Starting from the Bading River

Author: Liao Ting
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Amma's life was indeed too tragic. The Japanese not only took away her husband's life but also forced away her eldest son, Zhong Guozhu. This family poured all her heart into, exhausting her youthful and beautiful life. Now, the whole family relies on her as the pillar, with three children under her care, including Zhong Guoqiang. Everything depends on her hands, and everything depends on her hard work and nurturing. "I can't live without Amma!" Every time Zhong Guoqiang thought of this, his heart ached. Indeed, if he really left, Amma would be old, and the younger siblings would be small—who would support the family? That day, something happened to Amma. She had lower back pain and, while walking straight down the stairs, stumbled and twisted her left ankle. Zhong Guoqiang was present and quickly helped her up, but Amma couldn't walk due to the pain. Zhong Guoqiang then carried her back to her bedroom. Seeing her left ankle swell, Zhong Guoqiang acted swiftly, borrowing a small cart from a neighbor to take Amma to the hospital. After the doctor's visit, he followed the doctor's advice and washed both feet before applying medicine to Amma's left ankle. As he washed, his heart ached deeply. Amma's feet were already rough from an early age. She had told him that when she was young, the family was too poor to afford shoes. Throughout the spring, summer, and autumn, she would go barefoot into the paddy fields and up the mountains to chop wood, often getting her feet pricked and bleeding by tree roots and branches. In winter, she would wear straw sandals, but how could they protect her from the cold? Her feet were often frostbitten and ached intensely. These feet were a testament to Amma's past suffering under the old China and a record of her hardworking life. After washing her feet, he applied anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving ointment, helped her lie down to rest, and thought, "If I'm not by Amma's side, what if something happens to her? Who will take care of her?" Every time he thought of his younger siblings' expectant eyes, his heart almost broke, but he also looked forward to tomorrow and longed for a new-born motherland. He yearned for a space where he could survive freely. He no longer wanted to live under the suffocating colonial rule, not even for a day!
P4: Amin glanced at it silently. "Classmates! This is the weapon he used against 'Sunrise' last night. Look, there are still some pieces of paper in the broom! He tossed it into the ditch after using it, and I picked it up." "This broom belongs to our dormitory. I was in charge of sweeping this morning and searched for it for a long time," a male classmate from the same dormitory said. Amin still refused to admit it, blinking his eyes as he tried to think of a trick. At this moment, Chen Hongguang stepped forward and said, "Look, Amin, enough with the lies. You can't outsmart the facts here. See? This is another piece of evidence. Is this your bicycle?" Amin glanced again, still silent. "This is his bicycle—the one he rode to attack 'Sunrise' last night," Chen Hongguang pointed to the bicycle. "Did everyone see? What's in the basket in front of the bicycle?" Everyone clearly saw some pieces of shredded paper. "These aren't ordinary paper scraps. These are the bones of 'Sunrise'!" Chen Hongguang said with a heavy heart. This was the bicycle Amin had just brought to the dormitory area. It turned out that while Amin was committing the crime last night, he unknowingly left a few pieces of paper...