My Daughter from the West

By Xiao Xing

Translation by Zhu Yaguang

My Daughter from the West

By Xiao Xing

Translation by Zhu Yaguang

At midnight, when I was reading Records of the Historian by Sima Qian under a lamp, I received a fax from my foreign daughter-inlaw who was studying in Japan.She told me that she was going to take Flight 649 to Bangkok from Fukuoka tomorrow, and the estimated time of arrival would be 8:25 p.m. Beneath that was a signature of her Chinese name Xidi. Perhaps she’s afraid that I might not remember her English name. She even wrote my son’s name Xiaojian beside hers.

Looking at her signature, I smiled, feeling that it was never easy for a foreigner to learn Chinese. Although she wrote each stroke of the characters carefully,there were still minor mistakes.For example, she missed a dot under “艹 ” in her name “蒂 ”(di),and she also miswrote the vertical stroke in the character “小 ”(xiao)with a right hook instead of a left one. Still, I really appreciated her efforts in learning Chinese characters.

Upon receiving her fax, I woke my wife who was already snoring,and, after hearing about the news,she couldn’t fall asleep any more.She was thinking over what to cook for Xidi during her stay, and she turned to me for help. “Which dish do you think is better? This one or that one?” my wife asked.I hemmed and hawed around and didn’t answer her directly,because I was thinking of another interesting thing.

Last year, my son, Xiaojian,who was studying in Japan, told me that he was getting engaged to his schoolmate, Xidi, from New Zealand. So my wife and I took a flight to Fukuoka to attend their engagement party, and my son and his fiancée came to pick us up at the airport. She had long blonde hair, a high nose, fair complexion, and light blue eyes that were much bigger than those of Asians.

On the day of their engagement,quite a few of their classmates and Professor Fujino came to the party. Mostly, the guests spoke Japanese and English,but sometimes a few Chinese words could be heard. My wife and I were deeply impressed by the way Xidi dressed herself that day. Rather than wearing the sort of sexy clothing that would show her cleavage, she wore a red Chinese cheongsam with alarge peony embroidered on the front, and she even had a fringe of hair hanging over her forehead. With such a gentle and elegant appearance, she had fully displayed the charm of an eastern beauty.

深夜，我在灯下阅读司马迁的《史记》，突然，接到在日本留学的洋媳妇的传真，说她明天从福冈搭649次班机，到达曼谷时间是20点25分，而且用中文签上自己的名字：西蒂。也许她生怕我忘记她的名字，还写上我孩子的名字：小坚。

我看了她的签名，不禁笑起来，觉得洋人学中文可不容易啊。她的签名一笔一画地认真写了，但还是漏东错西，如“蒂”字，漏掉在草字头下的一点；“小”字，正中间的一画是向左勾的，她却向右勾。但对她这种肯学中文的精神，我还是十分赏识的。

接到传真，我摇醒正在打鼾的老伴。老伴得此消息，再也睡不着。她在考虑做什么好吃的给媳妇，时不时问我：“做这种菜好，还是那种菜好？”我只是支支吾吾，因为自己脑子里正在想另一件有趣的事。

去年，在日本留学的儿子小坚，要与新西兰的留学生西蒂订婚。我与老伴坐飞机到日本福冈，到飞机场接我们的，有孩子和未来的洋媳妇。她披着过肩的金黄色长发，高高的鼻梁，白皙的皮肤，双眼比黄种人的大，眼睛淡蓝色。

订婚那天，来了许多同学，还有藤野教授。他们有时说日语，有时说英语，还夹着一两句中国话。西蒂那天的打扮，大大出乎我俩的意料，她穿的并不是西方女人展露乳沟的性感服装，而是一套中国式的红旗袍，胸前还绣着一朵大牡丹，梳的是额前有刘海儿的发型，看去既窈窕，又含蓄，具有东方人的风韵美。

订婚仪式上，孩子和媳妇跪在我与老伴跟前合十礼拜。我与老伴共同把一条带四铢重镶钻十字吊坠的金项链挂在媳妇颈上，她抬起头用不纯正的中国话高兴地说：“谢谢，爸爸，妈妈。”然后想了一下，又说：“假如今后我与小坚离婚了，我会把这条项链还给你们。”我思想毫无准备，听了这话，好像傻了似的，不知如何对答，幸亏我的儿子也喝过“洋墨水”，懂得洋人的风俗，马上在旁代我们回答：“当然。”

这件事深深地印在我的脑海里。每当想起它，总觉得西洋人那种敢袒露内心真情的性格，也有可爱之处。

这次西蒂单独到泰国来探亲，因为儿子正帮助藤野先生搞一项重要的科研，抽不出时间和她一起来。

我们全家到廊曼机场接她。她与我老伴见面，高兴得互相亲吻起来。我把一串茉莉花环挂在她的颈上，她合十敬拜说：“谢谢，爸爸。”然后拿到鼻上一闻，用普通话说，“啊，好香呢。”

At the engagement ceremony,my son and his fiancée knelt before me and my wife, and they bowed to us while pressing their palms in a Zen gesture. Then my wife and I hung a gold necklace with a diamond cross pendant that weighed about eight grams around Xidi’s neck. “Thank you,Dad and Mom,” she said happily in Chinese with a strong accent,but after thinking for a moment,she added, “If Xiaojian and I divorce each other, I will give the necklace back to you.”

I didn’t expect to hear such an answer, so I was a little shocked and didn’t know what to say. Luckily, my son, who had received a Western education and understood Western culture,answered for us at once. “Sure,”he said.

Whenever I thought about this, I always felt that Westerners were admirable to be able to speak their innermost feelings.

The reason why Xidi came to visit us this time in Thailand by herself was because my son was assisting Professor Fujino with important research and didn’t have time to come along.

The next day, my family went to pick her up at Don Mueang International Airport. As soon as we met, Xidi and my wife kissed each other happily. After I hung a jasmine wreath around her neck,she pressed her palms in prayer and said, “Thank you, Dad.”Then she sniffed at it and said in Chinese, “Oh, it’s so fragrant.”

“Xidi, your Mandarin is very good now,” I said approvingly.

“No, it’s not good enough,” she said, waving her hand.

When we met for the fi rst time,she’d carried a pocket dictionary in her hand. Whenever she wanted to speak a Chinese sentence, she would look up the words in the dictionary and combine them together.Therefore, I asked her, “Have you brought your dictionary with you?”

She replied honestly, “Sure.I’ve brought two this time.Yígè (one) English-Chinese dictionary and yígè (one)Japanese-Chinese dictionary.”

I smiled and corrected her,“In Chinese, you can use either běn or bù as the classifier of a dictionary, but not gè.”

And she said, “Oh, I forgot.”

After arriving home, she handed out presents to everyone,which made them happy. And then, she specif i cally gave me and my wife 100,000 Japanese yen each.

On the third night, Xidi, my wife, and I went shopping at Big C Supermarket. I pushed the shopping cart and put in everything that we wanted to buy. At the counter, Xidi immediately took everything that belonged to her out of the shopping cart. When I prepared to pay for everything together,she hurriedly waved her hands and said, “I must pay for my own stuff.”

During her stay in Thailand,she asked me to teach her Chinese at night. Of course, I agreed at once. “How much should I pay you for one hour?” she asked.

I was stunned, as I wasn’t prepared for such a question, so a moment later I said, “Nothing. It’s free.”

But she said seriously, “Dad, if you do not charge money, then I can’t learn it well.”

“Why?” I asked, puzzled.

“Because I can’t put all my heart into it if it’s free.” At last,she insisted on paying 5,000 yen per hour to me, which was the same as that of learning Chinese in Japan.

Every night, she attended the class on time and finished exactly when one hour was up.Once I taught her for one and a half hours, and she insisted on paying the extra half to me. I tried to change her mind, but she refused. Knowing that it was part of Western culture, I accepted it eventually, but I thought that I could return the money to her via a farewell gift.

On the night before Xidi’s departure, I invited all our family members to my home to have a farewell party for her. The big family sitting around our dining table had three different skin colors, which were yellow,black and white, as well as three different hair colors, which were black, blonde and grey.Half-jokingly, I said, “We are a big family with members from different countries and races.”

Xidi smiled and said with a thumbs-up, “A mini United Nations!”♦

(From The Secret inside a Bamboo Pole, Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House)

我赞许说：“西蒂，你的中国普通话讲得很不错了。”

“不行，不行。”她边笑边摆着手说。

我记得，第一次见面，她手里拿着小字典。要讲一句中国话，她得先查字典，然后按字典的发音，合拼成一句话。因此，这次我问她：“带字典来了吗？”她天真地回答说：“带来了，这次还带了两个呢，一个是英汉字典，一个是日汉字典。”我笑着纠正说：“字典不叫一个，而是叫一本或一部。”她忙答：“是，我忘了。”

到了家里，她给每人一件礼物，全家皆大欢喜。她还特意给我与老伴每人十万日元。

第三天傍晚，我们和西蒂到博大超级市场买东西。我推着车，凡要买的东西都一一放进车里。等我推车到结账处，西蒂马上把自己选购的东西从车里拿出来。我要把她的东西一起结账，一起付钱。她忙摆着手势说：“这是我买的东西，应该我付钱。”

在泰国逗留期间，晚上，她要我给她补习中文。当然，我满口答应了。可是她问我：“教一个钟头收多少钱？”我毫无思想准备，傻了片刻才回答：“不收钱，不收钱。”她却很认真地说：“爸爸，你不收钱，我就学不懂了。”我疑惑地问：“为什么？”她说：“不收钱，就会不认真学嘛。”她硬要按在日本教中文每小时五千日元付给我。

每晚，她是准时上课，也准时下课的，一分钟也不差。有一次，我多教半小时，她一定要多付给半小时的钱。按她们西方的习惯，我推也推不掉，只好都收了。我想，收了这些钱，等她返回时买成礼物送给她。

西蒂就要返回日本了，临行的头天晚上，我把家里人都叫齐，在家里开了个饯行的晚会。围坐在席上的家族，有黄皮肤、黑皮肤、白皮肤；头上的毛，有黑毛、金毛、白毛。我半开玩笑说：“我们的家是个不分国籍、不分种族的大家庭。”西蒂莞尔一笑，跷起大拇指说：“是个家庭联合国。”♦

洋媳妇拾趣

文/晓星 译/朱亚光

（摘自《竹竿里的秘密》四川文艺出版社）