Rice Life

 　　Growing up in the Central Plains, rice wasn't a staple food, and I didn't have a particular fondness for it. I'd occasionally eat it, but the taste was bland, and I'd forget about it immediately.

　　Later, I had the chance to try Northeast rice. It was sticky, each grain clinging together, soft and glutinous in the mouth, leaving a lingering fragrance—a delightful surprise.

　　Then, while traveling in Hubei, I stayed with a farmer and ate the local rice. Each grain was separate, loose, and tasteless, like sand or pebbles. At first, I could barely swallow it, but after eating it three times a day, my appetite dwindled, and eventually, I felt like crying at mealtimes.

　　How could rice be so different?

　　The climates of the North and South have always been different; the South is warm and humid, while the North is cold and dry.

　　Because of these differences, different plants naturally grow. The mild climate of the south allows plants to grow rapidly. Sunlight and rain seem to urge them on, allowing them to thrive in abundant water and light. Winds are rare, gentle, and mild; plants don't need to protect themselves, devoting all their energy to growth, resulting in broad, loosely textured leaves. In contrast, the cold, dry north, coupled with biting winds, relentlessly torments plants throughout the year. Less sunlight, slightly lower temperatures, and even less rain, combined with the constant swaying winds, prevents plants from ever relaxing, always tightly wrapped in their protective layers. It is the harsh northern winds that forge the dense, resilient, and upright branches and leaves of the plants. Rice is like this,

　　plants are like this, and life should be like this too. If wind and frost are meant to shape plants, then hardship is meant to shape life.

　　Edison, after hundreds of failures, invented the light bulb; an old man who achieved nothing until sixty founded KFC; and Eileen Chang's unfulfilled love life shaped her into a unique writer.

　　Some say Eileen Chang's life of hardship shaped hundreds of millions of Chinese readers; I say her hardship, in turn, made her a person who stands at a high level. So be grateful for the hardships in life; perhaps they are there to shape your life!