It is true that the golden cup and the
silver cup are not as popular as the public praise. Bai Fangli had moved the
whole China but could hardly touch the jury of Affecting China until six years
after his death. At the time when Bai donated a large sum to education
supporting the poverty-stricken students, the government had denied the existence of poor students for they had been under aid of the so-called relief fund. So the jury
had to take the same stand with the authorities on this issue. They thought Bai
had brought shame to the government. The winners must conform to the politically
motivated standard of the judging committee.

As the saying goes, parents are the first
teachers of their children. But in the case recounted here, the parent and his
daughter switched their roles. The father was judged as a drunken driver, but
he denied it and lied to the police that it had been his nephew who had driven
the car. Because there was no other person in the car except the man and his
young daughter, then he continued to fool the police saying that his nephew had
just entered the construction site by the road for work. But the later inquiry
proved his words false. In the meantime, the little girl confessed to the police
that her father had driven the car after drinking wine. She also asked her
father in tears to tell the truth immediately. The father had often drunk alone
in depression since the divorce from his wife.

Now all the three colleagues of mine
promoted to senior teacher have made a monetary sacrifice to ease the envy of
others. For their monthly pay has been raised over 1,000 yuan, quite above the
others. First, Mr W was required to hand in ¥ 1,000 for all the staff to
take a dinner at a hotel. Then, Mr N, another senior one followed suit. Both were
compelled to do so and dared not show their reluctance. But the third one was
quite different because he volunteered to offer each of us a bag of dates imported
from Iraq. For some reasons I didn’t attend the dinners although I was invited.
I prefer the gift to the dinner.

Mr Y is wealthy but not healthy. He is the owner of one landed estate and four house properties. Two of the three apartments are dwelt by him and his son respectively. The left one, the landed property and the house facing the busy street are all rented out. The tenant of the house situated downtown pays him ¥60,000 a year as a greengrocer. He draws a salary of ¥ 5,000 odd a month. His wife sells dresses in Changchun. He’s a cardiac patient who has ever undergone bypass surgery. Moreover, he has contracted hyperglycemia, hypertension and hyperlipemia. He has to take medicine every day.

The south apartment is well supplied with
heat but deserted. Mother resides at the cool north bungalow.

南樓暖無人，北舍凉有親。I’m looking after mother and waiting for son’s home-coming. Then he can
take a bath and have a short stay at the warm flat.

侍母待子歸，洗塵暫栖身。

Nearly up to noon son came over to our bungalow. Last night he stayed up very late as usual at least after midnight. I saw his eyes still heavy with sleep. Mother acted as the directions of the computer for many times before success when son recorded her movement for sending the video to the designated website.
Watched the rebroadcast of the high-standard theatrical performance of the evening party in congratulation of the Mid-autumn Festival on the Chinese International channel. Almost every song’s captions were bilingual in Chinese and English. I sat close to the TV set for reading the English translation.

When in high spirits, I can practice calligraphy
without feeling tired.

興來而神怡，揮毫不覺疲。But the precious occasion is rare and never
lasts long. So when it comes to me, I always make full use of it.

蒙顧當珎重，消逝在瞬息。

With my eyes flashing, I read alone with
deep interest far into the autumn night by the lamp.

秋夜深深燈猶亮，目光炯炯書自賞。How could I retire while kept in suspense? I
fell asleep soundly after finishing the tempting part.

未竟懸想焉能憩，讀罷酣然入夢鄕。

Weather permitting, made much room by selling the large bag of accumulated plastic bottles and a trike load of foam board.
Plastered over the part of ceiling where the plaster had fallen for quite some time.
Sprayed the cabbages with pesticide.
Watched the two parts of the documentary named Under the Apple Trees on Channel 9 of CCTV with great interest. It reflects the real life of the Hus as fruit growers. The industrious couple have to look after their retarded grown-up son and daughter while occupying themselves in tending the trees. They are lucky to have a bumper harvest and soon sell all their apples to a fruit company at a reasonable price. The manager of the company must feel much sympathy for the couple.

Long ago I learnt that a beauty married a dwarf willingly. Now I happened to know that another pretty girl has become the wife of a man contracting cerebral palsy. Both cases seem to me inconceivable. Both women had something in common. They were against the traditional values on selecting spouses. They disregarded looks, status, family background, etc. They could have married excellent gentlemen only by their delicate features. Why not? Perhaps they have seen through the world affairs. They have realized the uncertainty of some so-called satisfactory marriages and the unreliability of those admirable husbands. Therefore they would rather be engaged to disabled men than accept a prince’s hand.