The Goldfish Who Remembers Last Year - 记得去年的金鱼

Evening in Chengdu, the sky slowly grew dark. A ten-year-old boy walked into his own room, carrying a plastic bag in his hand. Inside the bag was a small orange goldfish. The boy was called Xiaokang, he was very quiet, and usually never spoke loudly. He gently put the goldfish into the round glass bowl on the desk. The plastic bag lay beside it, still dripping water.

Xiaokang sat in front of the desk, watching the goldfish swim back and forth in the water. Its tail was very pretty. Outside the window the sky had already turned completely black. Xiaokang yawned, turned off the light, and climbed into bed to sleep. Only the faint glow from the bowl was left in the room. He had never kept a goldfish before, and was actually quite happy inside.

In the middle of the night, Xiaokang heard a thin little voice. "This bowl is both cold and small." He sat up and saw the goldfish pressed against the glass, looking at him. "You... can talk?" Xiaokang asked softly. "Of course I can," said the goldfish, "the lake I lived in last year was much bigger than here, and the water was warmer too. This little bowl is really uncomfortable."

Xiaokang was not the least bit afraid, and instead found it very interesting. The next morning, he fed the goldfish. The fish ate a bite and sighed: "The bugs in the lake last year tasted better than this. This kind of fish food, the flavor is too ordinary." Xiaokang looked at it and said nothing.

At noon, the sun shone into the room and the bowl was bright. But the goldfish said: "The sunlight on the lake last year was better, shining warmly on my body. The light here is really not comfortable." Xiaokang opened the window to let in more light, but the goldfish still wasn't satisfied.

Every day was like this. In the morning at feeding, the fish said last year's bugs were good; in the evening when the light went on, the fish said last year's moon was bright. It never said what was good about today, everything it said was about last year. Xiaokang listened day after day, and slowly grew a little tired.

One evening, Xiaokang finally couldn't hold back. He brought his face close to the bowl and asked seriously: "You say last year's lake was so good, then what was the lake really like? Can you tell me about it?" The goldfish was stunned for a moment, not expecting him to ask like this.

The goldfish swam two circles and slowly began: "Actually... that lake water was a bit dirty, greenish, you couldn't see clearly." "And what else?" Xiaokang asked. "There were too many fish in the lake, very crowded, every day you had to fight over food." Its voice grew smaller and smaller, "To be honest, that place was nothing special in the first place."

Xiaokang was a little surprised. "So it turns out your lake wasn't actually as good as you said." The goldfish nodded shyly: "I originally thought everything last year was good, but when I think carefully, that water was both dirty and crowded. I talked about last year every day, but really I had almost forgotten what it truly looked like."

The room was quiet for a while. The goldfish slowly swam to the middle of the bowl, looking at the clean water around it. "This little bowl... is actually quite nice," it said softly, "the water is clean, and very quiet, no one fights me for food. I had never noticed these things before."

Xiaokang smiled. He thought for a moment, then took a smooth little stone out of his backpack, one he had picked up by the river. He washed it clean and gently placed it into the bowl. The stone settled at the bottom, and the goldfish curiously swam over, circling around it once.

"This stone is for you," Xiaokang said. The goldfish swam around the stone, its tail gently swaying. "Thank you," it said, "now there is water here, there is light, and a stone too. Quite nice." Xiaokang rested his chin on his hand, watching it swim circle after circle.

From that day on, the goldfish no longer talked about last year. It no longer compared every single day to last year. The morning fish food, the noon sunlight, the evening lamplight, it quietly enjoyed them all. In the bowl was a smooth stone, the water was clear, and the goldfish circled around the stone, swimming slowly.