我与父亲不相见已二年余了，我最不能忘记的是他的背影。那年冬天，祖母死了，父亲的差使也交卸了，正是祸不单行的日子，我从北京到徐州，打算跟着父亲奔丧回家。到了徐州见着父亲，看见满院狼藉的东西，又想起祖母，不禁簌簌地流下眼泪。
It is more than two years since I last saw father, and what I can never forget is the sight of his back. Misfortunes never come singly. In the winter of more than two years ago, grandma died and father lost his job. I left Beijing for Xuzhou to join father in hastening home to attend grandma’s funeral. When I met father in Xuzhou, the sight of the disorderly mess in his courtyard and the though of grandma started tears trickling down my cheeks.
父亲说：“事已如此，不必难过，好在天无绝人之路!”
Father said, “Now that things’ve come to such a pass, it’s no use crying. Fortunately, Heaven always leaves one a way out.”
回家变卖典质，父亲还了亏空;又借了钱办了丧事。这些日子，家中光景很是惨淡，一半为了丧事，一半为了父亲的赋闲。丧事完毕，父亲要到南京谋事，我也要回到北京念书，我们便同行。
After arriving home in Yangzhou, father paid off debts by selling or pawning things. He also borrowed money to meet the funeral expenses. Between grandma’s funeral and father’s unemployment, our family was then in reduced circumstances. After the funeral was over, father was to go to Nanjing to look for a job and I was to return to Beijing to study, so we started out together.
到南京时，有朋友约去游逛，勾留了一日;第二日上午便须渡江到浦口，下午上车北去。父亲因为事忙，本已说定不送我，叫旅馆里一个熟识的茶房陪我同去。他再三嘱咐茶房，甚是仔细。但他终于不放心，怕茶房不妥贴，颇踌躇了一会。其实那年我已二十岁，北京来往过两三次，是没有甚么要紧的了。他踌躇了一会，终于决定还是自己送我去。我两三回劝他不必去;他只说，“不要紧，他们去不好!”