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Min Lu - Short Stories That Ring the Bell
Min Lu - Short Stories That Ring the Bell
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Boy
Winter has really set in this day. Today is even colder. You don't even need to look at the thermometer to see if it's getting colder or cooler. Usually, just a thick coat is enough, but today, it's obvious that you're wearing a flannel jacket.
I went to bed early, but I couldn't sleep. It wasn't because I was cold. The blanket I was wrapped in was warm. Sometimes it's like this, I can't sleep for no reason.
Outside, it was pretty quiet. You could hear people on the street, even the occasional car. Of course, who would want to be on the street without any special reason in this time of chaos?
Even the boys in the village are so cold that they are sitting quietly in the treetops. The whole environment is so quiet and peaceful.
Not yet. Oh... I heard the faint sound of music from afar again. After a while, the sound of the music became more and more beautiful.
"The seasons change... a new winter begins...
"The silver dust, the
I felt a shock in my heart. This song is a song that a boy used to sing. Oh... It was during this cold winter many years ago.
The entire Yadanarsaung was quiet. Usually at this time, the hall was crowded. The sounds of singing, the voices of people shouting and joking with each other were noisy. .
Today, due to the extraordinary isolation, I think they are curled up in their rooms with blankets. Some are gathered in one room, chatting over a bowl of tea. There are hardly any people on the veranda.
Ma and her roommate Htwe Htwe were talking in the room, with a bowl of fried peanuts brought from home in the middle and hot water from a water bottle in the middle.
I applaud the musicians who came to sing in front of the hall in such a cold weather. Some sat around the campfire, others lined up on the asphalt | street, usually with a guitar in each group. At that time, they sang popular Sai Htee songs. Some also shouted, "Hey, La Wa
The people who sing have rules. This is the custom in the village. While one group is singing, the other group does not interrupt. The singing group, after one song, gives the other groups a turn to sing.
As they were singing, the sound of a mandolin playing came out. It was not like the others, but the one playing in the dark shadow of the sycamore tree. I already knew who it was.
“Hey... he's here, Ma Ma,” she said. Before she could say anything, the door that had been closed had been slightly opened. After a while, the song “A New Year Has Come” came on. The sound was sweet and cool.
“It’s amazing that you’ve been singing with a mandolin for twenty years in this day and age,” Htwe Htwe said. Ma Ma waved her hand at him. He was listening. It meant not to disturb him. Htwe Htwe acted indifferently. He couldn’t care less, he sat back on the couch and leaned his head on the pillow and listened. | It was getting a little late. The singers had left one by one. Htwe Htwe Htwe was curled up in a blanket and sound asleep. The sound of the mandolin and the song from the dark shadows of the Kankaw tree was still coming out. He had been singing like this every night for ten days. It had been about ten days since he had even noticed. He didn’t know when he had been singing before.
A cold breeze blew in through the open door. It felt like he had been splashed with ice water. Ah... If a person living in a room was so cold, how much more would a person living in a snowy forest be able to survive? The feeling of compassion made him make a concession to the boy.
He poured the hot water from the electric kettle into the mug. He wrote a short note. "Drink some hot water, boy. I'll come back after I drink it. I'm afraid you'll catch a cold and get sick."
I asked the messenger to give me the cup and the letter. After a while, the messenger returned the cup...
"I don't know what kind of boy he is, kid."
He said.
“Hmm... why, what did he say?” “I didn’t say anything, I just read the letter, then took a gulp of the hot water and turned around and left.”
That text and a glass of water became like accepting the boy's love.
The first time I got to know the boy was when he himself came and introduced himself.
One evening, I went to the downstairs living room of the dormitory to pretend that I had a guest. Sitting in the living room,
I saw a boy. I had never seen him before. I thought he must be a friend's younger brother. I sat down in front of the boy and...
"What's the matter?" I asked...
"I'd like to introduce myself." I wanted to laugh.
"Let me introduce myself, I'm not a movie actress or a singer."
"My name is Nyimaung"
He introduced himself again, "Yes, I have to say, it's nice to meet you. It's a very strange thing." Ma Ma didn't say anything back...
"You don't know me, I know you. We're just first-year students, aren't we? We've seen each other since Maung Mae Thit Lwin's welcome party."
"Oh.. yes?"
"I think we should know since we're in the same major, but I can't write a letter like that."
If you want to ask a question, men don't answer like they're talking to each other. I've never had a male guest come to my house before, so I don't know what to say or how to say it. I just sit there. After a while...
"I will be back"
He said.
“Yes”
That's what I always say. He stood up from his seat and said, "Can I come visit you?" Now, what kind of guy would come to visit without being invited and then ask permission again. I still think he's just joking.
Should I let out a roar? But his face remained calm.
Should I tell them not to come, or invite them to come? I'm not very good at these kinds of things.
"Don't come here often," I said dismissively.
The boy was different from the other students. At that time, university students did not carry bags. They used to carry small notebooks called kin noh. The boy carried a large bag. And he did not wear fancy clothes like other students. He wore a local T-shirt and a tie. I felt sorry for the boy because he looked poor.
Actually, we are also Nuam. We were born into an ordinary family of manual workers in a small town in the delta region. We were able to study at the university thanks to the scholarship and the help of volunteers in the township.
I think the boy is also a sweet and educated person like us. Where did he come from?
The boy's parents were fairly wealthy. They owned a house and had a good income from their business. When I asked them about it...
"My parents have money, not mine. I don't aspire to anything. I just want to stand on my own two feet."
I appreciate the spirit of self-reliance. However, I don't like the idea of being proud of not paying school fees even though they can, being sent home with extra notices because of unpaid school fees, and not releasing grades because of unpaid fees.
Also, the boy doesn't go to school regularly. When my mother told him, the boy
"Just learning from school is not enough, Ma'am. You also need to learn about people's lives."
There is so little time to study, my dear. Try to study when you have free time. Actually, I know, the boy is not studying. He is "flying".
Finally, the boy pretended to be poor. How can pretending to be poor be the same as being truly brave? Pretending to be brave can be fun. Being truly brave is very painful. Only when you have been truly poor can you know the taste of poverty.
When we were young, we were really struggling. My father, mother, and five siblings worked hard to make ends meet. We had to work hard to make one meal a day. After breakfast, we had to keep cooking for dinner. My father, mother, brothers, and sisters all worked. Ma Ma didn't work like she did when she was young.
I didn't have to work or go to school. When I was seven years old, I started going to school because I was starting to feel short of breath.
Luck knocks on the door once in a lifetime. It means that a person has only one chance at a time in their life. For Ma Ma, that chance is to go to university. So Ma Ma never fails in school, and I don't think that skipping a class is an insult to my parents.
The boy invited me to watch a movie, but I didn't go because I was afraid it would disrupt my studies.
"If it's a school holiday, I wouldn't do it. This time, it's impossible because we have to cancel school."
“The ticket has already been purchased, I bought it in advance.” “Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”
"I didn't have time to tell Ma in advance that I bought the tickets while I was still in town. I believe that if I wanted to see it, Ma would have gone."
"I can't do it because I'm going to ruin my life." "Why, it's more important to not ruin my life than to watch a movie with my lover."
“Both are important, but movies can be watched during school holidays, and you can't make up for lost time with school, right?”
“So, what’s up?” | The boy tore the advance ticket into pieces.
The boy was trying to win over the girl from Skansi.
Kyi Le forced himself to introduce himself and came to visit the dormitory. It was so rare that I felt embarrassed to visit her. Sometimes I stayed alone with the girls. The boy and the girls would sit alone in the living room until the end of the day. He would protest against her. My friends...
"How can you do this? I feel sorry for the boy. He shouldn't have been so educated," they said.
"They urged me to go down," he said. "I don't want to go down," he said...
"What's wrong with you? It's just that your mind is not clear," they started again.
To be honest, I still haven't had any feelings for the boy. The general consensus is that he's a good guy.
“Ko Nyi Maung is like a little boy, he will be hard to hold.”
Htwe Htwe's warning was very true. However, at that time, I didn't know that. I just felt pity for the boy.
Kyi Oo also saw the boy asking Ma Ma for permission to love him. One day, after class, Htwe Htwe and I returned to the dormitory and met the boy waiting for us at the door. Ma Ma greeted us, but the boy didn't smile or laugh, he just stood there...
“Please go back to the dormitory, I want to talk to you alone.” | He left with a confused look.
"What did you say, it's so hurtful to Htwe Htwe"
Mom said...
"I have to say it when I want to say it. If I were you, I wouldn't say it," he said about his love for Ma Ma (without any hesitation).
In the following days, he would come to the dormitory every day and answer questions. Sometimes he would wait on the street. | Htwe Htwe also immediately fell in love with the boy when he saw him.
The people in the dorm started to stare at Ma. Some of them thought that Ma and the boy were already together. After a while, Ma became shy. So I told her not to come to the dorm anymore. The boy was as usual. He didn't say anything and stared at Ma for a long time. Then he turned and left.
I haven't seen the boy for several days.
After not seeing him for a long time, I felt like I couldn't sit still anymore. Then the boy appeared again.
He used to come to sing in front of the dormitory every night. So he gave me a cup of hot water and a short message.
The next day, the boy arrived at the dorm.
"I'm really worried about catching a cold and getting sick."
Ma nodded...
"Why are you worried?"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to go to school if I get sick."
The boy was rude. And...
"I'm leaving school," he said softly.
"Hmm... why do you have to leave?"
The boy's face immediately turned pale, and he became worried as if he had a problem.
The boy was staring outside the building...
“The campus is a small place, it’s not a place where you can avoid each other because you don’t want to see each other. So, Ma Ma and I will meet somewhere or another. Every time we meet, I will feel pain. So, it would be better if Ma Ma didn’t live in this area, and if I didn’t live in this area, Ma Ma is the kind of person who will embrace this area. She thinks that even being five minutes late to school is like losing a day of life, right? So I decided to avoid her.”
Boys are like that. If you don't love them back, you won't be able to take the exam or go to school anymore. This is the most common weapon used by boys at that time. I already know how to exploit the tender feelings of girls and force them to do so. This is an old trick that has become commonplace. However, most of the time, they succeed. .


