Fable of Dad

Author: Qin Biao Xi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: On July 1976, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Tangshan, Hebei, reducing the entire city to ruins and claiming the lives of 240,000 people. After the quake, under a severely leaning wall, several children were crying uncontrollably. Their mother had used her own body to firmly brace the wall, which was almost collapsed, remaining motionless and silent. Rescuers freed the children from beneath the wall. When they went to rescue the mother, they found she had already died. To save her children, a mother had actually braced a collapsing wall with her own body! This story was read by my father when he was in junior high school in a newspaper. Even when I retell it to you a decade later, I still can't help but tear up. My father was originally moved by this story because of your grandmother. She nearly sacrificed everything for your father. Now, however, my father is once again moved by this story because of your mother. Since having you, your mother has completely changed. She was originally an atheist and not superstitious, but for you, she became incredibly devout, visiting Hongfa Temple by Xianhu Lake and kneeling before each Bodhisattva with three incense sticks, one after another, praying for you, afraid of missing any one. Your mother has always been a free-spirited person—she would refuse to eat if she wasn't hungry and would ignore unappetizing food entirely. But with you, even when she had no appetite and was vomiting repeatedly, she would force herself to eat and even drink the unpleasant-tasting pregnancy formula with a frown. Every morning, your mother would gently stroke her belly—or you, if you were inside—and greet you, speaking to you in childish, naive, and adorable ways. Every night before bed, your father would carefully listen to every little sound you made and report back to her in a serious manner. If your father said you were completely still, your mother would demand he listen again until she was satisfied with the report. If he accidentally pressed a little too hard, he would immediately receive a stern "class struggle" critique from your mother.