Think of my great-grandmother's life. At thirteen, she went from being an orphan nobody cared about to being adopted into the Gu family as their cherished second daughter. She learned Kunqu opera from her aunt, and her parents, eldest sister, senior brothers and sisters, and teacher all doted on the two sisters. At twenty-three, she reunited with my great-grandfather at a theater. That winter, they became engaged and swore to stay together for life. At twenty-six, she followed him west to Shu Cha, and they married that winter.
The following winter, my great-grandfather died by self-immolation.
My great-grandmother said that when she was young, she asked him more than once when he would be able to return to Qiong Ying.
In the end, the war was won, the People's Republic of China was founded, and everything being built was unlike what had come before.
But my great-grandmother did not want to go back.
I just feel that they were treated unfairly. No one can prove that my great-grandfather was not a traitor who collaborated with the enemy.
Theme: Even something as small as a mayfly can move heaven and earth, and so can stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods.
