Chapter 25: A Bystander in the World of Espionage during the Republic of China Era
"Later, I thought about it and sold the business to his rival. This really offended him. At that time, the Japanese were also eyeing Hong Kong. I was afraid something might happen, so I took my family and fled to the United States."
Uncle Chen took a sip of water and continued, “It wasn’t good at all when we first came to America. Not only could we not speak English, but we were also discriminated against and bullied. It wasn’t just us Chinese who were bullied, but the entire Chinese community was bullied. Later, by chance, we met Lao Qian and his group, who were the ones who brought you here.”
“They said this area is mostly Chinese, and someone was selling a farm and asked me if I wanted to buy it and live with them. They said it was a bit remote but quiet. I had some money at the time, and I heard that if I bought the farm, it would be my own. I was thinking of buying some land and setting up some property so that you and Chen Xin would have a place to stay when you came. So we moved here.”
"It's been much better since we moved here. There are Chinese people here, and one of the leaders is also surnamed Chen. We're actually relatives, so we've settled down here."
Then he talked about Aunt Fang's daughter, telling her about her daughter's school days, marriage, and having children: "Don't worry, her husband treats her very well, and his parents treat her very well too. Moreover, their way of doing things is not like Americans, but more like ours. They have been very happy these years, and they even came to stay here for a while recently."
That night, Jiang Yue and Aunt Chen slept together and talked a lot. Then Aunt Chen asked Jiang Yue another question, but Jiang Yue didn't answer. When she turned her head, she saw that Jiang Yue had fallen asleep. Aunt Chen touched Jiang Yue's face and didn't say anything for a long time.
The next morning, when Jiang Yue got up, Aunt Chen and Aunt Fang were already cooking downstairs. Aunt Chen was humming a song and was visibly happy. After breakfast, Uncle Chen was going to take Aunt Fang to town to call her daughter. Jiang Yue thought about it and went along, ostensibly to buy some daily necessities.
Aunt Chen was reluctant to let Jiang Yue leave, so Jiang Yue handed her little apprentice to Aunt Chen and said, "Auntie, can you help me take care of the child?" After saying that, she left with Father Chen.
After they left, Chen's mother pulled her young apprentice over to sit down with her. Holding her hand, she began asking the apprentice's name. The apprentice said, "Auntie..." Wait, what should I call her? The apprentice's CPU was about to burn out.
Mother Chen smiled and said, "You can just call me Grandmother."
"Greetings, Grandmother. My name is Jiang Shiya. I am Master's disciple and I am fifteen years old this year."
"When did you become my apprentice? Where are your parents?"
Jiang Shiya was a little down: "My parents are both dead. They were killed by the Japanese during the war. I was picking up food on the street and sleeping at the entrance of my master's medicine shop at night. The next day, my master bought me steamed buns, asked about my family's situation, and finally took me as his disciple."
After hearing this, Chen's mother felt sorry for her child and quickly said, "It's alright, you still have your master, and I'll take care of you from now on."
“Grandmaster, I’m fine. Master has been very good to me, and Aunt Fang has been very good to me too.”
After chatting for a while, Chen's mother asked her young apprentice why he had suddenly come to America. The apprentice organized his thoughts and said, "I remember that day I was studying with my teacher at home when Sister Xin Xin called and told us to hurry up and leave. Then we went to Hangzhou. After staying in Hangzhou for a few days, we went to Hong Kong to find our grandma. But when we got there, no one was there. We then got the letter you sent from the old lady across the street. After that, we lived in Hong Kong for half a year and then took a ship to America."
“When Master came here, he got lost and ended up on another road. We walked for a long time without seeing a single person, and finally we had to ask someone for directions.”
After processing this information, Chen's mother asked her young apprentice, "Do you know about your sister Chen Xin?"
The young apprentice shook his head and said, "I don't know, but my master does. He said the more you know, the more dangerous it is. But when we were in Hong Kong, we wrote a letter to Sister Xin Xin. My master said that in a few years, Sister Xin Xin will be able to come and find us."
Chen's mother breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that these two children were always a worry. At first, she didn't realize it, but later she found out that all the talk about how it wasn't dangerous was a lie.
Aunt Fang had already spoken to her daughter on the phone, and the two of them cried their hearts out. The two children next to them were terrified and quickly went to find their grandmother. When they came over and found their daughter-in-law crying, they thought something had happened, only to find out that she had finally made contact with her relatives.
After quickly calming the twins down, we were about to take her to find someone after she finished her call. The group packed their things, wrote down their destination on sticky notes, placed them on the coffee table, and then headed over here.
Chen's father and Jiang Yue were chatting outside, talking about the domestic situation and Chen Xin. After Aunt Fang came out and calmed down, they went to the mall to buy things.
After shopping, they went home. Around noon, Aunt Fang's daughter arrived, and the two of them hugged and cried again. After calming down, their parents introduced themselves to each other. Aunt Fang didn't speak English, but she had learned some common phrases in Hong Kong. She wasn't very good at conversation and needed to learn more, so Jiang Yue acted as her translator. The two sides got along quite well. At this time, the twins also looked at Aunt Fang curiously. They could speak Chinese but couldn't write it, and they could understand it.
After talking for a while, the two children realized that this was their mother's mother, and they looked at her curiously. The daughter was more lively. Aunt Fang reached out to hug the two children, and the little girl came over. Aunt Fang held the children and chatted with them. When it was noon, Aunt Fang went to cook and made dishes with cute patterns for the children. Before long, the two children were captivated by the food and called her "Grandma" affectionately.
I didn't go back that night. It's almost the weekend, and I figured Aunt Fang's daughter's husband would be coming over. I thought we could go back together on the weekend. But before the next day even arrived, a car came by at 11 p.m. When we went out to check, we found that Aunt Fang's daughter's husband had come. When he got home, he found that there was no sound at all, the lights were off, and the children weren't making any noise either. At first, he thought they had gone to his mother's place.
He went inside, turned on the light, put down his backpack, and went to his mother's place. But when he got there, no one was there, and the car was gone. When he got home, he saw the note on the table and realized he couldn't wait any longer. He rushed over that very night. He first checked on Aunt Fang's daughter and found that she was alright. Then he saw the whole family looking at them and scratched his head in embarrassment. He smiled at Aunt Fang.
After witnessing all this, Aunt Fang knew that her daughter hadn't chosen the wrong person. After the family entered the house, they went to sleep after exchanging only a few words. Because there were too many people, Chen's mother, Jiang Yue, and the young apprentice ended up sleeping together, while Chen's father slept in the same room as Aunt Fang's daughter's husband.
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