Tidying up the fragments of memories

Author: Fang Ren Gong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Flavors Beyond Coffee
On a day in May 1981, I received a letter with the words "If not for this person, please return it to the original place" written on the envelope. At that time, I was working at the District Education Institute. When I opened the letter, the signature at the end was unfamiliar to me. It was written on three sheets of paper. The first part mentioned my thoughts after reading a miscellaneous essay I had published in the literary section of a newspaper. I thought there might be some place where I needed to "discuss" with me, and my heart couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. But when I read the following content, my heart couldn’t help but be excited:
"I call you teacher, first because you are better at writing miscellaneous essays than me, and second because I did indeed have a Chinese teacher named×××in junior high school. I think it might be you, but it might not, because there are many people with the same name in the world. Anyway, you are still my teacher, although I don’t know if you would be willing to accept me as such a clumsy student. × Teacher, I was originally a student at×××Primary School on×××Road in×××District. I remember my homeroom teacher was×××, and×××Teacher was my Chinese teacher. He was tall and thin, quiet and reserved. I heard that he studied literature, history, and philosophy with a flashlight inside his mosquito net at night. I loved literature in junior high, and it was inseparable from his guidance. He left a very deep impression on me."