Aftershock Quotes

Li Yuanni: Daqiang, Fang Deng, don't mind me being annoying. Every year when burning paper offerings, we've been talking to you both. We've moved. If you want to come back, don't go the wrong way, ok? Our alleyway is next to the railway school. At the first row of houses, turn left. The first one is our home. Remember that! Where we used to live, they're building a department mall. So we can't move back there.

Fang Da: Mom, dad and elder sis have already been dead for ten years. How could they still come back? I feel spooked hearing you keep saying such things.

Li Yuanni: I've no idea how to tell your dad and elder sis... I was so looking forward to the day of your college entrance exam. Yet you didn't even bother stepping into the exam hall. Why can't you be more sensible? You made me feel so disappointed.

Fang Da: [surly] Disappointed... If you had known, you should have saved elder sis instead, shouldn't you?

Dong Guilan: [displeased, very quietly] What a disgrace.

Wang Deqing: Are you talking about me? What have I done?

Dong Guilan: The child is already grown up. Look at what you're wearing.

Wang Deqing: [glances at his casual T-shirt and shorts] Huh, I'm at home. Should I be dressed like a king? Can't I even enter my own child's room?

Fang Da: Be on your best when you meet my mom later. If my mom doesn't like you, we'll have to break up.

Xiao He: Huh. Am I getting married to you or your mom?

Fang Da: My mom gave birth to me three times.

Xiao He: What do you mean?

Fang Da: The first time was when I was born. During my first year, I caught pneumonia and nearly died. The doctor said not to save me, but my mom insisted otherwise, that was the second time. The earthquake, the third time.

Fang Da: The 1976 earthquake destroyed my mom's entire life. Her heart... was shattered like debris. Do you know what my mom often says?

Volunteer of Tangshan rescue team at 2008 Sichuan earthquake: What?

Fang Da: Only after you've lost something, then do you truly know what loss is. The houses that fell had been rebuilt. But the house in my mom's heart was never put together again. 32 years have passed, yet the old lady continues passing the days guarding the ruins of her heart.

Li Yuanni: I've endured great grief, surely I can also bear with great happiness. Where does your sister-in-law live?

Xiao He: Canada.

Li Yuanni: [sighs] She has been hiding so far away from me.

Li Yuanni: So who took care of you after you gave birth? What about the child's father?

Fang Deng: He left the country. I lost touch with him.

Li Yuanni: Didn't you ask someone to help find him?

Fang Deng: He didn't want me anymore. What's the point?

Fang Deng: [tearfully] Mom, how have you managed all these years?

Li Yuanni: I've been doing quite alright.

Fang Deng: How many 30 years are there in a woman's lifetime? Why did you do that?

Li Yuanni: Really, I've been doing quite alright. If I'd instead led a carefree life, I would be letting you down even more.

Fang Deng: Mom, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. From the first moment I set eyes on Fang Da, I started to hate myself. He is my little brother... how wonderful that he has survived. Mom, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've tortured you for 32 years.

Fang Deng: [to foster father] All these years, you have been asking me about this issue. After the earthquake, my little brother and I were both trapped under the rubble. They said it was possible to save only one of us. My mom said, "Save little brother." These three words... keep ringing in my ears.

[tearing up]

Fang Deng: Dad, it's not that I don't remember. It's that I'm unable to forget.