Thatched roof house in my maternal home village

The cries of Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac's family alerted the people of Kim Lien and Hoang Tru villages to come and offer their condolences. Everyone was moved and could not hold back their tears, mourning the sudden death of Mrs. Loan, a gentle, virtuous, beautiful and virtuous woman.

The sadness in the family became even more intense when baby Xin, thirsty for milk and suffering from a severe cold on the way from Hue to his hometown, also died shortly after.

At over 60 years old, after the death of her first daughter and her unfortunate grandchild, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kep was devastated, but then she had to get up, trying to suppress her grief to comfort and take care of her grandchildren.

The passing of Em Xin sowed a deep sadness in the young soul of Nguyen Sinh Cung. In the scene of mourning, the love between grandmother and grandchild, father and son, and sisters became even more intimate. Loving his grandmother, Sinh Cung helped her with many chores in the house and in the garden. The lily bushes in the front garden were always taken care of by him, with white flowers blooming smoothly. The jackfruit tree, the areca garden, the mulberry bank, and the banana bushes all seemed to become close friends of his sisters.

Mr. Sac was stunned and shaken by his family's misfortune. To ease his grief, he opened a class at the request of his neighbors. Many people from near and far sent their children to him for instruction. Parents borrowed a few rooms from Mr. Huong Nhan's house (also in Hoang Tru village) to use as a classroom. Cung's brothers were still able to study with their father. Sinh Cung's Chinese was quite good. In class, Sinh Cung still enjoyed the time practicing parallel sentences the most; whoever could write a good sentence was often praised by the teacher and his friends. Once, during the practice session of writing parallel sentences, the teacher gave a parallel sentence:"White eyes”, meaning “White eyes blue eyes”.Some of you chanted your couplets, but were not praised by the teacher.Seeing a classmate in the class who had to cover his head with a red cloth because of his sore eyes, Sinh Cung immediately asked for a response:"Red Black Head”, meaning “Black head, red head”. Then the whole class had a good laugh. Mr. Cu Sac saw that his son was quick-witted, but sometimes he was too busy playing and not really studious.

Whenever he was busy, Mr. Sac asked Mr. Vuong Thuc Do to teach him instead. To Sinh Cung, Mr. Do was also a relative on his mother's side. He called Mr. Do "uncle". Unlike many teachers at that time, Mr. Do almost never beat his students. He often confided to his colleagues: one must love children as he loves himself in order to teach them well.

Although he did not study much with Mr. Vuong Thuc Do, Nguyen Sinh Cung respected and was grateful to him. The book says, “One word from a teacher is worth half a word from a teacher.” Mr. Sac was pleased and thanked Mr. Do for helping him teach many sessions to create conditions for him to have time to ponder over literature. His career path was still unfinished.

The Tan Suu imperial examination (mid-1901) was coming. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kep, not afraid of her old age and weakness, agreed to take care of her grandchildren so that her son-in-law could go to the capital in time for the examination.

For Nguyen Sinh Cung, Trua village is his birthplace, where he was born in a simple thatched house, under a bamboo grove in the garden, where there are many happy and sad memories of his childhood:

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What a joyful scene in the lovely Trua village,
Above the temple, below the well or terrain.

In the summer, when the sun was shining and the wind was strong, friends often invited Sinh Cung to play kite flying. One time, the kite just flew up and spun around and then crashed into the field. After several repairs, it was still the same. Friends were discouraged and told each other to destroy it and make another one; but Sinh Cung persevered in repairing it, and finally, the kite flew high into the blue sky amidst the joyful cheers of the children of Trua village.

Trua village has many ponds and swamps, fishing is also a hobby that Sinh Cung and his friends enjoy. One afternoon, Thuyen and Sinh Cung were fishing; the buoy shook, Thuyen jerked the rod hard, the hook hooked into Sinh Cung's ear, causing bleeding. Thuyen panicked and cried out, but Sinh Cung calmly picked some niệt leaves, crushed them, and applied them to the painful area. To reassure his friend, Sinh Cung kept saying: "It's okay, it's okay! Once the bleeding stops, it'll be fine!"

The most attractive thing for children in Chung Cu area is playing tug of war on Chung mountain. The children like to side with Sinh Cung; not because he is strong at pulling, but because he is quick-witted and has tricks, so he often wins. Moreover, even when he loses, he remains calm, does not swear or get angry. With younger children, he is often considerate and does not bully them because of his age.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kep loved and pampered her youngest grandchild very much; she rarely scolded him, but she also did not let him play around. Not long after Mr. Sac went to Hue, she sent her grandchild to Huu Biet village (now Nam Giang commune, Nam Dan district, Nghe An province) to continue studying Chinese with teacher Hoang Phan Quynh. The class was located in the outer room of Mr. Nguyen Trong Vy's house. Sinh Cung had only been studying for a few days when he was noticed by the teacher.

Seeing that Sinh Cung was the same age as his eldest son (Hoang Phan Kinh, also known as Trong) and was a good student and well-mannered, the teacher asked Mr. Kep ​​to let him live in his house to study to set an example for his own children. Although Trong and Mong (Hoang Phan Soan) were the teacher's children, their academic performance was a bit weak. Sinh Cung was better at studying, often doing his homework and memorizing his lessons before his two friends.

In his spare time, Sinh Cung often told stories to his friends. Trong and Mong were fascinated by the strange stories of the capital city of Hue, which Sinh Cung could tell endlessly. Trong and Mong never forgot their lovable friend. As for Sinh Cung, half a century later, the image of his respected teacher and two peers is still imprinted in his memory./.