For two days Kong-Hwa was good—no schoolmate complained, no neighbor
complained. He studied his lessons and obeyed his teacher. Then he went
again to his mother’s house. He saw that she was alive, and in a few
days he was again as bad as ever.
“I can not teach him, he must learn things for himself,” said his
mother; “I do not know what else I can do.”
And it was so until he was twelve years old. His mother tried to help
him to do right, but it seemed of no use.
Shortly after he was twelve years old, he came home from school one day
and said, “Mü-Ts’ing, I want to go to Siang-Sze. I will leave school.
No one likes me; no one plays with me. I do not like school and I will
not go anymore. I shall be a merchant and make money.”
His mother thought he was too young to know what he wanted, and so paid
little attention to him. But he insisted, and finally she said, “Go to
your father.”
His father was surprised and asked, “You wish to make money? How can
you make money without money? Siang-Sze is a long way off and it will
cost you much to go there. Then you will need more to be a merchant.”
Kong-Hwa said, “Give me enough to reach Siang-Sze and I will go.” He
insisted until his father beat him and said, “Now go back to school. I
will hear no more of this.”
Kong-Hwa was keen and determined. He borrowed money, quietly, a little
here and a little there, and then he ran away to Siang-Sze.
For many days his mother tried to find him. She did not think he would
go far by himself. Finally she learned that he had gone to Siang-Sze
and gave up searching for him.
Nine years had gone by when a man from Siang-Sze told of seeing
Kong-Hwa there. His parents wrote to him, but no answer came. Thirteen
years passed by and they thought, “We shall never see his face again.”
One day Kong-Hwa, who still lived in Siang-Sze, said to a friend, “I
must go home now, if I can get money enough. I have learned some life
lessons and now I am going.”
His friend said, “We have good times in Siang-Sze. Why do you leave?”
“It is not the place where I ought to be,” answered Kong-Hwa. “I have
tried many things here and in all the thirteen years have not had
success. No one will have me for a bookkeeper. I tried to be a
merchandise agent, and in two months I was discharged. I then worked in
a bank for forty days, when they paid my salary and told me to go.
To-morrow I need money to pay my rent, three months due; but I have no
money. I order clothes, and they say, ‘No money, no clothes.’ I ask
friends to lend me some, and they do not even answer me.
“I see now I have been very foolish. I have been here thirteen years
and I try to have a good time. I drink, I smoke, I dance, I go to
theaters and halls every night—every night. I spend all of my money
when I have work. Now I have no work; all my friends have left me; they
will not trust me for a piece of silver. I have been very bad. I was a
bad boy at home. My mother was good and gave me many lessons which I
would not learn.
“Because my mother was so good, I have no excuse for my miserable
condition now. I must go home and show her I am sorry at last. I know
now that in all the world there is no friend like a mother.
“I will write to her to-morrow and say in my letter, ‘Mü-Ts’ing, I am
going to leave the opium, theater, and dance—all bad things.’ I will
ask her to send me money to come home, and I will then take my father’s
place on the farm.
“I will take the oxen and plow the rice fields, plant the corn, and
tell my father to rest. I will help my mother so she need not cook nor
do any other work. There is no one like father and mother, and no place
but my home for me now.”
Kong-Hwa wrote the letter and sent it by a friend, telling him to say
“good words” for him; for he felt that he deserved nothing after
causing his parents so much sorrow.
“Thirteen long years and at last a letter from our dear son,” cried
Kong-Hwa’s mother.
His parents were filled with joy and asked the bearer of the good news
all about him. How long would it take for the letter and money that
they would send to reach him? Would he come at once?
His mother wrote: “My son, Kong-Hwa, come to our home. We feel that you
will do what you say in your letter. The house, the land, and all we
have is yours and we will rejoice to have you come and care for them.
The time will seem long until you are here.”
Kong-Hwa went to his parents as soon as the letter and money came to
him. And he was a good man from that time and served his parents and
made their old age glad. He did everything as he had said he would. He
took the oxen and plowed the rice fields. He planted the corn, and he
helped his mother in the house, and all were happy.