燒信封收魂
有一年，我去我們家西院幫忙包餃子。東北過年都是互相幫忙包餃子，二十多人在一起包餃子，連說帶笑的也不累；包一百多斤麵，包完以後拿到外面凍上，完了放在大缸裡。這一個臘月、正月，都吃凍餃子；煮一鍋開水，下鍋裡就吃。我去西院的那家姓考，叫考中田。我去他家幫忙包餃子，包完餃子到了十一點多鐘了，才回家。外面很黑，路過他家東院，住的是姓白的，和我是一家子。他家養了兩條狗，狗也不會咬我。我從他那裡走，天很黑，也看不見，很大的兩條狗，偏在過路的地上趴著，我就踩到狗肚子上了。
當時也沒有怎麼樣，第二天就起不來了，也不吃飯就在炕上躺著。我爸爸就摸我的脈，問說：「昨天晚上你看見了什麼﹖」我說沒看見什麼。我爸爸說：「不對！你是看見什麼了。」我一想，我說我是踩到狗的身上了。到了晚上我爸爸就找了個從遠處寄來的信封，到了夜深人靜星星出全的時候，我已經睡覺了，他在我的枕頭前面，把那個信封用火燒了用紙包上，放在我的枕頭下面。第二天早晨，我就起來吃飯了。
那麼那天有病是怎麼了呢﹖躺炕上起不來了，脈也沒有了，人一點力氣也沒有，也不能吃飯，別人說什麼，聽見了，也稀里糊塗的。那個時候如果讓醫生看，醫生也是看不好；沒有脈搏了，很危險的，我爸爸給燒一個信封，就把我魂給收回來了。那時候我十四歲。父親慈悲，救了我，我至今難以忘懷。
林彪的眉毛
文化大革命的時候，那時候東北剛剛有電視，很多人都看電視。毛澤東和林彪在北京天安門廣場接見紅衛兵，那時候有百萬紅衛兵。我爸爸他不喜歡看電視，也不喜歡聽廣播，他平時最不喜歡這個事。這一天他興致好，說：「我看看是什麼東西﹖」看見誰了呢﹖看見林彪了。他說，「林彪的眉毛不一樣，他以後要當奸賊。」他說這話我們都害怕了，那還了得！如果叫紅衛兵聽見了，那就得挨鬥。我爸爸說：「我不怕那個事兒。」以後這林彪真是當了賣國賊，坐飛機跑了，到了蒙古溫都爾罕的上空，是飛機失事呢，還是什麼導彈打下來的，林彪也死了，尸骨無存，見馬克思去了！我爸爸提前就看出來林彪他會當奸臣，賣國。
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Burning an envelope to call back my
spirit
Once, I went to the west hall of our house
to help wrap dumplings. In Manchuria, people always help each
other wrap dumplings before Chinese New Year; one hardly becomes
tired when over twenty people talk and joke while wrapping
dumplings together. We wrapped dumplings using more than 100 kgs
of flour and took them outside to freeze. After they were
frozen, we would keep them in a big crock, and that would be our
food for the twelfth and first months of the lunar calendar. The
family occupying the west hall was named Kao. I helped to wrap
dumpling at his house till past eleven at night. It was very
dark then. I passed by the east hall, where a family by the
surname of Bai (who were my relatives) lived. They had two dogs,
but the dogs didn't bite or bark at me. It was very dark and I
couldn't see clearly. These two dogs were lying in the
passageway, and I stepped on the stomach of one of them by
accident.
I didn't feel anything wrong then, but the
next day I could neither get up nor eat. My father felt my pulse
and asked, “What did you see last night?” I replied that I saw
nothing. My father said, “No. You must have seen something
strange.” I thought about it, and recalled that I stepped on the
dog. That night, when the stars were out and I was asleep, my
father got out an envelope that was sent from afar, burnt it,
wrapped it up with a paper and put it under my pillow. The next
day, I could get up and eat.
How did I get that sickness? I couldn't get
out of bed, my pulse was weak, I had no strength at all and I
couldn't eat. I couldn't even discern what others were saying.
If I had consulted a doctor then, he wouldn't have been able to
do anything either. My father burnt an envelope and brought my
spirit back to life when my pulse was almost gone. I was
fourteen then. My father was compassionate and saved my life;
this is something that left a deep impression on me, even till
today.
Lin Biao's eyebrows
It was not until the Cultural Revolution
that we started having television sets in Manchuria, and many
people liked to watch TV then. The The TV showed Lin Biao and
Mao Zedong receiving the millions of Red Soldiers at Beijing's
Tiananmen Square. My father did not like watching TV or
listening to radio. Usually, he didn't like such things.
However, that day he was in high spirits and said, “Let me see
what's this is about!” and he saw Lin Biao. He said, “Lin Biao's
eyebrows are strange; he will become a thief someday.” We were
all terrified at his words. If the Red Soldiers heard this, we
would be arrested. My father said, “I'm
not afraid of that.” Eventually, Lin Biao indeed became a thief
who betrayed his country. He escaped in a plane that crashed in
Mongolia. It may be that the plane had some mechanical problem,
or maybe it was struck down by some missiles. So Lin Biao died
and went to meet Karl Marx! My father knew beforehand that he
would be a treacherous official who would betray his country.
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