You are my glory (你是我的荣耀)

Chapter 32

After dinner, Yu Tu accompanied his parents out for a walk. Along the way, they were constantly asked by acquaintances "Your son is back?" Small cities are like this; the neighbors know each other well and there isn't really any sense of distance with them.

They strolled two rounds through the small park nearby. Mr. Yu was stopped by a mahjong buddy. He glanced at his wife and son and was about to decline, but Mrs. Yu said, "Go."

Mr. Yu happily went away. Being with the son for a few hours was enough. Playing mahjong still was more attractive.

Mrs. Yu smilingly shook her head. The two walked for another while. Then suddenly Mrs. Yu asked, "Do you have something weighing on your mind?"

Yu Tu was not surprised that she would ask like this, because he obviously had not been himself in the afternoon and his mother had always been acute. He was silent for a moment, then said, "Before I came home last time, I mentioned to my work unit that I wanted to quit."

A look of surprise appeared in Mrs. Yu's eyes. After a long time, she sighed and said, "I've always felt that you are most like your uncle. When you were a child, you especially admired him and often bragged to other children that your uncle launches rockets."

"Among the siblings of my family, your uncle is the smartest, but in comparison he also struggled the most. He is in northwest China all year round and can't even take care of the family. Once, your grandfather was sick and almost passed away, but we couldn't even contact him. At that time, communication technology was nowhere as developed as now. With great difficulty, your grandfather was saved and we also managed to contact him. We told him to come back, but he hesitated for a long time and finally said no, that since your grandpa had recovered, in that case, he would wait until the end of the mission and then come back. The current mission was too important, and he really could not get away."

"It was another month before he came back to see your grandfather. All the siblings were mad and treated him coldly. At that time, an aunt who came to visit your grandfather scolded him for being unfilial. Your uncle got scolded, but he also did not dare say anything. At that time, you were still young, but you suddenly asked her, 'Grandaunt, has Cousin-Uncle [first cousin once removed; mom's first cousin] gone to work in the United States?'

"Your grandaunt loved to talk about this, and immediately she said that if you also studied well, you could go abroad to study and work in the future. But you said, 'But, Cousin-Uncle has gone to work in the United States for several years and hasn't come back. Why don't you say that he is not filial?'"

After speaking to this point, Mrs. Yu couldn't help but smile.

Yu Tu also smiled, as he still remembered this incident. He also remembered the awkward atmosphere that had come about after he asked this question. However, after that, everyone's attitude toward uncle had returned to normal.

Sometimes, it is not that those close to us do not understand; it is simply because they are close that they inevitably will be harsher and criticize.

Mrs. Yu said, "At that time, I had thought, that's true. They were similar in that they both were unable to be by their parents' side, yet the one who went abroad receives the envy and praise of others while people like your uncle, who remains in the Northwest throughout the year, dedicating himself to his work, is called unfilial and is told his work is not worth it... What kind of reasoning is that? We, as a group of adults, had a less clear understanding of the heart of the matter than you, a 10-year-old child."

Yu Tu jokingly said, "I have always been smart, since I was a child."

Mrs. Yu patted him once.

"A lot of principles, we do understand, but when it happened to ourselves, we still become muddled. The thing that I most regret is forcing you to apply to get into finance during the college entrance examination. At that time, I was thinking, my son has such high grades; of course he must apply for the most popular major that requires the highest grades or else won't those high grades be wasted? It was not until later, when I found out that you secretly studied two majors, that I regretted it. How much energy you must have wasted."