Family quest brings joy and tears

Li Yong reunites with his family in Liyang, Jiangsu, on Dec 31, 2023.

When Li Yong took the train to the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, more than 1,500 kilometers away from his hometown — Liyang, Jiangsu province, he was just 2 years old. He was among about 3,000 children from the southern China, who were adopted by herdsmen in the late 1950s, when the country was _________ by natural disasters and the government of Inner Mongolia took the initiative to take care of these children.

Over the past six _________, these adoptees learned to adjust to their new environment and families, but they haven’t stopped digging into their past and exploring their _________. Li _________ learned that he was adopted when chatting with villagers. After his foster parents (养父母) passed away, Li _________ the idea of looking for his biological mother. _________, it was not easy for him as he didn’t know his biological family or even his birthplace.

Although _________, the journey for some has been realized _________ the application of the DNA technology. The _________ point came in 2021, when Li’s daughter told him that the Ministry of Public Security was helping people find their parents through DNA comparison with the __________ of a national DNA database. After having a blood sample taken at the local police station, Li waited for two years. Late last year, he got __________ that his mother had been found.

On Dec 31, Li finally reunited with his mother, 97-year-old Shi Bamei, in a village in Liyang. Bursting into tears of __________, Li hugged his mother, who kept __________ for the long separation. At Shi’s home, Li served his mother a spoonful of tangyuan, a sweet dumpling symbolizing reunion, on Dec 31.

“With the support and cooperation between the police and __________ groups, I believe there will be more good news for people with long-lost relatives. There will be new reunions and new __________,” he says.

My parents never once spoke of the stress of having to pay for college, but I knew enough to appreciate that it was there. Therefore, when my French teacher announced that she’d be leading an optional class trip to Paris over one of our ________ for those who could come up with the money to do it, I didn’t even ________ to raise the issue at home.

Yet one evening my parents ________ me down, looking puzzled. My mom had learned about the France trip through my friend’s mom.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” she said.

“Because it’s too much money.” I replied.

“That’s actually not for you to decide, Michelle,” my dad said gently, feeling almost ________. “And how are we supposed to decide, if we don’t even know about it?”

I looked at them both, ________ of what to say. My mother glanced at me, her eyes soft. My father had changed out of his work uniform and into a clean white shirt. They were in their early forties then, married nearly twenty years. Neither one of them had ever ________ in Europe. They never took beach trips or went out to dinner. They didn’t own a house. Everything went into us. It seemed that we were their only ________, me and my brother.

A few months later, I ________ a flight to Paris with my teacher and a dozen or so of my classmates from Whitney Young in Chicago. We would stay in a hostel, and ________ the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. We’d buy snacks from ________ on the street and walk along the banks of the Seine. We’d speak French like a bunch of high school kids from Chicago, but we’d at least speak French.

As the plane ________ from its gate that day, I looked out my window and back at the airport, knowing that my mother stood somewhere behind its black-glass window, dressed in her winter coat and waving me on. I remember all the ________. I remember the jet engines firing, ________ loud. And then we were rattling (嘎啦嘎啦地响) down the runway and beginning to tilt (倾斜) upward as the ________ seized my chest and pressed me backward into my seat for that strange, in-between moment that came before I felt ________ finally.

Nancy was turning 30 today. Kate was her dream, her hope, her happiness and her precious ________ after the death of their parents. She meant everything to her. Kate was so ________ that she was admitted to Harvard University. And today, Nancy was sure Kate would ________ her with a gift as she did every year. she quickly ________ at the mirror and looked away. She never liked looking at the mirror. It always ________ her of what she had suffered.

Over these years she had worked at different factories and cleaned the floors at big hotels. Ever since their parents died, her only goal was to ________ Kate. Nancy didn’t go to her dream university. Her ________ came running back to the present. Quickly, she wiped her tears and rushed to the door. She ________ smiling.

It seemed like a(n) ________ wait. Finally, she heard her younger sister ________ her room. Her eyes ________. Yet Kate walked into her room ________. The excitement disappeared. Kate gave her sister a tight hug. “Happy birthday,” said Kate. “And here’s your gift.”

Kate handed her a brown envelope. Nancy’s eyes were ________ with questions. “Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love is by far the truest type of love. This is a(n) ________. You are admitted to the community university.” Nancy’s eyes grew wet and her trembling hands were held ________ by Kate.