( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - I still remember that summer when I was in fourth grade, my grandfather returned from the river wharf with a girl about my age, with dark skin. My grandmother said: "Where did she come from, grandpa?". "She came from the wharf, I brought her back", he was surprised and lowered his voice. "I'll tell you later, now go find something to feed her!".
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| MH: VO VAN |
My grandmother rushed into the kitchen, and a moment later came back with a full bowl of cold rice and a piece of braised fish. The little girl took the bowl of rice and ate it deliciously. At this time, my grandfather waved her into the kitchen and whispered, I could hear her words. It turned out that the little girl, an orphan from somewhere in the neighboring village, had wandered to my village. Early in the morning, she went to the riverbank, did whatever anyone asked her to do, and slept in an abandoned grass hut. My grandfather took pity on her and took her home. After telling her story, he comforted her: "Our family is not well off, but I feel sorry for her!" My grandmother held back a sigh, and went to the back porch to chop water fern. The little girl saw this and quickly ran over to take the knife from her hand: "Let me!" Her voice was soft and cute, in contrast to her clumsy appearance. My grandmother sat watching her chop, her hands moving quickly, the wrinkles on her forehead relaxing. My grandfather lovingly told her: "Leave it to me, go play with Cam!" I immediately stood up and went into the house, feeling a bit resentful and hurt. The only granddaughter that my grandparents loved had now been replaced by another. Seeing that, my grandfather went into the house and comforted me: "She is an orphan, suffering, you should love her!". Having said that, he pulled me out into the yard and went to her. The little girl finished chopping duckweed and stood up to look at me, this time with a somewhat timid look, then bent down, her big toe moving on the mossy brick yard. My grandmother turned to ask: "Oh, but what is your name?". "Yes, Xi", the little girl answered softly. My grandfather chuckled and stroked her messy head: "From now on, when you come back to us, your name will be Nhan". He turned to me and said: "And this is Sam Cam, my granddaughter only has bird names", at this point he chuckled again. "Why do you call her Nhan?", I was curious. “Ah... This afternoon, when I was at the sandbank, I saw a white tern flying back from the river, carrying a dry branch in its mouth and landing on the pebbles by the river. At that moment, the tern was walking past with a bundle of firewood,” he said, his face pensive.
I saw sympathy in his eyes, my grandmother also turned away to hide her emotions, urging me to serve the meal. I arranged the bowls and chopsticks on the tray, turned around and saw Nhan leaning against the straw, her hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt, her face turned towards the field. Feeling sorry for her, I called out: "Come compare the chopsticks, Nhan!". Only then did Nhan sit down and compare the chopsticks. During the meal, she sat next to my grandmother, eating quietly, it seemed like she was still full from the bowl of rice from the afternoon. While eating, I saw Nhan more clearly, on her dirty face were her bright eyes, a charming grain of rice was deeply sunk into the corner of her mouth, the clothes she was wearing smelled sour. After eating, she quickly carried the tray to the water jar to wash, it seemed like she was aware of her status. At dusk, I gave her the clothes, and invited her to go to the well to bathe. After bathing, she put on her clothes and stood admiring them, pulling down the lace collar to look at them, then fondling the bow in front of her chest, muttering: "Such a beautiful outfit, you gave it to me!". I have to admit that after bathing and changing into other clothes, she looked much brighter. That night, she slept with my grandmother and me. I lay in the middle, turned to hug my grandmother to "confirm my ownership " that she was my grandmother, she was just an adopted grandchild. I fell asleep, and in the middle of the night, I woke up with a start to see her still tossing and turning. When I woke up in the morning, I saw her busy in the kitchen helping her cook. I reached over and saw that her pillow was wet, it turned out that she had cried last night.
During the summer vacation, Nhan was always around me. The day I was preparing to return to the city, my grandfather also hurriedly rode his bike to the school to ask for her to study. Nhan started first grade from the beginning because she didn’t know how to spell yet. That night, Nhan and I talked all night long, my grandmother had to urge me to go to bed early to have energy to take the bus tomorrow.
Nhan followed him to the highway, put me on the familiar bus back home, that day the sky was clear, on both sides of the road were falling wild flowers. I looked over and saw Nhan's eyes filled with tears, he held my hand until I got on the bus and disappeared.
* * *
I can no longer remember how many summers have passed since Nhan came to live with my grandparents. When I was in secondary school, the number of times I went back to my paternal home gradually decreased. Every time she heard that I was coming back, Nhan would come all the way to the village entrance to welcome me. Nhan carried me sitting behind her, swaying on the heavy bicycle like an iron buffalo, the two of us chatting wittily as we rode.
My grandfather's garden is getting greener and greener, the ducks in the pond are all plump. After school, Nhan spends all day in the garden tending to each row of vegetables. My grandfather is no longer agile. He sits in the corner of the house, looking out with his bleary eyes. When he sees me coming home, he often whispers: "Take Nhan to the city so she can go to school with me." Every time I tell him, Nhan smiles, her eyes welling up: "He's senile now, I feel so sorry for him!"
My grandparents were getting weaker, Nhan took on all the housework. Nhan went to high school, my mother made a white ao dai and sent it to Nhan. I went to university, I no longer wore the ao dai anymore, I also brought them back to Nhan. Entering adolescence, Nhan completely transformed, her face was now graceful and attractive, she was always in the sun but her skin was still white and smooth. Nhan hugged her bag gracefully in her ao dai to school, the boys in the village kept stealing glances. Every time I went back to my hometown, lying next to Nhan at night, I would whisper stories about my boyfriend at school. Nhan listened attentively, and told me that no matter what kind of love I had, I had to focus on my studies. Many times I asked about her boyfriend, Nhan shook her head and said no. I asked again if Nhan had a secret crush on anyone, Nhan also shook her head. I was confused, Nhan was beautiful, every afternoon the boys from the neighboring village would wander over to my village to secretly admire Nhan. "Your heart is so hard, Nhan!" Once I joked, Nhan laughed and urged me to sleep before it was late.
After graduating from college, I went to work. Nhan also finished high school but refused to take the university entrance exam. Every day Nhan went to the garden to take care of the vegetable beds and the ducks in the pond. Every time I went back to my hometown, I was stunned to see Nhan. Nhan became more and more beautiful and attractive. My grandmother urged Nhan to get married many times, but Nhan just laughed. The girls in the countryside who were Nhan's age already had babies in their arms.
...In the afternoon, when I came home from work, I saw my mother busy packing things. When she looked up and saw me, she urged: "You arrange to take a day off tomorrow, go back to your hometown with your parents to discuss Nhan's wedding. Your grandfather just sent a message." "Nhan is getting married?", I was surprised. "Yes, that's all I know." When my whole family returned to their hometown, it was already afternoon. My grandmother came out to welcome us from the alley, holding my parents' hands and pulling us into the house. She was very upset: "You guys look at her, she's the most beautiful girl in this village. Every night, the village boys line up outside the alley but don't like her. Now she's determined to marry Lang." "Which Lang, Mom?", my dad asked. "Lang lives behind our house. His wife died, leaving behind a 5-year-old daughter." Only then did my mother put her arm around her and rub her bony back: "So she loves Lang. Husband and wife are fate, don't you often tell us that?". “But... Lang's family is so poor, I'm afraid Nhan will suffer in the future”, my grandmother still couldn't calm down.
I went out to the garden to look for Nhan, and after a while I saw Nhan struggling to get out of the pond, her pants rolled up past her knees. Seeing me, Nhan smiled brightly: "You just got home? Wait a minute, I'll herd the ducks into the pen!". Looking at Nhan walking away quickly, her figure soft, her face gentle and kind, I secretly rejoiced for the man who had Nhan.
Nhan's wedding was simple, with only a few trays of food for both families, because Nhan wanted it that way. In a simple pink ao dai, Nhan was still stunningly beautiful, many village boys turned away regretfully. Nhan walked beside her husband, her face bright and happy, the little girl ran around, occasionally stopping to hold Nhan's hand and whisper something unclear, only to see Nhan gently smile: "Mom knows!".
The day my whole family returned to the city, Nhan and her husband took us all the way to the highway. Nhan's husband was busy packing gifts from the countryside for his mother to bring back, and every now and then he would look up at Nhan lovingly: "Let me help you!" Nhan would swoop down to her husband and chirp.
My grandparents also took my whole family to the village entrance. To let her husband talk to my father, Nhan slowed down to support my grandfather. He was very slow now, it was pitiful to see. Nhan turned to my mother and whispered: "My husband and I will come to live with my grandparents, don't worry!". I saw the emotion in my mother's eyes, she held Nhan's hand tightly.
At the end of the village road, my grandfather suddenly stopped and looked up with tearful eyes towards the river. In the morning sun, a flock of white terns flew back from the riverbank, their thin wings tilted, circling over the river surface, then suddenly flew away. He tilted his ear to listen for a long time, then turned to hold her hand and pulled her closer: "Do you hear anything?". She shook her head in confusion. "The river is whispering, it says...". I don't know what he said, I only saw her giggling, looking up with sparkling eyes at the last bird disappearing into the clouds...
VU NGOC GIAO
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