forty years later . . .in Hua-Lian
Dad paused a few seconds and answered to his old colleagues, ". . .Mmm, It has exactly been for forty years." He said this when we were all sitting in a Japanese style house-resturant. In this table, except Dad, mom, and my husband, I don't know anyone of them. But they, six middle age men, were expressing their hospitality by ordering one dish after another: organic, healthy, and delicious food. (Most of time, a healthy food is not delicious, but not this time.) These people addressed to dad, "commander". They were not under his supervision at all when dad was the director in his office as far as I know. Dad left this small city forty years ago. His successor was not there with us due to his own health condition, but he made a phone call to dad while we were having dinner. I always love Hua-Lian, a place I grew up. Now I have a stronger reason to love her: the urbanization did not wipe away people's simplicity and sincerity - even after forty years.
