Vol 1 Prologue (1/2)
I’ll add in any personal co [ ]
Please few free to correct me in the comments section if you spot any mistakes!
The first few pages are some quotes/short sentences:
When I was 5 years old
When I was little I always had a dream
To be like soap bubbles
Lightly dancing in the air
Floating until I’ve reached the moon
See the stars twinkling around me
When I was 8 years old
My childhood’s sweetest memories
Always had to do with different types of sweets, mom said I couldn’t
eat too randpa in the alley way to spin
a sugar candy instead, a little tiger
sugar candy
When I was 10 years old
Too otten many of the news on the blackboard bulletin,
Except for a feisps of wars from those years
but I couldn’t draw out the same memories to those in my mind
When I was 12 years old
English, used to be the subject that gave me incomparable pain, every time I think about it
I would get a headache, because I couldn’t pronounce the words properly, I used to secretly
write Chinese pronunciations to the English words in the textbook, I was shouted at so harshly
So many years,
I’ve always been learning one thing,
to not look back
To only regret the things I haven’t done,
not the things I have experienced
Every step in life,
has a price to pay,
I have the things I’ve wanted to have,
Lost the things I didn’t want to lose
But for everyone on earth,
who isn’t like this?
Preface: Covered in rain and wind, I come up from the sea
May 12th 2008, there was a 80 nitude earthquake in Wenchuan [Sichuan]; Shaanxi, Gansu, had aftershocks fronitude of 60 to 70
That day, Luo Qi Qi, as in San Francisco, drove to work like usual, arriving 30her email online Suddenly, she saw a news article of the Wenchuan [Sichuan] earthquake Astonished, she opened the link, confir that the neas true After a few minutes of numbness, she realised that Sichuan was on the border of Shanxi- if Sichuan had such a big earthquake then Shanxi would definitely also be affected Not caring that it was before dawn in China, she phoned ho her dad’s cellphone, no one picked up; tried mom’s cellphone, no one picked up; tried her little sister’s, still, no one picked up
Qi Qi phoned her parents’ nu with no one picking up, her hand started to tremble
Her Chinese colleague Xiao Ling’s parents were in Chengdu [Capital of Sichuan]; with no one picking up her continuous calls, Xiao Ling leaned on the desk sobbing uncontrollably from pain
For the entire ain and again while refreshi+ng the news site, but as the earthquake had just happened, even the nitude of the earthquake was still unconfirmed The reports online had so little information that it was pathetic
To properly understand the shock wave Shaanxi Province had suffered, Luo Qi Qi searched up the Chinese map She used a ruler to measure the distance between Xi’an [capital of Shaanxi province] and Wenchuan, and after calculating the actual scale of the distance, she phoned her university friend as currently researching crustal movements at MIT to inquire about the laws of earthquake transmission By the time work ended, she had become half an expert on earthquakes
That night, her call finally got through Her dad said: “everyone’s fine, the house is fine, though the ceiling is a bit cracked and the television’s a bit defor But you don’t have to worry, Yuan Yuan has been with us the whole time”
Qi Qi inquired about all their relatives and after confir that everyone was fine, proceeded to warn her little sister to be cautious a million times Just as she was about to end the call, her little sister said: “Phoneto say to you”
After 10 minutes, Luo Qi Qi phoned her little sister’s cellphone: “What’s wrong?”
“Sister, have you ever thought about how one to America, not the moon! After the earthquake yesterday afternoon, ere too afraid to sleep at hoht Mo about you Even the president of Aht? Are you so busy ork everyday that you don’t even have the time to visit home? I know you send back lots of ht from yourin a 1970s apartment But did you know that dad has cirrhosis? Have you accompanied mom to the hospital before? If ere in the ht not see us again…” Luo Yuan Yuan let out a sob
Luo Qi Qi didn’t say anything After a while, she said: “I’ll try to arrange for a vacation as soon as possible and come back to China for a visit”
Luo Yuan Yuan laughed while crying,“that’s better, mom and dad will definitely be very happy”
Although it was decided that she was going to have a break, she couldn’t walk away froed everything, it was already September
All the Chinese people around her were carrying big bags and s a medium sized suitcase Fro
Luo Qi Qi absentht, 10 hours, back in the day it was only a quarter of the ti by train The distance of the Pacific Ocean wasn’t that far after all
At Xi’an airport, after collecting her luggage and walking out, she heard a high pitched voice of so “sister, sister”
A prettily dressed girl was frantically waving her arms at her
After 4 years of not seeing each other, they ed her, the fa related by blood came back
Yuan Yuan was the same as before, she liked to talk As she drove, she couldn’t stop talking; she asked about things in America and chattered about life in China
Then, she excitedly said: “Oh yeah, the other day, I went to the tax bureau with ue The worker there was cold and enise hinised me and asked ‘Is your sister Luo Qi Qi’ I said ‘She is’ and he made the worker help us finish our affairs smoothly and without a hitch We wanted to thank hi ‘it’s just a small matter that didn’t require any effort; I’ue in the past that you were an outstanding person right fro that I was boasting After that encounter, she believed me ”
Luo Qi Qi pretended to be tired and closed her eyes She was an outstanding person right froood or were other people too forgetful?
The car stopped outside the building Qi Qi didn’t have the fa of home- she didn’t even knohat floor their apartuest, she let Yuan Yuan take the lead
The food her ant, as if she wanted to et to eat
Luo Qi Qi was only responsible for eating, not talking As long as Luo Yuan Yuan was there, the dinner table would never be lonely; she talked about her leader’s e the whole faain
Her“Qi Qi, if you uy, you have to set your heart on it No irl’s career is, she has to form a family Set an example for your little sister or else when she’s older, she’ll righteously say ‘my older sister doesn’t have a boyfriend either’”
Yuan Yuan scowled at Qi Qi, in a small voice that everyone on the table could still hear, she said: “You’re the s overseas, you don’t have to listen to any of this nagging, next tie with you”
Molish exaed to pass, yet you want to go overseas?”
“We’re Chinese, why do we even need to take English exaraduate, crazy! How come we don’t see UK universities learn Chinese?”
“Then aside frolish, your major subject…”
“If you say anymore, say anymore and I won’t eat!”
Yuan Yuan arrogantly glared and mom and dad were immediately the same as in the past, colish, it’s hardly ever used in everyday life, only people who need to use it should go and take the exam”