The Father’s Debts
Zhuyu had been back in Luzhen for a week, but never once saw her father. Sheng Wenbin had deliberately gone into hiding. For one thing, he was afraid of people coming to collect their debts, so he had no choice but to keep hiding from place to place. The second reason was something Zhuyu had guessed herself: perhaps her father’s pride could not take it. He had once been so conspicuously wealthy, and now he had fallen into complete poverty. He did not want to show his face back in his hometown.
But returning home inevitably meant seeing people.
For ordinary people, there were several major events in life: birth, aging, illness, and death. What followed were a whole string of banquets: weddings, the birth of a child, a baby’s full-month celebration, birthdays, funerals... People bustled about, coming and going, gathering together for these major occasions in life to eat and drink to their hearts’ content.
Sheng Wenbin’s method of hiding had allowed him to avoid every occasion where he would have had to meet people, but once Zhuyu returned, the task fell to her. In just one week, everyone knew that the daughter of the fourth Sheng household had come home. In such a small place, news could spread everywhere like a gust of wind.
The Chen family’s great-uncle’s grandson was having his one-month celebration, and their family had invited them to the banquet on Saturday. Zhuyu was invited as well.
Unfortunately, another family event coincided with the Chen family’s full-month banquet. The maternal grandmother of Third Auntie’s husband had passed away, and the couple both had to attend. They could only send Chen Yujing and Chen Kai in their place. Since they were not taking the children to the funeral, they also shoved Chen Shiqi onto the two siblings.
Sunzi Mountain had originally belonged to the villagers as collectively owned agricultural land. When they had rented the mountain to Sheng Wenbin, they had expected him to develop it properly and make something of it. A tea factory would do, or an orchard, either of which could create jobs for the town and drive economic development. In the grand vision he had once described to the people of the town, however, he had said it could hardly end there. He was going to build a mountain resort and amusement park, turning Sunzi Mountain into one of the top tourist attractions in Nanshi.
Now, it was all a dream, a bubble that had burst.
The two million yuan in rent each year had indeed never been missed, but with things the way they were now, what about next year’s rent? And the year after that? The villagers’ doubts about Sheng Wenbin had been around for more than a day or two. It was simply that no one had said them out loud.
That was already the thinking of the more decent among them.
The less decent ones simply watched the spectacle, believing that Sheng Wenbin had been rolling in money a few years ago and had not remembered to bring his relatives along to share in the prosperity. Now that he had nothing, it was simply what he deserved.
If everyone were equally ordinary, people would not pay too much attention to any one person.
But if someone had once been extremely wealthy, what others felt toward him was no longer simple goodwill.
All of this was nothing more than human nature. Third Auntie was older and could see through it, so she understood. Zhuyu was still just a child, and had only just returned from abroad. She was afraid Zhuyu would not understand.
When Third Auntie told Zhuyu the news, she was somewhat at a loss, mostly because she did not know how to explain all the twists and turns behind it to her niece. In the end, she simply said vaguely that the three older children should take one little child with them, and once they got there, Zhuyu only needed to keep her head down and eat. She should not get involved in the adults’ affairs.
Chen was one of the major surnames in Luzhen. Families with the surname Chen made up the majority in town, and most of them were related to one another. Great-Uncle Chen held a prominent place in the family genealogy. He had worked at the village committee in his younger years and knew how to mediate disputes. He had always been fair and upright, and the people of Luzhen regarded him as a virtuous elder who could settle matters.
This, too, was something Zhuyu had heard. When the four of them stepped into the Chen family courtyard, what they saw was a plump old man with a red nose, carrying a chubby baby who was shrieking at the top of his lungs. He walked back and forth in the middle of the banquet tables, showing everyone his beloved grandson as though he were displaying a precious treasure.
“I want to sit between Big Auntie and Little Auntie.” Chen Shiqi began issuing orders to the three of them. “And I want to sit next to that plate of candied lychees. All of you move a little farther to the right.”
The little girl was in first grade this year. Thin and delicate, she did not like eating and absolutely adored sweets. She was the treasure of Third Auntie’s entire family. Although the three adults each had their minds elsewhere when it came to her commands, they nevertheless accommodated every one of them in practice, lest she start crying and screaming outside and make trouble for them all.
There were more than a dozen people at the table, all distant relatives Zhuyu did not recognize. Perhaps she had seen them when she was little, but she had forgotten all of them.
Whenever someone came over to greet her, she put on a smile and followed Chen Yujing and the others in addressing them.
After Chen Yujing finished making the rounds of greetings she was supposed to make, she sat down and started scrolling through her phone, staring intently at the screen and paying no attention whatsoever to the world outside.
The chubby Great-Uncle Chen said he wanted to say a few words before the meal. He said ten sentences and then some. Chen Shiqi stared at the lychees and swallowed, so Zhuyu picked one up with her chopsticks and quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
At present, the three adults were all under her control, and Chen Shiqi was quite satisfied with the situation. That was, until Chen Kai’s younger male cousins came over to call him to another table to drink. She immediately became unhappy.
“Grandma said the four of us have to sit together. Not a single one of us is allowed to run off!”
“She means you can’t run off, so some child snatcher doesn’t take you away and we never get to see you again.” Chen Kai ruffled Shiqi’s hair, then turned around and slipped away.
It was only after Great-Uncle Chen had finally finished showing off his precious grandson that the people in the courtyard and the main room finally picked up their chopsticks.
Great-Uncle Chen also carried the child back to his seat. The few tables in the main room were probably occupied by their close relatives. A young couple sat there cuddling their child, kissing him endlessly. Beside them sat an old woman with graying hair, thin and gaunt, her eyes narrowed as though she could not see. She waited for someone else to put food into her bowl.
Chen Yujing followed Zhuyu’s gaze and glanced over. “That old lady really can’t see. She’s blind. She’s Great-Uncle Chen’s ninety-year-old mother. By seniority, we’re supposed to call her Great-Grandma. Her husband died young, and back then Chen Family Great-Grandma went out to other towns, walking from street to street, making money by singing Jasmine Flower and raising her children. So you see, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Someone who’s been poor can become rich, and someone who’s been rich can also…”
She swallowed the rest of the sentence halfway through. Chen Yujing had been trying to comfort her out of habit, only to carelessly say something that hit even harder.
“Thanks for the new perspective. These days, you don’t even have to travel far to make money singing. You can just start a livestream...” Zhuyu had long since grown accustomed to her older cousin’s lofty opinions. She had plenty of dry humor of her own.
It should have been an ordinary meal, but unfortunately, all the relatives Zhuyu did not know were fond of asking about her father.
“Where’s Fourth Uncle Sheng gone? Is he that busy? He doesn’t even come back for a meal? What big business is Boss Sheng doing these days?”
The intensity of their attention made Zhuyu feel, to some extent, the pressure her father was under.
Busy, yes, very busy, extremely busy. Business was going all right, all right.
When they could not get anything out of her about her father, they began asking about Zhuyu herself.
“Why did you suddenly come back to your hometown? How have things been for you abroad? Have you integrated into the society over there? What are you planning to do after coming back? How long are you staying? Are you going back abroad in the future or not?”
If she said she was not going back to Canada, it would make Sheng Wenbin seem completely down and out, as though even his daughter had tucked her tail between her legs and slunk back to China.
But if she said she was going back, there would be another string of things waiting for her. People were meant to return to their roots, weren’t they? No matter how good things were outside, they could never be as good as home. Living abroad was not a long-term solution, after all.
These relatives knew perfectly well, deep down, that going back to Canada was the “right path.” If Zhuyu said she could still return to that “right path,” there was little doubt that the people asking these questions would be struck by jealousy, then go behind her back saying all sorts of things about what was wrong with her, and finally slap her with the biggest accusation of all: that she did not love her country.
If she were not here speaking on behalf of her father, she truly would not have the energy to use eighteen different tricks of the mind to deal with these relatives.
“I missed my grandparents, so I came back to stay for a while. My dad is doing just fine. Thank you, uncles and aunties, for your concern.”
Seeing that every avenue of questioning had been shut down and there was nothing more to ask, the relatives came out with the one question that never changed, no matter how everything else did: “Do you have a boyfriend yet? You’re twenty-five, you’re not young anymore. You can’t afford to put it off!”
That question could not go unanswered, otherwise the next step would be introducing her to someone. “My dad introduced someone to me. We’re getting to know each other!”
By the standards of the people of Luzhen, Zhuyu spoke far too little, like a bottle gourd with a sawed-off mouth, not quick-witted enough, somewhat dull. China was like this: the children adults liked best were always the ones who could study well from a young age and knew how to conduct themselves when they grew up. And “honest” was often another way of saying someone was not very capable. On her first return to her hometown as an adult, the impression she left on people was simply that she was too honest.
At the several tables in the open courtyard, people gradually grew rowdier as they ate. They stood up and wandered around, toasting, making others drink, and generally carrying on without end.
Chen Yujing had looked unhappy all day. It was only when she noticed the man and woman at the neighboring table, with the space between them gradually emptying as their chairs moved closer and closer together, until they were sitting right against each other, that she finally could not stand it anymore. She picked up her phone and handbag, walked around to the front of them, loudly spat out a “Ptui!” at the man, and ran outside.
Zhuyu could not make heads or tails of what was happening. She turned around and saw that her older cousin had really left.
“Brother Xiaosong used to pursue Big Auntie a while ago. He always came to pick her up and take her to work, whether it was windy or rainy, but recently he stopped coming. Turns out he got together with someone else...” Chen Shiqi lay sprawled across the table, craning her head over to explain the situation to the bewildered Zhuyu.
Yujing was heartbroken, and the two of them were both feeling a little down.
Before long, the boy called Xiaosong also suffered his “comeuppance.” Chen Kai had drunk too much that evening. After learning what had happened to his sister, he came over with his face flushed red to demand an explanation from Xiaosong. Chen Kai’s younger brothers held him back, stopping him from getting into a fight. Although things had not yet escalated to the point of blows, the situation was hardly optimistic. Quite a few people had gathered around them. Even the adults, including Great-Uncle Chen, had come over to see what was going on.
The lights in the main room were blazing. Half the people had dispersed by then, and Zhuyu suddenly realized that the person sitting opposite Old Madam Chen had a very familiar-looking back.
Everyone at that table was a close relative of the Chen family. Was he a close relative too?
Just as she was carefully studying the man’s back, someone suddenly banged hard on the table in front of her, striking it with the bottom of a bowl. A woman at the same table, whom she should have called Third Auntie, suddenly let out a long, mournful wail.
“That black-hearted Fourth Sheng! He cheated our family out of our house. That’s all money... He should give it back to our family!”
She knocked over her chair and dropped heavily onto the ground, right in front of Zhuyu. She banged her bowl and threw her chopsticks, crying in a long, drawn-out wail. The man of the family sat there with his head lowered, smoking silently.
When Zhuyu said nothing, the daughter of that family joined in as well. A woman carrying a little child of a few years old came over and pointed at Zhuyu’s nose, cursing her loudly.
“All the money you made was blood money, you shameless thing! The Sheng family cheated other people out of their hard-earned money so they could give their own child a good life, dress her in gold and silver, and send her abroad to eat well and live comfortably! Sooner or later you’ll get what’s coming to you. Everyone, just look. Isn’t the retribution already here...”
The people at the banquet split into two groups. The men were all over by Chen Kai and Xiaosong trying to break up the fight, while the women surrounded Third Auntie, gently coaxing her to get up, telling her that if there was a problem she should go talk to the adults. What was the point of picking a fight with a child?
Zhuyu sat stiffly in her place, not saying a single word from beginning to end. She did not defend herself, nor did she defend her father. The women’s cries and curses tangled together, and her head buzzed.
The woman on the other side grew louder and louder as she cursed. Suddenly, in a fit of emotion, she grabbed Zhuyu’s clothes and began shoving her.
It was not until a child’s shrill cries rang out that Zhuyu finally jolted awake from the suffocating barrage of shouting and cursing. Seven-year-old Chen Shiqi was clutching Little Auntie’s hand, crying in terror, her entire face red.
Only then did Zhuyu come to herself. She bent down and scooped Chen Shiqi into her arms. She no longer cared what these people were calling her. She turned and tried to walk out of the Chen family courtyard.
But the family would not let her leave. One after another, they blocked her path. Third Auntie rolled around at her feet, crying and making a scene without end.
This was not the first time Zhuyu had seen such a scene. When fierce country women cursed and threw tantrums in the street, this was what it looked like. It was simply the first time it had happened to her. When she tried to leave, they grabbed her. They tugged at her clothes and bag straps, even pulling her hair.
The women who had been trying to break up the fight were afraid of dropping the child, so they took Chen Shiqi and held her in their arms, soothing her and telling her not to cry. But Chen Shiqi only cried harder, shouting as she sobbed, “Don’t bully my Little Auntie! I’m going to call my dad!”
At home, Chen Shiqi never mentioned her father or mother at all. They were busy making money outside and rarely came home. At a moment like this, the person she thought of to stand up for her was still her father. It was just that her father was far away and had no way of coming back to save either herself or Little Auntie.
Zhuyu lowered her head, pain pulsing across her scalp. She tried to push away the hands tearing at her, but she felt so many hands pressing her downward that it was almost as though dark clouds had descended over her head. She felt too light at that moment, as if she were about to float away. Perhaps the evening wind was simply too strong, or perhaps she still had not adjusted to the time difference lately and was too dazed.
“Stand up...” a man’s voice sounded beside her ear. “Don’t worry about anything else. Stand up.”
The man helped her to her feet, took her hand, and led her toward the exit. She stumbled along behind him. Her fingers moved slightly, and he sensed it, so he tightened his grip on her hand, as though responding to her, telling her: I have the ability to get you out of here. You just have to stand up.
“Qiqi, where’s Qiqi?”
Her contact lens had fallen out. That was the fundamental reason she could not find her way.
The sobbing little girl had already been picked up one-handed by Liu Sizhao. “Got her. She won’t get lost.” His right hand was holding Zhuyu’s, her hair disheveled.
“Hey! Who are you? Why are you sticking your nose into our business!”
The woman causing the commotion turned her fury toward him.
Through her blurred vision, Zhuyu heard him say, “I’m Sheng Zhuyu’s older brother.”
Great-Uncle Chen had just gotten the two drunk young men into the inner room. Now he came over to deal with the quarrel among the women as well. He shouted sternly, “How dare you be so rude! Stop making a fool of yourselves in front of our guests!”
Amid the chaos, with the crowd packed together, some trying to break up the fights and others arguing, Liu Sizhao had already taken Zhuyu and Qiqi with him. The two of them left through the side door.
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