March 2021 Student Spotlight: Biqing Guan
Biqing Guan is an ESOL student from China. She moved to Rochester with her husband and little son two years ago, and she plans to study Nursing at MCC. In this essay, Biqing writes about a sweet memory of her and her grandmother.
Tofu Jelly
"Mommy, who is that?" my 3-year-old son asked as he skillfully skimmed through the photos on my phone.
I sat near him and said, "Please don't play with mommy's phone, okay?" His little head nodded and smiled, looking at me and waiting for my reply. I took the phone and glimpsed. It was a faded photograph of a lovely little girl with a shy smile, holding her baby doll and snuggling up to a grandma. The grandma had short, shiny silver hair and was smiling with tenderness. She looked very sprightly sitting in an old wooden chair. One arm was surrounding the little girl while the other hand was resting naturally on her lap.
"It is mommy and my grandma," I replied with a smile. "Of course, you did not see her before; she has already become a star in the sky," I added.
He looked at the sky, and his thoughtful look made me laugh. After just two seconds, he seemed uninterested in my photo and went to play with his puzzles. While I still sat on the sofa looking at this precious photograph, a bunch of memories of my grandma and me came flooding back.
I lived in a small village located in the south part of China. The villagers are kind, plain, and hardworking. My parents were busy running a small grocery store. Therefore, I spent my childhood with my grandma. She always took good care of me. In the 1980s, it was a widespread practice that grandparents took care of grandchildren in China. Young people needed to be hardworking to feed their families.
Cicadas were screaming on the trees, and the sun was scorching the earth. It was a hot summer afternoon. Grandma and I were napping on the floor. Since we could not afford to buy and electric fan for our crude apartment, my grandma usually used a big palm-leaf fan for me. It was heavy for her but comfortable for me.
"Fresh tofu jelly! Fresh tofu jelly!" I was awakened by the shouting of a street vendor. I was rubbing my eyes and sitting on the floor. Grandma helped me to sort out my messy long hair.
"Granny, I want to eat tofu jelly. Can you buy me one?" I asked.
Grandma thought a while, and she tottered into the kitchen. Ten minutes passed, but she was still in the kitchen. I was a 4-year-old, grumpy little girl, and I began to lose my patience. At that time, grandma came out with a big bag of empty bottles.
"If you want to buy something to eat, you have to get money. There is no free lunch in the world, right?" Grandma smiled, looking at me.
"What should we do for these bottles?" I asked.
"We need to clean and sell them for money," Grandma replied.
Then she pointed at the corner of the room and said, "Move that chair over here and sit down. We have to begin now. Otherwise, tofu jelly will sell out soon." I rushed over and moved the chair. Grandma helped me to roll up my sleeves. She picked up a bottle and said, "Carefully twist the lid off and pour the water away."
I tried to follow her instruction to twist a lid again and again. However, my face and hands began to turn red, and the lid was still fastened tightly over the bottle. Grandma could not help laughing. "Why not wrap a tissue on the lid and try to twist again," she advised.
"Wow! It works!" I was so excited that I jumped up like a rabbit.
"Good for you, my little star. I am so proud of you. I knew you could do it!" Grandma said encouragingly.
One hour later, we already cleaned up all the bottles and took off all the lids. Then, we packaged all the bottles and took them to the waste collection station. I remembered that afternoon we earned 5 Jiao*. I held the coin tightly in my hand as if it would escape. It was the first time I felt a warm coin.
Grandma and I sweated profusely walking toward the vendor who was selling tofu jelly. The aromatic scent of soybean rushed into my face immediately, and the white, tender, and sweet tofu jelly made my mouth water. Grandma opened a handkerchief and took out a 5 Jiao coin, giving it to the vendor.
"Granny, I have money." I held out the warm 5 Jiao, proudly looking at her. Wrinkles had run up her face; it was the first time I noticed grandma had gotten old. I could not tell how many years she had invested in me.
"My baby girl, you should save it for going to college someday," Grandma smiled with tenderness, touching my head. I did not know what she meant. But I remember that tofu jelly was the sweetest I have ever eaten.
In the twinkling of an eye, decades passed. I already grew up and became a mother, while grandma passed away ten years ago. When I look back to those memories today, the sound of her calling my name, her kind smile, and her words are still fresh in my mind. Whenever I made a phone call to her, her first question was always, "Do you eat well?" She cared about me until she passed away.
Unconsciously, I could feel the tears dripping down my cheeks.
"Mommy, I am hungry. May I eat something now?" Suddenly, my son's voice tore into my thoughts.
"How about we eat tofu jelly?" I put the phone away and held my son tightly.
* 5 Jiao: fifty cents of China
ESOL Voices is a collection of stories written by ESOL students at Monroe Community College. This publication highlights our MCC students who come from all over the world. Look for new stories in the Tribune. We hope you enjoy our students’ stories as much as we do.
— Katie Leite & Pamela Fornieri, ESOL Program, March 2021