a bit sad,
maybe feeling she’d never have a chance to come to Guangdong again.
She added many more lectures big and small.
Grandma actually isn’t someone who likes to lecture.
Grandpa passed away early,
and grandma raised several children on her own,
doing no shortage of hard work.
Her children had the next generation,
and the next generation had the next generation,
forming a vast “Fu family clan.”
For decades,
her life can be summed up in one Hunan saying: “diligent and thrifty.”
In her old age her eyes weren’t good,
uncle has been taking care of her,
and grandma basically hasn’t stepped out of the village.
When I visited her during winter and summer breaks,
she’d just stay in the room.
On afternoons with good sunlight she’d grab a stool,
sit by the door listening to children and grandchildren chat.
Occasionally she’d comment on lazy people in the anecdotes:
“People still have to do things, not doing things doesn’t work.”
Then she’d turn and advise her youngest son: “Kangkang is doing well now, you can do a bit less.”
You Can’t Slap a Smiling Face
Grandma’s condition suddenly worsened before the new year.
After the new year she was gone.
At that time Mia reminded me to pay attention to my dad’s mood,
because father-in-law had also been low for one or two years.
A while ago when we were on video call,
I asked my dad: “What do you plan to do after gaokao?”
He said: “Ah, originally I was planning to go back to Hunan as soon as I finished accompanying my students through gaokao…”
The loss between his words was hard to conceal.
I couldn’t help but recall watching “Coco.”
Seeing the wrinkled grandma in the movie,
I immediately thought of my own grandma.
What coco left behind was a song.
What grandma left in my heart is one line:
“You can’t slap a smiling face.”
In school, I solved problems with a smile.
At work, I write code with a smile.
Sometimes others find me strange:
“Others are working, you’re working too, why are you so happy?”
And I answer with TVB style:
“Being happy is a day, being unhappy is also a day~”
When people live in the world,
their flesh, blood, essence, and soul are gathered from decades of seeing, hearing, eating, and thinking.
Even though the details of being with grandma gradually wear down,
the stories she told, the way of life she stuck to, and the truths she taught me sound in my mind every night.
I hope she’s like in “The Lion King,”
becoming one of the stars in the sky,
shining on us.
(end)