Shanghai Lovers

Author: Zheng Fei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-11-01
Features:
1. Luo Tong often wore delicate white chiffon dresses, which were not very common at the time. I really liked Luo Tong in her white chiffon dresses—they were serene, cute, and a bit like a little princess from a fairy tale.
The first time I met Luo Tong, she was eight years old, and I was eighteen. That year, I had just graduated from vocational school and was assigned to the factory where Luo Tong’s father worked. Luo Bo was the workshop director, and I was a technician. When I first started working at the unit, I was very cautious and humble, treating every colleague politely. Everyone liked getting along with me, especially Luo Bo, who always looked at me with approving eyes.
One day after I started working, Luo Bo invited me to his home for dinner. I saw Luo Tong, who had braids, standing by the table, tugging at my sleeve and calling me Uncle. I patted her little head and smiled, saying, “You’re so good. Next time Uncle comes, I’ll bring you candy.” She smiled, and her teeth showed. I noticed one of her front teeth had fallen out, which made her look especially adorable. I ruffled her hair and asked, “Are you in school? Tell Uncle what grade you’re in?”
“First grade,” she said in a crisp voice. Because one of her front teeth was missing, her voice came out a bit raspy from the gap, which was quite amusing. It seemed she noticed I liked her, and during dinner, Luo Tong kept pestering me, standing by my table the whole time. Later, whenever I went to her house for dinner, she would stand by the table, talking to me and sometimes even reaching into my pockets to look for candy.
Back then, I had just graduated and started working, and my hometown was far away, so I lived in the factory dormitory. As a technician, I had better living conditions than the male workers, and the factory had arranged for me to share a room with another part-time section chief. Since he often took time off to go back to his home, which was about 30 kilometers away, the dormitory was mostly just me.
Luo Tong’s family lived in the family area outside the factory gate, very close to my dormitory, so she often stayed at my place after school to play with me. Sometimes I was in the workshop and wasn’t in the dormitory, and when I returned, I would find Luo Tong on the ground in front of my dormitory, using twigs to scribble the characters she had just learned.
Later, I heard from people at the factory that Luo Tong had an older sister who drowned in a river when she was three years old. After that, Luo Bo and his wife had Luo Tong, and they had always doted on her, so she was dressed better than most girls her age. I also noticed that Luo Tong often wore those delicate white chiffon dresses, which were quite rare at the time. I heard her aunt from Beijing had brought them for her.
I really liked how Luo Tong looked in her white chiffon dresses—serene, cute, a bit like a little princess from a fairy tale.
Life at the factory was dull and monotonous, but spending time with Luo Tong and playing children’s games with her helped me regain some of my childhood innocence and the pure joy I had long lost.
Luo Tong and I became close friends, and she called me Uncle, while I called her Little Tong like family. No matter where I was, as soon as she saw me, she would run over, extending her hand for me to hold.
That way, my relationship with Luo Bo’s family remained good. Every time Luo Bo and his wife made a delicious meal, they would forget to...