Fiction: Group 2
Silent Tears of the Left-behind Souls
Chinese International School, Kwang, Tsz Wun - 11, Fiction: Group 2
tanding in a hill-top and looking out over the terraced rice fields fill with morning mist, a dense
white shroud under which everything lay hidden, all life and movement lost to view. As the dew thins
under the majestic touch of the sun, vague forms dimly appear. Magnified and mysterious in their
silhouette, shadows of the Changliu Village come to light.
Nobody remembers how the Changliu Village came to be. Only a legendary myth, something
about how a group of Chang and Liu men of Hakka descent moved here 300 years ago, in search of fertile
land for farming. Now, Changliu is a village of empty rooms, with frail grandparents caring for the lonely
children.
Xia Mei lives in a mud brick house nestled in the valley of Changliu in the Pearl River Delta. Her
parents have moved away six years ago. The only sign of them is a pair of her father’s old sneakers that she
keeps at the bottom of her bed shared with her 9-year old brother.
“Tai Ping, we’ve to be early today!” Xia Mei’s voice curt with frustration, echoing in the
bamboo-walled house. Just before daybreak, she bustles like a grown-up. Expertly chopping wood, feeding
the fire, grinding corn, making breakfast... “It’s not hard, but the more you do it, the easier it gets,”
humming a tune as the skinny 13-year old scrambles to go to school.
Xia Mei’s grandmother had lost her luster since grandfather passed away. She is the one who
struggles to hold it all together. Her face weathered with deep ruts and sagging eyes.
“Xia Mei, the smog
from the south is killing our crops, I need to replant the seeds… I can’t be back till late today,” frowned
grandmother with her mouth turning down at the corner.
The drizzle has made the mountain roads slippery. But Xia Mei and Tai Ping shine through the
rain, determine not to miss the school bell. To many, school is a dread; but to Xia Mei, school is heaven.
For a few hours, she can be a child again.
The journey to school may be long and perilous, but Xia Mei is unusually upbeat today.
Along the cluster of abandoned farmhouses in the snaking road, Xia Mei passes by a derelict brick
house where her cousin Hai Lian used to live. Like other teenagers who drop out of school, Hai Lian pines
for adventure, dreaming of becoming a factory girl someplace bustling and distant.
"Out there is a better world," she once told Xia Mei. Most villagers regard working in the thriving
coastal cities in the Pearl River Delta offers
a new gleam of prosperity.
Young parents leave the smog-
withered fields and flock to the boomtowns. They work around the clock without holidays in pursuit of a
better life, leaving the next generation with their frail grandparents. House after house, the same tale is
repeated.
Xia Mei and her brother are one of the left-behind children. Their parents toil in factories in
Guangzhou. Like other children, Xia Mei only lives for the moment when her parents come home in the
Chinese New Year. She hears their voice in her dream, and fantasizes herself coming home, seeing swirling
smoke from chimney with her parents and her favourite steamed meat buns waiting for her.
“Tai Ping, hurry up! Otherwise I won’t make it to the queue and call mum,” said Xia Mei as she
charges ahead like a spirit waiting to be reborn.
After arriving school, Xia Mei hurtles into the unusually crowded school office. Children craving
to call their parents line up. Xia Mei jerks forward to the queue. But once she makes it to the line, she feels
worried.
Finally, it’s her turn...
“Ring!” Xia Mei cracks open her wind burnt lips, strenuously muttering out the first
syllable, ”Ma … it’s Mei Mei.”
Then, she utters out another monotone syllable, “When... are you…
coming… home?”
An inarticulate silence hangs upon the air. She has struck the wrong chord.
Xia Mei’s mother stutters uneasily,”I... am sorry Xia Mei, but your father was ill last month. The
medical bills took a huge bite out of our meagre savings. So, we… we can’t come home... maybe next year?
“ Xia Mei’s heart sinks to the bottom of an ocean. All that calendar counting has proved useless.
Her
mother goes on with an encaptivating lecture, “You must behave, study hard, do well...”, but the words
have fallen into deaf ears.
S
