Chapter Two

She— so beautiful. The water rippled softly, bending light and shadow just so, and with Little Oriole's movements and bearing it all seemed to have been brushed with a filter. Li Zhuiyuan had been taken by his parents to watch their work unit's arts performance, and had seen many professional singers and dancers, but yesterday the shock of Little Oriole's performance had been no less for him than for his cousins. Under his parents' upbringing he had always known the rules and obeyed them, yet Little Oriole beneath that crude shed had shown him another kind of flair, something wild. She was coquettish, she was wanton, she was crude, she was not fit for polite company, but that scent—she really smelled so good. She came over, closer and closer, like a figure in a painting stepping out of the canvas—and walking back into it. In that moment Li Zhuiyuan forgot his situation. He seemed no longer aware that he was in the water, ignoring the panic of being unable to breathe and the water that kept choking into his mouth and nose. Until she reached out her hand. Yesterday, when he had squeezed in front with his cousins to watch the performance, Little Oriole had come right up to him, twisting her waist and singing, and had deliberately reached out to touch his face, because among that crowd of children Li Zhuiyuan was as fair and clean as a porcelain doll. Originally, Li Zhuiyuan had even hoped she would touch him again. But this time she reached out with both hands. Two hands seized both of Li Zhuiyuan's shoulders. “So cold… so painful…” In an instant, the mood was twisted and torn apart, and that strange, inexplicable fascination vanished. Fear finally showed in Li Zhuiyuan's eyes, like someone whose anesthesia has worn off and who suddenly feels pain again. He wanted to break free, to dodge, to flee, but those hands held him fast, and no matter how he struggled, he could not escape. Then a force came from behind. Li Zhuiyuan felt himself being pulled, like a game of tug-of-war he had played at school—except this time he was the rope. At last, with a kind of tearing release, Li Zhuiyuan was hauled up. In his vision, he floated upward, higher and higher, while Little Oriole below grew farther and smaller. She raised her arms toward him, and between them there slowly opened a chasm that should never have been possible. “Heave!” Fortunately, his grandson had a small bamboo back basket on his back, and Li Weihan had seized that basket to pull upward. It was heavy—a dead, dead weight. He was only a child, yet Li Weihan felt as though he were wrestling a plow ox in rut. Down there, some force was keeping his grandson from rising. Lei Zi came to help then, wrapping his arms around Li Weihan's waist and pulling backward. Finally— “Splash!” When his grandson was pulled out of the water, the opposing force suddenly vanished, and Li Weihan, Lei Zi, and the newly rescued Li Zhuiyuan all tumbled into the boat. “Get moving!” Without even rising, Li Weihan bellowed at Pan Zi. This time Pan Zi did not drop the ball; he poled with all the strength in his body and quickly moved to the other side. “Grandpa, she's coming, she's coming!” Lei Zi pointed ahead in terror. Li Weihan looked that way and saw that, as the boat moved, a mass of black hair on the water was actually following toward them. She was chasing them! “Lei Hou, go help Pan Hou pole the boat, hurry!” “All right, Grandpa.” Lei Zi jumped up and ran over; the two of them shouted a work chant and pulled together, and the boat sped up further. Li Weihan grabbed a fishing rod, his expression grim. When he saw that the mass of hair was still closing the distance to the boat, he gave a great shout and jabbed the rod at a point just ahead of the hair. The rod entered the water. It must have struck something, yet there was no resistance at all; instead a tremendous force pulled the rod downward. “Aiyo…” Li Weihan cried out in alarm. Fortunately, he let go of the rod in time, or that terrifying force would have dragged him into the water. The hair was closer now. Standing at the edge of the boat, Li Weihan could see the figure of the woman in the black qipao beneath the water ahead. The river flowed east, yet she was moving against the current. She was walking. She was truly walking by herself! “Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!” The boat began to rock, gradually more violently. Li Weihan could hardly imagine what would happen if the boat capsized and he and his grandsons fell into the water. This was no longer a question of whether one could swim. The dead-flipper was uncanny as hell! Then Li Weihan's gaze swept to the fishing net at his feet. Without time to think, he snatched up the net and cast it over the hair, which was now less than two meters from the boat. The net first settled over the surface, and its edges quickly sank halfway. At first the net was still being dragged along the surface, but gradually it slowed, and at last it stopped. It worked—it had tripped her up! Li Weihan rushed to the stern and snatched the bamboo pole: “Go check on Xiaoyuan Hou!” “All right, Grandpa.” Pan Zi and Lei Zi were only big boys, after all; their desperate poling had already left them drained. Once Li Weihan took over, they ran to Li Zhuiyuan's side. “Yuanzi, Yuanzi? Yuanzi, wake up, wake up please!” “Grandpa, we can't wake Yuanzi.” Li Weihan poled on while still watching the receding net, and shouted back, “Is he breathing!” “Grandpa, he's breathing!” “Pat Xiaoyuan Hou on the back.” The two boys did as told at once; one held Li Zhuiyuan upright while the other patted his back. But after a long while of fussing over him, Li Zhuiyuan still did not wake. “Grandpa, it's no use!” Li Weihan did not answer. He only gritted his teeth and kept poling, not daring to free a hand to wipe the sweat from his eyes. At last they reached home. Li Weihan threw down the pole, paid no mind to tying the boat, and leaped ashore with Li Zhuiyuan in his arms. He was so exhausted that he stumbled as he landed; to protect the grandson in his arms, he could only brace himself with his knees against the gray brick steps below. “Hiss…” His knees were scraped open, but the next moment he forced himself up and carried the child inside: “Guiying, Guiying!” “Back so early?” Cui Guiying was cleaning ash behind the stove. Hearing the commotion, she stood up, and when she saw the child in her old man's arms she cried anxiously, “What is it? What happened? What's wrong with the child?” Li Weihan first carried the child into the inner room and laid him on a mat. There were too many children in the house to fit on the beds, and since it was summer, they all slept together on the floor at night. Cui Guiying lifted Li Zhuiyuan's head, patted his cheek gently, and found that no matter what, the child would not wake. She began to weep: “Aiyo, my child, my child, what is wrong with you?” “Stop wailing!” Li Weihan kicked Cui Guiying's shin. “Quick, change him into dry clothes.” Cui Guiying hurriedly wiped the corner of her eye and rose to fetch clothes. “Pan Zi, go fetch Zheng Datong!” “All right, Grandpa.” Zheng Datong's real name was Zheng Huamin. He was the doctor at the Siyuan Village clinic—a barefoot doctor. Because he liked to wave a big syringe to frighten children on purpose, the children had first given him this nickname, and over time the adults had picked it up too. “Lei Zi, go fetch Blind Liu.” “All right, Grandpa.” Blind Liu's real name was Liu Jinxia. Her parents had died early, and her uncle had arranged for her to marry into the village from over in Si'an Town. In her first year of marriage, her father- and mother-in-law died one after another, and who knew how many village wives secretly wept with envy. The next year, at night, her husband got drunk, went to the toilet, fell into the manure pit, and drowned, leaving behind only a newborn daughter. By then, the village was saying Liu Jinxia's fate was hard and she harmed her blood relatives. A widow raising a child had a hard life. Besides doing the farm work, Liu Jinxia took up fortune-telling and warding off evil as a trade. The more terrible the rumors about her became, the more people believed in her powers. In those days, scratching a living from the fields could only fill one's belly; to live a little more comfortably, one needed other trades. Liu Jinxia relied on this one, and with it she managed to take a husband for her daughter Li Juxiang who would marry into the family. But in only the second year after the son-in-law moved in, he supposedly suffered a sudden heart attack and toppled face-first into the field while transplanting rice seedlings. He died. That left Li Juxiang with a newborn daughter of her own. Now not only the village, but all the surrounding villages and townships were certain of the Liu Jinxia line's fate, and her business grew better for it. She simply rented out the family fields to others, had her daughter buy a three-wheeled cart from town, and wherever there was business, had Li Juxiang pedal the cart and carry her there. A few years earlier, Liu Jinxia had developed cataracts and could no longer see very well, which, so to speak, completed her personal business image. Meanwhile, Cui Guiying had just finished changing Li Zhuiyuan out of his wet clothes when she saw her old man rinse the blood from his knee with a ladleful of well water, then unlock the cupboard and take out three packs of cigarettes. He tossed the first pack to Cui Guiying and said, “When Zheng Datong comes, open it in front of him and pull out one cigarette; when he leaves, pull out another. Put the medicine fee on credit.” Then Li Weihan tossed over a second pack: “Give Blind Liu the whole pack. Don't discuss anything else.” Cui Guiying reminded him, “I hear Blind Liu charges a lot for a job these days.” Li Weihan shook his head. “Let her be blind in the eyes; she'd better not be blind in her conscience.” Liu Jinxia's husband had grown up playing in the mud with Li Weihan. In the first years after her husband died, the widow and child had a hard time, and Li Weihan often brought them some relief and helped with farm work during busy seasons. Because of that, Li Weihan had not lacked for gossip then. Although the two families did not visit often anymore, if that Blind Liu dared to take money from his house, Li Weihan would dare to spit in her face. The last pack Li Weihan put into his own pocket. Cui Guiying was surprised. “Are you going out?” Li Weihan nodded. “I'm going to find Third Uncle Sanjiang.” “What! What did you run into out there?” Li Weihan glanced at the children around them and glared at his wife: “I'll tell you when I get back.” With that, Li Weihan pushed the big-framed bicycle out the door. Cui Guiying sat back down by the mat, gently stroking Li Zhuiyuan and calling his name again and again. One of the little granddaughters asked curiously, “What happened to Brother Yuanzi?” Huzi said at once, “I know! Brother Yuanzi met a water monkey and got pulled down to be its substitute ghost!” For a moment all the children around them looked frightened and backed away. “Smack!” A handprint appeared on Huzi's face. Cui Guiying cursed, “Bah! You confused little wretch, spouting nonsense. Go outside and see if the people I sent for have arrived. Quick!” “Yes! I'm going!” Huzi did not make a fuss. The slap stung, but he did not take it to heart, and he pulled Shitou and the others outside to look for the visitors. Cui Guiying told her eldest granddaughter Yingzi to fetch a bowl of water and a needle. She took the needle, scraped it several times across Li Zhuiyuan's forehead and the top of his head, then laid it flat in the bowl. There was a local custom: whenever anyone in a family had a headache, fever, or some other ailment, they would use this needle to “call” the illness. Before long, a voice came from outside: “Zheng Datong is here, Zheng Datong is here!” Zheng Datong entered the house carrying a wooden medicine box on his back. “Doctor Zheng, look at the child, please look at the child.” Cui Guiying took out the cigarettes, opened the pack, pulled out one, and handed it over. Zheng Datong took the cigarette, tucked it behind his ear, crouched down, looked at Li Zhuiyuan, and asked, “What's wrong with the child?” “He fell into the water and won't wake up.” “Fell into the water?” Zheng Datong first opened Li Zhuiyuan's mouth and nose to look, then lifted his eyelids to examine them, and then took a stethoscope from his box and listened carefully. When he put away the stethoscope, Cui Guiying leaned in and asked, “Doctor Zheng, how is he?” Zheng Datong frowned and lifted Li Zhuiyuan into a sitting position; Cui Guiying quickly helped. He patted the child's back and observed him for a moment, then laid him down again. Taking the cigarette from behind his ear, he put it between his teeth. Cui Guiying hurried to the stove to fetch matches, but saw that Zheng Datong had already lit it himself and taken several long puffs. “How is he, Doctor?” Zheng Datong looked at Cui Guiying. “How long was the child in the water?” Cui Guiying looked at Pan Zi. Pan Zi: “Just a little while. Yuanzi had only just fallen in when his grandpa pulled him out.” Zheng Datong frowned again and took a big puff. After exhaling a ring of smoke, he said, “Auntie, the child didn't drown, and he didn't choke on water. There's nothing wrong with him.” “Then why won't he wake up?” Cui Guiying asked. “Take the child to the town clinic for another checkup. It may be some other problem.” Zheng Datong packed up his things and stood. There was nothing more he could do. Cui Guiying pulled out another cigarette and handed it to him. “No more, no more,” he said, even as he took the cigarette and tucked it behind his other ear. Then, when the cigarette in his mouth had been smoked down to the filter, Zheng Datong dropped the butt on the ground and crushed it under his foot, and said quietly, “Have you asked Blind Liu to see him?” “Ah, we did,” Cui Guiying said, a little embarrassed. Zheng Datong nodded. On the way over, Pan Zi had told him some things; now he could only advise, “If he still hasn't woken by tonight, send him to town first thing tomorrow morning.” “All right, all right, sorry to trouble you, sorry to trouble you.” Just then Lei Zi ran in, wiped the sweat from his own face, and said to Cui Guiying, “Blind Liu is here.” Cui Guiying scolded, “You little rascals have no manners. You must call her Granny Liu.” Zheng Datong knew it was time for him to give way. As he stepped out the door, he happened to see a three-wheeled cart being pedaled from the distance, with an old woman sitting on it. “Heh…” Zheng Datong suddenly thought of the new medicines recently touted in the newspapers as marvels. Wasn't he taking part in this now? Hey, what was it called again? Oh, right… Integrated Chinese and Western medicine. Lei Zi had run ahead to announce their arrival. Behind him, Li Juxiang pedaled the three-wheeled cart and grumbled, “Ma, you shouldn't have dawdled so much. We should have come earlier.” Earlier, someone from neighboring Shigang Town had come to discuss arrangements for his old mother's posthumous birthday rites. They could have let him wait at home and come here first, but her mother had insisted on finishing that man's business, then gone to the toilet and dawdled before coming over. Liu Jinxia, seated on the little stool in the back, exhaled a ring of smoke and said crossly, “What's the rush? We won't get any money from his house anyway.” “Ma, do you really have the nerve to take it?” “Bah. If he offers, I'll take it.” “When I was little, I remember Uncle Han helped us a lot.” “He has four sons, so why didn't he give me one?” Liu Jinxia flicked the ash from her cigarette. “None of them was going to marry into the family, and I didn't want a bride price from his house either. I'd have given him a daughter-in-law for nothing and he still wouldn't take one. Hah!” “How can you blame Uncle Han for that?” “I'm telling you, Xiang Hou, let other people spout whatever nonsense they want about us. Their mouths are on their own faces, after all. Why must you degrade yourself like this?” Li Juxiang pursed her lips. “Xiang Hou, Cuicui Hou is still small, and your ma doesn't have many good years left. Cuicui Hou will have to depend on you in the future. So what if there's no man? I, Liu Jinxia, am going to prove that without a man we mother and daughter can still eat and drink better than other families!” “We're here, Ma.” The three-wheeled cart rode up onto the embankment and came to the gate of the Li family house. Cui Guiying stepped forward to help Liu Jinxia down from the cart. Liu Jinxia patted the back of Cui Guiying's hand and said, “Aiyo, how could I let you help me? Your Han Hou is my benefactor.” “Grandma, please come see the child quickly. He still hasn't woken up.” Liu Jinxia: “I heard from Lei Hou that he ran into something in the water?” Cui Guiying: “The child's grandpa has already gone to fetch Third Uncle Sanjiang.” Hearing this, Liu Jinxia's heart tightened. She gripped Cui Guiying's hand and urged, “Quick, take me to see the child.” When Lei Zi had come to fetch her earlier, he had said something, but at the time she had thought the brat was embellishing his nonsense. Now that Li Weihan had gone to find that Li Sanjiang, this matter was truly serious! Liu Jinxia still remembered the good Li Weihan had done in the past. When they entered the house, they heard a crowd of children jabbering. Liu Jinxia's eyesight was poor, and she felt as though she had walked into a duck pen. She waved a hand and cursed: “All you little rascals make way and stop your noise. You'll disturb the Kitchen God!” Cui Guiying quickly told the older children to take the younger ones outside and shut the door. “Where is he?” Liu Jinxia asked. “In the inner room,” Cui Guiying said, and prepared to lead her in. “Bring him into the kitchen. There's a stove here.” “All right, I'll carry the child out now.” With Li Juxiang's help, Li Zhuiyuan was laid out on the kitchen table. Liu Jinxia's old hands first touched Li Zhuiyuan's legs, then moved up from his legs all the way to his face. After touching his face, they stopped at his shoulders and pressed lightly. Because she smoked, the creases between her fingers were permeated with the smoky, cured smell, and because she liked to soak them in white vinegar for care, the odor was even more pungent. A person standing beside her could smell it; if one were close enough to sniff it directly, even an ordinary faint might be smoked awake. Liu Jinxia sensed for a moment, then asked, “Guiying Hou, have you called him?” “We did, we did,” Cui Guiying said, and at once brought over the bowl of water with the needle in it. Then she herself gave a frightened cry. “Ah!” The needle in the bowl was not only rusted, but with red rust, and at the bottom a patch had spread around the needle. Seeing this, Li Juxiang quickly leaned close to her mother's ear and described it. After hearing, Liu Jinxia took a deep breath and said gravely, “Sister, the child has been afflicted by a spirit.” “Ah?” Cui Guiying was startled again and begged, “Please save him, please save him. My daughter has only this one child. If anything happens to him while he's in my care—” With that, Cui Guiying took the pack of cigarettes from her pocket and pressed it into Liu Jinxia's hand. Liu Jinxia pushed it away and sighed instead. Cui Guiying: “Please, smoke first. We'll make up the ritual fee afterward…” Liu Jinxia cut her off: “I won't take anything from your house. I can't. It would burn my hands.” “I'm telling you, sister, don't say that. My child…” Liu Jinxia turned toward her own daughter and smiled bitterly. “Did you hear that? He is the son of Uncle Han's favorite little girl.” “He is Lan Hou's son,” Li Juxiang said after a pause, then added, “Lan Hou and I used to be very close.” Lan Hou's real name was Li Lan. She was Li Zhuiyuan's mother. Back then, everyone in the village considered Liu Jinxia's family unlucky, and parents would warn their children not to play with Li Juxiang. So Li Juxiang's childhood had been lonely. She could not run and romp around like the other children, because when she went to other people's houses, the adults would roll their eyes at her. Li Lan had not cared about that back then. She often invited Li Juxiang to play, and this companionship lasted until Li Lan passed the university entrance exam and left the village. Liu Jinxia closed her eyes and was silent. Li Juxiang looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said to Cui Guiying, “This child is really good-looking. He looks a lot like Lan Hou.” Cui Guiying answered a couple of times, but her attention was still on Liu Jinxia. She could not tell whether Liu Jinxia was making excuses or putting on airs. Li Juxiang continued, “Cuicui Hou was saying the day before yesterday that there was an older brother named Xiaoyuan Hou who gave her chocolate to eat, and who went with her to pick up pebbles by the creek.” If Li Juxiang had been isolated as a child, it was even worse now for her daughter, Li Cuicui. Usually her daughter could only stand far to the side and watch the other children playing together. Cuicui did not dare go closer. If she did, the children would say their adults had told them not to play with her, and then they would scatter. The day before yesterday, Cuicui had come home very happy. She said a very good-looking older brother had played with her all afternoon; the other children told him not to play with her, but he did not care and had even given her chocolate. Liu Jinxia opened her eyes, gave her daughter a look of helplessness and pity, then turned to Cui Guiying: “Sister, let me be honest with you.” “Yes, tell me.” “In ordinary cases, out of twenty jobs, fifteen are really nothing at all. I just go through the motions, and the family gets peace of mind. Of the remaining ones, four look like they might have a little something to them, but in the end they're nothing but a fart. So at most only one is a loose bit from a fart, and even that isn't hard to wipe away. I won't take your money for two reasons. First, your man really did help my daughter and me before, so I can't take your money. Second, the money I get for going through the motions ordinarily has no place in a matter like this.” “This—you—the child—you have to save him, sister.” “I'll help him,” Liu Jinxia said with a smile. “Bring me some incense ash from the stove.” “All right.” On the local earthen stoves there were many niches carved into them. One niche was generally set behind the stove, with a paper image of the Kitchen God pasted above it, and a small incense burner placed inside. Cui Guiying took down the incense burner and brought it to Liu Jinxia. Liu Jinxia grabbed a handful of incense ash, held it in her hand, and muttered something. No one could understand what she was chanting; in any case, she chanted for quite a while. Liu Jinxia: “Cover him well.” Before Cui Guiying could understand, Li Juxiang had already covered Li Zhuiyuan's mouth and nose with her hand. Liu Jinxia smeared the incense ash onto the child's neck and shoulders, rubbing and rubbing as if applying prickly-heat powder. But gradually a frightening sight appeared, and Cui Guiying clapped a hand over her own mouth. Because she saw that on her grandson's shoulders two purple marks had appeared, as though from two palms! Liu Jinxia: “So fierce… Daughter, let's begin.” “Yes.” Li Juxiang answered and went out to get some things from the three-wheeled cart. She first placed an empty bowl and a writing brush in Liu Jinxia's hands, poured ink into the bowl, then took a ball of red thread from her pocket. It looked very much like yarn for knitting, but once it was unwound, a raw, bloody smell spread out, and quite a bit of red stained Li Juxiang's palm. Next, Li Juxiang tied one end of the red thread around her own wrist and the other around Li Zhuiyuan's wrist. She stepped back a certain distance and stood ready. Liu Jinxia dipped the brush in ink, then drew circles again and again on Li Zhuiyuan's forehead while continuing to mutter something. At first everything was as usual, and nothing happened. But as Liu Jinxia's chanting and hand movements grew faster and faster, the red thread actually began to tremble. Cui Guiying instinctively wanted to see whether Li Juxiang was pulling the other end of the thread, but as soon as she raised her head, she saw Li Juxiang's mouth open in pain; then, with a thump, Li Juxiang fell to her knees on the ground, her upper body bending forward as if someone were pressing her down to kowtow. Liu Jinxia cast a pitying glance at her daughter, but did not slow her chanting or her hand movements. “Ah… ah… ah…” Li Juxiang collapsed sideways onto the ground in pain. She clutched her arms and rolled about, her feet kicking wildly, saliva spilling from her mouth, eyes wide, face turning blue. Cui Guiying stood to the side, worried both for her grandson and for what might happen to Li Juxiang. However, after the pain peaked, Li Juxiang gradually calmed. At last she lay sprawled on the ground, panting hard. Liu Jinxia also stopped. Her body swayed, and Cui Guiying quickly reached out to steady her. “Go get a basin of hot water and wipe the child.” “Yes, all right.” Cui Guiying did so at once. She took a basin, lifted the lid of the small stove set in the middle of the main stove, and scooped out hot water with a wooden ladle. After wetting the cloth, she began wiping the incense ash from Li Zhuiyuan. What was wiped away was not only the incense ash, but also the two purple handprints, which dissolved like paint. Cui Guiying even checked the cloth and found that no purple had rubbed off onto it. “Sister, is the child… better now?” Liu Jinxia took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and then coughed violently, tears and snot streaming down her face. She had been choked by her own cigarette. Although Cui Guiying did not get Liu Jinxia's answer in time, she saw that her grandson, who had been unconscious all this while, had slowly opened his eyes. “Xiaoyuan Hou, Xiaoyuan Hou, you're awake!” Li Zhuiyuan looked at Cui Guiying in confusion, then looked around, and finally called out hoarsely, “Grandma.” “Yes, you're finally awake. Bodhisattva protect you, Bodhisattva protect you.” Nearby, Li Juxiang got up from the ground, took a clean bowl for herself, poured some water, and sipped it. Li Zhuiyuan reached out and grasped Cui Guiying's arm, shifting slightly as if wanting to go into his grandmother's embrace. Cui Guiying quickly gathered Li Zhuiyuan into her arms and soothed him: “My child, my Xiaoyuan Hou, my good child…” Liu Jinxia: “You take care of the child. Let him sleep a little longer. He'll be fine when he wakes.” Li Juxiang came over and helped her mother out. Cui Guiying began, “When Han Hou comes back, I’ll talk to him…” Liu Jinxia waved a hand. “We'll talk after the child is fully recovered. We're heading home first. Don't see us out.” Cui Guiying indeed could not see them out anymore, and could only keep holding her grandson. Now, comforted in his grandmother's arms, Li Zhuiyuan began to fall asleep again, but his sleep this time was much more peaceful, unlike before when he had been clenching his lips and knitting his brows in a way that wrung the heart. On the way back on the three-wheeled cart, Liu Jinxia half rose, pulled aside her daughter's collar to look at the ring of blue-green bruises, and asked: “Does it hurt?” “Ma, sit back down properly. Don't fall.” Liu Jinxia sat back down. After a long while, she slapped her thigh and cursed: “Xiang Hou, are we mother and daughter really born with such lowly fates?” …… Li Weihan still had not returned, so Cui Guiying sent Huzi and Shitou to find him at Li Sanjiang's house. When Huzi and Shitou came back, they reported that Li Sanjiang's hired hand said Li Sanjiang had gone out to deliver paper, and Li Weihan had gone after him. Cui Guiying understood. Li Sanjiang had gone to deliver paper effigies for a funeral. By custom, the host would keep him for a meal, and since he liked to drink, there was no telling how long he would be if they simply waited. Her old man had gone to hurry him along. Cui Guiying had several of the older children help prepare dinner. After the meal, Li Weihan still had not returned, so Cui Guiying sent the children to sleep in the inner room. She herself stayed alone with Li Zhuiyuan in the kitchen, sleeping on a plank door set up there. Li Zhuiyuan slept soundly. Cui Guiying fanned the child with a cattail-leaf fan while wiping away tears. The child had truly suffered this time. Then she thought of her own daughter, who had just divorced, and wondered how she was faring. Unlike other families, who favored sons over daughters, what Cui Guiying and her husband treasured most was this little girl of theirs. Their daughter wanted to study, and she studied well, so they kept supporting her. No matter what others said—that there was no use in educating a girl and she would be better off marrying early—they paid no mind. This favoritism toward their daughter naturally extended to her son, their grandson. Li Zhuiyuan had a dream. In the dream he was in class in the gifted youth class, and at the podium an old professor closed his book and said, “All right, class dismissed.” He followed his deskmate out of the classroom, weaving through a crowd of tall adults. The two of them entered the toilet and stood on the steps before the urinal. His deskmate had already unbuttoned his pants and started to pee, then urged him: “Zhuiyuan, you pee too. What are you waiting for?” Li Zhuiyuan nodded, but as soon as he pulled down his zipper, he suddenly woke up. The dream ended, and he opened his eyes. By the moonlight outside, he saw his grandmother sleeping beside him, the cattail fan still in her hand. That was close. He had almost wet the bed. Li Zhuiyuan's memories of the daytime were already somewhat hazy. He quietly got up to go pee. The toilet was a small separate house some distance from the main house. A pit had been dug into the ground, a large vat buried in it, and a hollow wooden seat set over the vat. When Li Zhuiyuan first saw it, he thought it looked very much like the dragon throne in movies. That was why, when locals referred to using the toilet, they generally said they were going to “use the ceramic vat toilet.” At first Li Zhuiyuan also went there to pee. Later, based on his cousins' shared experience, Li Zhuiyuan finally understood that as long as he was away from the house and the yard, he could mark anywhere. Going out the front door meant also leaving the raised yard, which was a bit far, so Li Zhuiyuan chose the back door and went to the riverbank. It was closer. Just as Li Zhuiyuan was getting ready, he suddenly heard a sound: “Dong… dong… dong…” He looked down and saw that it was the family boat moored at the bank, rocking. Fragments of images seemed to come to Li Zhuiyuan's mind. Hadn't he gone out on the boat with his grandpa and cousins during the day to catch fish? Then had they caught any fish? What had they eaten for dinner? Why couldn't he remember? “Dong… dong… dong…” The boat was still rocking, but there were no waves on the river, and no wind. At last Li Zhuiyuan remembered what had happened during the day—the black hair, his fall into the water, the things beneath the water… and along with those memories came fear. Li Zhuiyuan's body went weak. He stumbled and sat down on the ground, instinctively reaching for his own shoulder, as if a pair of cold hands were still gripping it. It was precisely this sitting down that changed his angle of view, bringing the bottom of the boat, which he had not been able to see before, into his sight. “Dong… dong… dong…” As it turned out, there was a person beneath the water. Her head rose above the surface from time to time, struck the bottom of the boat, sank down again, then rose and struck again, again and again, tirelessly. Suddenly the knocking stopped, and the boat no longer rocked. The head rose above the surface again, but did not strike the bottom of the boat any more. Instead it slowly turned, and as the wet black hair kept sliding to either side, a small half of a heavily made-up woman's face was revealed. Her face was very white—so white it seemed it might melt away at any moment beneath the moonlight. Now she seemed to have found the person she had been searching for. The corners of her mouth slowly curved, revealing a smile. Her lips were still vividly red, and in the quiet night they were almost piercing to look at. Li Zhuiyuan rubbed his eyes hard. When he looked again, he found that the other's upper body had somehow already risen above the water, both arms hanging down along her sides. Not daring to delay any longer, Li Zhuiyuan scrambled up on hands and feet and ran for the house. As he crossed the threshold he tripped, but fortunately caught the doorframe and steadied himself. He glanced back. Little Oriole, who had previously been in the river with only half her body showing, had left the water and was standing on the lowest gray stone step. “Grandma, Grandma!” Li Zhuiyuan ran to the plank bed and pushed Cui Guiying, but she was still holding the fan and sleeping deeply. “Grandma, wake up, Grandma, wake up!” Li Zhuiyuan kept calling, but Cui Guiying showed no sign of waking at all. “Drip… drip… drip…” The sound of dripping water came from behind him. Li Zhuiyuan turned his head. First he saw a pair of red high-heeled shoes, then pale, swollen ankles. A black qipao tightly wrapped her body, and water droplets kept falling from the hem of her dress and the tips of her hair. She— just stood there rigidly on the threshold!