The plane gradually flew into the clouds. Looking down, even the neat and lush fields and winding rivers of the motherland can't be seen. Linda suddenly felt like a short poem written many years ago: hate is hard to get your feet on, and you don't often step on the ground. Living in my aunt's house for the past three weeks has made her lively, relaxed and relaxed a lot. On the whole, she is much more relaxed.
She left her motherland for forty years, when she was only ten years old. She first went to Taiwan Province Province with her parents, and then went to the United States. She received higher education in the United States, married Liu Dawei, a Filipino-born China native, and gave birth to her daughter Anna.
David is an economics professor in a university, and his daughter is well educated. She speaks Mandarin as much as possible at home and teaches her daughter some classical poems by China. It can be said that she is a very happy Chinese family. But since her mother died seven years ago, she felt like a lonely boat floating on the sea, out of reach. It is the gentle and demure mother who loves literature that makes her deeply immersed in the spiritual environment of the beautiful literature of the motherland. Thirty-six years ago, her parents and her aunt and uncle both taught in Taiwan Province Province. At the same time, they got letters of appointment from American universities. Aunt and uncle resolutely returned to the motherland, and her father finally chose the road to America! My mother, who can't speak English, often feels infinitely lonely in a foreign land. She is not used to playing bridge and mahjong with Mrs. China, who lives in the United States, nor will she endlessly talk with them about her parents' shortcomings. Besides housework, she just picked up China's poems and novels to recite. At this time, Linda is very close to her mother, listening to her chanting, listening to her description and nostalgia for the old capital of the motherland and the scenery of Jiangnan. She feels that her mother is in her heart and is an abstract motherland! Mother also encouraged her to write poems and copy her poems neatly in a small notebook.
When my mother died, my father got news about the motherland from Taiwan Province Province, saying that under the tyranny of the China government, all walks of life were dying and the people were poor. When Linda thinks of her mother's beloved and nostalgic motherland, she always thinks of those old poems: looking back at the east wind last night, the motherland was desolate, or: she missed the motherland, which was empty but barren, and she was sad and depressed. She also feels that in a certain aspect of her personality, no one has a common language with her except her mother who can't speak English. She can only write one short poem after another to commemorate the lost people, the lost years and the lost dreams.
In the early 1980s, David and Anna joined a tour group to China in the summer vacation. Linda didn't dare to go with them because she was afraid of seeing this ancient country fall into despair. When David's father and daughter came back, she couldn't wait to ask their impressions. David said that the mainland is not as terrible and pitiful as Taiwan Province Province said. He went to Meixian, his parents' hometown, where he had never been before. Farmers are very rich, and many families have built three-story houses. There are no beggars anywhere in the mainland, and people coming and going in the street are dressed neatly, walking in a hurry and beaming. Anna also said that the mainland is beautiful, the palaces in Beijing are magnificent, and the landscapes in Guilin are wonderful, which are not available in the United States. But Linda felt that when they talked about China, they kept saying "mainland, mainland", lacking a sense of intimacy. In Anna's eyes, the Great Wall of Wan Li on the mainland is as old and majestic as the Colosseum in Rome, and the Tiantan in Beijing is as solemn and tall as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. There is no difference between "near and far", unlike her mother's low back, attachment and expression of "my own country" when talking about these monuments, Linda feels a little disappointed.
But David and Anna brought a note written by my aunt on antique stationery with a brush:
Dear Linda:
Seeing David and Anna, I was so happy that I didn't know what to say! Anna is really like you, but she is more lively than when you were a child. Why don't you come with them this time? You must visit your relatives and stay with me next year. Your uncle and I miss you very much. Love menstruation, David and Anna, while visiting a university campus, accidentally asked the names of two old professors-they thought they had died in ten years of turmoil-and overheard that the two old people were still alive. Although they had retired, they still lived on campus. Anna said that when they visited, the two old people were very happy and invited them to eat cake in Beijing, because David and his mother were going to see Peking Opera in the evening and could not stay for dinner. Looking at the health and comfort of the old people, the home is full of bookshelves and the yard is full of flowers!
So, Linda returned to China this summer and enjoyed a three-week happy family vacation.
My aunt has no children, but the family is very lively. There are always people visiting, either their students or their students. The guest's name is Aunt Lu and Uncle Geng. Facing the guests, aunt always puts her arm around her shoulder and introduces her students intimately: "This is Linda Lu, my niece, who came back from America to visit us." As a result, all these young people enthusiastically came to chat with her and praised her for speaking authentic Mandarin, unlike a person who has lived in a foreign country for a long time. Aunt also invited her students to take her to see some new things and said, "You will definitely come back often. Scenic spots and historical sites will remain unchanged, but they will be more complete and beautiful every year. Let's go and see some new factories, rural areas and individual professional households and compare the continuous development and progress of the motherland. " So when Linda visits with them, she always takes down some notes carefully, and at the same time, she carefully asks some questions that she thinks she can't ask, such as: After ten years of turmoil, did her aunt and uncle suffer, and will the "Cultural Revolution" come back?
She was surprised to find that the people who answered these questions were very natural, optimistic and frank. They say that her aunt and uncle, like other old intellectuals, have been criticized, lived in the bullpen and left the cadre school, but they have always been calm and optimistic, thinking that all this goes against the normal physics of human nature, which is intolerable to the party and the people, and will inevitably be eliminated soon, so they will survive. As for the "Cultural Revolution", they think it will never happen again, because the people of China suffered too much in the "Cultural Revolution" and are taking off with their wings, and they will never let this demon tie their wings again. These conversations and sightseeing with young people have made her know and love her motherland better. But she thinks the happiest time is chatting with her aunt and uncle at home. My aunt often talks about the combination of mother and father, which is led by her. Because she and her mother are the closest classmates. Speaking of her mother's loneliness and depression in the United States, menstruation was a little excited and said, "If only you would come back with us, so would your father ..." At this time, my uncle patted menstruation on the back of his hand and smiled and said, "A thing of the past, what's the use of it?
Linlin, where are you going to play today? Speaking of these old sayings, most of the time in the morning, everyone eats breakfast: bread, eggs, porridge and pickles, which lasts for more than half an hour. Compared with Linda herself, having a cup of coffee in a hurry at home in the United States, driving to expressway and catching the morning shift in the library is much more leisurely. In the evening, my aunt's old aunt will cook her all kinds of good dishes that can never be eaten abroad. When there were no guests, my aunt chatted with her many stories about her childhood, then sent her to bed, covered her with a towel and quilt, kissed her face, and gently closed the door and went out. Then she always thought of her mother and thought of:
However, the inch-long grass reported three spring rays and remembered the last sentence of his short poem "Waiting for Hope", and how much love there was. I enjoyed all the glory of the blue sky and sunset, and no longer felt lonely like grass. Memories of the plane continue. A hand on her shoulder awakened her from meditation. I opened my eyes and it turned out to be a middle-aged woman with yellow hair and blue eyes. She smiled and said, "Mrs. Liu, you have also been to China!" The familiar woman, probably often come to the library to find China information, but can't remember the name, Linda also smiled and said:
"I'm here to visit relatives. Did you have a good time in China? " At this time, this "what wife" has gone back to talk to others.
I don't know when the plane came out of the clouds again. When I look down, it's the blue sea, the Pacific Ocean that separates China from the United States, right? Just now, "Mrs. Liu" called her back to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, where she lived for thirty years!
Linda is holding a handkerchief, which was warm and wet with tears when she left menstruation two hours ago. Her strong aunt cried without saying a word. On the contrary, my uncle held her hand tightly and said, "You are not a marginal person who can't reach at both ends. You are a bridge, and both ends of the bridge step on very solid land. You should let people on both sides of the bridge keep coming and going on this bridge to exchange the cultures and feelings of the two countries ... "These words rang in Linda's ear like bells!
Linda suddenly stopped being sad. She took off her clothes and stood up straight. "I am a bridge!" "She whispered to herself. 1984 September