Reunion with My Benefactor 與《靜水流深》之恩人的聚會

In my memoir “Witnessing History: one woman’s fight for freedom and Falun Gong", I wrote about “a very elegantly dressed middle-aged Chinese woman” I met on my first day in Melbourne, Australia, after I escaped from China. I was a totally stranger to her. However, when I said that I needed to have a place to stay to write my book, she immediately said, ”You can stay with me.” 

在我的自傳《靜水流深》裏，我描寫了從中國逃到墨爾本的第一天，我遇到的一位「優雅的中年女士」，（就是照片中這位。）那時我於她完全是個陌生人，但當我提出我需要一個地方住下寫書、聯繫媒體、申請難民時，她立刻決定「收留」我。

Since then I had stayed with her for more than 2 years; and finished writing my book in her home. Every day she cooked all the three meals for me, saying that she’d love to help me focus on my writing. 

我在她家裏住了兩年多時間，完成了《靜水流深》的寫作。這期間幾乎每頓飯都是她給我做的。

In October 2002, the then CCP leader Jiang Zemin planned to visit the U. S.; and she planned to follow him during his US visit to protect against the persecution of Falun Gong. I needed to stay in Melbourne to help with news editing for the Epoch Times. My workload would be three times more than usual as many volunteer editors would also go to the US to protest. Fearing that I wouldn’t have time to cook, she cooked a lot of food for me before she left; and put them in different boxes so that I would only need to take out one of the boxes and heat it in the microwave when I was hungry…

2002年10月，她要來美國抗議到訪的江澤民，我要留在澳洲承擔額外多的大紀元編輯工作。她怕我忙得沒時間做飯，走之前，特意把好多天的飯都做好、分成一份一份裝在盒子裏，碼在冰箱中，我要吃的時候拿出一盒在微波爐裏一熱就行了……

I thought I would never be able to return to her what she had given to me. When she came to New York to attend Falun Gong’s annual experience conference this time, I said I would like to meet her and treat her as my most treasured guest. But she only chose a very cheap fast food restaurant in Flushing for me to “treat” her. I spent only about $10 plus for the “treat”. How can I ever pay back her gracious kindness? She is always so considerate, and I definitely have a lot to learn from her!

她對我的恩，是不是「比山高、比海深」？可是，這次她來美國開法會，我說請她吃飯，她卻選了一個很便宜的快餐店，加上她內弟，我們三個人，要了兩份飯，才花掉我十幾元，這樣的心意，我要怎麼才能還？

The following are some excerpts from my book about her. I later learned that she was almost 60 years then. But I thought she was only a “middle-aged lady”.

以下是《靜水流深》中關於她的片段。我後來才知道，其實那時她已經六十多歲了，但我覺得她就是一位「中年女士」而已。

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My gaze was somehow drawn to a very elegantly dressed middle-aged Chinese woman at the other end of the room, her hair coiled on top of her head in a bun. There was about her a certain air of trustworthiness, and I could sense she was very capable. I went over to her and told her that I had just arrived that very day.

有位中年女士不知怎麼吸引我的目光。她的頭發盤得高高的，打扮很優雅。更關鍵的是，她的氣質讓人覺得她可信賴、能把一切事情都搞定。

‘There are three things on my mind,’ I said to her. ‘First, to contact the media. Second, to apply for refugee status. And third, to find a quiet place to live where I can write my book.’ I asked her if she could help me.

我徑直走到她身邊，對她說我有三件事需要幫忙。一是要見媒體，二是要申請避難，三是要找個住處，我需要一個安靜的地方寫書。請問你能幫我嗎？

She was very gracious. Yes, she said, she could help me. I could stay at her place but she couldn’t come to get me for a few days because she was going to take part in a 36-hour protest fast outside the Chinese consulate.

她優雅地說：「沒問題。你住到我那裡好了。不過這兩天我要參加在中領館前舉行的36小時絕食請願，過幾天再去接你。」

And so in one fell swoop all my needs were met. And that was how the Falun Gong ‘organization’ worked.

就這樣，我需要的一切都解決了。沒有其他過程，法輪功的「組織」就是這樣運作的。

Reunion with My Benefactor 與《靜水流深》之恩人的聚會