1936 - age 35 cont: My mother is born

1936 - age 35 continued

The first time I planned to go to Hanzhou, the departure and arrival times were set. But just before I needed to leave, Shudong started to have a fever. I thought he was catching a cold. I asked Diqing to cover him with more blankets to help him sweat it out. I thought after he sweated he would be fine, and I deaprted. We didn't know that if a child already has a fever and you make him warmer it gives them seizures. Diqing asked for help from Bao Cenliang, a famous physician. Also, she asked me to return to Shanghai immediately. I had just arrived in Hanzhou, "and you want me to return." Fortunately, I didn't need to because Dr Bao gave him some medicine which helped Shudong come out of danger.

The second time I went to Hanzhou, I stayed in a club belonging to the Infrastructure Department. It was by Xihu (West Lake), located in a nice place. Because the secretary gave special orders, all the people gave me excellent service, they did everything to please me. On Saturday, because of the weekend, many people came to Xihu to enjoy the scenery. There were so many people, only late at night did people return home. During the day, I was busy working for the department and I didn't have time to look around. After I went to bed, I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out the window. There was a very nice reflection off the lake. A thin fog hovered over the lake. With the moonlight and everything it was so nice and quiet. The beauty of the lake was even better than it was during the day. Spontaneously, I got up and asked the manager to hire someone to row a boat for me. There was a boat that belonged to the department so I didn't need to rent a boat but I did need someone to row it. He took me around the lake in the middle of the night. We passed by the bridges and mountains that were famous at Xihu. We went through all the tourist spots including the Qing dynasty governor's temple. This temple was usually inaccessible by people during the day. But I took special notice because this governor was from Huangmei. Once every three years, the government holds a national exam. This Governor Xuai got the highest marks in the preliminary exam and third in finals. There was a prime minister at the end of the Qing dynasty Zhen Guofan. He called them the Honorable Foursome, along with Xuai the other three were all very famous. Governer Xuai did a lot of good for Zhejiang, so the people set up a temple for him. When I was a child, when we started learning at home, I already knew Xuai Tanhua's (3rd place) name. Now at night, I was seeing his temple, I felt some connection with him. In the past, there was a poet who wrote: Some famous people, when you read their writing you feel close because you came from the same place. I took Governor Xuai as my close relative. For this trip, I wrote a set of four poems called Xihu Yan Fan.

Diqing was pregnant again but during the pregnancy she became ill and depended on Dr Bao several times for medicine. So she was fine until June 14 at 7:15 AM when our second child was born. With her first child, labor was so long and we had called the doctor early. So this time, we thought we should not call the doctor too early. We didn't realize this baby girl would be born so fast. Before the doctor came, she had already come out and cried so loud. None of us knew what to do. I took a blanket and covered the baby so she wouldn't catch a cold. After delivery, we called the doctor. We were so nervous. Fortunately, the doctor came very fast and she took care of the baby and the mother. Both were fine and we thanked God for his mercy. This is our first daughter and we named her Shushi and her personality is quiet and nice, just like my mom. Chinese people say you inherit traits from one generation above.