Picked up this book from Kino, a Chinese book translated from Japanese.

The author was sent to live with his maternal grandmother when he was in primary two. His father died shortly after WWII, and his mother had to work hard in Hiroshima to support him and his elder brother. The author took up running as suggested by his grandmother because everything else (Judo, Kendo) cost money. He wrote to his mum to come visit during the annual school sports day but his mother could not make it. Deyong is the name of the author in chinese translated from japanese. Bento (bian4 dang1) is like a japanese lunch box.

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            I dashed forward with all my might.

            With broad steps I lurched forward, on that field that on other days saw only me running. The sky was blue, and around me was the sound of parents rooting for their children. I lost myself in the run, and by the time I noticed, I had already past the finishing line way ahead of others.

            "Mum, I am first!"

            Even though my mother did not come, but if I wrote to her about this, she'd be happy! That was a feeling I wanted to keep in my heart forever. But that joyous feeling was soon broken.

            "It's time now for a happy break, everyone can enjoy your lunch with your father and mother now!"

            On that announcement, everyone dispersed to various parts of the school to have lunch with their parents.

            "You performed very well!"

            "Are you hurt?"

            "I brought your favourite sausage."

            Words of praise, worry and love took away the glory of the champion medal on my chest. It felt even worse than when I had no one to cheer for me during the run itself.

            "Deyong, you ran very fast! Come have your bento with us!" The auntie from next door said to me.

            "It's ok, my mum is waiting for me there," I said as I ran to the classroom, a lie that everyone could see through.

            Grandma didn't turn up as well. Not only for the sports meet, she did not turn up for any of the other school visiting days. Perhaps it was because of the comment a classmate passed on the first day of school when Grandma sent me to school "is that your mother? She's very old". It seemed as if she was worried she'd disgrace me by turning up in school.

            I ran to the classroom and sat on my seat. I could hear the buzz of bees from outside the classroom. With tears in my eyes, I opened by simple bento when the classroom door opened.

            "Hey Deyong, you're here!"

            It was my class form teacher.

            "Is anything the matter, sir?" I said, hastily wiping my tears away.

            "Erm, can we exchange our bento set?"

            "Huh?"

            "I'm not sure why, but I don't feel well in my stomach. Do you have dried plums and sweet ginger in your bento?"

            "Ya."

            "That's great, those are good for stomach, let me exchange with you."

            "Ok sir." I exchanged my bento set with the teacher.

            "Thanks," he said as he went out of the classroom with my bento set.

            "Stomachache? That's really terrible," I thought as I opened the teacher's bento set, and let out a cry of joy. It was filled with fried egg, sausage, fried prawns - a variety of colours I had never seen before! I ate the bento happily.

           "There's actually such great taste in the world," I thought. "This is really great!" Thanks to the teacher's stomachache, my shrinking heart was filled again, and that rejuvenated me for the relay race in the afternoon.

            After that, a year passed.

            In primary three, I was again the hero of the school sports meet. But my mother did not turn up again due to work. It was during lunch when the classroom door opened again, and the same teacher walked in.

            "Oh Deyong, you're eating alone again in here this year?"

            "Yes sir."

            "I'm having a stomachache, do you have dried plums and sweet ginger in your bento? Can we exchange?"

            "Ok sir." I agreed readily, all too happy to enjoy the teacher's luxurious bento set.

            Another year passed, and I had a female teacher as my form teacher in primary four.  I was again the hero in the sports meet, and again my mother couldn't make it. It was lunch time. The classroom door opened.

            "Hey Deyong, you're here! My stomach is not feeling well, can I exchange my bento with yours?" Why, even the new teacher was having a stomachache during the annual school sports meet? I seriously thought that teachers in this school probably have stomachache every year during the sports meet!

            Until I graduate from primary school, I was always the hero in the school sports meet, and my mother never came to support me. And every year during the sports meet, my form teacher would have stomachache and had to exchange bento set with me. I only realized the meaning of this when I told Grandma about this when I was in primary six.

            "Strange, they always get stomachache during the annual sports meet."

            "It's an excuse lah, the teachers did this purposely."

            "Huh? But the teachers said they had stomachache ..."

            "That's true concern! If they had told you they brought lunch for you, you and I would feel awkward right? That's why your teachers lied about having stomach problems, so that they can exchange bento sets with you."

            The teachers knew my mother could not come for the annual sports meet, so they came up with this strategy to let me have a luxurious lunch at least once every year.

            True concern is something nobody could detect. That seemed to be one of Grandma's maxims, and I heard these words from her several times after that. Until today, the sports meets' bento sets story remains etched in my heart, a story of "true concern".