南海潮歌

11 When I just came back to the gate, I called out, "Mother, I bring back the leaves." Mother came out of the kitchen and said, "Oh yes." She found the little red dots of my hands, then she felt sorry and said, "Your hands were bleeding. Much pain?" I said, " A little pain just now, but no problem now." Mother took up the leaves and said, "Oh, too long. Cut off that part of tip. Two-chi (foot) long is enough. Then bend it like this, roll it up, and fix it with a linen thread." After a while, the leaves were fixed well. My mother put those reels of leaves into the big frying pan to boil. I asked, "Mother, why must do like that?" Mother answered, "The leaves are soft after boiling, and it is easy to make zongzi." Then the leaves were boiled and taken out. My mother said, "In order to wrap and cook zongzi easier, the sticky rice must be soaked. It was soaked from the dawn till now." Then she began to make zongzi. Sticky rice or millet was used for making zongzi. but that morning we used sticky rice. My mother took up a reel of leaf and untied it, smoothed it and bent it. Then she put some sticky rice on the leaf. She put some meat on the sticky rice, and again put some sticky rice on it, so as to let the meat within the rice. Then the leaf was bent and wrapped up, and at last the zongzi must be tied up with a thread, or a piece of thin bamboo strip. Thus a zongzi was made well. My aunts and sisters-in-law came to help my mother. Soon the rice was wrapped up. Mother was very thankful and put zongzi into the big frying pan to cook. Soon steam could be seen rising from the pan cover. Mother said, "The steam is rising. Cook slowly with a small fire." cooked and cooked, before sunset, zongzi were well cooked and were taken out. Mother's forehead was full of sweat. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve, and smiled happily.

12 "Oh! Sweet-smelling! Good to eat!" said I, "but it's too hot." My mother said, "Don't burn your mouth. Wait a moment and it won't be hot any more, and then eat." I said, "Yes, wait a moment, or it would burn down my teeth ." My mother smiled and said, "Brother, take these zongzi to your hall sisters-in-law。Heard that?" I said,"Yes." I had six elder brothers. Three of them acted as leaders working in the government and got married. They seldom came home for some reason. So my sisters-in-law were not at home. They must go to work,too. The other three brothers were too young, they went to school. I was the youngest in my family. I was too young to go to school. I had four elder cousins. They all got married, and my hall sisters-in-law were all at home. In our homeland, people of the same generation were brothers or sisters. We had our numbers according to the birth order in a same great-grandfather's family. My first brother was the seventh boy, so he was called "Brother Seven", and his wife was called "Sister-in-law Seven". In English it's too garrulous to say, but in Chinese they both had only two syllables. My birth order was the twenty-first, so the younger generation called me "Uncle Twenty-one". I was shy when they called me like that, but that was a kind of custom. I took up zongzi and went to their homes. They saw me and said, "Uncle, it's no need to do like this. We also wrap zongzi. Wait a moment and then bring some back. Do your brothers come back for May Day?" I smiled and answered, "No. Mother told me that they were busy and they must go to work." They almost said like this, "We haven't seen them for a long time. We miss them very much." These were the people of my homeland. How harmony and lovely they were! Maybe ties of blood joined us together. And maybe it was destiny that brought us brothers and sisters together. We shared joys and sorrows, because we were in the same boat!

13 It was the fifth of May, and it was called "May Day" in China. People also called it "Dragon Boat Festival", because the dragon-boat race happened all over the country on that day, especially in South China. In the early morning the cicadas on the trees were singing happily. Suddenly I heard some knocks on the door. "Uncle, get up quickly. Let's go and pick up litchi." It was Watson. We each took a small basket and went out. There were many litchi trees in our village. They were large and high and were laden with fruit. Some litchi got ripe and dropped to the ground when the wind blew a little harder. And some dropped down because their handles were bitten by the worms. We got there early, and we began to pick up quickly. "Litchi of this tree is good to eat," said Watson, "the pulp is thick and the kernel is small." I said, "Yes. It is sweet and crisp." We ate litchi while picking them up. Soon the two baskets were full of litchi, so we went home. "I picked up a basket of litchi and came back," said I. My mother looked at the litchi and said, "You have picked up so many litchi, brother?" I thought that Mother would praise me for that, so I said, "Yes. There were many litchi under each tree." But my mother looked serious and said, "You did not steal litchi from others' trees, did you? " I said, "No, I didn't. I went to pick them up from the ground with Watson." My mother taught me, "Don't steal other person's anything, otherwise you will be beaten to death by others." I said, "I see, Mother." My mother took me by the hand and said, "Those trees belong to others. They are not ours." I nodded and said, "I see, Mother." "Don't go near them and even don't have a look at them," my mother warned me softly but firmly. "Keep it in mind."

14 "But I don't understand, Mother. Those fruit trees were planted by whom?" I asked. My mother answered, "I don't know. Don't ask so much. Do you understand?" I shook my head and said, "No, I don't." My mother said, "You're too young to understand." She looked up at the sky for a while. "Oh, the clouds are very thick. It's going to pour with rain," she said, "Brother, go to lead the cattle back. Quickly." I said, "All right."I went out at once. The rain began to fall heavily as soon as I came back. In South China that kind of weather was called "dragon boat rain". For, it rained and rained during that period of the Dragon Boat Festival. I ate a zongzi and some porridge for breakfast, then I went out of the kitchen. The rain just stopped. I saw Runtong walking towards me. "Uncle. These two picture books are very interesting. I lend them to you." I reached for the books and had a look at them. I said, "The pictures are beautiful." He said, "But you won't lend them out. Be careful and do not damage them." I said, "I see." After he left, It began to rain again. I opened the picture books and began to read them. One book was the story of Three Kingdoms. It was about the history in ancient China. Another one is the Journey to the West. It was about the fairy tale in ancient time. In fact, I knew Less than a few words. I read them page to page and guessed what the pictures said. Mother came over and had a look. I said, "Mother, read it to me." Mother smiled and shook her head, "I don't know the words, either." I felt a bit disappointed and puzzled. My father was a school master. How was it possible Mother didn't know the words? I looked up at her and saw an elusive expression on her face. It was amiable also helpless. But when I grew up, one day I found my mother knew Chinese words!

15 It was one afternoon when I graduated from Hepu Lianzhou Middle School. That year was during the Culture Revolution, a special history time. I was in the kitchen and did some cooking. My mother came in. She looked at the ground. On it was a small piece of newspaper. She banded down to look at it. "What do these words say?" she said to herself. She asked me whether the words said that workers had will and ideas，and that they were filled with confidence to their lives, and that they were filled with hope to their future. Murmuring to herself, Mother went out of the kitchen. I was a little curious. Mother never read newspapers or books. But why did she show interest in the paper all at once？I went over to pick up that piece of paper and had a good look at it. Oh, my God! It was just the words that my mother asked me! I was puzzled. Why did Mother say she never knew a single Chinese words before? I never asked her the reason and she never told me about it. It was a mystery till now. Maybe no one knew my mother could read newspaper except me in my homeland. Mother was born in a small town called Baisha, where it was twenty li from my village to get there. Their home was called Luowu. According to the name of their home, That big family's surname was Luo. Mother led me there several times, and I knew the way. My father was a school master. He worked in a not faraway place. he seldom came home during the summer holiday and winter holiday. Perhaps Father taught Mother to read and write when he was at home, or perhaps Mother studied in her homeland Baisha Luowu when she was very young. Mother brought us up with her wisdom. She led us to pass through hardships and dangers safely. With her wisdom, Mother also encouraged us to improve our courage and make progress for ever.