Chapter 57 A cannon

I was born in Hong Kong on April 7, 1954, in the year of Horse.My parents named me Chen Gangsheng. When I was in my mother's womb, I was not an honest child and loved to toss.This is nothing unusual, the strange thing is that my mother is 12 months pregnant, and I still refuse to come out.One day, my mother had a stomachache that was unbearable, and my father rushed her to the hospital.She was writhing on the bed in pain, and then got under the bed in pain. After examination, the doctor said that the baby was too big and there was a danger of dystocia, and suggested immediate caesarean section.

Dad signed the consent form, and the whole operation took nearly two hours before I was taken out of my mother's stomach.When I was born, I weighed 12 pounds (1 pound = 0.4536 kilograms), which stunned the doctors and parents, and later made it into the local newspaper, calling me "giant baby" in the headline of the article.Because I was so big when I was born, my parents gave me a nickname "A Pao", "Cannonball".Sometimes they also call me "Pao Pao". In the 1950s, my parents fled to Hong Kong from the mainland and found a job as a cook and servant in the French consul's house. This was considered very lucky among refugees in that era.Although my parents’ financial conditions were poor, I was born in a rich man’s mansion on the top of Mount Victoria. It’s just that other people’s homes are in the front, grand and spacious, while my home is hidden behind, narrow and simple.Living in the same place, the Consul's family treated us very well, but we were in two worlds from the beginning.

There is also a small episode in the middle. The cost of the caesarean section was several hundred Hong Kong dollars, which my parents couldn't afford at the time.The surgeon was a lady who had no children. She discussed with her father that if she gave me to her, not only would she not charge the operation fee and hospitalization fee, but she would also pay another 500 Hong Kong dollars.It was a high price tag, and Papa had actually considered it seriously.In fact, at that time, many poor people would send their children to rich people to raise them, so that not only could they get money, but also ensure a good future for their children.Fortunately, my parents did not accept the deal.After all, I was their first child, and I was alive and well, so they couldn't bear it.Several friends of my father were also very supportive, they said, this may be your last child, when my mother was 40 years old. "12 months pregnant, 12 pounds born, this baby may be something in the future!" Friends lent money to Dad so that he could pay off his debts and I was able to grow up with my biological parents.

My home is very clean, but also very crowded. The three of us live in a space of more than ten square meters. The furniture made by my father is always polished by my mother.We couldn't fit two beds at home, so we slept on bunk beds, with my parents sleeping on top and me on the bottom.I always cried loudly at night, tossing and tossing the whole house into a restless place, even disturbing my parents, and often making the consul's family so noisy that they couldn't sleep.Although they are very self-cultivated, sometimes they will come downstairs to see what is wrong with me and if I am not feeling well, which makes my parents feel very embarrassed.Sometimes my crying was so loud that it even disturbed the residents of other buildings. In the middle of the night, there would be an angry roar: "Whose child is crying! It's so annoying!" Whenever this time, my mother quickly put the I hugged me out of the door and took me to a distant garden, gently fanning me, singing songs, and coaxing me to sleep.I was already very heavy at that time, and my mother had to work non-stop during the day and hug me at night, which was very tiring.

For as long as I can remember, I've always seen my dad in the kitchen and my mom in the laundry room with piles of laundry.When I grew up a little, she took me with me, washed and rinsed, ironed and folded herself.I crawled around at her feet, often almost tripping over her.Sometimes when she wasn't paying attention, I ate a scrap of paper for a while, and a bar of soap for a while, which made my mother very distressed.Then she finally found a way to deal with me, as long as I put me in the bathtub full of water, I would be so happy, splashing the water in it, playing with myself, so that my mother could live a little longer.

My father said that I was more like my mother when I was a child. I was born with long hair, small eyes, and very fat.There is also a very embarrassing thing. Because my mother doted on me, she let me breastfeed until I was three years old. Although there was no more milk, I still didn't let go.Sometimes my mother finally has a free time to play mahjong with the neighbors, and I will run over to lift up her clothes to feed her. When I was four or five years old, my father began to be strict with me.Every morning when it was just dawn, he would drag me up, do morning exercises with him, and sometimes take a cold shower together.My father has very skillful hands. He used some waste materials to help me make fitness equipment, and supervised my exercise every day.My father once learned Xiaohongquan, and he would also teach me some simple routines and tricks.

When I was five or six years old, my elder brother reluctantly went to elementary school.Every day, I was mischievous at school, or I lost my schoolbag on the way home. The car money my parents gave me made me buy fish ball powder.I was not honest when I was at home. There was a concrete slope near the top of the mountain. I would always go there and slide down the slope. In the end, I would wear my sneakers until the soles were full of holes, and I would go to an old man who repaired them for me. My neighbor asked me when I was a kid, what do you want to be when you grow up?I said I want to be a flying man.People asked again, how to fly?I just said, it’s the kind of flying that flies very high.People say, don't fly now, or you will get hurt, and wait until you grow up to become a trapezeman.I just nodded and said yes.The old neighbors at that time said that although I was skinny, I was also very smart.

The bear child, Pao, had a very short childhood. When my parents found out that I was not suitable for school, they helped me think of another way out.That way out allowed me to live a life of "darkness" for ten years, but it was also those ten years that made Jackie Chan who I am today.