Winter
Every winter and summer vacation, children came to the Cultural Palace to learn musical instruments and calligraphy. The various groups of the Spring Festival Shehuo performance troupe also gathered at the Cultural Palace. There was plenty of space here to store props and costumes, and they could rehearse their performances every week.
Once lunchtime arrived, all the girls who had been taking part in the volunteer mending work went home for lunch. When the time came, Sizhao came to pick up Zhuyu. She did not hurry to pack up and leave, but instead beckoned him inside.
“Hey, have you ever seen the costumes? Let me show you.”
She unfolded the costume she had only half finished mending.
Originally, these clothes must have been extraordinarily vivid in color. But with the passing of the years, the colors had darkened and faded somewhat, and they carried the smell of dust mixed with mothballs.
They had both seen the Wuchang Gods performance during the Spring Festival Shehuo. Five people dressed in five sets of costumes, red, blue, yellow, black, and white, wearing headdresses and masks, danced all kinds of dances amid the sound of firecrackers.
But they had only ever seen it from a distance, never up close.
There were many different accounts of the origins of the Wuchang Gods. In Luzhen of Nanshi, there was a fixed version of the story.
It was said that after the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty established his capital, he rewarded the various meritorious officials according to their contributions. Yet he alone forgot the soldiers who had already sacrificed their lives in the campaigns fought across the north and south. So they came to the Hongwu Emperor in his dreams, voicing their grievances and complaining of the injustice. The emperor then enshrined these people as the “Changshen,” proclaimed it throughout the realm, and told the people that whenever a festival came, they were to hold sacrificial ceremonies for them. The custom had continued to this day.
“Uncle Sun, the troupe leader, said they can get horses this year. Real horses, you know. They’re going to have the Wuchang Gods ride horses at the very front of the procession.”
Zhuyu picked up a scarlet mask and held it up in front of the mirror. The mask was twice the size of her face.
“What are you doing then?” Sizhao asked, holding the costume up to the light to examine its patterns.
Zhuyu was speechless. “You think way too highly of me. I’m just doing some mending and other logistical work.”
“And you? What are you doing?” She threw the question back at Sizhao.
He raised his head and smiled at her. “I’m the one who donated the horses.”
Ah, this was so annoying.
“That doesn’t count. That doesn’t count! We’re talking about contributions, not donations.”
“What’s the difference? I contributed too.”
While the two of them bickered endlessly, the aunties and older sisters who had gone home for lunch made a sudden return. A whole crowd came walking back, because traffic police were checking whether pedestrians were wearing helmets on the road. They had been careless and had to hurry back for their hats.
And they walked straight into the two of them.
“So this is Zhuyu’s boyfriend. He’s so tall, and so handsome!”
“Oh, yes, Auntie. You flatter me.”
“So considerate too, coming all the way to pick up his girlfriend and take her home for lunch.”
“Haha, of course. It’s only right.”
The last person to walk in was Third Auntie. Zhuyu and Sizhao froze where they stood and began stammering.
After a moment of stunned silence, she asked loudly, “You have a boyfriend and you don’t bring him home to meet the family? What are you playing, tunnel warfare?”
After the two of them hurriedly explained themselves in a few words, they dashed out, started the car, and drove away.
While eating microwave macaroni at his place, Zhuyu thought back over what had happened and could not help feeling an enormous sense of pressure.
“What are you so upset about?” Sizhao said, twirling a forkful of noodles. “I can’t be that embarrassing to take out in public, can I?”
“What do you know? Today they see that we’re dating, and before long they’ll be asking when we’re getting engaged. A few months later, they’ll be asking when we’re getting married.”
She switched the fork for chopsticks and took a big bite.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“What’s so good about it?” Zhuyu glared at him.
Sizhao put down his fork. “I also wish I had parents and family members to answer to about the major events in my life. But I don’t. I envy you.”
Zhuyu’s anger immediately disappeared. She patted Sizhao on the shoulder and remained silent for five minutes before suddenly getting suspicious.
“Are you doing that poor-me routine again?”
“You really saw through me.” He looked sheepish.
“Enough is enough, Liu Sizhao. Don’t treat me like a donkey every day!”
“You’re much harder to fool than my little brother.” Sizhao wiped his hands with a napkin. “You’re not a donkey. You’re a clever little cat. If you put medicine in a cat’s canned food, it’ll spit the whole thing right back out.”
They had spoken too quickly with Third Auntie just now, and they could not let things end there. After lunch, Sizhao busied himself with gathering some tea, cigarettes, and liquor, planning to make another trip to Zhuyu’s house to formally meet her family.
“Oh my god, what are you trying to do? We’re just dating. You’re acting like we’re getting married.”
Zhuyu absolutely refused to let him make such a production of it. She would not allow him to bring a single thing, not the cigarettes, liquor, or tea.
The plum blossoms in the courtyard had bloomed, though, so bringing some plum blossoms would be all right.
His family’s courtyard had originally been planted with many kinds of flowers and trees, but by winter they had all withered and died back. Only the plum blossoms still held their vitality.
The wintersweet in the snow was a tender yellow, growing in clusters, branch after branch, blooming full and thick. Its fragrance was strong and crisp, filling the entire courtyard with a rich perfume. They chose a branch and cut it down with a large pair of shears. Once they got home and placed the branch in a vase filled with fresh water, it would probably continue blooming for many more days.
“Are there plum blossoms in Canada?” Sizhao suddenly asked, then answered himself. “I’ve never seen any in the United States.”
Zhuyu thought about it. “There should be, but ordinary people don’t plant these kinds of flowers in their courtyards.”
“When I was in China, whenever I saw the winter plums blooming in the family courtyard, I knew the New Year was coming. I spent so many years abroad without seeing a single plum blossom. Even when I celebrated the New Year with my Chinese friends, I always felt as though something was missing.”
“Haha, I never thought you’d get homesick too...” Zhuyu pressed further. “Who do you miss? Your mom and dad, and your little brother?”
She regretted the question the moment it left her mouth. Their family situation was complicated. It was not like an ordinary family, bustling together in warmth and liveliness.
Sizhao did not mind. “Yes. There are only three people in our family, but my dad would invite all our friends and relatives to this mountain. The adults would play mahjong, and the children would set off firecrackers. Back then, I thought it was too noisy. But when I was living abroad alone, whenever I thought of home, I would remember those days. Do you get homesick?”
“I do. My hometown isn’t Nanshi. It’s Luzhen, right here in these mountains. What I miss are all those earthy, rustic things: Shehuo, rice paddies, going to the market... Sometimes I meet fellow Nanshi natives too. But not a single one of them is from Luzhen. They were all born and raised in the city. None of them ever lived here.”
“It’s a shame. If the two of us had gotten in touch back then, that would’ve been great. It’s only one flight from New York to Vancouver. I’ll count myself as your fellow Luzhen native!”
Sizhao tossed a small sprig of plum blossom to Zhuyu.
Zhuyu lowered her eyes and laughed to herself. “Not necessarily. I might not have wanted to contact you. I’d have been too busy dating to have time to entertain my big brother from childhood.”
“Shut up, you.” He laughed in exasperation. “I really should’ve contacted you sooner. I could’ve flown to Vancouver to see you every month. If I saw you getting involved with some shady guy, I’d tell your dad.”
Zhuyu spread her hands. “See? I knew it. If we’d met each other a little earlier, we would only have gotten in each other’s way. I’d have gotten in your way, and you’d have gotten in mine. Now there’s no show left to see, and we’re ten thousand and eight thousand li away from that dazzling outside world. All that’s left in these mountains is me and you, so that’s when we finally started paying attention to each other.”
Sizhao did not mind her teasing in the slightest. “I don’t think being with you means I’m settling. If you think being with me means you’re settling, then I’m actually pretty happy about that. Sounds like I got a great deal.”
Her eyes shifted as she thought, There’s no way I’m letting you corner me with that. She teased him, “Oh? You like me that much?”
Unexpectedly, he answered her so directly that there was no room to dodge. “Yeah. I really, really like you.”
This time, she was genuinely speechless. She had absolutely no idea how to respond.
The weather was beautiful that afternoon. The sky was a clear, brilliant blue, with wisps of white cloud drifting here and there. Though yesterday’s snowfall was still thick on the ground, it had slowly begun to melt. A large branch of plum blossoms would get crushed and wilted if they put it in the trunk, so after the two of them discussed it, they decided they might as well carry it there. It was not far, and the weather was fine. They would get there soon enough.
Zhuyu carried a backpack, while Sizhao easily shouldered a branch of plum blossoms. Holding hands, the two of them stopped at the highest point of the mountain and looked down together. The wind turbines used to generate electricity stood in rows deep within the mist. The winter wind occasionally swept past, and their blades turned lazily. Each turbine had three white blades, long and slender, like the wings of some winged insect.
“Once this year is over, when next year comes, the mountain won’t belong to our family anymore.” Zhuyu gave his hand a little swing.
Sizhao lowered his head to look at her. “The mountain will be entrusted to someone suitable to manage.”
“Hey, I know. Our family doesn’t have the ability. We wasted ten years.”
“Not necessarily. If the mountain spirits were willing to speak, your family might not be the worst mountain owners. We, the Lius, would be.”
Sizhao said it amid the mountain mist and clouds.
The mountains were utterly silent. The animals were probably all hiding in rocky caves, having entered a long winter hibernation. Once they had taken in enough of the scenery, they stepped onto the stone stairs in the mountain and made their way down.
“Thank goodness. It’s over.” Zhuyu muttered very quietly.
“What’s over?”
“Don’t talk. I’ll tell you after we get down the mountain.” She tightened her grip on Sizhao’s hand, lowering her voice further and further.
It was not until they reached the road that she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Sizhao understood what she had been afraid of.
“You’ve been here for half a year, and nothing major has happened. I believe they’ve decided to end it.” Her palms had even broken into a sweat just now.
The road was full of traffic, and suddenly there were many more people around them, as if in an instant they had returned from the heavens to the human world.
“When I first started getting sick, someone told my dad that it was the mountain god’s punishment. He didn’t believe it. Later, after he died, even more people started telling me that.”
“You’re not saying I don’t believe it... right?”
“Of course I am.” He wore an expression of absolute matter-of-factness. “If I were that easy to convince, the people who came to my house to scam money out of me would have worn the threshold down to nothing.”
“So when did you start believing?”
“When it came back two years ago...”
“And what do you think now?”
“Do what you can, then leave the rest to fate. A father’s debt is repaid by his son. That’s only right and proper. If I’m perfectly fine six months from now, then don’t leave. We’ll go register our marriage. If I’m gone six months from now and you want to leave, I agree.”
As he said this, he casually stopped at a roadside stall and bought a large bag of roasted sweet potatoes. His expression was extraordinarily calm, despite the sheer amount of information packed into what he had just said.
Zhuyu walked with her head down for a while. Ten minutes later, she suddenly blurted out, “Register what marriage! Did I say I agreed?”
“If you don’t agree when the time comes, just dump me. You still have half a year to think about it.” He pressed the doorbell.
This time, when they came back, the flowers were accepted, and Sizhao was asked to stay for dinner. Unlike before, the entire family naturally treated him as one of their own.
“Uncle Xiao Zhao, you’ve come to our house four times this week. Don’t you need to spend time with your girlfriend?” Qiqi leaned over the vase of plum blossoms and kept sniffing them.
“How about making your little aunt my girlfriend? What do you think?” Sizhao took off his gloves and sat down on the sofa with Zhuyu.
Qiqi suddenly understood. “Oh, I get it. That way you can come to our house for dinner every day. You dumped your old girlfriend just so you could come to our house and drink mutton soup.”
The whole family burst into laughter. Even Zhuyu was laughing.
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