Chapter 75: The Wandering Record of Han (4)

  As I watched the two people hugging each other, crying and talking, I became even more puzzled. At this time, the aunt suddenly turned around and shouted something in Korean towards the kitchen inside the restaurant. Not long after, two men walked out of the kitchen, one slightly older, probably over 50 years old, and the other relatively younger, probably over 30 years old. Qin Ke was excited to greet them as soon as they came out and said a lot in Korean.

  The old man seemed to be very surprised when Qin Ke came, and after being stunned for half a day, he held Qin Ke's hand, crying and excitedly saying something I couldn't understand. The middle-aged man standing next to him was much calmer, just smiling and occasionally saying something. Looking at the four of them standing there, each excited in their own way, it felt like a reunion of long-lost relatives.

  "Could one...... who are they......?" I walked forward and asked Qin in doubt.

  "Oh! Come here! Let me introduce you!" Qin Ke seemed to have already forgotten that there was a tall Northeasterner standing behind him. When he heard my words, he turned around and wiped away his tears, pulling my hand to the front of the three people, seemingly introducing me to them in Korean.

  "Hello! Let me introduce you, this is Mrs. Sun-young... This is Uncle Ki-chang... And this is their son, Brother Young-ki..." After Qin Ke-yi finished introducing me to the three of them in Korean, he then introduced them to me again. They seemed to have realized that Qin Ke-yi was introducing them to me, so as soon as his words fell, they all nodded at me and greeted me in Korean. So I also used the Korean phrase "hello" that I had just learned to greet them back. At this time, Mrs. Sun-young took a closer look at me and smiled while saying something to Qin Ke-yi, then smiled at me again, leaving me feeling confused.

  "Shunying's aunt praised you for being spirited and handsome!" Qin Ke said, probably seeing the confusion on my face.

  "It seems that my beauty is also recognized internationally..." I smiled and thanked Sunying in Korean, which I had just learned, and then whispered to Qin Ke.

  "Get out! Stinky American! Aunt Shunying only said that because of my face!" Qin Kai glared at me and said. This was after Aunt Shunying wiped away her tears and said a sentence to Qin Kai, then instructed Uncle Jichang and Brother Yingji for a few sentences before the three of them started hastily packing things up, as if they were going to close up shop.

  "What are they doing?" I asked Qin Ke.

  "They want us to go to their home and entertain us well, so we have to close the door."

  "Could one... how did you know them?" I asked Qin Ke Yi, voicing one of the many doubts I had today.

  "Alright! I'll tell you later, okay? You'll understand everything soon..." Qin Ke said with a smile as he walked over to help Shunying's mother pack up...

  Shunying's mother-in-law, their home is close to the big row of houses, about 100 meters away, it is a courtyard located on a high slope, with three rooms in the courtyard, arranged in a product word shape, similar to Beijing's quadrangle courtyard, compared to the modern high-rise buildings in the city, although slightly simple, but revealing a hint of classical atmosphere, and the yard and house are also very clean.

  After Young Master Ing pushed open the gate, he loudly shouted something towards the main house in front of him. Before long, two women walked out from the house, one looked about the same age as Young Master Ing, and the other was only a few years younger than us. The younger girl saw Qin Ke Yi and excitedly ran over, laughing and throwing herself into Qin Ke Yi's arms, chattering away in Korean for a while before pulling Qin Ke Yi to take off her shoes and enter the main house...

  This is a typical Korean-style family, with simple furnishings inside the house, no chairs, and everyone kneeling or sitting cross-legged on the floor, gathered together drinking tea and excitedly chatting in Korean. Soon-young's mother occasionally wipes away tears, while I can only quietly drink my tea on the side, giving me the feeling that this family and Qin Ke Yi seem very close, like they're relatives, which adds another layer of confusion to the many questions I already have.

  "Come with me for a moment..." Qin Kai said to Sunying in Korean, then stood up and said to me. I got up and followed Qin Kai out of the main house, put on my shoes, and headed towards the house east of the main house. The house had two rooms inside. After we took off our shoes and entered the house, Qin Kai opened the door to the west room.

  The interior decoration was also simple, with two cabinets, a not very high table and a dresser. Qin Ke stood at the door and looked around silently before walking to the dresser, picking up a photo frame on it, stroking the frame while silently shedding tears. I walked to Qin Ke's side and looked at the slightly yellowed photo in the frame.

  "But how can there be a photo of you and your mom here..." I found the frame with a picture of Qin Ke Yi's mom holding him when he was little, which I had seen in his album before, so I asked curiously.

  "I lived here with my mom for... 5 years..." Qin Ke Yi said softly, her eyes welling up with tears after a moment of silence, as if all my previous doubts had been cleared up, but new ones arose in their place.

  "You've been in Korea for 5 years!! I thought you were just traveling with your parents before?" I said, somewhat disbelieving.

  "5 years... 5 unforgettable years..."

  "Tell me about it?" I looked at Qin Ke Yi who was in tears and asked curiously.

  Qin Ke raised her head and looked at me, then began to quietly tell me about this little-known experience of hers.

  Qin Kaiyi's mother was a Korean woman from the countryside, who was once the most beautiful girl in her village. Qin Kaiyi's father was one of the passionate young people who responded to Chairman Mao's call to go to the mountains and countryside, and he came to the village where Qin Kaiyi's mother lived. At a welcoming party for villagers and educated youth, Qin Kaiyi's father met his mother and they fell deeply in love from then on.

  The Korean people generally opposed marrying outsiders, so when Qin Ke Yi's mother and father fell in love, they were met with unanimous opposition from her family. However, Qin Ke Yi's parents ignored the worldly obstacles and stubbornly persisted in being together. A few years later, national policies began to change, and overnight, all educated youth had their fate changed by a single order, allowing them to return to the city or countryside. But Qin Ke Yi's father made a decision that seemed crazy to everyone at the time - he gave up the opportunity to return to Harbin for Qin Ke Yi's mother and stayed in the village as a rural teacher.

  Two years later, they got married despite everyone's opposition. For this, Qin Ke Yi's mother also fell out with her parents. Two years after their marriage, they had Qin Ke Yi. Later on, Qin Ke Yi's mother often reminisced to young Qin Ke Yi that although the family was very poor and life was tough at that time, the whole family lived a happy life together.

  After the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, the South Korean government began to have a policy tilt towards ethnic Koreans living in China, encouraging them to immigrate to South Korea or do business there. Perhaps unwilling to be buried in rural areas for the rest of their lives, Qin Ke Yi's father thought for a long time before discussing with her mother about taking advantage of this opportunity to venture into South Korea. They contacted Qin Ke Yi's uncle, who had already started a business in South Korea, and with his help, her parents went to South Korea. However, Qin Ke Yi was still young at the time, so her parents sent her to live with one of her father's classmates and close friends, also her ex-boyfriend, in Harbin, asking them to take care of her. Meanwhile, her parents rented a place to stay in Sun-young's house after arriving in South Korea that year.

  With his own diligence and unique vision, Qin Kaiyi's father had already achieved some success in his career after less than two years of hard work in Korea. So they also brought Qin Kaiyi to Korea, and the family was finally reunited again in a foreign land.

  It was not expected that in the second year after Qin Ke Yi arrived in South Korea, the economic situation in South Korea began to deteriorate somewhat, and her father's business also started to decline, on the verge of bankruptcy. So, after her parents discussed it, they decided that Qin Ke Yi's father would return home first to develop his career, and when things were stable at home, he would come back to pick up Qin Ke Yi and her mother to return home. Just like this, a family reunited for less than a year was forced to separate again.

  After Qin Ke Yi's father left, her mother single-handedly supported this incomplete family, working hard to make a living while taking care of Qin Ke Yi and putting her through school. Meanwhile, Shunying's family also took good care of the mother-daughter duo, treating them like their own family members.

  In the early days after her father left, he still wrote letters and sent money home on time, but more than a year later, for some reason, Qin Ke Yi's father suddenly lost contact and never wrote or sent money to them again. The burden of family life began to fall entirely on Qin Ke Yi's mother's shoulders. In Qin Ke Yi's impression, her mother was under great pressure at the time, but she had a smile on her face every day, only secretly crying alone when she slept at night.

  At first, everyone who knew their parents thought that Qin Ke Yi's father had betrayed them and might have another woman outside, but Qin Ke Yi's mother firmly believed that her husband would not do such a thing, believing that he would one day take them back to China to live a happy life. Until the moment she died, she still held this conviction...

  After Qin Ke Yi's mother passed away, the kind-hearted Shunying and her family took in Qin Ke Yi and raised her as one of their own until she was 10 years old, when her father suddenly appeared and took her back to their country.

  After quietly listening to Qin Ke Yi's tearful recount of his painful childhood experience, I looked at Qin Ke Yi sitting on the ground with tears streaming down and didn't know what to say. All I could do at that moment was walk over and tightly hug Qin Ke Yi...