Nov 28 2007
Jiujiu
Jiujiu and Jiumu Sept 1966
Jiujiu Lü Youren (1933 Beijing -) is Mom’s older brother, and my jinx. I had no one to fear, except him. Yeye and Nainai rountingly put up a show - Nainai would chase Yeye around trying to beat him up - unless I take one more bit. But I would become a very good eater when Jiujiu was around. If I happened to drop a grain of rice, which was often the case, he would make me recite this poem, word by word:
初禾日当午
汗滴禾下土
谁知盘中餐
粒粒皆辛苦
It itched in my mind, till this day, more than Mao’s Snow.
His short lived romance with Lulu is the hot topic that lingered for more than half century. Especially Lucy. She regretted that Jiujiu wasn’t out going and made the move. Lulu soon dumped him for her teacher who’s mature and knew what girls want. When Jiujiu and Jiumu came to US, Lucy met her nephew’s wife for the first time, 47 years later. Lucy loved Jiujiu very much, so she couldn’t wait to ask Jiumu why did she marry him. Was he a changed man, how and what did he do to pursue her?“I 
married him because he had money and a house.”Lucy was very disappointed. She still kept a sporadic correspondences with Lulu, got most news via Meidi. Lulu lives in Datong, in Shanxi province, a coal mining town few hundred miles west of Beijing. Not sure the state of her marriage, but Lucy said Lulu is sort regretful not marrying Jiujiu. “Women’s common mistake, thinking she could always find a better one down the road ..” Not sure it’s true, in this case. Obviously many women fall into this scenario.
Lto R: Zhang Jinquan, Misah, Lulu and Jiujiu in Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace.
Zhang Jinquan 张金权 was Misha’s friend. He became a good friend with Mom due to his g/f in Canton who’s not in the military and had to go thro Mom for communication.