Sweet Mid-Autumn Festival

When he was seven years old, his father passed away in a traffic accident. His mother struggled to provide for his education. Life in the countryside was hard, but it was not enough to support the three of them.

Illustration photo (AI)

When he was seven years old, his father passed away in a traffic accident. His mother worked hard to provide for his children's education. Life in the countryside was hard, but it was not enough to support the three of them. His mother sent him and his siblings to their grandmother and left the countryside to work as factory workers in Saigon. Since the day their mother left, his siblings cried every day because they missed their mother. Each time, their grandmother hugged them tightly to comfort them. Gradually, they got used to life without their mother.

Her grandfather died early due to illness, and her grandmother's family was also poor. Her grandmother had been making orange cakes for decades. Every day, she woke up very early to make orange cakes and then sell them at the market to earn some money to help her mother pay for her and her brother's education. Although she was still young, she was very understanding. Every day, she also woke up early to help her grandmother make cakes and then wake up her younger sister to go to school. Her younger sister was two years younger than her, a girl, with shoulder-length hair. Every morning, she tried to tie her sister's hair. At first, she was not used to it, so she didn't dare to tie it too tightly for fear of hurting her. Gradually, she got used to it and even knew how to braid her sister's hair on both sides. The little girl happily smiled. Her grandmother also praised her for being a boy but very skillful!

On the two weekends when he didn’t go to school, he asked his grandmother to make more cakes and he would take them around the neighborhood to sell. His grandmother refused, but he begged her. Finally, she relented. So every weekend morning, people saw the tall, skinny boy carrying a tray of orange cakes to sell. His voice was like a clear loudspeaker in the neighborhood.

“Orange cake here, anyone want some orange cake? Orange cake is 2,000 each!”

At first, he was too shy to advertise, just carried the tray of cakes and walked on the street, so he could only sell a few cakes after going through the whole neighborhood. Then a woman selling tofu and cakes told him to advertise loudly so that people in the house would know what he was selling and come out to buy. If he did business quietly, people would stay at home and not know what he was selling to support him. So from the day he started advertising, his sales were much better, every time he sold out the tray of orange cakes.

One time, he went to the upper hamlet to try selling. The upper hamlet was full of houses with tiled roofs and high fences. Looking at the large, spacious houses in front of him, he told himself that he would try his best to study well, and after graduating from school, working and earning a lot of money, he would build a house like that for his grandmother, mother and younger sister to live in. Selling cakes in this hamlet, he had to shout louder than usual because the distance from the street to the house was quite far.

It stood in front of the main gate of the house with the yellow fence and shouted, then waited silently for a few minutes. If there was no movement from inside the house, it turned and left.

He was about to carry the tray of cakes to the house next door when someone called from inside.

Orange cake, orange cake.

It happily turned its head and smiled brightly.

“Auntie, please buy some orange cake, only 2,000 VND each. The cakes our people make are famous for being delicious at Long My market.”

The woman opened the door, smiled, gave him a hundred thousand bill and said:

“Sell me ten of them. How old are you that you are carrying a tray of cakes that is bigger than you?”

It obediently answered while picking up the cake and putting it in the bag.

"Yes, I'm eight and a half years old, aunt. I'm small but I'm very strong!"

He gave the bag of cakes and took out the change to give to the woman. The woman smiled:

"No need, I'll give it to you."

“No, auntie. I sell cakes, not ask for money. If you don’t accept them, then I’ll go sell them here this weekend. I’ll hang the bag of cakes in front of your door. When I have enough money, okay?”

“You're such a good boy! That's fine.”

So from that day on, he had a big customer. Every week, he went to sell and hung a bag of cakes on the fence and called out loudly for his aunt to come and get the cakes.

On the National Day holiday, Mom came home to visit her siblings. Her younger sister was overjoyed and clung to Mom for several days. She also wanted to cling to Mom to satisfy her longing, but she knew that as a boy, she had to learn to be strong to support the three women in the house. She was taught this by the motorbike taxi driver when she accidentally tripped and fell, her knee hit the cement floor, scratched and bleeding. She burst into tears but looked around and suddenly realized that no one was helping her, no one was comforting her. Only the motorbike taxi driver was looking at her. She knew him because her father used to drive a motorbike taxi. The motorbike taxi driver looked at her intently and said:

“If you fall, you have to stand up by yourself. You have to learn to be strong and be the only man in the house. Your father will be proud of you, Hieu!”

The day her mother returned to Saigon for work, her younger sister cried and hugged her tightly, her eyes were red. Her mother also shed tears. But then, she boldly removed her younger sister's hand from her mother so that her mother could get on the car and leave.

Entering the seventh lunar month, people began setting up stalls selling moon cakes and lanterns of all shapes. Every day on the way to school, they stopped in front of a grocery store to look at those beautiful lanterns. His sister pointed to a lantern, smiled and said to him:

"The princess lantern is so beautiful, brother. It has music and rotating lights."

He nodded and held his younger brother's hand as they walked towards school. Electric lanterns were very expensive given their family's circumstances. He couldn't ask his grandmother or mother to buy them for him and his siblings. His younger brother was also very obedient, as long as he shook his head, he wouldn't ask for them or act spoiled. He had already thought about it, nearing Mid-Autumn Festival, he would ask his grandmother for a few thousand to buy cellophane and candles. When his father was still alive, he used to make star lanterns out of bamboo for him to play with, and he had learned how to make them from his father. He would go get bamboo, split it into strips, flatten it, and make lanterns for the two of them.

As usual, on the weekend, she went to sell orange cakes to help her grandmother. There was still a week left until Mid-Autumn Festival, so she wanted to sell more cakes to earn some money to buy moon cakes for her younger sister. Last year, the school gave out moon cakes to the students, but they were only green bean cakes, not mixed cakes, the kind her younger sister liked. Even though her younger sister didn't ask her grandmother to buy them, every time she saw people selling them, she blinked and said:

"The mixed filling cake looks delicious, bro."

It filled the tray with orange cakes and then struggled to put them on its head, and started selling. Its clear voice echoed throughout the early morning streets. It was gentle and obedient, so people loved it and bought a lot of it. It came to the house with the tall tree in front of the gate, which was very familiar, stopped and called out.

"Orange cake, Aunt Quyen?"

Inside the house, a little girl about her age ran out, carrying a beautiful princess lantern in her hand. The little girl gave her a fifty thousand bill.

"My mother told me to take all this money."

Seeing him looking intently at the lantern, the little girl smiled and boasted:

"My dad just came back from a business trip and bought this for me. It's beautiful!"

He smiled, took the cake and said:

"Yes, it's beautiful. I'm so happy!"

When the little girl ran into the house with the cake in her hand, she still felt regretful and did not rush to leave, but stood there watching the lantern.

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, he worked hard to finish two lanterns for his two brothers to play with. He loved it very much, happily laughed and played, and even took the lantern to show off to his friends in the neighborhood. His grandmother also praised him for being good at making lanterns at such a young age.

At noon, the three of them were having lunch when their mother called. Her mother said that the company was giving out moon cakes to the workers. Her mother had sent some to her co-worker to bring back to her hometown tomorrow. Hearing this, her younger brother was overjoyed, while she remained silent and thoughtful. It was only when she was about to hang up the phone that she asked her mother:

“Mom, can't you come home and eat mooncakes with us? On TV they say Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival of family reunion.”

Grandma sadly pulled the corner of her eyes with her ao ba ba, wiping her eyes. Her mother's eyes were also red, and she tearfully apologized to her siblings. She understood that every time she returned to her hometown, she spent money on transportation, and her mother wanted to save money to take care of her and her siblings better. But honestly, she longed for her mother to come back, since her father passed away, there had not been a single Mid-Autumn Festival where her siblings could gather with her.

The morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival happened to be the weekend, so she still carried the orange cakes to sell. When she passed the gate of the house with the tall tree, she saw Aunt Quyen smiling and waving to her. She walked over, and her aunt bought ten orange cakes. When she paid, she also put a big bag in her hand. She looked inside and saw two electronic lanterns, one of which had a princess shape. She was stunned and quickly returned it, but her aunt still insisted that she accept it. She tearfully said thank you.

When he came home, he told his grandmother, and his grandmother was also moved to tears. His younger sister saw the princess lantern and laughed happily. She was holding the lantern and was about to run to show it off to her friends in the neighborhood when suddenly she shouted happily:

“Ah… mom is home.”

The full moon was bright in the sky, her grandmother lit a pot of tea, her mother cut the moon cake, saw the mixed fillings, her younger brother ate a big piece and ran around the yard with a lantern. She smiled as she received the cake from her mother, thinking to herself that this year was the sweetest, happiest Mid-Autumn Festival for her and her siblings since their father passed away./.

Snow Always Martial Arts

Source: https://baolongan.vn/trung-thu-ngot-ngao-a203644.html