Chapter 14: From a long and arduous journey comes peace (IV)

Saying the road was slow would make it slow, and saying it was quick would make it quick, but after a few days, they arrived at Shanzhou dock. The sky was like a jade as clear as an expansive blue body of water, and the clouds crowded together, low in the sky, hanging around the white and red steamships that followed after each other, masts erect, the canvases making rustling sounds as they were blown by the wind, the water eaten up by the boats one swallow at a time, the swaying extremely pleasing to see. Only upon walking closer would one realise that the steamboats were as tall as two storey buildings, like massive monsters, cast iron steps extending from the ships to the shore, like a long tongue admitting all kinds of travellers.

The milky white leather high heels trod upon the ground, pressing close against the fair, pale skin of the instep of the foot, a hand enclosed in a lace glove supporting itself on the railing, tapping as if playing a piano, an apricot-coloured Western-style dress wrapped around a full waist, the dress shifting to reveal a lustrous, sleek, slender lower leg. The pedestrians behind gazed on, stunned stupid, and an impeccably-attired youth, without meaning to, bumped up against this young lady, and hurriedly held out a hand to support her, and she let out a quiet ah, turning her back to lean against the railing, her index finger reaching out to gently lift her hat, revealing an incredibly tender and charming face. Her narrow lips were in a faint, reserved smile in the Chinese style, her large eyes expressing the Western amorousness, the two in extreme conflict. She didn’t care much about having been bumped into, and her expression opened up in a smile, the waves of her hair bouncing in the sunshine, and she called out, “Shiyi, walk faster!”

Li Shiyi’s brows, which had pinched together on Song Shijiu being bumped into, still hadn’t loosened, and Tu Laoyao, his belly thrust forward, carried the luggage of various sizes, and a very dissatisfied Li Shiyi said, “So, having grown this attractive, you didn’t bother to put a covering on her, and you even gave her this to wear—are you dim-witted?”

A Yin let out a huff, head swaying as she laughed, “Such a beautiful body, an eighteen or nineteen year old young lady, mixed in with you all the entire day, without even a single piece of presentable clothing; tsk, it really is a waste of natural beauty.”

“Flattery? Adoration? Both flattery and adoration, what will that result in?” Tu Laoyao mumbled to himself; forget about it, this A Yin truly was frivolous, and had made up Song Shijiu into this shameful manner, her hair having been crimped by hot irons, her mouth red as if ready to devour, and it fluttered provocatively and frivolously.

Turning a cold shoulder, A Yin who slowly advanced to Li Shiyi’s side, and said in a soft voice, “She doesn’t appear as a ghost, nor does she appear as a person; it’s only been a few days, but she’s changed—what is it?” Since there was this sort of marvel, reserving that carriage on that day, though done without thought, was the right action.

Li Shiyi glanced at Song Shijiu’s back, smiling lightly, and said soundlessly, “Little monster.”

Having boarded the steamboat, a novel experience for Song Shijiu, she tugged A Yin along and chattered as she leaned against the railing, looking left and right, and, just as she was about to turn her head and say something to Li Shiyi, she her and Tu Laoyao were standing at the end of the seats, their path having been obstructed by an investigating man, and Li Shiyi said two quiet phrases, seemingly inviting him to search the suitcases at her feet, placed horizontally across the route to take one’s seat. Song Shijiu turned her head back and, unexpectedly, saw someone looking at people with blank eyes, as if the pupils were of no use, and that man’s smiling expression floated superficially on his face, and he said, “This...young miss must not have seen clearly; this is the first-class cabin.”

Li Shiyi’s brows knitted, and Tu Laoyao’s face turned red, and he opened his mouth to argue, “Don’t we know that this is the first class cabin? You’re speaking bullshit, didn’t you hear about the private carriage on the trian? This gentleman came from there!” His voice was quite loud, provoking the people around to cast dark glances at him, and, seeing the dress of the people around, felt even more clearly his own wretched state.

The gentleman unexpectedly smiled, and said, “That doesn’t mean anything; merely, I’m afraid that the two of you weren’t able to read the signs, and probably took the wrong path.”

Tu Laoyao’s face was as red as a mature shrimp, and his veins were bulging. Song Shijiu tugged A Yin over, furrowing her little brows, and Li Shiyi swept a glance at her, her words having been stopped up.

“Bullshit!” A Yin’s voice rang forth immediately, her body moving towards the side of the seats, throwing her heart into it with all her energy. “When this lady was learning to read, you were still asking your mother for milk!”

With a small laugh, the man’s face took on some concern, his expression going rigid, and he looked A Yin up and down, and said with a smile, “This sweet scent, I recognise; it’s the one used by the Eight Alleys.”^[1]

A Yin laughed coldly, crossing her arms, but Song Shijiu’s entire face turned angry, and she stepped forwards, “You…”

The rest of her words were swallowed up by a pair of soft hands, bringing with them the faint aroma of tobacco, and her eyes widened, seeing Li Shiyi, half a head taller, standing at her side, her left hand covering the entirety of her cheek, covering her mouth expressionlessly. Seeing Song Shijiu baffled, Li Shiyi’s ring finger tapped her chin, reminding her to draw back her energy, and then drew her hands back. Only then did Song Shijiu let out a breath, and said, feebly, “You…you’re speaking nonsense.” The final three words were said without any vigor, as if she was babbling, expression having, without knowing, timid, a steamy red, her heart pounding like a fleeing rabbit, smashing her confidence one beat at a time. Her outstretched hand supported itself on the back of the seats, feeling as if she had been drugged.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Li Shiyi hang her head slightly, and say to the man, “We need to get past; please, let us through.”

Her voice was incredibly clear and cold, her expression neither servile nor overbearing, and, despite having asked please, there was no sign of submission, and, seeing it, the man’s heart was startled. At that exact moment of deadlock, A Chun, who had fallen behind, hurried over, briefly casting a glance around, guessed about seventy or eighty percent of what had happened, took out the tickets and gave them to Li Shiyi, saying slowly, “Go in, then.”

The man cast a glance at the ivory toggle at A Chun’s collar, and then cast a glance at Li Shiyi, and his eyes finally returned, and he laughed briefly and folded up his newspaper, and rose halfway, letting them past.

“Ai! See if this gentleman isn’t literate!” Tu Laoyao tossed out as he passed in front of the man, teeth bared, until he came to the seats, still muttering angrily under his breath.

Li Shiyi, on the other hand, hadn’t taken it to heart, and, as usual, took out a newspaper, pursing her lips and bowing her head to look at it. Song Shijiu gazed at the mottled purple skin on her cheek, and bit her lip a couple of times, and said, quietly, “What are you doing that you need to disguise yourself with this plaster? At night, when you washed your face, I saw you were extremely good-looking.”

Li Shiyi turned over a page, her head still buried in it, only raising her right hand, the ice-cold back of her hand meeting her lip, indicating she shouldn’t speak any more. A chill ran down Song Shijiu’s spine, and she let out a hiss and covered her mouth, drawing her neck back a half cun from her, confused, and only with great hardship retrieved her spirit somewhat. She looked at Li Shiyi’s hand flipping the pages of the newspaper, and tucked away the corners of her mouth, carefully smiling, for a period of time feeling that the leather case wasn’t important at all, and that Li Shiyi’s hand was the actual treasure, that hand that had patted her in childhood, and bit by bit, rocked by the boat, felt incredibly carefree and warm.

The rocking of the water brought the night, and the steamboat wasn’t as comfortable as being on the ground, swaying one’s head painfully, like a kernel, and the distance between the seats wasn’t much, and halfway through the night, Song Shijiu felt her legs couldn’t be raised again. She cast a glance at the others, asleep all around, and dragged her legs, swollen like white radishes, and walked out of the hold of the ship, quietly and softly, afraid of waking Li Shiyi.

The deck was, in fact, much more open, without the sense of the smothering crowd of people the cabin had, and the wind was both soft and salty as it brushed against her cheek, wetting it, and she felt much more alert and clear-headed. Song Shijiu held onto the rail with her hands and leaned back, turning her face up to greet the stars above.

The steamboat swayed, and her vest was grabbed by a pair of hands, and Song Shijiu turned her head, and saw that it was a loose-haired A Yin. A Yin laughed at her and said, “You’re already a young lady this big, and you’re still talking to the heavens?”

Song Shijiu narrowed her eyes and smiled, turning her body to lean against the rail, and, thinking of something interesting, said, happily, “A few more days, and I’ll be even taller than you all.”

A Yin smiled, and after a moment, her brows pinched, and she asked, “Will you keep growing like this indefinitely? Then wouldn’t you grow old very quickly, become ugly, and die?”

A Yin having asked this, Song Shijiu’s face paled, as if she hadn’t thought of this problem, and her heart swung back and forth like a destabilised pendulum, and, only after it swung five or six times, did she grasp A Yin’s hand, and ask her, “Then how could that be good? I, I…after a few days, I’ll become an old woman?” Her voice shook, and she was afraid she would cry; Li Shiyi in her prime, and Song Shijiu, an old lady, the “younger maternal cousin” as she’d put it, she was afraid, would become “maternal grandmother”.

A Yin had only intended to scare her a bit, and hadn’t thought her expression would turn like this, and her brows knitted as she thought deeply. Having thought for a bit, she said, “You, being neither human nor ghost, definitely have some sort of abilities; you can’t just have come to this human world by chance, only to carelessly disappear. By my recknoning, once you’ve grown up, maybe you could control it yourself.”

“Really?” Song Shijiu asked doubtfully.

“How about,” A Yin said, waving her handkerchief, and gathering up her sable coat, “every night before you go to sleep, say to yourself, I’m lovely as a flower, and say it one-hundred-eighty times, maybe it’ll have some affect?”

Song Shijiu gazed at her anxiously, and, seeing A Yin’s expression was solemn, only after a long while nodded her head.

A Yin saw Song Shijiu return to the cabin, mumbling the incantation as she went, and was about to say something but hesitated and drew her hand back. Tricking a young lady, what a way to be struck in half by lightning!

The morning of the second day, Li Shiyi was sleeping with her forehead propped up, when she suddenly felt a soft tickle on her waist, as if being poked by a stick over and over. She sleepily opened her eyes, unable to fully open them, and closed one of them, only opening her right eye, and saw that at her side was Song Shijiu. Song Shijiu raised her hands in front of her, and stuck them up and turned them back and forth, and wriggled her brows at her, and seeing that she had no response, let her hair down, brushing against her eyebrows. Li Shiyi grasped at the ends of her hair, and said, lazily, in a nasal tone, voice hoarse, “What are you doing?”

“I,” Song Shijiu lowered her voice, as if a thief in the night, her eyes suffused with a faint light, “I haven’t grown.”

-

< LAST | HOME | NEXT >

-

Translator's notes:

[1]: 八大胡同 (ba da hutong), literally “eight alleys”, is the term used to refer to the red-light district in Beijing.