Old things in the south

Chapter 95 My Memory of My Aunt

...My aunt's name is Lin Baoqin, with the word Yunru, and her name is Xia Lin (name when she was teaching).Born in the second year of Guangxu (AD 1876), in the 22nd year of Guangxu, he became the uncle of Master Xia Ren, a fellow villager in Nanjing, in Wuhu. In 1911, she taught at Jiangsu Provincial Women's Normal School, serving as a professor of Chinese and history. In 1933, my uncle suffered from nervous depression and died in 1934. In 1937, during the Anti-Japanese War, he went south with his Nanjing family via Dangtu, Wuwei, Anhui, and Chongqing to Baisha. He passed away after a long illness in 1943 and was buried in Baishayang, Dongchuan.

My aunt is taciturn, knows right from wrong, understands the general situation, behaves calmly but has her own opinions, often says fate, let nature take its course, and is quite optimistic.My aunt dotes on me very much, because my family has few males.And although I have not been with my aunt for a short time, I have suffered from it from time to time, and I have suffered deeply.

Aunt and uncle are very affectionate, and uncle treats aunt in every possible way.My aunt in Beijing became addicted to opium due to her illness and serving her mother-in-law (Haiyin note: her mother-in-law also smoked opium), and my uncle followed suit. I often saw my uncle cooking raw smoked cakes and making ointment, and I took the trouble.There is a long couch in the bedroom, and a small square table next to the couch. There is a cigarette tray on the table, and there are smoke lamps, bongs, cigarette sticks, tobacco paste, etc. in the tray.The two took turns swallowing clouds and puffing fog, looking at the situation where the wind and gods are scattered, and they have transformed into immortals.I usually don't put down the scrolls (love reading Tang poems and novels translated by Lin Shu), since my aunt fell ill, she took care of her aunt with fear, and was even haggard.

My aunt often used allusions about the words and deeds of my ancestors of the Lin family to encourage me. I told the first ancestor of the Lin family, Duke Bigan, and even Jiu Mugong in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, under her influence, "Lin's Family Vehicle" was compiled.

The last time I met with my aunt, we were very moved. It was half a month before Nanjing fell to the Japanese warlords on December 1937, 12. I went to Dangtu, Anhui to visit my aunt, and we talked about how I hated the Japanese warlords. When talking about current events, she said: "... ...The oppression of the stubborn enemy led to the war of resistance on scorched earth. From now on, it is the last moment. Our flesh and blood are displaced, and there will be no peace." Therefore, recalling that until now, we are still in displacement and sacrifice, isn't it sad? ...

(End of this chapter)