"Then come home."
Tang Xia said without hesitation, "Your dad reserved a pig with our relatives early this year. We made lots of cured pork, and plenty of the sausages you like."
"Didn't you always love snacking on cured pork skin? We made plenty of that this year, too."
"A few days ago, your brother stir-fried some pork skin with our homemade chili powder. He braised it first, then stir-fried it, so it was spicy and chewy. It was delicious. He sat watching TV with the whole plate in his arms and ate every last bit."
"We came back early this year, so we ground soybeans ourselves and made fermented tofu. We filled several jars."
"We also dried lots of radish strips. Take plenty with you when you leave, so you can stir-fry them with cured pork. Our own dried radishes and cured pork taste so good together. You just can't get that flavor from anything you buy outside."
"And don't you love your youngest great-uncle's pagoda tree bud cakes? His birthday is on the sixth day of the new year. We'll go to his place and have some."
Tang Xia didn't scold her or ask why she had changed her number and gone all these years without contacting them. She didn't accuse her of being heartless, either. She simply chattered away about the good food and fun things back home, just as she had when Tang Tang was away at school.
It was as though she had never been gone for more than five years, as though she had merely been too busy studying or working elsewhere to come home.
Tang Tang covered her mouth, trying not to let her mother hear her sobs.
As the voice on the other end gradually fell silent, she hurriedly stopped crying and