After our rice Hua took me by the hand. “Chu Ju,” she said, “come and see the little chicks.”
There in the chicken yard were three newly hatched chickens. Hua squatted down beside them and stared fondly at them, gently touching their soft yellow down. As I watched her, I promised myself that any money I gave would go for Hua’s and Nu Hai’s schooling, as much schooling as they wanted. I could live on very little. There would be no further new clothes. I would make whatever sacrifice was needed. Should I marry Ling, I was sure he would understand. Learning meant much to him, and hadn’t he been quick to give me a book to read; hadn’t he risked much for books? I did not believe that he would begrudge me any money I sent to my sisters.
Nai Nai must have read my mind, for she said, “Though I said it would be a waste, your ba ba spent good money on educating you. There is no money to waste on schooling for your sisters.” She gave me a sly look.
“I will find the money,” I dared to say to her. “The learning was not wasted on me.” I thought of the letter I had written to the orphanage and the reading of Quan’s letters and the book I shared with Ling.
The following morning, when it was time to leave, the good-byes of Ba Ba and Nai Nai were stiff and formal. Ma Ma clung to me begging me not to leave. Hua, too, clung to me, and for a moment Han Na’s house seemed so far I could not see it, but then it came back into my head, and promising to return, I hurried off, looking back only once.
It was still daylight when I reached the house that had been Han Na’s and was now mine. Though I was tired from the long trip, and though the memory of Ma Ma’s sad farewells stayed with me, I went at once to the little seeds and began to drop them into the warm earth. Soon the green shoots would push up, and in time there would be the harvest and then another spring and the planting of the rice and the little fish swimming about. When I paused in my planting to look up toward the hills, I saw Ling hurrying toward me, a great smile on his face.
glossary
ba ba: father
budui: wrong, incorrect
cha hukou: the checking of residence permits
chi fan meiyou: literally, “Have you eaten yet?” Used as a greeting in China as we might say, “Hello.”
dian-shi: television
feng shui: the art of finding the most auspicious placement for something
gong-ji: rooster
gu zheng: a stringed instrument resembling a lyre
hai: the sea
majiang: a game played with tiles
ma ma: mother
ma-que: a sparrowlike bird
mu: one sixth of an acre
nai nai: paternal grandmother
nu hai: girl
qing-ting: dragonfly
suona: woodwind instrument often played at funerals
waiguoren: foreigners
ye ye: paternal grandfather
ying: eagle
yuan: about twelve cents in American currency
zai-jian: farewell
THE CHINESE NEW YEAR
The Chinese New Year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. It usually takes place in January or February and begins with the new moon.
A NOTE ON HUA’S AGE
Chinese babies are considered one year old when they are born, so one year after Hua was born, she was two years old.
About the Author
Gloria Whelan is the bestselling author of many novels for young readers, including HOMELESS BIRD, winner of the National Book Award; FRUITLANDS: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect; ANGEL ON THE SQUARE; ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; FAREWELL TO THE ISLAND; and RETURN TO THE ISLAND. She lives in the woods of northern Michigan. You can visit her online at www.gloriawhelan.com.
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Also by GLORIA WHELAN
LISTENING FOR LIONS
BURYING THE SUN
THE IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY
FRUITLANDS
ANGEL ON THE SQUARE
HOMELESS BIRD
THE INDIAN SCHOOL
The Island Trilogy:
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
FAREWELL TO THE ISLAND
RETURN TO THE ISLAND
Credits
Cover art © 2004 by Robert Crawford
Copyright
CHU JU’S HOUSE. Copyright © 2004 by Gloria Whelan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition NOVEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061975806
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