Chapter One one Tom lay on the bed, tiredness hit his limbs, and he relaxed all the muscles in his body, preparing for a good night's sleep. This was his first night after arriving in the United States.With a dignified click, his mother switched off the light, and the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling went out with a jerk.Tom felt as though a streak of red danced before his eyes in the dark, and it disappeared after a moment.His toes were aching. This was a brand new feeling. Apart from the pain, he was still very happy.It is not always possible for him to have new shoes, cloth or leather.Father bought him a new pair of shoes today for three dollars and twenty-five cents, and he insisted that Tom wear them.At the end of the day, Tom felt a tingling sensation in the nerves in the soles of his feet, and the pain in his toes was excruciating.

He was beginning to feel groggy and about to fall asleep.For a boy of thirteen, after a day of excitement, it should be easy to fall asleep at night.His sister Eva, who is a year younger than him, sleeps next to him.When he turned around on the mattress, he often grabbed the edge of the bed with his hands out of habit.He saw the moon hanging high in the sky above the tall buildings across the street.At the moment when he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly felt his bed shaking, as if he was still on the boat.He was not seasick during the voyage, unlike Eva who vomited heavily.His bed was still shaking, and the moon seemed to be swaying in the air. When he opened his eyes wide, the moon was still hanging quietly high above the roof ridges.Then, he understood that he had already landed in a strange city in this strange country.

Today, he ate too much.They starved for forty-five days on the ship. After disembarking, they had a Chinese-style lunch and a Chinese-style dinner in the evening.After more than a month of sailing, he seemed a little delirious and looked dazed.At the same time, I felt dizzy from just getting off the boat.He thought back to gulping down the rice, topped with thick gravy and slices of fried tofu, and drifting off to sleep in the dark, sweet, warm atmosphere. However, Eva was still awake. Are you asleep?Eva asked him quietly. I am asleep!Tom murmured. no!You haven't fallen asleep yet! Eva scrambled out of bed, the mattress shaking with her movement.

What are you going to do?Tom asked her. In the dark he saw Eva tiptoe across the room. Click!Click!Click!The light bulb above Tom's head flashed on and off three times ah!Eva! Eva giggled under her breath.She jumped onto the bed in a proud manner, lay down, and covered her body with the quilt. In another room, the old father's voice came: children!Stop playing with lights!It's electricity too!The Cantonese word for electricity is very important! That's electricity!Electricity is a word heard so often that it seems to symbolize all the new and wonderful things in this world.Brother and sister Tom and Eva played with the light switches all afternoon.Tom also carefully observed the filament in the bulb.He had seen electric lights in Guangdong and on ships, but they didn't have such devices at home, so their curiosity was still very strong.Tom knew that someday he would study this incomprehensible wonder.Right now, he's interested in the small, flexible, precise light switch.Unlike Tom, who was a sensitive little boy who took a little time to think hard about things he couldn't understand, Eva was quite different from him.His father said: That's electricity!The idea that electricity could be turned into light excited him immensely.

In the silent night, every once in a while there would be a frantic sound.The rumbling sound passed through the bedroom window and spread into the dark distance.The sound made by the railroad tracks, like gods crying and ghosts crying in the dark, made the windows tremble endlessly.Looking out of the window, Tom could see the train speeding through a succession of bright windows, eerie in the darkness.Then Tom could hear the screech of the train braking, the Third Eyre Avenue train coming into the Eighty-fourth Street station. A train passed quickly by his window.Tom was quite conscious now, and he was not surprised at the noise.Because, before he went to the United States, he had some concepts about the United States.America is a country that makes machines, Tom thought, and of course machines are noisy!Therefore, the United States must be very noisy, the machine is running non-stop, busy, and fast, go to a certain place, press the switch to stop, press the switch to continue, press the switch, click!It was another thing that troubled Tom, which he had never been able to figure out.

At this moment he got up from the bed, went to the window and stared out.That was unbelievable.Why can two narrow rails support a train full of passengers?To Tom, it was nothing short of a miracle.The roaring train must have been propped up with a magic wand.Tom scratched his head, longing to know all this. As he looked up from the tracks, he saw men and women in pajamas, mostly bald, and women in low-cut clothing.They sat on deck chairs outside the opposite window. Tom went back to bed.It was quite hot and so noisy all around.Everything in this completely unfamiliar environment made him feel novel and surprised.Eva has fallen asleep.Tom just felt dizzy and his stomach was uncomfortably distended.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next morning. two what do you think of dadAs soon as Tom woke up, Eva asked him in a low voice.Tom was still in a daze, Eva shook him: hey!Let me ask you, what do you think of Dad? What?Tom rubbed his eyes.Without thinking about it, he just knew that it was all good, great, and very exciting things were happening to him.Then, realizing that he was in America, the mythical New York City, he jumped up and shouted: I am in New York!I'm in New York!It was as if he had arrived in a paradise. Do you like dad?Eva asked him again. I like him!Tom replied, isn't that wonderful?We also have a dad!oh!We also have a dad!

This is nothing strange, he was our father!Eva protested. But what a wonderful thing it is to have a father! Do you like this feeling?Eva had always respected Tom's opinion. I love it so much!It's a great feeling, like having two houses, we already have one and now we have another!Um!Great! How hard he has worked for us!But we didn't know that before, Eva said. Tom is much thinner than his sister, and his skin is fair.Eva still looks childish, with protruding cheekbones and jaws, small but bright eyes, a wide flat forehead, and a simple and careless smile on her face. With her braids, Makes her look like a doll.

Tom was still a baby when his father was gone.Eva has never seen her father since she was born.In their minds, their father is a dream, a legend, a person far away in the sky, so far away from them that they feel that their father is not a real person. Regardless of whether the family's harvest is good or not, my father will always send money for them.Family members say he came to America during the Alaska gold rush, which is why the Chinese call San Francisco San Francisco.But the Chinese who are far away overseas call it Dagang.The money their father sent home, they called gold dollars.Who among the villagers on the southern coast of Guangdong, such as Taishan, Xinghui, and Panyu, did not know about the Jinyuan Kingdom?

Everyone knows that whose son is in the United States, they can receive remittances, and then save the money to buy fields and build houses.Some even built foreign houses, which many people envy. The second son of the Feng family went back to China twice, stayed at home for more than a year, and then returned to the United States to earn foreign gold. Their father had been in New York for as long as the children were old enough.New York isn't San Francisco, but for kids, it doesn't make any difference to cross the mythical Pacific anyway.San Francisco and New York are just two distant points.

People in the village say that the Chinese on the west coast of the United States were once attacked, robbed, killed, and driven out of the west coast; to the east coast.But it was a long time ago, and this kind of thing sounds like pirate stories, old and ancient.Anyway, Feng Lao Er escaped the catastrophe, and he and his two sons sent Jin Yuan home year after year to support their parents, brother and wife, and send their nephew to school.This is a story of survival, and the protagonist in the story is successful, and that is the result of struggle. The villagers continue to go to the United States. In their eyes, the officials of the Immigration Bureau are a test of God's patience and perseverance.The hardships of immigrants are no laughing matter, and they laugh them off even though they are penniless. Tom's second brother, Yi Ke, was a sailor on a ship when he was sixteen. When the ship passed through the United States, he jumped off the ship and entered the country illegally.His name now is Frederick. A． T．Feng is an insurance agent for Corninius Insurance Company of America.He said that even the people in the judiciary did not know his whereabouts, but he never said why the people in the judiciary in Washington wanted to know his whereabouts.Whenever he mentioned the judiciary, he never forgot to add Washington.He is very friendly to everyone, especially when he meets Americans, he always says without waiting for others to introduce: I am Frederick. A． T．Feng. When Tom and Eva grew up in Xinghui Village, Guangdong, their eldest brother De Ke and second brother Yi Ke had already lived with their father in New York.The whole family is divided into two parts, one side is responsible for earning money, and the other side is completely consumer elements.To Tom and Eva, mother was their roof, one impeccable roof, and father another.Now that the whole family is reunited, they have two roofs. In the minds of Tom and Eva, the father has always been a very mysterious figure.Letters from home every half a year, sometimes longer, money orders are usually sent together with letters from home, especially when the New Year is approaching, sometimes Tom will accompany his mother to the city with letters from relatives and friends Go, what's amazing is that when they handed over the documents to the bank, the bank would pay them some colorful bills. From here Tom judged that the mysterious person did exist, just like some Christians, from Rain, snow, flowers, birds to judge the existence of God.Father's family letters are short and inarticulate, and regardless of their age and income, the letters always end like this: Enclosed is a money order, please In addition to the family letter, Tom can also judge from other events that he does have such a father.First, Mom believed him.Second, Mom's brother, Tom's uncle Cheng, was also in New York.Uncle Cheng is not as unpredictable as his father. He often makes the family members on the other side of the sea feel his presence.His letters home are more, and the content is much more long-winded, and sometimes it is even confusing. He always mentions what happened in New York.The eldest brother Dai Ke's dramatic marriage to an Italian girl named Flora was only known to the family through a letter from his uncle.It did not occur to Tom's father that this was a happy event worth mentioning.Third, there is an old man surnamed Feng in the village, who is in his sixties this year. He spent a long time in the United States, and then returned to the village to settle down and enjoy the rest of his life.He told Tom, the old inquiring boy, about American customs, on which the old man was an unquestionable authority. Among the stories told by Lao Feng, the most memorable one is that some restaurants in the United States do not have any waiters. You only need to put a silver coin in the coin slot, and with a click, you can see a roasted chicken popped out.No one dared to doubt Lao Feng's words. If someone expressed disbelief, Lao Feng would be furious.Everything he said made a deep impression on Tom. Do you have turkey too?asked Tom. Yes, I have!A whole big turkey! Tom always salivates when he hears this. You can look through the glass, see what you want, put a nickel in, and it pops out.They Americans are really smart. When you grow up, you will also go to the United States. Of course Tom wanted to go to America, and he was very eager for that day to come.All the stories about Americans killing railroad workers and the drudgery they did didn't frighten him.In addition, he had heard that the Immigration Service had unreasonably restricted the immigration of boys to the United States.What is the Immigration Service?Just a bunch of officials?Tom thought that these immigration officials were probably no different from Chinese officials.Should they be different?Since you have a relative in the US, you don't need to worry.Officials may be just officials, but relatives are relatives! Feng Lao Er has always hoped that his family members can also come to the United States, and he has been waiting for ten years.But this is not a simple matter.If the family landed on the west coast and took a train across the United States to the east coast, the price of the train ticket alone would cost nearly a thousand dollars.How long would it take to save up such a large amount of money from the money he earned from his laundry business?A few years ago, when he thought he had saved enough money to bring his family to the U.S., the bank where he saved it failed.At that time, the economy was depressed, and few people took their clothes to the laundromat for washing.Regular customers don't send in underwear anymore.Those who sent their shirts to be laundered also seemed to change from two to one a week.The bed sheets and quilts sent by people need to spend more time washing, and the income is relatively less.He cut his prices down and worked long hours (thank God there were no laws against them).He stood sweating until eleven o'clock every day before closing.He put the money he earned in a small cloth bag, then locked it in an iron box, and hid it in the bottom drawer.He has lost faith in the bank.He had hoped that betting on the horses would make him rich, and he had won two hundred and ten dollars once, but since he hoped to win some more out of it so he could pick up his family, he lost it all again.From then on, he started playing in moderation, thinking of it only as entertainment, not as a way to bring his family to the United States.But he still has to spend about ten yuan a year on horse betting games. His second son, by good fortune, got a good job as an insurance agent and gave his father a check for five hundred dollars, his first deposit.He said to his father: Send this check to your mother and younger siblings, and tell them that it is money that Yi can make. I know you want your mother to come.That's what we want too. Feng Er Er felt as if something was about to move deep in his heart.It was buried so deep that it took him a while to show it on his face.For several years, the armor he had built with endurance and strength was pierced at this moment, and he suddenly felt weak.A stiff and unnatural smile slowly appeared on his face, and tears rolled in his eyes.He was so moved that he didn't know what to say, he just wiped his eyes frequently, as if his eyes were saying: I am very grateful!child!How I longed to take your mother over here! The money never changed hands in the bank, and Tom's mother finally got the money and started planning to leave.She herself prefers to stay in China, she is content with the status quo, and at her age, she does not feel any excitement about going to a place with different customs and languages.But for Tom and Eva, she had to go anyway.Children are most excited when there is no objection.But they couldn't leave immediately, they had to wait for the old grandma to finish her funeral after a hundred years before they could leave.As for how long to wait, no one can be sure, but they are all willing to wait.It is also impossible to wait too long, because the grandmother is already eighty years old.Tom sometimes privately wished the old lady would die soon, and then blushed at the unfilial thought.When Tom was thirteen, the grandmother died, and after finishing the funeral, they finally set off for America. But things are not as simple as they appear on the surface.Immigration officials and immigration law all need to be dealt with one by one.These immigration laws seem to be designed to prevent Chinese people from coming to the United States.But they also know how to find some ways to deal with the regulations.The way for Yike to get to America is to jump ship.But a woman with two children can't do this at all.They can neither swim to the California coast nor enter illegally from Mexico.A laundromat owner cannot legally bring family to the United States. But a merchant can, if his children are not over twenty-one years old.Uncle Cheng is a businessman. He opened a grocery store in Chinatown, and the business is good. Uncle Cheng is willing to help his sister, nephew, and niece come to the United States. According to the legal procedure, Feng Lao Er became a partner of Uncle Cheng's grocery store, but due to legal loopholes, Feng Lao Er became a businessman.Both he and Uncle Cheng knew in their hearts that this was just a stopgap measure. In order to make them legally stand, everything was finally done. three From the past few months, Feng Er Er's eyes have softened.The braids on his head had turned gray.There are not many traces of age left on his face, only from the grooves near the corners of his mouth, it can be seen that he is no longer young.With high cheekbones, narrow eyes, and drooping mouth corners, it's hard to tell from his face whether he's serious, unhappy, trying to laugh, or happy with his fate.The tightly pursed lips concealed all his emotions, which he never showed easily.His hard-working personality can also be seen from his mouth, as if to say: We are about to know who is the final winner.He was physically strong, and he was often taciturn, and even what he said to his eldest son, Roy, he called him, was no more than a detail of a job.Several times Roy was surprised to hear his father's deep guttural voice say: Let's go to Chassen Square!Lowe knew they were going to have a better dinner in the basement of a restaurant in Chinatown.After dinner they went back to the laundry and worked until eleven or twelve o'clock. Their laundry was on Eightieth Street, and they used a room and a half on the ground floor to work, silently, incessantly, and resignedly ironing until late at night.Outside the laundromat hung a sign with white letters on a red background Tom.Von's Hand Wash Laundromat.At that time, hand-wash laundromats didn't exist anymore, but the tradition survived, and most people followed it.Old Feng is short and stocky, with strong shoulders; while Roy appears to be thinner and taller.Under the 100-watt fluorescent lamp, two people operated like a robot. This little world has always been safe and peaceful, and usually no difficulties arise.Except for the occasional father who would ask Lowe outright: When am I going to get my grandson? have no idea. What happened to Flora? Then, the conversation ends here. The problems of the laundromats are very simple, they do business without deceit, they have enough customers, and every customer will not default.Their aim is to wash clean, wash fast, and get paid what they deserve.They never had an employee or partner problem.Every minute spent standing in front of the ironing board means more money.It's like picking up money on the street.Apart from the exhaustion of physical strength, there is nothing to limit how much money they can make.Although Feng's second child is close to the age of hearing, he is still much stronger than his son.He used to tell his son, Roy, to go to bed!Then continue working on your own.He used to tell them to go to bed early when Flora helped them fold their clothes and settle accounts.He had his own set of genetic ideas about the impossibility of strong babies from weak mothers. It's really a pure world, no one can influence them.Perhaps this is why Feng Lao Er said that the United States is a good country.Peace is such a beautiful thing.They don't want others to manage them, and others will ignore them.The Chinese government doesn't do anything to him, and he doesn't do anything to the Chinese government.The U.S. government doesn't care about him, and he doesn't care about the U.S. government.The police in New York City have nothing to do with them, and they have nothing to do with the police.He loves China as one loves one's parents. For him, China is a mass society, not a country, a mass society composed of people with the same beliefs and the same customs. There are also some Czechs, Greeks, Italians, Jews, Germans and Australians living near Feng's second residence.He knew nothing of the country to which these peoples belonged.In his view, these people are just people who are busy with family life.Ever since the Chinese were ruled by the Manchus, people who went overseas knew that they had to behave very carefully, as if they had taken a passport to go abroad. Most of this was because of the needs of their own situation.Second, it is because of the binding force of the law.If you are a peaceful citizen, you will be amazed how you can get along without a country.If you kill and get more money, your motherland can't protect you.With this kind of individualism that advocates freedom and takes care of himself alone, Feng Lao Er settled down in New York, just like hundreds of thousands of compatriots stopped in Alaska, Illinois, Lima, Cape Town, and Dresden. Important cultural, political and economic center. ] Same as Marseille.In 1847, a Chinese met him on St. Helena.It has been proved by many things that these Chinese living abroad do not need the protection of the government. However, people are not always the same.For example, Flora.When Flora and Roy decided to get married, Old Papa said OK in curt American parlance.That meant he had no objection, because Flora was a woman, and a woman was a woman.What's more, there are very few Chinese girls in New York City.Shouldn't his son marry a woman?Flora is a foreigner, but she has beautiful eyelashes, a small mouth and well-aligned teeth.She also had ample breasts, which is important for a mother.So old dad said OK.He himself knew how much he needed Roy's mother, but he never revealed this to anyone. He didn't know how much he missed his wife until the day his second son handed him the check. Flora was an Italian-American, and she was as frank and warm as any other American girl.When an American woman is happy, she must show her happiness frankly and enthusiastically; when she is grateful, she must show it;What the Chinese appreciate is conservatism and restraint, not enthusiasm.Feng Laoer can tolerate many of Flora's American styles.However, when Flora kisses his son at work in front of this serious old father, Roy will feel embarrassed. It's not that he doesn't like her kissing him, but he doesn't expect her to kiss him in front of a third party. such a move.So, whenever Flora kissed him, he never responded.In the eyes of the old father, he couldn't help wondering whether Flora would still love Roy all the time. He knew that Roy always loved Flora. Flora is only twenty-two years old, with black eyes and long eyelashes, but her skin is not as delicate as that of Chinese women, and there is a lot of hair on her arms.Her face was very thin, covered by black curly hair.Feng Lao Er felt that she was quite feminine overall.Someone told the old father that Italian women are very passionate, and people usually associate passionate women with women who have been married many times or have many children. Feng Laoer hopes that Flora belongs to the latter.Flora's love for Roy can be seen in many ways, for example, she voluntarily helps with the work of the laundry, and she always looks happy when she does the work.And she learned the Chinese way of life as soon as possible.She not only shared Chinese food but also expressed her preference for Chinese food.Fortunately, they don't have conflicting food tastes.Therefore, the cornerstone of this foreign marriage can be regarded as very solid.Many couples marrying in foreign countries, the reason for their marriage to break down is that the smell of the mutton chops made by the wife is unpalatable to the husband, not because of the different national characteristics. Four When Tom and Eva's Panama Shipping Company ship entered New York Harbor, they saw the Statue of Liberty.The goddess and skyscrapers are not unfamiliar to them, having seen American landscapes on postage stamps and in movies.But this time they are really immersive, these scenes are at their fingertips, not a small photo in the frame on the stamp.They felt as if they saw the movie star herself, walking off the screen. The way she spoke was the same as on the screen, but it felt like a dream, which made people doubt its authenticity.Eva looked at those skyscrapers again and again, fearing that her dream would be disillusioned at any moment.She turned her head several times to look at the skyscrapers she had just seen, they were still there. Father, eldest brother Deke, sister-in-law Flora, second brother Yike (Frederick A.T. Feng) and Uncle Cheng all came to pick them up at the pier.Yi is the most eye-catching one: he is wearing a smart light blue jacket with a carnation pinned to his collar.He was the tallest, and it was his check that brought the family together, for whom Yike was really a great brother.He had seen his younger brother and sister seven or eight years ago, but Dai Ke had never seen them.Yike was quite a figure in Chinatown, and to show respect for the occasion, he also wore a black tie. Neither Decco nor his father knew that Frederick had brought a photographer with him, which made his mother very angry and embarrassed.When his mother walked down the escalator with the two children, Yike went up the escalator to meet them, hugged her mother and kissed her. At this time, the spotlight flashed and the photographer had already pressed the shutter.Mother Feng almost fainted on the spot. The family separated for twelve years is finally reunited.Everyone couldn't help sighing for a while, feeling sad for a while, and then surprised at the growth of the new generation.Then, Yike proposed to take some photos as a souvenir.Mom and Dad were supposed to sit, but there were no chairs on the pier, so they had to make do with it.Flora and Deke stood aside, although she had a brave smile on her face, but in fact, she was very shy.Uncle Cheng was one of the three elders, so he naturally stood in the middle.He was about forty years old, and he was wearing his best camel hair clothes, usually only worn on Sundays, but because of the age, the clothes had been worn and shiny.His protruding, round belly gave him the stature of a seal.His head covered with black hair is also round, with a sparse beard and shiny skin, and he sways when he walks, making him look like a seal more and more.Yike stood on the other side with Tom and Eva. He put his hands on the shoulders of his younger brother and younger sister respectively, as if protecting them under his wings. Mama Feng is about a middle-aged woman in her forties, with a square face, which gives people a strong feeling.She was shocked for a long time because of Yike's unethical embrace. A Dong, why did you take that photo?She asked Frederick in Cantonese.She uncovered the A in Yike's English name. T．The secret of the two symbols, which he has always been unwilling to tell others.In more intimate social settings, he was called Freddie.The name Frederick is used in legal, professional, and check signing terms.As for Ah Dong, only his parents called him that. Why?It is for publication in Chinese newspapers.he answered.As soon as the papers were published, the whole of Chinatown would know how well Frederick, a dutiful son, welcomed his mother to New York.The next moment, it was as if the American Indians were acknowledging the Mayflower as the subject of a historical canvas, a history repeating itself. Son, son!Mother sighed heavily.It wasn't enough that her son had kissed her, but this disgraceful moment had to be published!Isn't this against her womanhood? From this moment on, the group of people did not have a moment of peace in the taxi, until Dai Ke told his mother that Yi Ke could prevent that photo from being published, and everyone nodded and admitted that Yi Ke could really do it.At this time, they were about to arrive at Feng's second laundromat. five Things are not as they imagined.The laundromat on the corner of Third Avenue was the size of a pigeon coop, and Tom and Eva, even their mother, were disappointed.But this is not a pigeon cage after all, it is like a gold mine to them, the money their father and Dai Ke earned here allowed them to buy a farm in Xinghui Village.Tom originally imagined that his father had a big shop, the equipment and decoration inside were all American-style, and the shop was crowded with hundreds of American customers, speaking English squeakingly.The store in the basement was closed for one day today. Tom tried to read the sign hanging outside. He knew the word Tom Fong, but he didn't understand the rest. It said Quick and Clean Try and Convince. Flora liked Tom as soon as she saw him.Tom pointed to the sign and asked Flora to tell him what it said.She just smiled because she could only understand a little Cantonese.Yike answered for her. Convince means confidence, just like believe. What does believe mean?asked Tom again, anxious to learn some new words. Believe also means confidence. Why isn't believe written on the signboard? oh!Because Convince is more elegant, we say Iconconvince is much better than Ibelieve. That was the first word Tom learned in New York. The Laundromat was a gray three-story house sandwiched between two red-brick four-story buildings.They arranged their residence on the top floor, with a total of three rooms and a kitchen. Looking out from the kitchen was a patio with nothing in it except a few clotheslines.After the children found the stairs leading to the balcony, they ran to the balcony.To the left of this house was the back of a house facing Third Avenue, and from a fourth-floor window Tom saw a woman doing embroidery in the kitchen.At the other window, a young girl was looking out with her chin resting on both hands.The backyard of that house has a laid-back, peaceful feel to it.Mottled and faded wooden boards are used to separate each house from each other.In the backyard of the neighbor on the right, there was a thin old elm with only sparse leaves, and Tom was only a few feet away from the branches of this elm on the balcony, which was all his own.The balcony looked peaceful and lovely in the sunlight, and Tom was satisfied. six When Flora went with her husband to pick up her mother-in-law, her heart was beating wildly.In fact, she started worrying a few months ago when she learned that the other half of her family in China was coming to the United States.Lowe told her what a mother's place is in a Chinese family, and then said in general that everything would be fine, his mother was a great person, and besides, what's wrong with asking a young man to respect an older generation ?It's not that she doesn't understand their family, but living with her father-in-law and husband, life is very simple; Yike is almost an independent person.What will happen if a new mother-in-law and the whole extended family life are added? How to allocate the three rooms is a matter of concern to everyone.Yike decides to rent a room in Chinatown, because the room at home is not enough for the whole family.The room near the street was allocated to the two children without any objection, because this room was the brightest and had to double as the sitting room for the family.Also, children sleep more deeply at night, and they don't mind noise.The two rooms on the inside have poor lighting and no ventilation, and the windows face a brick wall a foot and a half away, but these two rooms are much quieter at night.Where does the mother-in-law live?Which room does the wife live in?Another problem.One of the rooms has a bathroom and the other has only a washbasin.Flora had always wanted to live in the back room with the bathroom, but she kept silent. Obviously, this matter can only be decided after the mother-in-law comes.When they asked the mother for her opinion, she quickly replied: You young people, live in the one with the bathtub!What do I need a tub for?I've used a washbasin all my life, and that enamel washbasin is beautiful!此外，這間房間離小孩近，我照顧他們比較方便。很奇怪，這種小事情也會引發極富戲劇性的、深深的感情。佛羅拉眼中凝滿了淚水，她不由自主地喊道：哦！媽媽！她自己也不知道，那是她第一次叫她媽媽。 湯姆跟阿娃現在去洗手！媽媽命令著。 馮太太是個令人覺得驚訝的女人，任何事情只稍瞄上一眼，就弄得一清二楚。她對這一片小小的店覺得失望極了，可是她也不打算去埋怨啥。她的心中默默地想著一大堆的事情家庭的收支、房子、佛羅拉，以及孩子們儘管她一件事也不說出來。外國也好，不是外國也好，這裡就是她的家了，她必須對所有的人負起她的責任。房間的問題解決後，她就打開行李把湯姆和伊娃的牙刷、毛巾拿到廚房，放在洗碗臺的附近。湯姆在廣東時的名字就是湯姆，伊娃的英文名字則是經過一長串的演變，最後才決定的阿華阿帕阿芭阿娃伊娃。 到哪裡洗，媽？伊娃叫著。 到廚房裡去！ 湯姆和伊娃乖乖地去了，可是過了一會兒他們就興致盎然地玩起水來，他們把冷熱水龍頭一會兒開一會兒關，大概玩了十分鐘吧！他們胸前的衣服全濕透了。 Oh my god!你們搞什麼鬼？她的眼睛一眨也不眨地看著湯姆，而且水是要錢的！ 不，水不用花錢。湯姆說，他們告訴伊娃的。等她弄清楚，水是免費的，而且不管是冷水或是熱水都一樣，伊娃告訴湯姆，而伊娃又是戴可跟她說，最後牽扯到佛羅拉他們之中的美國通，最後則是由爸爸來證明。 清洗是一件容易的事了，可是這並不是說，你們可以任意浪費。私底下，她倒是對美國產生了好感。 湯姆和伊娃所住的房間本來是義可的，房間的佈置看起來有幾分怪異，在靠床這邊的牆上掛著兩幅捲軸的畫像，一幅是喬治．華盛頓，他的眼角正好注視著旁邊的一幅中國美女出浴圖，這個美女披著透明的紗質的衣服，甜甜的眼睛和蠱惑的微笑，好像就是為了回報華盛頓的注視。另一邊的牆上則掛著放大的祖父遺照和雜七雜八的照片，這些照片大部分是有關義可在政界和社交界的活動。其中，有一張用金色相框裝起來，特別引人注目，這是義可在一次競選活動中，與紐約的參議員握手時所拍攝的。義可在他們抵達後不久就走了，因為，他還要到他的辦公室去，所以，他沒有為他們一一介紹那些照片。除了這些照片外，還有義可從週刊上剪下來的半裸女郎的畫片，牢牢地貼在牆上，想把它們完整地取下來是不可能的事。在面對窗戶的那面牆上，則掛著國父遺照，遺照上還掛著兩面國旗，一面是中國國旗，另一面是美國國旗。 馮太太對這個房間的佈置並不滿意，中國美女出浴在中國村莊中是可以接受的事，但是半裸的美國美女卻是猥褻的。她命令湯姆把這些畫片拿下來，湯姆帶著一大堆的疑惑，乖乖地做了。 此外，整個房間的安排都顯得不對稱，如果有客來訪時應該坐的上位在哪裡？所以，在成舅舅的幫忙下，他們把祖父遺像和兩幅捲軸畫移到面對窗戶的牆上，祖父遺像的下方放了張桌子，桌子的兩邊安置了兩張背靠著牆的椅子。這就是給客人坐的上位了。 成舅舅一直都很熱心，他幫他們搬行李、拉桌子、椅子。當他搬起行李，急急忙忙地、一搖一擺地走動時，給人一種滑稽的感覺。湯姆覺得他的脖子似乎像橡皮一樣，可伸可縮。就算他站著不動，雙手下垂，也好像在表演平衡的動作。 當該做的事情都告一段落後，成舅舅一歪身就躺在湯姆和伊娃的床上，開始鼾聲大作了。湯姆走到窗前，看著外面的花花世界，這就是他未來成長的環境了。街的對面有一家油漆店，一家寵物店，街角還有一家酒吧。附近的房子大都是五層或六層的磚房，不是灰色就是紅色，看起來很精緻、很乾淨。離街道三十尺的地方是用黑色的鋼鐵架成的高架鐵路，湯姆看到火車傾斜地穿過鐵路轉角處，他可以從火車窗內看到許多乘客。湯姆對這個環境相當滿意。