My Grandmother Turns 99 Today 我的外婆九十九
On September 9th of this year, my grandmother will be 99 years old, according to Chinese folklore, her “actual” age will be 100. Ancient Chinese people believed that a person’s life begins when his/her mother becomes pregnant, so a person is already one year old when he/she is born.
今年九月九號，我的外婆就九十九歲了，按民間的說法，虛歲就一百了。
Mum told me that my grandmother was very beautiful when she was young, her skin was very white, and she had a local nickname of "Little Cabbage".
聽母親說，外婆年經時非常漂亮，皮膚很白，很水靈，在當地有個外號叫「小白菜」。
Shortly after she gave birth to my mother, during the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), my grandfather ran away from Zhongjiang County, Sichuan Province to Jiangyou County to hide for fear of being forced to join the army, and my grandmother and mother were left behind.
她生下母親之後不久，當時是國共內戰期間吧，據說，我的外公怕被抓壯丁，從四川中江縣跑到江油縣去躲起來了，她被留在當地。
It is also said that a very powerful man in Zhongjiang admired my grandmother's beauty and forced her to divorce my grandfather and marry her by force.
又據說，當地一個很有勢力的人傾慕外婆的美貌，強行讓她跟我外公離了婚，然後強娶了她。
And my mother was given to her uncle as an adopted daughter.
我母親則被送給她的伯父做養女。
My mother's biological father also started a separate family in Jiangyou later. So, according to my mother, she grew up with "three pairs of parents": her adoptive parents, and her biological parents, each with a new family.
母親的親生父親，後來也在江油另外成家了。所以母親說，她從小就有「三重父母」：養父母，和親生父母各自成立的新家庭。
After the CCP took power in 1949, the “powerful” man who married my grandmother, was labelled as a "villain" and sentenced to many years of imprisonment. He was sent to Qinghai Province for “reform through forced labor”.
共產黨來了以後，很有勢力的強娶了外婆的我也得叫他外公的那個人，被打成了「惡霸」，判了好多年徒刑，送到青海去勞改了。
I remember when I was about ten years old, my grandfather was released. As that time, my family had been relocated to a small town called Hanwang, which had a population of only 30,000, after my father was label as a “black pawn of reactionary capitalist-roaders” during the Cultural Revolution (see more of my father’s stories here.) I don't know why my grandfather went to Hanwang, maybe he was passing through there on his way back home and just dropped by?
記得我十來歲的時候，這位外公被解除勞改，當時我們一家跟隨被打成「走資派黑爪牙」的父親被發配到人口只有三萬的漢旺鎮過活（詳情請見《我的父親》）。外公不知爲何會到漢旺去，也許是路過那裏順便來看看？
Anyway, as I knew he was a "rehabilitated prisoner", I was both scared and curious. I didn't dare to talk to him, but secretly observed him while he talked with mum.
總之我知道他是「勞改釋放犯」，所以心裏既害怕又好奇。我沒敢跟他說話，只偷偷地打量他。
His face was full of wrinkles, and in a very, very dark color, just like one who had been exposed to the sun too much. His hands were also very, very dark. However, the part of his arms that was covered by the sleeves, when accidentally exposed, was very, very white, so white that it was scary. The sharp contrast between white and black was something I had never seen on anyone before.
他滿臉都是皺紋，曬得很黑很黑，手也很黑很黑。然而，被袖子蓋住的手臂部分，不小心露出來時，卻又煞白煞白的，白得嚇人。那種白與黑的強烈對比，我從來沒有在任何人身上看見過。
After my grandfather was sent to prison, my grandmother had a very hard time raising two children by herself. Her sewing work was very good, and she basically made clothes, shoes and shoe soles for a living. When the New Year was approaching, the number of people making new clothes increased, and she was always very busy.
外公被勞改後，外婆一個人拉扯兩個孩子，非常辛苦。她的針線活很好，基本就是靠給人做衣服、納鞋底爲生。快過年時，做新衣的人多起來，她就總是很忙。
I'm not sure when my grandfather passed away, but I think it wasn't long after he was released. So most of my grandmother's life was a lifetime of hard work alone.
我不太清楚外公是何時去世的，好像被釋放後不太久吧。總之外婆這一生，大部分時候都是獨自一生辛苦勞作。
I remember when I was a child, my mother would bring back some of the insoles my grandmother had made after she visited her. The insoles were very beautiful, made of scraps of fabric with a dense and uniform needle. One wouldn’t believe that they were made by hand, and would think that they were made by a sewing machine.
記得我小時候，母親每次去看她，都會帶一些她做的鞋墊回來。鞋墊非常漂亮，都是用些碎布頭拼出來的圖案，針頭又密又齊，不像是手工納的，倒像是縫紉機扎出來的。
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, the CCP wanted to restore the judiciary systems that had been “smashed” during the Cultural Revolution. As a "professional" who graduated from China’s Southwest University of Political Science & Law, my father was transferred back to Mianyang City. My older sister and I followed my father back to Mianyang to attend school there, but my mother did not have a transfer order or a permit to go with my father, so she and my younger sister stayed in Hanwang.
文革結束後，中共要恢復在文革中砸爛的「公、檢、法」系統。父親作爲政法大學畢業的「專業人才」，又被調回了綿陽。我和大妹妹跟著父親回到綿陽上學，媽媽沒有調令和編制，不能跟著爸爸去，所以帶著我小妹妹，留在了漢旺。
When I was a sophomore in high school, my father had to go to Beijing for some training and would be away for several months, as my mother was still in Hanwang, so she asked my grandmother to go to Mianyang from Zhongjiang to cook for my sister and me, and to take care of us.
大約是我讀高二的時候吧，爸爸要到北京去接受什麼培訓，一走要好幾個月，媽媽又不在，所以就把外婆從中江接到綿陽，請她負責給我和大妹妹做飯，照顧我們。
This picture was taken at that time, so I could send it to my father in Beijing. The Chinese characters on the photo say, “To dad who is far away”.
這張照片，就是那個時候照的，照了好寄給遠在北京的爸爸看。
I guess my grandmother was 61 years old then.
那時外婆是六十一歲吧？
For her, who had been a hard worker all her life, the chore of cooking just a few meals for us was simply too boring and easy. Every day at noon, she made the meal early, ran to the balcony, stretching her neck to look at the way my sister and I were coming, and when she saw that we were almost home, she rushed to bring the meal to the table.
對於勤勞一生的她來說，只給我們做幾頓飯這點家務簡直太無聊了，太輕鬆了。每天中午，她早早就做好飯，跑到陽臺上，伸長脖子向著我和妹妹的來路張望，老遠看到我們快到家了，就趕快把飯菜端上桌。
It was one of the few times that I could enjoy such good "ready-made meals". Because of her, we could go home for meals every day. Before she came, I was a boarder at school and didn't go home for meals, and the food at school was just terrible.
那是我少有的一段能享受「現成飯菜」的日子。因爲有了她，我們才可以天天回家吃飯。她沒來時，我是住校的，不回家吃飯，學校裏伙食爛得要命。
A few months later, dad came back and wanted to keep her with us, but she refused to stay. First, no one knew her here, no one asked her to do needlework, she was too idle.
幾個月後，爸爸回來了，想留她繼續跟著我們，她打死也不願意。第一、這裏沒人認識她，沒人找她做針線活，她閒得太難受了。
Secondly, she had never lived in an apartment building in her life and was very uncomfortable, saying that she could not get the qi of the ground, or the earth. In traditional Chinese culture, qi or ch'i or ki (/ˈtʃiː/ CHEE simplified Chinese: 气; traditional Chinese: 氣; pinyin: qì qì) is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. The earth also has its “qi”, and my grandmother was upset that she couldn’t get in touch with the earth’s qi when living in a “high-rise” building, although that building had only 6 floors, and we lived on the third.
第二、她一輩子沒住過樓房，非常不習慣，說在樓房裏扯不到地氣。
After my grandmother left, I only saw her once more when I visited my family in Zhongjiang County in 1996.
那一次外婆離開後，我只於1996年回中江縣探親時再看過她一次。
In 1996, I went back to Zhongjiang County with my family to visit my grandmother (third from the right in the front row). 1996年，我和全家一起回中江縣看望外婆（前排右三）。
The story that my grandmother told me the most of times was the "miracle" of how I started walking.
聽她說過的最多的關於我的故事，是我走路的「奇蹟」。
Grandma said that I couldn't walk at that time, and I hadn't even learned how to crawl yet. When she was doing sewing, she used to put me on the bed, let me lie there and play on my own.
外婆說，那時候我還不會走路，連爬都還沒怎麼學會。她做針線活時，就經常把我放牀上，讓我自己躺著玩。
One day, she suddenly found that I was missing from the bed. Grandma and mom both panicked. They were going to look everywhere when suddenly the door curtain was lifted and I walked back myself.
有一天，突然發現牀上的我不見了。外婆和媽媽都慌了神。正要到處去找，突然門簾被掀開一角，我從門外自己走回來了。
Grandma said that I was covered with the white cotton she used to make cotton padding for people, and looked like a little white rabbit, I came back smiling after walking out to play by myself.
外婆說，當時我身上沾滿了她給人家做棉襖用的白棉花，像個小白兔似的，笑嘻嘻地自己走出去玩了一圈回來了。
And so, without any intermediate process, I could walk by myself. Adults have always said it was very surprising and usual.
就這樣，沒有任何中間過程，我自己就會走路了。大人們一直稱奇。
******
In 2001, I escaped from China after being persecuted by the CCP or practicing Falun Gong. I haven’t been able to go back China for 20 years.
二零零一年，我在因修煉法輪功遭受中共勞教迫害後逃出中國，今年整整二十年了，我再也沒能回去過。
In a few days, on September 9, it will be my grandmother's 99th birthday.
再過幾天，九月九日，是外婆九十九歲的生日。
My mother, who is 79 years old, said she would take a bus from Mianyang to Zhongjiang to celebrate my grandmother's 99th birthday. I could only ask mum to wish my grandmother a happy birthday for me.
已經七十九歲的母親說，她將乘車從綿陽到中江給外婆過九十九歲的生日。我只能請母親代我祝外婆生日快樂。
My mother also said that my grandmother, who has worked hard all her life, is still in good health. She now lives alone and is still able to make her own breakfast every day, and my uncle makes her lunch and send it to her.
母親還說，外婆勤勞一生，身體尚好，現在獨自一人居住，每天還能自己做早飯吃，午飯由我舅舅做好送過去。
My mother said that a fortune teller once said that my grandmother would live to be 108 years old.
母親說，以前算命的曾說，外婆能活到一百零八歲。
I hope this is true, so that I can go back and see her a few more times during her lifetime, that is, only if the CCP falls.
我很希望這是真的，這樣，在她老人家有生之年，如果中共倒了，我還能回去再看她幾次。
9/3/2021*
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