SNL 2020

Strong

Me: (frowning) You were just here under a month ago, what the hell are you doing here again?

Xiao: Wow. Is this how you really feel upon seeing me? You haven't even offered me a drink yet, Feng Jian Yu. Where is your Heilongjiang manner?

Me: I don't know. With the way I treated you so well when you last visited, which was just three weeks ago...I think I have given you enough Heilongjiang hospitality to last me a lifetime. Wasn't it me who lighten up your heavy heart?

Xiao: (snorting) You just confirmed what I have known all along. That I am great.

Me: Woah, easy on the great part. No wonder you and Qing get along so fine. You both think you are so great.

Xiao: Just get me a drink, Dayu ah!

Me: No! Get it yourself. (gesturing the direction of the kitchen) There is the kitchen, go there and get your own drink. With how frequent you visited my home, you might as well just live here.

Xiao: (grumpily standing up from the couch) Maybe I should. Maybe I should take Qing ge as well. You deal with DaLin and Meng!

Me: (sputtering) Wha—...wait! What?! Xiao!

But my bestfriend ignored me to get his own drink on the kitchen. I sighed and plastered a smile on my face as I turned to look at my other visitor.

Me: So Auntie...how is everyone back home?

Auntie is, of course, Xiao's mother. Xiao is back here in the capital but this time he is not alone. He was with his mother. Auntie Yan is a small woman with a sturdy frame. I know for a fact the steel beneath this woman's skin. She lost her husband, Xiao's father, over a decade ago and she raised Xiao as the great man that he is today with the help of Grandma MiMi, Xiao's maternal grandmother.

Auntie Yan has always had a smile on her face, a comforting hand and a generous heart. But she is also the woman who chased the three of us for almost an hour with a broomstick on her hand when she caught us stealing Uncle's beer when we were just twelve. We were not yet allowed to drink alcohol at twelve. Obviously.

(Did she and her broomstick catch you and your bestfriends, Dayu ah?)

Did she indeed. That she gave our feet one smack on each foot when she caught us was like a lightning strike. Not that I know what it feels like for lightning to strike me but I think my whole body grew numb when the handle of the broomstick descended on my feet.

She is one mean lady. And I love her so much.

That is why when she came into our home, I immediately took her to sit down and served her drink and snacks. Good thing I still have some cream buns that I bought from the bakery this morning.

Auntie Yan: Everyone is good, Dayu ah.

Me: That is great to know. I'm sorry Qing is not here. He has a shooting and will not be home until the weekend. Will you be here until the weekend?

Auntie Yan: Sadly, no. We will only be here for three days.

Me: Ah. Wait...why are you here again?

Xiao: (coming from the kitchen) Mama will have a general check up in a hospital here.

Me: (confuse) What...why? What happened to the hospitals in Harbin?

Why do they need to travel by hundreds of miles just so Auntie Yan could get a check up when there is a perfectly good and large hospital in Heilongjiang's capital, Harbin.

Auntie Yan: Nothing is wrong with the hospitals in Harbin. But the specialist recommended to us is working at one of the largest hospitals here in the capital. So we made an appointment to that doctor tomorrow.