Song Zhaodi softly uttered four words: “Because of love.”
“Can people be together just because they like each other?” Erwa tilted his head and asked Song Zhaodi.
Song Zhaodi thought for a moment. “Yes. But if two people want to spend a lifetime together, compatibility is more important than just liking each other.”
“But if you don’t like someone, you can’t be together, right?” Zili pondered. “So love should be the most important thing, right, Mom?”
Song Zhaodi felt that discussing love and relationships with children wasn’t quite appropriate, but she also didn’t want to mislead them. “Suppose you meet two girls in the future. You like one a little, but you really like the other one. However, the one you really like doesn’t like me. Who would you choose to be with?”
“Why wouldn’t she like you?” Zili instinctively asked.
Song Zhaodi replied, “There are many reasons why people don’t like someone.” She washed her hands, walked under the eaves, and spoke in a lower voice, “For example, I don’t like Chen dasao simply because I think she’s fake, nothing more than that.
“The girl you really like might dislike me just because my skin is dark. She might not respect me. Meanwhile, the other girl is very filial and respects her elders. Which one would you choose?”
“There’s no other option?” Dawa asked curiously.
Song Zhaodi laughed. “Two choices aren’t enough? Dawa, how many girls do you want to like at the same time?”
“I don’t know.” Dawa thought seriously for a moment.
Song Zhaodi patted his head. “When you grow up and meet a girl you like, you must first consider whether she’s suitable for you.”
“We’ll remember that, Mom,” Gengsheng responded.
Song Zhaodi thought for a moment. “For example, take your dad and your mom. They come from similar family backgrounds, but your mom was not the right match for your dad.”
“I think I get it now,” Zili said thoughtfully. “Dad should have met you instead.”
Song Zhaodi smiled. “Your dad wouldn’t have been interested in me. I’m from the countryside, and my parents are farmers. There’s a huge gap between us, at least as tall as Sanwa.”
“Mom, I’ve grown taller!” Sanwa suddenly chimed in.
Song Zhaodi almost choked. “I know.”
“Mom, what are you guys talking about?” Dawa glanced at Song Zhaodi, then at Zili and Gengsheng. “Why don’t I understand anything?”
Song Zhaodi responded, “We’re talking about Zili’s parents. You don’t need to understand, it’s not about your dad and me.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, just say so,” Dawa huffed. “I don’t want to know anyway.” He jumped off the bench, but then suddenly remembered something. “Mom, Erwa just said that Aunt Liu Ping and her fiancé don’t look like a couple. Will they still get married?”
Song Zhaodi replied confidently, “Yes.”
“Do you mean that they don’t look like a family because they aren’t a good match?” Zili was confused. “If they get married, will they be able to live happily?”
Song Zhaodi explained, “That depends on whether they want to make their marriage work.”
“What do you mean?” Dawa frowned. “Mom, don’t just say half of what you mean.”
Song Zhaodi continued, “Your dad knows that cooking and making clothes is tiring for me. When I ask him to do laundry or wash dishes, sometimes he doesn’t want to, but he still does it in the end. If he refused to do anything, I would get really mad, and we’d argue. If we argued all the time, could our family life be happy?”
“You and Dad argue every day,” Dawa pointed out.
Song Zhaodi was momentarily speechless. She gritted her teeth and said, “Today, I’ll show you what a real argument looks like.”
“No need! No need!” Dawa quickly hugged Song Zhaodi’s arm. “I get it! Zili and Gengsheng, and even Erwa and Sanwa, also get it. You and Dad are just joking around, you’ve never really argued.”
Song Zhaodi tapped his forehead. “Now do you understand?”
“What are you guys talking about?” Zhong Jianguo came home from the military camp early since he wasn’t busy today. When he reached the door, he called for Dawa to open it, but no one responded. So he climbed over the wall himself. “Are you deciding what to eat for lunch?”
Song Zhaodi answered, “We’re having vegetable porridge today.”
“Forget I asked,” Zhong Jianguo said, shaking his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a young man by the Liu family’s water pump. He instinctively asked, “Is Liu Wei back?”
Song Zhaodi didn’t answer directly. “Take a closer look.”
Zhong Jianguo turned around. The man who had been pumping water straightened up and carried the bucket inside. Zhong Jianguo frowned. “Where did this pretty boy come from?”
“He’s Aunt Liu Ping’s fiancé,” Dawa said.
Zhong Jianguo was momentarily confused. “Liu Ping?”
Liu Ping had darker skin and resembled her father, Commander Liu. Commander Liu had single eyelids, a long, narrow face, and rather plain facial features, nothing remarkable. His looks transferred onto Liu Ping, making her appear delicate at best. She also inherited her mother’s height, standing around 1.6 meters tall.
The man who had just carried the water was tall and slim, at least 1.75 meters, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, similar to Zhong Jianguo himself. However, unlike Zhong Jianguo’s strong, square-shaped face, this man had a smaller, fair-skinned, refined face. Standing next to Liu Ping, the contrast was stark. They didn’t seem to be from the same world at all.
Zhong Jianguo asked, “Are you guys serious? Don’t make things up.”
“Auntie said it,” Song Zhaodi replied. “A few days ago, she asked me to go to Hangcheng to buy things just to entertain her future son-in-law.”
Zhong Jianguo walked under the eaves, facing the Liu family’s courtyard, and frowned. “This is way too, too unreliable, isn’t it?” He paused. “Finding a partner isn’t like picking vegetables at the market, just choosing the freshest one. When choosing someone, you also have to weigh your own worth.”
“It’s like Zhou Yu hitting Huang Gai1, one willing to beat, the other willing to endure,” Song Zhaodi said. “Even if they end up arguing every day after marriage, that man wouldn’t dare to casually mention divorce anytime soon.”
Zhong Jianguo nodded. “That’s true. Even though the military department can’t control local matters, since Uncle Liu is a senior officer, the local leaders have to show him some respect.”
“Exactly.” Song Zhaodi withdrew her gaze when she saw Liu Ping coming out. “What’s for lunch?”
Zhong Dawa blurted out, “Iron pot stewed goose!”
“You want the goose to bite you?” Song Zhaodi pinched his cheek. “We’ll kill it for New Year’s Eve.”
In the spring festival of 1971, Zhong Dawa didn’t get to eat iron pot stewed goose because Liu Ping’s wedding was set for the eighth day of the lunar new year.
Duan dasao gave their only rooster to Song Zhaodi and took away the goose that Zhong Dawa had been raising, saving it for Liu Ping’s return visit after the wedding, to entertain neighbors and Liu’s fellow soldiers.
On the sixth day of the lunar new year, when Duan dasao came to take the goose, Zhong Dawa almost cried.
Seeing how upset her son was, Song Zhaodi, holding back her own tears, slaughtered the rooster that afternoon and stewed it with potatoes. She made two full bowls of food. Zhong Dawa ate until his belly was round, finally feeling better.
Liu Ping was the only daughter of Commander Liu, who was also Liu Yang’s uncle. As soon as Liu Ping’s marriage was set, Commander Liu asked Song Zhaodi to write to Liu Yang’s family, inviting them to the wedding.
Song Zhaodi’s eldest sister didn’t want to trouble her and replied that they would arrive on the seventh day of the lunar new year.
When Song Zhaodi read the letter, the children were all around her. She casually mentioned that when Liu Yang’s family arrived, they would slaughter a few drakes.
Zhong Dawa, who hadn’t forgotten, asked, “Mom, Dali is arriving tomorrow. Are we still killing the ducks?”
“Dawa, are you still not full?” Zhong Jianguo was puzzled. “What were you in your past life, always thinking about food?”
Zhong Dawa responded, “I’m full. But I still feel bad. I think I need another duck leg to feel better.”
“Do you want a slap?” Zhong Jianguo raised his hand.
Zhong Dawa quickly said, “It was Mom who said she’d kill the ducks, not me.”
“Kill two and save one for the Dragon Boat Festival,” Song Zhaodi decided. “Dawa, in a couple of days, when Liu Ping gets married, your Grandma Liu will invite us over. You’ll get to eat some of your goose then.”
Zhong Dawa sighed. “Grandma Liu said our goose is big enough to make six dishes. Mom, six dishes! I feel like I’ll only get a piece this small.” He held up his pinky.
“Should I go ask for it back?” Song Zhaodi teased.
Zhong Dawa shook his head. “No need. We already ate their little rooster.”
“Was it good?” Song Zhaodi asked.
Zhong Dawa nodded. “It was pretty good.”
“Since we ate such a good meal, shouldn’t we move a little?” Song Zhaodi suggested.
Zhong Dawa waved his hand. “I don’t feel like playing right now.”
“You’re overthinking it, Dawa,” Gengsheng said. “Mom means we should clear the table and take everything to the kitchen for Dad to wash.”
Zhong Jianguo laughed. “If you all know I’m your dad, can’t you show some filial piety for once?”
“Mom cooked, and I lit the fire!” Erwa quickly declared, afraid his dad wouldn’t hear.
Zili had been calling Zhong Jianguo ‘Dad’ and Song Zhaodi ‘Mom’ for months now. After saying it every day, he naturally saw them as his parents. He no longer hesitated to speak at home. “Dad, I peeled the potatoes.”
“I helped Mom pluck the chicken,” Gengsheng added.
Zhong Jianguo nodded. “So, all of you did something useful, and only I did nothing?”
“Yes, Dad,” Sanwa blurted out.
Zhong Jianguo laughed in frustration. “And what did you do?”
“I…I moved the stool,” Sanwa thought hard. “And helped Erwa carry the table.”
Song Zhaodi reminded him, “You also brought the chopsticks.”
“Oh, right,” Erwa added. “And I carried the steamed buns from the kitchen.”
Zhong Dawa pointed at the chopsticks and bowls. “I’ll take these to the kitchen right now.”
Zhong Jianguo sighed. “I, your father, work myself to death every day, and when I come home, I still have to wash the dishes. If word gets out, the whole island will say your mom isn’t a good wife, and you kids aren’t well-behaved.”
“Dad, don’t you know?” Zhong Dawa said as he walked past Zili. “Everyone on the island already knows you do housework.”
Zhong Jianguo froze. “Who said that?”
“In the morning, when you wash clothes, anyone passing by our house can see if they stand on tiptoe,” Zhong Dawa said. “Even Lin Zhong’s mom asked Mom why she lets you wash clothes. She said not only are you a man, but you’re also an officer. Mom told her you like doing housework, not just washing clothes, but also scrubbing pots and dishes.”
Zhong Jianguo’s face darkened. “Song Zhaodi?!”
- Zhou Yu hitting Huang Gai (周瑜打黄盖) — An idiom from the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. During a military ruse, the strategist Zhou Yu publicly flogged his subordinate Huang Gai to convince the enemy that Huang Gai was genuinely defecting. Refers to a situation where one party appears to suffer and the other appears to inflict harm, but both are cooperating knowingly and benefiting from the arrangement. ↩︎
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