Author | Wu Xi
The Zhang family and the Hu family are in-laws, grandpa's sister Zhang Jingheng married into the Hu family, although her mother did not have sisters, but there were two sisters who resembled sisters, the eldest cousin Hu Zhaowen and the younger cousin Hu Zhaojing.
The aunt and the mother are about the same age, grew up together, and the fate after marriage is similar, after the war, the changeable world, pouring out their hearts to each other, supporting and understanding each other, pulling their children up, and before they can enjoy the blessings, they will grow up.
Sister-in-law Hu Zhaojing and her father Hu Xianhua, daughter Wang Qing and three younger brothers.
According to her, "Because your grandmother is Japanese, she has no relatives in China, and she doesn't know much about Chinese customs and etiquette, so your mother married from the Hu family!" ”
In the early fifties, my mother took me who lost my father at an early age, and it was not easy. Relatives who often visit Beijing, except for Nanchizi's uncle's house, is the aunt's house at No. 83 Shiqima Street.
I was twelve or thirteen years old at the time, and I thought my aunt's house was my grandmother's house. There are jujube trees and begonia trees in the big backyard, climbing trees to pick begonias is my happiest thing, my aunt brought a jar of white sugar, my aunt brought a large aluminum pot, taught me to cook candied begonias; Sometimes my aunt would give me a watermelon, let me use a bamboo basket to hang in the corner of the well, ice for an hour or two and then open it to eat, sweet and cold, delicious!
At home in Tianjin, there is a delicate oil painting stand and a picture box, and I often can't help but want to touch it, but my mother will say to me: "That is a very expensive gift, your aunt gave it to me!" Only look, don't touch! Later, I always thought that if my mother didn't restrict me so much, maybe I would go down the road of art.
I remember that in the early summer of 1955, my mother took me to my aunt's house, handed me over to my aunt and went out to run errands. The aunt seems to be the protagonist of the house, directing several younger brothers to turn around. The cousins bought meals, and after the family feasted, they went their separate ways.
My aunt coaxed me to take a nap, and I remember that in her small study, there was a bookcase composed of exquisite wooden boxes of different sizes, on which were engraved the words Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Ming, and Qing Dynasties... I fell asleep in a daze, and later learned that the bookcase turned out to be a dowry given to my aunt by my uncle Hu Xianhua: a set of pocket-sized twenty-four histories.
The next day, my mother took me to Zhongshan Park to come to Jinyuxuan, and on the way I learned that we were here to attend my aunt's wedding! At that time, Yuxuan seemed to be a tea room and restaurant, and was replaced by his uncle Hu Xianhua (Chinese plant taxonomist, "father of Metasequoia"). Wrap it up to marry your daughter.
Many of the people who attended the wedding were dressed in suits, and there were also elderly people in robes, and the flower baskets sent had the words and signatures of the European and American Alumni Association, and later I remembered that several of them should be common scholars and celebrities in the newspaper.
The younger uncle was knowledgeable and charming, and his father was a professor at Xiamen University. Xiao Yi also loved literature since childhood, and under the influence of her father, she read poetry and books and was proficient in Traditional Chinese Studies. This envied pair of talented women was blessed by everyone, and they began a new life.
The picture above shows the implementation of the policy in 1984, when the uncle Mr. Hu Xianhua was buried in Babaoshan, the aunt stood between the eldest brother and the younger brother, about 54 years old, and I hid behind the uncle on the right.
Xiao Yi was a graduate student at Renmin University earlier, because she hated political preaching, and she had too much independent spirit and free thought, so she simply dropped out of school and went home to seek self-employment. With her profound knowledge of traditional Chinese studies, she was employed by the Zhonghua Bookstore and the Cultural Relics Publishing House, and once worked as a responsible editor for the works of Zhai Bozan and Wu Wei, and also escaped the political movement in the government unit because of her long-term temporary work as a temporary worker.
My uncle used to work in the State Council and was also adjusted because of his overseas connections. Since then, the couple has focused on writing work, said little, and survived many political storms without danger.
Aunt and mrs. | February 1991
After the reform and opening up, my aunt's only daughter, my little cousin, went abroad early with the help of her aunt and stayed in the United States. In view of her own experience, the aunt unconditionally supported her daughter to immigrate to another country, and in her own thoughts, she empathized with the care of stray animals for protection, and at most there were seven or eight cats in the family, and there was a rabbit.
The aunt planned to visit the women in the United States several times, but she was unable to make the trip because of her love of cats and visa difficulties! It wasn't until the graduation ceremony of her niece Xiao Jiang, who was studying at Harvard University, that her aunt was granted a visa to the United States for the first time! After attending the graduation ceremony, he returned early without staying at his daughter's house.
Little aunt Hu Zhaojing | April 1991
A nail rushed by, now the old husband and wife are in love with each other, the 88-year-old uncle is hard at work, hard to take care of the terminally ill 86-year-old aunt, last night she calmly died in heaven, no longer add any trouble to her husband and daughter, to the end of her life.
Auntie's voice and smile and care for our juniors will always exist in her heart, I hope she walks well in the heavenly road, goodbye, dear aunt!
Written in Tianjin on December 9, 2018
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The author Wu Xi (pen name Wu Xi), born in Beijing in 1942, moved to Tianjin with his parents in 1947, living in Chongqing Road, Chengdu Road, Xinhua Road, Tongguan Road, Yunnan Road, etc.; graduated from the Five Districts Central Primary School (that is, the Twenty Middle School Attached Primary School) in 1954, graduated from Tianjin No. 1 Middle And High School in 1960, graduated from the Mechanical Department of Tianjin University Night University before the Cultural Revolution, served as the director of the Tianjin Environmental Sanitation Engineering Design Institute, and immigrated to Silicon Valley in California after 1993.
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