A trip to Guangzhou

I pushed the door and turned on the light. Nothing changed just because of the cleaning by my grandpa. Don’t look down upon him; he was a retired soldier. I was so lazy that I sat on the armchair and held my rucksack. I felt relaxed at the moment. I turned on the TV and found a interesting channel. You only have to dial XXXXXXX if you want to play games on that channel(those games were really ridiculous). I just watched the other players playing but dared not dial that number. I didn’t want to be scolded by my parents if the telephone fee increased suddenly.

Time passed so quickly and remorselessly. It was time to have dinner. Therefore we went to grandma’s home by taxi. When the dinner was ready, Lily and her mum arrived. Lily was my little cousin and was still pure, lovely, slim and artless. Nevertheless, she was in a bit old-fashioned skirt. She liked to play with me when I came to Guangzhou. Although she always followed me and was talkative, I never thought she was annoying or as prolix as my father. After having a rich dinner, all of us discussed what to do on the next day.

On the next day, Dad complaint about his longer hair to us. Mum lived with grandma and grandpa until she was married so she knew everything near her old home. She remembered that there were several hair salons near my grandma’s home.   Also, she recommended a hair salon named Cui Cui hair salon so three of us went there by taxi(walking was so torturous to mum). However, that hair salon wasn’t there. Mum phoned her dear mother and realized that the hair salon had been moved to the next street. Therefore we were forced to come to the Cui Cui hair salon unwillingly.

The coolness created by the air-conditioner penetrated the whole well-decorated hair salon and the mild light radiated. Lovely song was broadcasting. It was so holy. Mum was talking to the boss of the hair salon happily. There was a fishbowl beside the loudspeaker. A mass of goldfishes gathered and glided together delightfully. Sometimes, another kind of fish might cut across that mass of goldfishes. However, the most attractive thing was the portrait of Chairman Mao above a mirror. That made me feel more respectful for him.

   The hot sun shined violently on the third day. Lily and her mum dated mum and me in the repairing shop of my uncle, who was my mum’s little brother. He was above thirty but he hadn’t been married. Curious Lily always asked him whether he had got a girlfriend but uncle just ignored her. He was good at Maths and Science but weak in languages. He got very low marks in English examination in the past! He set up the repairing shop himself and that was his unique way to earn money. After having a lunch in a restaurant, my mum and Lily’s mum wanted to buy new shoes. Since Lily and I would be bored if we stayed in the repairing shop purposelessly, we followed them.

Walking past several shops, we came to a huge shoes shop finally. I didn’t feel pleased because all the shoes were only suitable for women to put on. Lily put on a pair of high-heeled shoes and attempted to walk to a mirror. I giggled when she nearly fell down. It was so outrageous that they hadn’t chosen a pair of shoes for half an hour! So they gave up and went to find another shoes shop.

The another shoes shop was dreadful. The coolness created by the air-conditioner could only be felt when I stood in front of it. I occupied that place immediately so it was too late when Lily found it. Yet they hadn’t bought any pairs of shoes and once again they came to another shoes shop. I wondered at women’s particularity about dressing and shoes.

In accordance with my expectation, the two women went back to the second shoes shop they had visited on that day because there were fewer choices in the third shoes shop. Although they finally bought a pair of shoes respectively, I still hated their greedy and dainty pursuit of beauty.

It was still sunny on the fourth day. Dad suggested our going to Heng Sha village. Heng Sha village was established by my ancestors a hundred years ago. Dad was born there. Why did we have to go to a distant place on an extremely hot day? It was so unfair and horrible. ‘You will lose everything if you don’t come with us,’ threatened Dad. Though it wasn’t a real threat, I was a bit frightened. I really wanted to resist him but he was my father. I shouldn't betray him right? Moreover, lovely Lily came too so I just followed Dad.

This journey was not that successful. First, we’d been waiting for the special bus to Chini town for half an hour. Unfairly, only one untaken seat was left but there was a lot of waste water on it. Sympathize with us, God! To me, standing and holding on a handrail with sweat dripping from my face were all unbearable. Even I had difficulty in taking one tissue out of my rucksack for wiping my sweat away due to the unbalance caused by the looseness of my hands from the handrail!

Half an hour later, we had come to Chini town. Chini town still looked more primitive than Xinhua town where our home in Guangzhou was in so the streets were much clearer. Rubbish had gone and more sparrows came to stay on top of the lampposts. We crossed through a long bridge on a sidewalk without railing alarmedly, for the lorries and the motorbikes drove so close to us and we nearly touched them. Our umbrellas which were used to prevent from the dazzling sunlight almost touched the huge long lorries. Under the bridge it was a broad river which separated the two lands. How come the insensate reflective light of the little waves were so free but people had to endure hotness and coldness? Arrangements of the God, huh?

   A high memorial archway appeared in front of us. It had a strong Chinese style and ‘Heng Sha village’ and the founding year were carved onto the archway perfectly and gracefully. It attracted everybody’s attention because the three Chinese words were sparkling. We passed through the archway and walked on the rocky narrow path. Extraordinarily, there were always piles of gravel placed at the centre of the path and they enhanced the difficulty in walking through the path.

Children’s yells and their rapid footsteps increased as we were approaching several three-storey houses which were made by red brick. There were no more geese on the dark green pond beside the houses, seemed that silence invaded there soundlessly. The most animated life in the world gathered around those houses: all the little black faces filled with smiles and the children were playing hide-and-seek without disturbance and parents’ scolds.

At the moment, dad was chatting with an uncle. I had seen this uncle before. He must be one of my dad’s old friends, for they chatted in a friendly manner and he let Lily and me choose a bottle of soft drink in the refrigerator respectively. Like before, he went to play mahjong with other villages in a room of a house after receiving us.

Then we took a rest in uncle’s three-storey home. Village’s equipment wasn’t dirty and primitive. Of course things weren’t splendid but I assured that the equipment was clean and filthy! On the wall of the living room there was a black-and-white portrait of dad’s dead father, whose appearance wasn’t as same as dad. I was curious about the personality of my grandpa. Was he kind and optimistic? Was he hot-tempered and violent? Was he contributive?

We then decided to visit our ancestry’s old house. The house would be like other three-storey red brick house if a ninety-year-old Indian oak and a high enclosing wall did not exist. No one could enter the house which was constructed in about 1950 without a key. The stone enclosing wall was so indestructible that even hammers couldn’t smash it! Moreover, that Indian oak planted at the backyard was a feng shui tree, which would bless each descendant and the house permanently. One year ago, the feng shui tree grew too tall and a bit oblique that one nearby factory complaint about the inconvenience of huge lorries to cross the road between the old house and a villager’s little hut. They wanted to fell it. Meanwhile, the Government ordered that factory to move to another place. This might be the blessing by the miraculous Indian oak.

Dad opened the door with a key and mum followed him. They said they had to use the joss sticks to worship the ancestry and dense smoke might come out so they stopped Lily and me at the entrance. As they called us to come in, we almost finished drinking the soft drink! Their actions were inefficient.

We went upstairs and found that every corner was clean. Dust didn’t exist in old rooms. We went up to the third storey’s balcony and surprisingly two swallow nests were contructed at the corner of the ceiling. The nests were as yellow as honey and holes were dug perfectly that I couldn’t help praising the swallows for their capability! Lily stared at them in astonishment and she almost dropped her soft drink. Dad took out his camera abruptly and took many photographs of the swallow nests exultingly. Meanwhile, Lily discovered some swallows flying freely in the sky with the sparrows. In fact, we could see lots of buildings, houses, farmlands and woods while standing on the third storey. Banks of clouds were running a permanent race with each other.

Dusk came. We all returned to grandma’s home. Mum, dad and I had the last dinner in grandma’s home this year. Therefore uncle came home earlier to enjoy this rich dinner with us: one chicken, one goose, lots of cucumbers, etc. They led me to endless aftertastes.

Before preparing to get on the station wagon to Hong Kong at the entrance of the New Century Hotel on the fifth day, both grandma and grandpa advised me to work hard and maintained the ranking. Lily said goodbye and I waved my hands in return.

See you, Guangzhou!