Parents

If it weren’t for the birth of my child, I doubt my dad would have ever come all the way to Hangzhou. He doesn’t want to trouble us or spend too much of our money. He’s only staying for three days this time because there are pigs, chickens, and ducks that need feeding back home. Sigh.

Born in the countryside, with our hometown right next to the airport, planes fly right over our roof every day. But flying was never for us. Occasionally, my parents would wonder when they’d ever get to fly. For that, I booked their tickets online two weeks early, fulfilling this little dream of theirs.

“Flying is no big deal…” Dad said after getting off the airport bus. But I could tell he was happy.

I took three days off to be with them.

But the truth is, I spent the second day just resting at home, busy with other things too. My parents, from the countryside, felt caged in our one-bedroom apartment. Back home, they could wander as they pleased, check out the fish pond or the vegetable garden. But here, they’re cooped up, stuck watching TV. Even going outside means a trek down five floors, and there’s not much to see outside anyway. Really tough.

They kept saying, “We don’t need to go out, we can just stay home.”

Yanbing took them to visit Xixi Wetland. “Nothing special, just hills and water, we have that back home. But there’s a lot of herbs, mulberry leaves and dandelions… all good for reducing inflammation,” they said, handing me a bag of herbs to dry on the balcony. It’s true, the countryside has all those mountains and water; only the poor souls in the urban jungle need these pitiful, man-made eco-parks.

I always wanted to take them to see the performance at Songcheng, the ‘Romance of the Song Dynasty.’ I saw it once, and the visual effects were quite impressive. I thought my parents might enjoy it. But Mom gets carsick and doesn’t want to travel far, especially since we’d have to switch buses once to get there… I had to coax and cajole them to go, and buy the tickets—180 each, plus the show—without letting them see because they’d fret over the cost.

Got the tickets and went in. As expected, those ancient buildings, though replicas, still had a strong appeal to them. They had a great time. We made it to the show at 6:50. I waited outside… honestly, I was quite happy to have the chance to show some filial piety.

As I expected, the show didn’t disappoint them. Mom kept commenting, and Dad, as usual, stayed low-key, but you could tell he was pleased. “Great, just like on TV… so real… just the tickets are too expensive.”