Coqên County had a small population， the gender ratio of which was greatly imbalanced at fifteen men to one woman. However ugly or old a woman was， she would always find a husband there. Every time a girl was assigned to work there， all of the bachelors knew her name and marital status before she arrived. They would wait for her at the entrance to the road， help her carry her baggage and boil the water. Somebody would even write a voluminous love letter to her， trying everything they could to woo her. Even today， there are still many "senior" bachelors in Coqên County.
Young Tinley， however， didn't have much trouble in finding a beautiful Tibetan girl. She was the sister of a government officer and met Tinley when she was babysitting at her brother's. After their marriage， tribulation came with happiness. The couple had four sons； one was a miscarriage and another died a month after birth. The other two are both still working and living in Ngari today.
His wife suffered from dystocia when giving birth to their first son and almost died from intense pain. The child didn't come out even after her water broke. Tinley was agitated like an ant on a hot pan， almost desperate when a Jie Fang car (made by China's FAW Car Co. Ltd) pulled up before the county government building they were in. It turned out that the medical team from Beijing had finished the free medical treatment tour around pasturing areas and was back in town. In the car was an anesthetist， who disinfected the equipment while eating and operated as soon as he finished dinner. The baby was delivered by a full-bearded doctor from Beijing， who Tinley then asked to name the baby. He came up with the name Jingsong as it was August 1， 1976.
When his wife gave birth to their youngest son Luobu Tsring， the situation was more pressingly dangerous. She suffered from dystocia again， but this time they could find no one to deliver the baby. Tinley went downtown to send telegrams asking for help.
Response from neighboring Gêrzê County： no car， only doctor.
Response from Ngari： no car， only doctor.
There was no response from the adjacent Shigatse Prefecture.
The next day a driver named Luosang from Shigatse Prefecture saw the telegram by chance and told the deputy commissioner of the Culture， Education， and Health Department of Shigatse about it. The commissioner lent him a brand-new Beijing Jeep with a doctor and an anesthetist onboard. They drove for more than ten hours on end over a distance of more than 600 kilometers between Shigatse and Coqên County. When they stopped just before Tinley's house and asked where his wife was， Tinley felt as if the scene was from a film rather than reality.
Not until the female doctor Zhuoga put the little newborn in Tinley's arms did he realize it was really happening. He asked Zhuoga to name the baby， who was then given an auspicious name meaning a baby with longevity. The baby lived up to their expectations： he was admitted to a university on the mainland and came back to work in Ngari after graduation.
When Luobu was leaving for college， Tinley brought out the good wine he had been saving for a long time and entertained his friends， among whom were Wang Huisheng and Ren Fushan， who spent their retired years back in Beijing and Shanxi Province respectively， and Zong Tongchang， who was exploring the relics of the ancient Guge Kingdom in Ngari. They all felt nostalgic when recalling this feast， though they couldn't express their feelings with words.
One day in March 2007， Tinley lost touch with Luobu for a whole day. His eyelids kept twitching and his heart beat crazily. It turned out that Luobu was caught in traffic due to a heavy snowfall on his way back to Ngari after a meeting in Lhasa. If he would have stayed in the car， he would have surely starved or frozen to death， so he and the other three in the car decided to walk to the military depot more than ten kilometers away. Luobu and a Khampa only wore thin shoes， so when they arrived at the depot they could no longer feel their own feet.
By the time a rescue team sent Luobu to the Tibet Military District General Hospital in Lhasa， his ten toes had all turned black. The family could not accept the doctor's suggestion that all the toes be amputated， so they transferred Luobu to a hospital in Beijing in the hope of keeping his feet. Unfortunately， the toes were still amputated. It was during this time when Tinley was attending to his son in the Beijing hospital that something went wrong with his heart because of extreme anxiety.
The fragrance of apple flowers wafted over to us again. Tinley sipped at his tea and sighed. He told me in a low voice that the most heart-wrenching thing that had happened in his life was the handicapping of his son. After another sip， he calmed himself down and continued， saying that it comforted him that Luobu was leading a happy life now and had a warm family of his own.
After a short rest， Tinley continued his story.
Originally he was "borrowed" to Coqên County for half a year or one year， however， he stayed there for fourteen years in the end. During those years， Tinley received one year of further education at Minzu University of China and was appointed head of the county's Culture， Education and Health Department and after that the Deputy County Chief. Later， when someone wanted to transfer him to Geji County as the new chief， he was firm in refusing because， in his own words， he was not able to qualify as a successful leader in view of his theoretical knowledge. His refusal didn't work out and in the end he had to accept the new post.
Once at a meeting amongst government officers， he had a fierce quarrel with Commissioner Laba Tsring， his friend in daily life and the same person who first "borrowed" him to Coqên County. The reason for their quarrel was that Tinley thought there could be a mistake in the quota of wool harvest set for Geji County. After verification， Tinley was right.
Tinley laughed after telling me this story. I laughed with him.
