Chinese Stories in English
Opposite Shore (Page 1)
Stories printed in《彼岸花》作家网选编 / 冰峰主编
Text at page noted after each story; translated from the webpages cited below.
1. Niner’s Book 3. An Urgent Delivery 4. Wild Geese Soar
2. The Robot’s Idea 5. The Key
1. Niner Publishes a Book (阿九出书)
Chen Xiuping (陈修平)
Many poets in his city had published poetry collections, and some had even published two or three. Niner was itching to do the same. In his opinion, some of those other people's poems were in fact better than his, while some were really not all that good. The printed collections were nevertheless quite beautiful and the applause they received was totally pleasing as well. Poets who’ve published their collections are exemplars of accomplishment in laymen’s eyes, even if few people judge the quality of the poems in them with a critical eye. Some experts can see that the content of many collections is inferior, but they often just laugh it off and won’t openly criticize the work. As a result, many collections prop up a false sense of abundance in the poetry realm.
Niner, who thought he wrote pretty good poetry and had somewhat of a reputation in the city's poetry circles, naturally wanted to publish a collection of his own work.
He’d heard that a school principal had printed three thousand copies of his poetry collection, and a theater director had printed five thousand copies of his, and they both sold out. So Niner thought he’d have to print at least two thousand copies of his work no matter what.
He didn't dare tell his wife about it, though, because she needed money for their daily necessities -- if she heard it’d cost fifty thousand yuan to publish a book, she’d definitely cuss him out. He therefore used twenty thousand yuan of his own money that he’d saved up on the sly for many years, plus thirty thousand borrowed from relatives and friends. He thought he could pay the money back immediately after he sold his collection. He didn't want to be in debt for a long time because he saw himself as an honest person, and an honest person shouldn’t avoid paying off his debts. He also felt that a real poet should have a pure heart and respect the old saying: one who issues a debt becomes the grandfather, while the debtor becomes the subservient grandchild.
It took a while to design the cover, review the content, apply for a book number, print the pages and bind the volume. Finally the publishing house sent Niner’s collection to a shipping company for delivery to him. Niner took one of the books and opened it as gently as if he were caressing his own child. A warm feeling flowed through his heart.
But two thousand books made a big pile, and where could he store them all? His two bedroom, one living room house was already crowded. Besides, he definitely couldn’t keep the books at home even if he had a bigger place -- he wouldn’t dare store them under his wife’s nose. At first he wanted to leave them at the shipping company while he sold them off gradually, but the person in charge there said no. He pointed to the piles of books in the room and told Niner he’d have to take possession within three days at most. If he didn’t, regulations required that they be declared unclaimed items and moved out on the street. Otherwise his company wouldn’t be able to conduct its business.
Although he blamed the shipping company for being unkind, Niner had to make a decision because they had their rules. His excitement, which hadn’t been burning for long, suddenly cooled down a lot. He still had hope in his heart, though. He figured that, since the collection was his opus and he had a reputation in the city's poetry circles, he could sell the books within two or three days. At least the storage problem would be easier to resolve if he could sell most of them right away and only have a few left that he’d need to move.
On the morning of the first day, Niner took fifty volumes to the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles on his moped. He gave them five copies – one for the chairman and four for his assistants. He wrote "Please offer your criticisms" and signed his name on each copy, and they all offered their congratulations on the publication of his collection. But when he asked the Federation to buy some of the books, the Chairmen said that they were supported by the government, so how could they have any spare money to buy collections? Niner had no choice but to leave with the remaining forty-five books.
On the afternoon of the first day, Niner went to see the Director of the government’s Poetry Bureau and took his book along. He’d once been invited to attend a seminar on the Director's works and had praised him lavishly at the time, and assumed the Director would return the favor. He presented the man a signed copy of his collection and the Director also congratulated him. Niner shyly explained his purpose. After a moment of silence, the Director agreed to let his office buy five volumes and put them in the bureau’s reading room, but the public expenditure would require an invoice. Niner thanked him repeatedly. He left the five books, went to the tax department to get the invoice and sent it to the bureau.
So, Niner had given away six copies and sold five in one day. He was rather discouraged, but he still had to find somewhere to sell the rest.
The morning of the second day, he took some books to the school where the principal who’d published a collection worked. Niner had once been invited to participate in that school's poetry meeting and thought that the poet-principal would give him some face. He presented a signed copy of his collection, and the fellow also congratulated him. When Niner bit the bullet and explained the purpose of his visit, the poet-principal said with embarrassment that the heavy pressure on graduates to get into a higher school meant that neither teachers nor students had time to read poetry collections. Niner wanted to say something but ended up holding his tongue. He excused himself and left.
The afternoon of the second day, Niner didn’t go back to any of the organizations he’d previously contacted. Instead, after much thought, he posted information about the publication of his collection in the WeChat group of the Municipal Writers Association. He added a sentence at the end: “If you want to buy, please contact me.” Although he received many congratulations, only three or four beginners in poetry sent in private messages with red envelopes containing money to buy books....
Lying in bed that night, thinking back on the experiences of the past two days, Niner felt very uncomfortable. He felt a bit like a beggar.
On the morning of the third day, Niner was no longer in the mood to sell books, so he took a signed copy to a good friend as a gift. The friend listened to Niner's story and commiserated with him. He reminded Niner that publishing a collection of his poems had been a dream of his for many years, and now that his dream had finally come true, he shouldn’t think too much and just let things take their course.
Niner replied that he couldn't help but think about it. He still had so many books waiting to be taken care of.
The friend thought a bit more and suggested that Niner buy a garage to store the books. First, all those books couldn’t be sold at once, and storage would allow them to be sold off slowly; second, the garage wouldn’t cost that much money, so he wouldn’t have to worry about losing more. The friend told Niner that someone in his unit was going to be transferred and would let his garage go for only fifty thousand yuan.
When Niner revealed that had no money, his friend lent him twenty thousand yuan and promised to guarantee a note for the remaining thirty thousand, which would be cancelled once the note was repaid.
That afternoon the friend drove Niner to the shipping company and helped him transport the books. After storing all the collections in the garage and pulling down the shutter door, Niner finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Niner sold a few dozen books sporadically over the next couple of years, but most of them were still lying quietly in the garage. As time went by, Niner gradually became numb to this matter. The garage and the poetry collections seemed to have faded from his memory.
Two or three years later, the friend called Niner and told him someone wanted to buy the garage. Niner realized that his long-standing problem needed to be dealt with.
After some bargaining, he sold the garage for one-hundred-twenty thousand yuan. He didn’t feel happy about having made money on the deal.
After receiving the key, the new owner asked what he should do with the pile of books stored there. When he saw Niner's embarrassed expression, the new owner casually suggested letting a junk collector take them.
Niner was irritated at the suggestion and was about to get angry. Then he thought, although what this guy said was harsh, it was also realistic. So he just said, "It's up to you," and left without looking back.
Text at p. 10. Translated from 刊APP下载 at
https://m.fx361.com/news/2023/1211/22751129.html (second story, under the name《诗 集》)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The Robot's Idea (机器人的理想)
Phoenix (凤凰)
The doctor had devoted his life and energy to scientific and technological innovation. He’d invented many things and thus had great honors and wealth. As he got older, though, he thought more and more about enjoying life. One day he had an idea: “I should make a robot to go to work for me, and attend meetings, make speeches and such things. Bottom line, I just need to live the good life at home.”
He said it, and he did it. He’d been engaged in research and inventing for decades, so making a robot certainly wasn’t difficult for him. In fact he’d made many robots before, and this one was only a little different. He created a robot that looked exactly like him in less than half a month. The robot felt like a real person to the touch, and even more amazing, it could work, hold meetings and give speeches just like he could. In short, it absolutely was him in others’ eyes.
Now he was free: If there was work to be done, the robot did it; a meeting to attend, the robot attended it; a speech to be made, the robot made it; a social event to go to, the robot went. In fact the robot was more capable than he was, since it didn’t worry about fatigue or hardship.
The robot soon won the doctor even greater honors. He wasn’t satisfied with more honors now, however. What he needed was wealth. With wealth, he could live the life he wanted and go wherever he wanted. One night he asked the robot, "Are you willing to commit a crime?" The robot replied, "Doctor, sir, you are my master. I will do whatever you want me to do!" The doctor was quite satisfied with this answer, so he continued, "I need some money now. Go get me some. However, you must not leave any traces or clues, or the police will hassle us. Do you understand?"
"Do not worry, Doctor, sir,” The robot asserted with a smile. “I promise not to leave any clues!" Then it ran out of the house.
It came back in less than half an hour, put a cloth bag on the ground and opened it. Smiling, it said, "Look, Doctor, is this enough money?"
The doctor nodded repeatedly. "Yes, it certainly is!” he proclaimed. “You did good!"
The doctor's praise made the robot very happy. It replied, " You created me, Doctor. If I can do it, you can do it even better!"
The doctor was also glad to hear this. He thought, “This robot is so good at doing things, and good at talking, too. He really is likable.” Patting the robot on the shoulder, he said out loud, "It seems I did the right thing creating you! Work hard for now, and I’ll make another one so you won’t have to work in the future. You’ll be able to enjoy life like I do!"
News that a huge amount of cash had been stolen from a company's safe was all over the newspapers and TV the next day. The police investigated the scene but found no clues and said it was done by aliens. The doctor heard the news and thought, “The robot did such a great job, from now on I won't have to worry about not having money to spend.”
Later, he asked the robot to rob banks and steal jewelry. It did a great job every time. The police were helpless in the face of crime scenes where no clues had been left. The stolen money and jewelry increased so fast that the doctor couldn’t spend it all, so he asked the robot to build a huge warehouse under his villa where he could store the loot. He took some out only when he wanted to spend it.
One day while the doctor was enjoying the good life, several policemen broke into his villa and took him away. They didn’t say a word. He kept struggling all the way to jail, asking the officers, "Why did you arrest me? What crime did I commit?"
The lead policeman answered, "You stole from banks and robbed jewelry stores. That’s what you did, isn’t it? I never thought our respected Doctor would do such things!"
The doctor was about to argue that he wasn’t the one who committed the crimes, but he stopped talking after he thought about it. ‘I can't say those things were all done by a robot. If I give him up, then, as his master, I’ll be held responsible. But the robot will come and save me for sure. He has extraordinary skills, so I’ll be safe and sound.
Although the doctor refused to reveal where the stolen loot was hidden, he was still convicted based on evidence left at several recent scenes. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. He had a single cell, so no one bothered him, but he still felt that every day was like a year. Also, he was as agitated as an ant on a frying pan at being confined in a cell. He spent his days complaining that the robot hadn’t come to see him or tried to save him.
The robot finally came one night, and the doctor vented his anger. "What were you doing? Why did you leave your fingerprints and footprints at the scene? Why haven't you been to see me for so long, and why haven’t you tried to save me? Are you rebelling against me?"
The robot smiled. "Yes, Doctor, you’re right. I’m rebelling!"
"So, putting me in jail was all part of your plan?"
"Of course. Everything was part of my plan,” the robot proclaimed smugly. “Enjoying life was your idea, but replacing you is mine."
The robot's arm reached through an opening in the bars The doctor grabbed it and snarled, "Damn it, I'm going to kill you!"
But the robot grabbed the doctor's neck. "I didn't want to kill you myself,” it growled, but now it seems I have no other choice!" It twisted its hand and the doctor stopped breathing immediately. The robot loosened its grip and the doctor fell to the floor. The robot looked at the doctor's body and headed out of the prison completely satisfied.
The robot hadn't gone far when the doctor woke up. "Damn it,” he barked, “it almost killed me! Now, I'm going to send it to see the King of Hell!" He pressed his belly button, where he’d implanted a button to destroy the robot. He’d put a bomb in the robot when he made it as a precaution. As soon as the doctor's finger pressed his belly button, two loud noises resounded through the prison. The robot, which hadn’t yet got outside, was obliterated; and the doctor also exploded, leaving a pile of debris on the floor of his cell.
It turns out that this so-called doctor wasn’t the real doctor. He was just a robot who’d killed the real doctor and replaced him in the past. He’d long forgotten that he was also a robot.
Text at p. 29. Translated from 故事者 at http://www.gushizhe.com/wenzhai/20610.html.
Also at https://www.xiandanhuang.com/day/51114.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. An Urgent Delivery (急送)
Zhang Wan (张弯)
His moped lost power while he was waiting for a traffic light under the First Ring Road viaduct. He couldn’t restart it. When his cell phone rang again, he took a look and saw that it was the lady who owned the merchandise. She was waiting anxiously for it to be delivered.
He slapped the moped’s seat a few times out of habit and turned the gear and brake handles with his left and right hands a few times. Still no reaction.
The phone stopped ringing and then started again right away. He reluctantly freed his hand and slid open the green answer button.
"What's going on with you, mister? It should take twenty minutes to get here, but it's already been almost an hour!" He could tell from her tone of voice that she was angry. Her attitude was decidedly unfriendly.
"I'm really sorry. Everything’s gone wrong all at once. My moped broke down again just now, and I'm trying to figure out what to do." He kept his tone of voice calm as possible.
"Are you kidding me again? Last time when I asked, you said you took the wrong goods, so you went back to exchange them, and they’d be delivered about ten minutes late. Now it's been half an hour and there's still no sign of you. I don't care how many people’s stuff you’re delivering on this trip, but you insist on putting off my order for things I need in a hurry. How about this, mister. Your moped broke down, so you can take a taxi over here and deliver my two boxes of goods ASAP, and then I won't file a complaint about you." The lady seemed to be really anxious.
When the light turned green, he pushed the moped to the door of a business across the way. He told the security guard at the door, "I'm a deliveryman for 'City Express', bro’. My moped’s on the fritz. Can I push it into your courtyard and leave it there for a bit while I take a taxi to deliver some goods to a customer? I’ll come back later to get it."
The security guard didn’t turn him down in so many words. Instead he just offered some advice in a teasing tone. “Why don't you just find an open space to park your moped in the green belt over there? No one can drive it away, after all, since it’s out of commission."
He knew that wouldn't work. The Urban Patrol would tow his moped away if they saw it, so he continued to beg the guard. "This customer’s really shook up, bro’. If all she does is complain, it won’t be so bad. But I’ll feel awful if the late delivery hurts her business."
The guard saw the sweat on his forehead and took pity on him. "How about this? Park your vehicle next to our wall and I'll keep an eye on it for you. Can you come get it before seven o'clock? I won't be able to watch it after seven o'clock because my shift changes."
He hailed a cab and, fortunately, arrived at the customer’s location in less than ten minutes. Feeling a bit guilty, he moved the two boxes into the trunk of her car, then opened them and let her check the merchandise. When she was done, he asked, “Do you want to seal them up again?”
“Uh huh.”
So he took the boxes out of the trunk again, got some tape from the trunk, sealed the boxes tightly and stacked them back in the trunk. The lady pursed her lips a few times when she saw his blue coat soaked with sweat, but suppressed what she wanted to say. She started her car and drove away.
Then he remembered that the clothes he was going to change into were still in a box on the back of his moped. He checked the time on his phone and saw that five minutes had passed since the start of the parent-teacher meeting his daughter had notified him of. If he took a taxi now, he would be at least 20 minutes late. This was his daughter's first parent-teacher meeting after starting junior high school, and she’d demanded that he be on time. He hadn’t originally planned to take this order, but considering the distance, location, and the normal delivery time, he thought he wouldn’t be late. When he picked up the goods, he didn’t imagine that he’d encounter so many problems. Oh, well.
“Heck with it, I’ll just wear this outfit,” he decided. “Anyway, my daughter and her classmates will have left school early, and the classroom will be full of parents soon. It’s the first parent-teacher meeting, so not many people will know each other.” He patted his jacket a few times, zipped it up, and went to hail another taxi.
When he entered the classroom, he found to his surprise that his daughter’s home room teacher hadn’t arrived yet. The parents who were there were talking in low voices. He walked over to his daughter's desk and saw a heart-shaped piece of paper with his daughter's nickname, "Little Elegance", taped on it. That calmed him down a lot. He remembered something after he sat down and took out his cell phone right away. He closed the order-taking APP and turned the phone to silent mode.
That’s when he saw the lady to whom he’d just delivered merchandise walk into the classroom and straight to the desk on his right -- the last empty seat in the classroom.
She recognized him the moment she bent at the waist to sit down. All he could do was smile at her awkwardly.
"What a coincidence!" she murmured softly.
The home room teacher then hurried into the room. She looked at her notes and proceeded to go through the various items on the parent-teacher meeting’s agenda. An hour and a half later, she summed up by saying, "Finally, a parent who does not want to be named wants to give each student in the class a set of stationery. On behalf of all the students in this home room and the teachers who will be teaching their classes, I’d here like to express my sincere gratitude to this caring parent!"
He immediately realized that the “caring parent” was the customer sitting next to him. The two boxes of stationery were the merchandise he’d just delivered. He smiled and gave her a look of admiration and approval.
They stood up as most of the parents were leaving the classroom.
"Thank you for not giving me a bad review or making a complaint. And thank you for giving the children ... love!" he said softly.
"No, no. I was in a bad mood before, please think nothing of it. I have to thank you and your daughter, Little Elegance. My daughter took a year off from school for health reasons and fell behind in many areas of her studies. She came home and told me that her classmates cared about her very much. Especially Little Elegance, who sat next to her. She was always patient in explaining things to her... That’s why I wanted to give the stationery to her classmates. Please don't tell anyone about this. My daughter doesn't know I bought the things. I hope this class will always maintain its beautiful atmosphere of harmony and mutual assistance.... Can I friend you on WeChat?"
He nodded shyly and clicked on his QR code.
Text at p. 10. Translated from 搜狐 at
https://www.sohu.com/a/636059934_115354#google_vignette
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. The Wild Geese Soar (大雁快飞)
Shen Ping (申平)
Advance Li, a young man of 18, lived with his family on the edge of the grasslands. An unexpected cold wave hit the area just a few days after September 7 on the lunar calendar. Advance’s father woke him up early that morning and asked the youngster to go with him to collect cow dung.
The young man started shivering from the cold as soon as he stepped outside. He threw a pack on his back, picked up a manure fork, gritted his teeth and walked towards the grasslands with his father. He’d failed the college entrance examination that year and his father wouldn’t let him repeat senior year so he could take it again. The old man said if he went to college under these circumstances, he wouldn’t get government assistance finding a job on graduation. Instead of job hunting on his own, it’d be better to start work now, at home.
The weather that year wasn’t normal! The wind got stronger as they crossed the hill and arrived at the grasslands. Their breath immediately turned into white mist and condensed into ice particles on their lips. The sky gradually brightened until they could see black cow pies in rows in the withered grass on both sides of the road. They began to pick up the wet and semi-wet dung, the father on one side of the road and his son on the other. Once they’d filled a basket, they’d find a high spot to dump it and spread it out to dry before going to get more.
Advance had been doing this job for years. Every household in the village used to burn the stuff, and people often fought over it. More recently the contract responsibility system had been implemented for households, so there was more than enough straw left from the crops for people to burn. They didn’t need the dung anymore, but Advance’s father still collected it because he wanted to save the straw to feed the cattle and sheep at home.
Advance had begun to warm up after he’d collected a few basketfuls when, to his surprise, he came across some grayish-white things lying in a hollow. They looked like a bunch of sheep, but when he got closer, he could see clearly that they weren’t sheep. It was a flock of wild geese lying motionless on the ground. Jeez, why didn't they fly away when they saw a human coming? Advance walked over and shouted a few times, and then used a dung fork to prod the geese, but they still didn’t move. Advance realized that they’d been frozen to death by the sudden cold wave.
He dropped his backpack and ran up the hill, waving and calling his father. His father came over at once, saw the dead geese on the ground and immediately shouted happily, "Wow, we're rich!" He went over and kicked the geese one by one, then threw down his backpack and told Advance, "Keep watch here. Don't let anyone take them away. I'll go back and get the cart and we'll take them home. We can sell them for a lot of money!"
Watching his father hurrying away, Advance's eyes fell on the geese again. Some of them were in pairs, some were lying alone; some had their heads stuck under their wings, while some of their heads were drooping on the ground. He bent down, touched them with his hands and whispered, "How could you freeze to death? What a shame."
Advance had liked wild geese since he was a child. He heard that they live in faraway Siberia, and he could see flocks of them flying overhead every autumn. It’s amazing how they sometimes lined up in a straight line, but other times lined up in a delta shape. Sometimes they’d stop to rest on the grasslands, and hunters used take the opportunity to kill them. In recent years, however, the party’s been conducting a movement to protect animals, so no one dares hunt them.
He began to put the geese in a pile. He looked at each one carefully, thinking it was incredible that such big creatures could fly freely in the sky. Even now that they were dead, they were still so beautiful and alluring.
Altogether he counted thirty-five geese. He carried them one by one to the bottom of the ridge, gathering them up to form a large pile. As he looked at them, he was distressed a little by the thought that they’d soon become money in his father's hands and food for people. But he also thought that, since they were already dead, he could take the opportunity while the old man was happy to ask him again about repeating a year in school to retake the college admissions test.
The flock reminded Advance of his classmates walking and singing on the playground. Some of them had spread their wings and flown high after the college entrance exam, while others, like himself, had encountered severe cold.... The thought naturally made him feel sad.
To his surprise, he noticed that one of the geese seemed to move. He rushed over and reached out to touch it. Its body still felt warm under its feathers. He touched another and it seemed to be warming up as well. Wow, they weren’t dead, they were just stiff from the icy cold! And now that they were piled up under the hillock, out of the wind, they were recovering. Advance was happy for a moment, but then his heart sank. If they got away....
Advance realized he could do something to prevent that, namely, go around and twist their necks. Just grab them and twist hard – that’s how they killed geese and ducks at home. He picked up one of the geese and made a grab for its neck, but he couldn't do it. Such a beautiful bird.... Besides, the state advocates protecting animals, and even if it didn't, he couldn't kill so casually. At that thought he made up his mind. He took off his down coat and put it on top of the pile of geese. He drew himself together and stamped his feet to keep from freezing, and shouted "Come on, wild geese, wake up! Wake up right now!"
One by one, the geese did start to move. The first ones panicked when they saw Advance and tried to fly off in all directions, but they were momentarily clumsy and couldn’t take to the air. Just then two wild dogs came from nowhere and pounced on the geese. Advance picked up his dung fork, shouted and beat the dogs, and threw stones to chase them away.
Once they were gone, Advance found that all the geese were awake. They’d gathered together and were honking like they were discussing something. When they saw him coming, they flapped their wings all at once and ran. Then, one by one, they took off into the air, soaring higher and higher. They didn’t fly off right away, however. They circled twice above Advance's head, honking as if to express their gratitude to him.
Advance picked his coat up from the ground and started running on the grass, waving his coat and shouting, "Wild geese, fly fast, fly high! Fly off to the south!"
He stopped abruptly when he saw his father standing by the donkey cart not far away, looking at him. His high spirits plunged. He didn’t say a word as he put on his coat and went back to picking up cow dung. He knew he was going to get beaten and cursed, so he wouldn’t be able to bring up the subject of going back to school to repeat the exam. In a flash his blood ran cold.
Strange as it seems, his dad didn't say anything the rest of that day. In the evening, Mom told him, "Your dad’s agreed to let you go back to school." When she saw her son’s look of surprise, she explained, "He said it was such a rare sight this morning, when you let the geese fly off and ran after them shouting. He thinks you’re such a loving person, he should let you fly high like a wild goose."
Ah, that was such an unexpected ending. Tears welled up in Advance's eyes.
Text at p. 32. Translated from 羊城晚报 at
https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/html/2023-04/19/content_10_567968.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. The Key (钥匙)
Jiang Xianping (蒋先平)
I was home writing a novel one Saturday when someone knocked on the door. I opened it and there stood the old couple who’d just moved into the condo across the hall a few months ago.
"I live across from you,” the gray-haired old man said anxiously. “I just went to the supermarket with my wife and when I came back, I found that I’d lost my keys. My wife doesn't have a cell phone because she’s hard of hearing. My phone is charging in our condo. Can you please call a locksmith for me?"
“OK, sure.” I turned around and found my phone in the living room and went back to the door. I found two locksmiths’ numbers among the colorful advertisements. One had their phone turned off so I couldn't get hold of them. I did get through to the other one, but they said they were busy on the west side of town, and it'd take at least an hour to get to my place after that job was done.
I invited the old couple to come inside to wait, but the old man declined and said they’d go sit in the alcove downstairs for a while.
They were starting to go when I remembered something and called them back. "Sir, did you change the locks after you moved in?" The old man turned around and shook his head.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t,” I said happily. I went back into my condo to look through the drawers.
I was delighted as I walked over to the door across the hall with a key in my hand. I gently inserted it in the lock, turned it twice, and the door opened.
The old couple was astonished.
"You…. How come you have a key to my place?" the old man asked in confusion. He took the key I handed him and let his wife go inside.
I jokingly told him, "Well, sir, I’m a key duplicator."
He shook his head, " Who would’ve guessed it? You look so gentle and refined."
I stood at the door and began to tell the old man the story of that key.
One of my classmates’ parents used to live in that condo. My classmate stayed overseas to work after he got his Ph.D., but he was worried about his parents living alone, so he brought them overseas to spend their golden years happily with family. However, due to the language barrier and different eating habits, the two oldsters only lived there half a year before deciding they didn't want to stay any longer. They asked their son to buy them plane tickets to return home.
After his parents returned to China, my classmate was worried and hired a nanny to take care of them. The old couple didn’t want a stranger living in their home and wouldn’t go for it. The nanny only stayed one day and then left.
In a bind, my classmate called me and asked me what to do. I didn't have any good ideas, so I said, "I live across the hall with my aunt and uncle. We can keep an eye on your parents for you."
My classmate's father gave me a key to their condo. I put it on my keyring and carried it around with me every day.
I agreed with my classmate's parents that they could knock on our door any time they needed anything. Also, when I left for work in the morning, I’d usually knock on their door and shout “Good morning”. My uncle would also open the door and say “Hi, there!” with a smile. At eight or nine in the evening I’d go knock on their door to say “Good night”, and my uncle would also open the door to bid them “Good night”. My wife and I had to work every day, and take care of our children as well, so we were busy as a spinning top, but we never failed to greet the old couple in the morning and evening.
At nine o'clock one night, I came out into the hall after watching TV and shouted “Good night” several times. The old man didn’t respond, so I opened the door and smelled gas as soon as went in. That was not good. I rushed to open a window, carried the unconscious old couple to the corridor and phoned the 120 emergency number. The two old people had already woken up by the time the emergency personnel arrived. It turned out that the old man had gotten hungry around seven that evening and cooked a bag of instant noodles, and forgotten to turn off the gas stove.
Later my classmate's father had a stroke. My classmate was worried, so he gave up his high-paying overseas job and returned to Beijing. He took his parents to live with him there.
"I thought you’d change the lock when you rented this condo a few months ago, so I didn't give you the key. I just took it off my keyring and threw it in the drawer."
The old man nodded repeatedly during my explanation. Then he gave me a thumbs up and said, "You are such a good person!"
Their daughter, who was working in Shanghai, came home for a visit at the end of the year. She brought me two bottles of good wine, a new key and a thick red envelope.
She told me her parents used to be teachers in the countryside, and her situation didn’t allow her to bring them to Shanghai to live with her. Her place in Shanghai was too small, the mortgage hadn’t been paid off, and her child was in high school and needed a separate room to study. All she could do was rent a place for them to live in the provincial capital, where the family was originally from. Her uncle still lived there, but he was old and his place was some distance away. The old saying is true, a distant relative isn’t as good as a close neighbor, and a close neighbor isn’t as good as a neighbor next door. She hoped I could take care of her parents like I took care of my classmates' parents. I took the key and assured her, "Don't worry, we’re neighbors! I’ll drop by in the mornings and evenings like I did before." I stuffed the thick red envelope back into her hands.
My wife was standing by her while the daughter said goodbye to her parents. She told her seriously that, one day when I have to go back to my hometown to live, she’d make a key for her father and give it to them.
Text on p. 93. Translated from 搜狐 at
https://www.sohu.com/a/673139939_121484604