Riding the wind of rebirth

Mai Xiaomiao secretly winked at Zhou Zhi, meaning, "Look how clever I am! This way, Sister Xueshan won't have to deal with the computer anymore."

Zhou Zhi could only sigh inwardly. He had asked Xue Shan to stop playing on the computer so that she could relax. But now, she was concentrating so intently, which was actually quite mentally taxing. Mai Xiaomiao's good intentions had backfired.

“Huh, why is this poem so strange?” Feng Xueshan was taken aback when she received the English poem Zhou Zhi had given her.

The poem is "All Because You Kissed Me Good Night" by American poet Sandy Roistan. The first stanza is:

I climbed the door
And opened the stairs
I said my pajamas
And put on my prayers
Then I turned off my bed.
And crawled into the light
All because you kissed me good-night.
At first glance, this is a very nonsensical poem. The translation is: "I climbed up the door, opened the steps, recited my pajamas, changed my prayers, finally turned off the covers, and crawled into the light, all because you kissed me goodnight."

This kind of writing style is quite charming when expressed in English poetry. It describes a young man in love who becomes infatuated and incoherent after being asked a question by his lover, which is very interesting.

However, there is actually a similar literary genre in China, a series of nursery rhymes, all collectively known as "Upside-Down Songs".

Its form of expression is saying the opposite of what is meant, which creates a funny feeling that makes people laugh. It best reflects humor and wit, and at the same time, it helps children remember the correct language logic while memorizing nursery rhymes, so that they will not make a fool of themselves in other situations.

Furthermore, these nursery rhymes possess a surreal quality, constructing a fantastical world distinct from reality. The various inverted phenomena within the rhymes can also stimulate children's imaginations, unconsciously creating impossible scenes and plots in their minds. By breaking through conventions through imagination, they are beneficial in cultivating children's reverse thinking abilities.

The most famous "Upside-Down Song" in Sichuan is undoubtedly the well-known "Red Rooster".

Red rooster, with many tails
A three-year-old can sing.

Sir, I am a young man.
She gave birth to her father and then her mother-in-law.

When my mom gets married, I'll beat the gong.
I carried the gift box when my mother gave me the gift.

I walked past my grandmother's house.
Grandma is still drinking milk.

There's also a song called "I Never Speak Upside Down".

Go out of the east gate and head west.
I bumped into a person biting a dog.

Pick up the dog and use it to throw stones.
The stone bit the dog again.

Never say anything upside down.

Eye drops fell onto the dusty head.

"I'll give it a try." Feng Xueshan folded the poem in half and set it aside. She took out a thin, beautiful wooden stick that looked like a pipe from her stationery, then selected a pen nib from a small box, attached it, dipped it in ink, and a beautiful cursive English script flowed out elegantly from the golden nib.

"Wow—" Mai Xiaomiao was stunned. She couldn't discern anything wrong with the beautiful Chinese handwriting, but English was actually her native language, and she'd never seen anyone around her write English like that before. "Sister Xueshan, your English is so beautiful! It's exactly like the title page of the bronze-plate books in the library." "This is bronze-plate script," Feng Xueshan smiled. "In English, it's called Copperplate. I learned the Engraver Script of Copperplate. You have to use slanted strokes and a sharp pen to make it look good."

"This is so exquisite!" Mai Xiaomiao exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "This pen must be very expensive! Only someone with your handwriting deserves it!"

"This is also a gift from Zhouzi," Feng Xueshan said with a smile. "However, when we were working on the Hanwen large character library, the conditions weren't this good. Back then, we used an accounting dip pen, bent the tip, and then polished it ourselves to create the characters."

He sighed after saying that, "Now that the tools are better, we no longer have the time to write."

"I still need to practice writing more. If I could write like this, I would definitely write every day. It would be such a waste not to practice this skill!"

“No, this won’t do,” Feng Xueshan said. “Writing requires a calm mind. If we’re just chatting and writing like this, it’s just for fun. Plus, this poem is a bit strange and too funny.”

The cursive script took up a lot of paper space, and one sheet was already used up after the first paragraph was finished. Feng Xueshan switched to another sheet to write the second paragraph, laughing with Mai Xiaomiao as she wrote, because this paragraph was also very interesting.

The next morning, I woke
And scrambled my shoes
I polished my eggs and
Toasted the news
I couldn't tell my left from right
All'cause you kissed me good-night.
When she got to the last sentence of the third paragraph, "I spoke to my puppy, and threw my dad a bone," which meant "I talked to my dog ​​and threw my dad a bone," Feng Xueshan finally couldn't hold back anymore and threw her pen on the table: "This is too funny, hahaha... How did the poet come up with this? Oh, I can't take it anymore..."

“Take it easy,” Zhou Zhi said worriedly to Feng Xueshan. “If you can’t keep laughing, stop and take a deep breath…”

"We need to go to the hospital!" Feng Xueshan grabbed Zhou Zhi's hand. "His water must have broken!"

Zhou Zhi was startled. Did this mean things were going badly?! He quickly stood up and said, "I'll go push the wheelchair. Xiao Miao, go call your sister-in-law. We'll meet in the garage."

Mai Xiaomiao jumped up as well, but Zhou Zhi called her back and shoved the car keys into her hand: "Start the car when we get to the garage!"

Fortunately, everything had already been moved to the car last night. By the time Zhou Zhi pushed Feng Xueshan out of the elevator, Mai Xiaomiao had already started the car. The sister-in-law asked anxiously, "Xueshan, how are you feeling? Take a deep breath."

"It's alright," Feng Xueshan said, "Ouch, it's starting to hurt."

"We'll leave right away, very soon." Everyone helped Feng Xueshan into the car, Zhou Zhi got into the driver's seat, and sped off.

On the way, Yang He's sister-in-law contacted him and told him to hurry to the hospital. Feng Xueshan's face turned pale, but she still reminded Yang He to be careful and asked her sister-in-law to tell him not to rush.

The main road from Suihuaxuan to West China Medical University runs along both banks of the Funan River, but there are quite a few traffic lights. Fortunately, this area is an old city with many side streets to navigate. Zhou Zhi had already studied the map carefully beforehand, and this preparation was indeed worthwhile. The guards wandered around the side streets without encountering a single red light. In just over ten minutes, they emerged from a side street called "Fat Pig Market Street," turned into Limin Lane, and arrived directly at the back gate of the main campus of West China Hospital.

Because of the VIP benefits, the procedures were simple. The outpatient nurses only needed Feng Xueshan's ID card to find her previous appointment and examination information in the system and immediately started the hospitalization process, which was much faster than other hospitals and clinics.

West China Medical University was the first hospital in Sichuan to be equipped with a large-scale hospital information system. This system was developed by Clover Medical, with Yang He playing a key role in its installation. Now, Yang He's unborn child has become a beneficiary of his father's work, which seems like fate. (End of Chapter)