Su Jin Aunt once recalled in front of my mother, “When my brother first saw me, tears rolled down his eyes, hugging me and crying, murmuring, ‘It’s her, it’s her… Is it really her? She’s not dead yet…’ I didn’t know who he meant by ‘her,’ and when I asked, he never mentioned it again.”
Su Jin Aunt told my mother, “My brother really loves you, don’t let him down.”
My mother’s eyes moistened, and she nodded as if making a promise. I could feel her complex emotions.
When Su Dad was pregnant, he cried with joy. I remembered how Big Dad was also overjoyed during his pregnancy.
Big Dad was in poor health and had difficulty getting pregnant. He was careful with the baby in my mother’s belly.
Su Dad was brought back up the mountain by my mother last year. He spoke little and looked at us with soft eyes. Although I didn’t like having another dad at home, he was impossible to dislike. My mother assured me, “I won’t find you a new dad anymore.”
Seeing the wooden hairpin in my mother’s hand, I asked, “Why do you carve a hairpin for dad every year when you can buy many down the mountain?”
My mother smiled, “You’ll understand when you find someone you like. In the future, Yu’er will marry someone who can carve a hairpin for you for a lifetime.”
I took the wooden hairpin, lost in thought, then ran to ask Little Dad about my mother’s intentions.
I didn’t fully understand what “intention” meant, but if my mother wanted me to marry someone who could carve a hairpin, wouldn’t Xiao Mo also need to do that?
Panicking, I found Xiao Mo, who was practicing sword techniques. I exclaimed, “Mother carves a hairpin for Little Dad every year. You have such a big knife but won’t give me one!”
“I didn’t tell her I wanted to marry her.
Xiao Mo was very unromantic, saying, ‘This is a sword.’
I responded, ‘It’s a small wooden sword.’
Her expression stiffened slightly as she looked at my few yellow hairs and asked, ‘What do you want a hairpin for? If you want one, I’ll buy many for you down the mountain.’
