Some words can bring tears to your eyes.

 　　Some words can bring tears to your eyes

　　-1-

　　On the street, a father and daughter. The daughter pointed to a large plush toy on a stall and said: Daddy, I want it.

　　Her father patted her head: Daddy doesn't have money, let's not take it, okay?

　　Unexpectedly, the little girl nodded very sensibly: Okay! Then Daddy will buy it when he has money. The father picked up the little girl and walked away.

　　After walking a few steps, he heard the little girl's voice again: Daddy, don't cry.

　　It's okay, it's okay, when you have money later you will buy me lots and lots of things, okay? Don't cry, don't cry, sweetie...

　　-2-

　　In the ward, a patient was arguing with her husband:

　　"Don't think I don't know, you just want to wait for me to die and then find another one!"

　　"I've spent all my money to treat your illness, what the hell are you talking about!"

　　...

　　"I'm sorry...;

　　"So don't die, I don't have money to find another wife...;

　　-3-

　　When I was eight years old, my father was laid off, and the following year my mother was also laid off.

　　But I would still go out for steamed buns with my parents on weekends, though later we would usually only order enough for two people. When the buns and soup were served, my dad would always say, "I'm going out for a bit, you two eat first." My mom and I would start eating together, and when we figured we were almost done, my dad would come back and we'd go home together. Once home, we'd cook some plain noodles for ourselves.

　　Later, after I started junior high, I could go out for meals by myself on weekends. I would always order enough for one person, and after finishing, I would often sit in the sun around seven or eight in the morning for a while longer. Once, I overheard a family of three at the next table bring in two steamers of steamed buns and two bowls of soup. The father said, "I'm going out for a bit, you two eat first."

　　-4-

　　I remember once playing mahjong, a boy around 10 years old asked his father for money to buy something. His father simply took a 20-yuan note from the table and gave it to him. About half an hour later, the boy came back asking for money, and his father gave him 10 yuan. A little while later, he came back again, and his father gave him 5 yuan. When the game ended, the father had almost lost all his money. On the way home, he heard his son say, "You've been giving me less and less, so I knew you were almost done losing. I was afraid your mother would scold you when we got home, so I'll give you this money." The father stood there stunned...

　　-5-

　　Beside the market, a beautifully sculpted little girl tugged at a soldier's trouser leg, calling out "Daddy!" repeatedly. The young man blushed and quickly explained that the little girl had mistaken him for someone else. Just then, a young mother approached and gently picked up the little girl. The little girl pointed at the soldier, showing him off to her mother as if she had found her father. The young mother explained that the little girl's father was indeed a soldier, and the little girl, only three or four years old, had only seen him a few times and had always thought that anyone in uniform was her father, hence the scene at the beginning. Upon hearing this, the soldier blew the assembly whistle, and a neatly arranged squad assembled before the young mother, giving her a synchronized salute...

　　-6-

　　I had a male classmate in high school who seemed quite smart, but he was very quiet and always stood out in class.

　　His father loved buying lottery tickets; he didn't work and just relied on the family's savings and his mother's salary to gamble.

　　Later, his mother divorced his father, and he went to live with his father. He had to earn his own living expenses through part-time jobs... Once I asked him, "Why don't you stay with your mother?"

　　He said, "If I did, my sister would have to stay with Dad..."

　　-7-

　　"If you want to retake the college entrance exam, your sister won't have money to go to school. It's your choice.

　　" "Then I won't retake it."

　　This was a conversation between my father and my brother. That year, my brother didn't perform well on the college entrance exam and didn't get into his ideal university. His grades were usually not even in the top ten of his grade. He wanted to retake it, but I had just been admitted to a top high school that year, and my family was destitute.

　　If there's anything else that makes me tear up, it's the pocket money my brother gave me in high school.

　　"Here's five yuan, buy some snacks or ice cream. I know Mom and Dad don't give you pocket money."

　　My older brother, who's in high school, saved five yuan from his allowance for me. He lives at school, and his monthly allowance is only 20 yuan, sometimes 15 yuan. That's all he has for groceries and daily necessities.

　　He saves five yuan every month because he knows I don't have any pocket money and go hungry after morning reading because I don't have money for breakfast.

　　Even now, as I type these words on my phone, tears are still streaming down my face.

　　We come from an extremely poor family, but from childhood to adulthood, we've never even argued. We herded cattle together, pulled weeds in the fields together, chatted together sitting on small stools, dreamed about the future together, and were willing to compromise or sacrifice our own interests for each other.

　　I love my brother as much as I love my own life.

　　-8-

　　One day, my mom came home excitedly with a new phone.

　　"Bubble (my nickname), I bought that OPPO phone that charges for five minutes and talks for two hours, blah blah blah..."

　　My heart skipped a beat because OPPO phones are usually overpriced and underpowered, so I asked her how much she spent. She said it cost over three thousand.

　　I got a little angry after hearing that, and started a long, drawn-out comparison of OPPO with other domestic phone brands from various angles. Finally, I told her bluntly that she shouldn't have bought the phone.

　　She said, feeling particularly aggrieved, "Because I thought it sounded like 'bubble,' that's why I bought it..."

　　At that moment, I felt like my heart had been struck; a thousand emotions welled up in my throat, and I couldn't say a word. While sleeping, I secretly shed tears in bed.

　　-9-

　　My mom always likes to buy me clothes with outdated styles, more suitable for middle-aged women than seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls—basically, styles I don't like.

　　Once, my mom brought home a new dress for me to try on. I looked at it, and it was another one I didn't like. After trying it on, I said to her, "Mom, if you buy me clothes in the future, take me with you to pick them out." She agreed.

　　Later, when we were chatting, she casually told me, "Actually, I often buy clothes for myself, but when I come home and see you, I want to give them to you." I held back my tears.

　　Later, I went to boarding school and could only go home one day a week. One day, my mom sent me pictures of several pairs of shoes on WeChat, asking which pair I liked and that she would buy them for me.

　　I replied: "Mom, you always buy me so many things, but you almost never buy anything for yourself. I think those brown shoes are really nice; they should suit you well."

　　A while later, my mom replied: "I love you a little more, don't I?"

　　After reading that message, I burst into tears.

　　-10-

　　During my senior year of college, I called my grandfather. I wanted him to write a calligraphy piece for me: "Heaven rewards diligence." I was going through a low point in my life at the time and really wanted something to motivate me. I had been so busy with my studies that I was used to asking my grandfather for things and hadn't thought there was anything wrong with it.

　　My grandfather loved practicing calligraphy and was a member of the county's calligraphy association. I figured asking him for a piece of calligraphy would be a simple matter for the old man.

　　A few months later, after graduating from university, I visited him and found a cross-stitch on his bed: "Heaven rewards diligence." I was quite surprised and didn't know why.

　　"Grandpa's hands tremble, and he can't write anymore, but he can still do cross-stitch, so it's okay if it's slower,"

　　my dad said. Later, my dad told me that my grandfather had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and his right hand was shaking so badly that he couldn't write anymore. He was so angry that he smashed his inkstone.

　　I didn't cry then, but I regretted not visiting him more often. In the following years, I would visit him on weekends whenever I had the chance, and we would have a drink together. I knew he didn't drink much after he got sick, but he was happy to see me drink.

　　In 2013, when I was in Boston, my grandfather passed away. I still didn't cry. I felt that in the last few years of life, I should do what I could. Until one day, I was cleaning the old house alone, looking at the cross-stitch "Heaven rewards diligence," and a picture suddenly flashed into my mind: an old man who had practiced calligraphy all his life, but couldn't because of illness. His grandson only asked for a calligraphy piece, which he couldn't write, and in a fit of anger, he smashed all his writing implements.

　　However, after learning about cross-stitch, he started from scratch and made it. This seventy-something-year-old man had no passion for cross-stitch; it was his only cross-stitch project because his grandson wanted a piece of calligraphy. Looking at the room full of calligraphy works and this seemingly unremarkable cross-stitch frame, I couldn't hold back anymore.

　　Emotions are a strange thing. Doing business and finding a job present many difficulties, but I grit my teeth and get through them. But sitting in this empty room, looking at that rocking chair and the hanging cross-stitch...

　　why the hell can't time slow down?!