Chapter 57
Ke Qian’s Side Story
‘Mulan Star’*
*T/N ‘Mulan Star’ is the theme song of the 2009 Chinese movie, ‘Mulan’ (not the Disney animated movie of the same name). Hua Mulan is the legendary Chinese warrior, a woman who disguises herself as a man to take her aged father’s place in the army. According to Wikipedia, she fought in the army for 12 years and gained high merit, but refused any reward and retired to her hometown.
The deepest impression I had was of Ke Ai’s red skirt. It was so beautiful, like muslin.
At that time, I was running behind her, yelling, “Ai Ai! Ai Ai!” She would then stop in her tracks and smile as she looked at me. “Didi, Didi*, follow Jiejie* ah!”
*T/N 弟弟 (di di) – younger brother; 姐姐 (jie jie) – older sister.
I nodded vigorously. “Um.”
We climbed up the mountain together to catch insects, planted trees together in front of grandfather’s door, walked together to school with our school bags on our backs. The two of us grew up looking remarkably identical, and sometimes, she would pretend to be me, while I pretended to be her, exchanging places for a day. Grandfather could always tell us apart with just a glance, but others would mistake one of us for the other if they were not careful.
I idolised Ke Ai. She was always so generous, so optimistic, and could talk so much. She was the class monitress, and a member of the study committee. All the students and teachers liked her.