The Story of My Father（9-12) 我的父親（9-12）
9
The Justice Bureau in Mianyang had just been established. It had neither its own office building, nor dormitories for the staff. Instead, both its office and dormitories for staff were rented from a hotel building. My father lived in the male dormitory; my sister lived in a dormitory for female staff, whilst I became a boarder and lived in the student dormitory of Mianyang Nanshan High School. So the three of us lived in three different places.
綿陽市司法局是新建的，既無辦公樓，亦無職工樓，只在招待所裡租了辦公室和員工宿舍。父親住男生宿舍，妹妹住爸爸單位的女職工宿舍，我則成了「住校生」，住在我就讀的綿陽南山中學學生宿舍，三個人住三個不同的地方。南山中學在半山腰上，有點兒與世隔絕的味道，據說清朝時曾是科舉考場。週末我下山回「家」時，就與妹妹擠在同一張單人床上，同一房間裡還有好些爸爸單位的女同事。
Nanshan High School is located halfway up on a hillside, and is somewhat isolated from the world. It was said that in the Qing Dynasty the imperial examinations were held there, so it has quite a long history.
When I returned “home” on the weekends, I squeezed into and shared the same single bed with my sister. There were many other female colleagues of my father in the same dormitory room.
Occasionally, my father would cook some food for us in his office with an electric cooker, and this would be our special treat. My sister and I could only “fight” to get our food at the school canteen, which only supplied terrible food.
偶爾，爸爸會用電爐在辦公室煮點東西給我和妹妹吃，算是打打「牙祭」，讓平日只能在食堂「搶飯」的我和妹妹解解饞。
Thus, until I graduated from high school, for more than three years, my mother hadn’t managed to move to Mianyang and join us. We could only travel back and forth to visit each other during our school breaks. My mother often said, “It’s so hard to earn money, and we only end up spending it all on the road!”
就這樣，一直到我高中畢業，三年多了，媽媽也未能調到綿陽來。一家人只能坐著長途汽車在假期時跑來跑去互相探望。媽媽常說：「好容易掙點兒錢，都壓了車軲轆了！」
10
The good news was, my father’s career seemed to have taken off. Firstly, I heard that a law firm was set up underneath the Justice Bureau, then I heard that my father was transferred to the law firm and had become a lawyer. Then one day I suddenly heard that he had been ranked as one of the “Top 10 Lawyers in Sichuan Province”!
不過，爸爸的工作好像慢慢有了起色。先是聽說司法局下又新設律師事務所了，他調到那裡當律師了，後來又聽說他居然被評為「四川省十大律師」之一了！
I heard that my father’s most brilliant performance was that he fought three lawyers on the other side alone. The other party he had to fight was an Honored Teacher with national recognition and was very famous. That was why he was able to hire the three very good lawyers at one go to defend himself. However, my father defeated them all and won that case brilliantly.
聽人說，爸爸最風光的一次，是一人舌戰對方的三名律師。對方是個全國特級教師，在當地很有名，也有能力一口氣請三名大律師來替自己的辯護。但三名大律師都敗在了父親腳下，輸了那場官司。
These “legends” made me very proud. On the one hand, I really wanted to visit the court and watch my father’s heroic moments of debating with numerous persons at the same time. On the other hand, however, I could hardly imagine how a somewhat dull person like him, who could spend a whole day without saying a single word, could have become an outstanding lawyer, as a good lawyer was supposed to be very eloquent and good at debating.
聽到這些，我一方面很驕傲、很神往、很想到法庭上去看看父親「舌戰群雄」的英姿，另一方面又有些難以相信，在我印象中一直木訥少語，在家幾乎可以一整天都不說一句話的父親，怎麽就能成為需要出眾的口才方能勝任的大律師呢？
Once I asked him, “I heard that you never lost any case. What’s your secret?”
有一次我偷偷問他：聽說你當律師以來從未輸過官司，祕訣何在？
He replied with a secretive smile, “I never take a case that I can’t win.”
他詭祕地一笑，說：「我從不接會輸的案子。」
When he said this, his smile was as innocent as that of a child. At the same time, it was also as cunning as would usually be seen on faces of Chinese peasants. It didn’t make him look like a “Top 10 Lawyer” at all.
這時候，父親臉上浮現的笑容，仍然是既有孩子般的天真，又有農民式的狡黠，讓他看起來一點兒也不像個甚麼「十大律師」。
11
After I finished my second year in high school, and was about to start the third and last year, I needed to choose between liberal arts and science as my future major. I was doing equally well with both courses.
我讀完高二、將上高三時，需要在學文還是學理之間做出選擇。當時我文理科成績差不多，許多人都說，由於大腦結構的差異，女孩子最好是學文科，學理科最終會輸給男生。我自己除了想上北大這個目標比較明確外，對到底該學文還是學理很是舉棋不定。
Many people said that it was better for girls to choose liberal arts as female minds could do better in those fields. If girls study science, they can’t compete with boys. Apart from knowing that I wanted to go to Peking University to study, I really didn’t know what major to choose.
My father said with much determination, “Choose science. No matter who is the chairman of the country, 1+1 always equals 2.”
父親堅決地說：「學理科。不管誰當國家主席，1＋1永遠等於2。」
After saying “1+1 always equals 2”, my father once again bit his lower lip in that unique way with an expressionless face, just as he did when my mother had burned his literary works. This once again made me feel very scared. I silently obeyed and chose science without any second thought.
父親說完「1＋1永遠等於2」後，再一次鐵青著臉，以他特有的方式咬著下嘴唇，跟我小時候媽媽燒他寫的書時的表情一樣，這讓我感到非常不祥和害怕。我甚麼也沒敢說，乖乖的就選了理科。
12
In 1984, my dream of going to Peking University came true. My major was of course science, and geochemistry in particular. At the time when I needed to leave my high school forever, I found that I had accumulated many things during the past three years. My father rode a tricycle to the school to help me move my belongings. It was very hard to ride uphill, and my father was soon wet through in sweat.
1984年，我如願考上北大，學的當然是理科，地球化學專業。要離開已讀了三年的南山中學時，因為一直住校，所以有不少行李。父親蹬著三輪車到學校替我搬行李。沿著盤山路往半山腰上蹬車很費勁，汗水很快就將父親的衣服濕透了。
Drenched in sweat, he rode and laughed, “I am a happy pedicab-man!” And mixed in his laugh, was a very undetectable trace of effort to flatter me.
父親一邊流著汗，一邊笑著說：「我是個快樂的三輪車夫！」他的笑容中還有一絲討好的成分。
My father was a very typical Chinese peasant intellectual, who seldom expressed or showed his emotions. Nor did he ever say any sweet words such as “I love you” to his three daughters. However, his flattering smile at that moment, when he said that he was a happy pedicab-man, has been warmly engraved in my heart ever since.
父親是個典型的中國農民式知識分子，生活中幾乎從不表達或流露自己的感情，也從不曾對三個女兒說過「我愛你」之類的「肉麻」話，但那一刻父親一邊流著汗一邊說自己是個快樂的三輪車夫時的討好表情，卻永遠溫暖的駐留在我心中。
For me, that was his way of showing his fatherly love and care.
對於我，那便是父親的慈愛。
My sister and I when we lived with our father in Mianyang, and when my youngest sister and my mother remained in Hanwang. 高中三年期間，我與大妹妹跟著父親在綿陽過活，小妹妹與母親且仍舊被迫留在漢旺鎮。
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