“The Good Deed,” by Pearl S. Buck.

This story begins, when Mr. Pan takes his old mother from her ancestral village in the province of Szechuen to his home in New York, to his wife and children, because the government fell there and there were many dangerous local bullies, who could have killed her. But safety is not enough for Mrs. Pan. She begins to miss home so badly, that she doesn’t eat and hardly sleeps. All day long she seats in the distant part of the room and dreams about her beautiful large house, where she was happy with her the late husband, who was the head of the all village. It was really big one and they had many servants.

And there is all different. Her grandchildren speak Chinese very badly and her son’s wife too, in spite of that she is Chinese woman, and she has never been to China. Poor old Mrs. Pan can talk only to her son, but he works and can’t seat at home for her.

One day Mr. Pan asks his wife an advice, because he sees that his mother becomes weaker and weaker every day from longing for home. Younger Mrs. Pan is a wise and kind woman, and she invites a young friend of her, Lili Yang, to speak to grandmother Chinese. When Lili comes, she asks Mrs. Pan to talk to her about her village and accidentally old Mrs. Pan learns that Lili is already twenty-seven and that she is not married, but really wants to be married and to have children. Her parents are dead, she has no brothers or sisters, but “it is not his fault that I’m not married” – Lili tries to explain to old Mrs. Pan. But in her village in China the parents arranged marriages for their children, and Mrs. Pan promises to do it for Miss Lili.

From this day the old lady wakes up. She begin to eat and sleep and thinks how to manage to fulfill her promise. At once we see that she is really strong-willed person and can better imagine her as a mistress of the big house and many servants. She begin even to look out of the window and it happens that she gets to know one kind man, Mr. Lim, who replaces his father at work while it is summer, and he’s a college graduate, and more than that, he is the son of the richest man on their street.

And with help of Mrs. Pan young people hit it off and Mrs. Pan and father of Mr. Lim decide to arrange a marriage for them.

It is an awesome story about kindness, which all people in the story show us. I deeply suffered with Mr. Pan about old Mrs. Pan and I was worried about Lili. I didn’t know that it is parents who arrange a marriage for their children in China, and I think it is great, because amorousness passes in time, but good character honesty and morals – never. I think it would be much better if nowadays parents were arrange marriages for us!