Chapter 2 My Name

  "Now isn't it about reform and opening up? I think it's just called reform." This is what my grandfather said, today in our house, apart from our family of four, my two uncles also came to give me a name, because I'm going to be registered. This era is not as advanced as the 21st century that I remembered, when mothers-to-be start thinking about their child's name as soon as they get pregnant, and have to carefully calculate the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, heavenly stems and earthly branches. In the late 1970s, giving children names was simple, although it wasn't as common as before with names like "Build the Country", "National Day", etc., but names like "Wei", "Hui", "Jun", "Hong", "Ping", "Li" were still everywhere.

  Grandpa is getting older, of course still indulging in the era of "founding" and "national day", and also got grandma's echo, they think such names are loud and have a high probability of being repeated.

  However, my parents did not think I should have such a name, perhaps because they had high expectations of me, and came up with words like "Wen", "Wu" and "Wei" that seemed extraordinary and meaningful.

  I have an urge to cry, because I really hate those words, no reason, just hate them. And most importantly, from birth until now, no one has ever told me what my surname is. It's ridiculous, but that's the truth. Because all I've heard are people calling dad "Aiguo", mom "Lihong", and sister "Xiao Nan", and I don't even know which "Nan" it is...

  In the midst of a heated discussion at home, my name was finally decided as "Ye Kai". Grandpa and grandma chose this character to represent our generation, while dad and mom hoped that the character "Kai" would represent grandeur. This is a result of multi-party negotiations, whose birth process was no less difficult than the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear issue.

  So, without the consent of the parties concerned, I had a code name in this new world. My name is Ye Kai, nicknamed "Xiao Fu". Perhaps the word "Kai" represents my rebirth in this world - that's how I comfort myself.

  With this code name, I started my own slow and dull growth. The first time I walked, the first time I spoke, the first... many first times. Except for those memories that I tried hard to forget, I was really like an ordinary child, laughing when happy, crying when sad. Maybe I really liked this kind of childish life, or maybe I was just a kid myself.

  "Xiao Fu, be careful, don't fall down." My sister reminded me cautiously from behind. "We should head back home, stop playing."

  "Sister, we have fish to eat tonight, and it's all natural." I said as I cast my simple fishing net into the crystal river below. It was actually just an old broken window screen from home that I had strung together with wire. No choice, my handicraft skills aren't great, a bit rough.

  At that time, the natural environment was still very good, and the mother river of Yunzhou had not been polluted yet. If you want to find such a river after the millennium, you may have to look for it in the Zhangjiajie National Nature Reserve. People born in the 70s are lucky, although there was no internet or electronic toys, but the youthful years of picking flowers on the mountain and fishing in the river are not something everyone can enjoy.

  "What is natural?" my sister asked softly behind me. "It means it's born like that, our teacher said," I replied vaguely. The phrase "our teacher said" has almost become a catchphrase of mine; everything I say that doesn't belong to this era becomes "what our teacher told me", and my teacher has become a scholar in the eyes of those around me... even Grandpa thinks it's a waste for someone like that to be teaching... hopefully no one will take what I said seriously and go ask the teacher about it.

  "Are we also purely natural?" My sister asked reflexively, and I was so shocked that I almost fell off the riverbank. "Sis! We're humans, can't be called purely natural, only animals and plants are called purely natural." "Oh," my sister mechanically replied, then stopped talking. And I continued to focus on my fishing career.

  "Little Fu, do you know where we come from?" My sister asked expectantly while threading the fish I had caught onto a reed stick.

  "It's because of Mom and Dad!" I replied casually while focusing on mending my torn net.

  "Our mom said we were picked up from a garbage dump, and Third Aunt also said that if you go to the garbage dump in the morning, you can pick up kids." My sister said, looking puzzled.

  "Uh!" I suddenly realized the difficulty of this question. "When people grow up, they get married, and when they get married, they have kids... Sis, let's catch a few..." This topic can't be discussed in depth, at least not with my sister, it's better to change the subject quickly...

  "One big one and two small ones, still catching?"

  "Let's not catch any more, go home, mom will scold us if we're late." After saying that, I quickly gathered my things and ran away, I don't want to give her a free sex education lesson...

  When we were having dinner, my father announced a "big thing" - our family was going to buy a TV! At that time, not many families had TVs, and ours was an enviable "double-income family". Although Grandpa and Grandma lived with us, my parents' monthly income of over 80 yuan still made life very good for all of us, so buying a TV became a priority.

  However, in this era of food stamps, TVs were not that easy to buy. My father had to ask his comrades and relatives for help, the difficulty was no less than buying a house number plate in Hong Kong in 1996...

  Alas, the planned economy is good, a seller's market - you can get rich by selling anything, and you still have to pick and choose buyers. If you don't look good, they won't sell to you. You don't even have any temper, and you still have to explain to others why you are so unwelcome...

  Finally, under my father's arduous and outstanding efforts, our home welcomed the "Panda TV" era, with Second Uncle and others admiringly gazing at us. The name of the TV is great, making it clear at a glance: just two colors - black and white.

  With the arrival of TV in our home, our living room began its "TV broadcasting hall" era. Every day after dinner, my two uncles would arrive at my house on time, and although my aunts didn't come often, they came more frequently than before.

  So that year the children in the courtyard happily shouted "Human Cannonball" and "Black Cat Sheriff"; Second Uncle searched for a long time at the tobacco stall outside the door but couldn't find "Cosmos Cigarettes", while Father always told Third Uncle that Ye Luyi's singing was very good...