Chinese Stories in English
Ordinary People 01
百姓人家(2023), 秦俑/赵建宁选编
The Chinese text can be found at the page and the website cited after each story.
1. Evergreen 3. Young Sir Wang Five
2. Joyful 4. The Babu Bed
1. Evergreen (万年青)
Feng Jicai (冯骥才)
Walk west another three hundred steps past Outer Westgate [in Tianjin] and you’ll find a disorderly stretch of housing. There are a dozen or so homes on the east side and twenty or thirty to the west, with some crooked walking paths between them. Several families live by a triangular piece of land at a fork in the road. The lot at the tip of the triangle is too small and short to be used for a residence, so at first no one wanted it.
There were no businesses in the area, so people had to walk a long way to Xima Road to buy things. Old Cai’s family, who live in the triangle, used their brains. They took over the tip of the triangle a long time ago to build a small brick shack, not to live in, but to open a small store selling general merchandise. Life is much more convenient now, with a small store selling everything from food to clothing, and people have gradually become dependent on it. It’s really indispensable! Pray to Buddha to protect and keep it. Someone gave the store a nice sounding name, “Evergreen”. Old Cai’s family liked the name and hired a guy to carve it on a piece of wood, which they hung on the wall by the store’s door.
The Cai family has lived in this area for several generations, and their friendships with their neighbors have been built up over those years. The most precious thing about this kind of friendship is that they can "trust" each other. Trust certainly isn’t something that can be expressed verbally -- only distrust can be expressed that way. Trust comes through many years of togetherness and sincerity in many things. Some things may not seem important in day-to-day life, but they’re all considered in assessing a person’s character.
The family has a rule: from the time the sun rises in the morning until it sets in the evening, every day all year round except New Year’s, their store is always open and the villagers will never be faced with a closed door. They made the rule themselves and they also impose it on themselves. If you say it, you’ve got to do it, and not just for one day or one month or one year, but for ten or twenty or thirty years, without a day that you don't or can't do it.
The current owner of Evergreen is Victory Cai, a rigid fellow. He abides by his ancestors’ rules even more strictly and stubbornly than they did. It’s incredible! What family can follow a rule for a hundred years without budging an inch?
But it’s not only a store rule for Evergreen – it’s also a rule of Old Cai’s family. The family has never produced a top scholar or a high official, and no one has expanded its territory, but it’s still an admirable and proud family just on the basis of this unique rule. When Old Cai walks down the street, his neighbors greet him even before he greets them.
Old Cai encountered a head-scratcher of a problem one day. His cousin had broken a leg while mining coal in Tangshan, so he had to go see him. The round trip would take about five days and he had no one to look after the store. His son was an apprentice in Beijing’s Dazhalan Silk and Satin Shop and his boss considered him integral to the company’s operations, so it wasn’t easy to ask him to come home. His wife was a woman who feared getting into disputes with customers. What should he do?
Just then he got a visit from his childhood friend, Honorable Ma, who lived on Xima Road. When Honorable learned of Old Cai’s difficulties, he said that a distant relative of his, Lovely Child Jin from Changzhou in Jiangsu Province, was studying at Beiyang University. It was summer vacation but Lovely Child had remained at the school because it would cost a lot of money to go home, so why not ask him to help out. He was a very well-behaved person. Also, he didn't know anyone in Tianjin, so he had no relationships that would interfere with his managing the store.
Old Cai asked Lovely Child to come for an interview. The young man was in his twenties with a fair face. He wore a pair of round glasses, which gave him an honest look, and he didn't talk much and was organized. Old Cai found that reassuring and, after thinking about it for a day, he handed Evergreen over to him. They agreed that for five days, he would open the store at sunrise and close at sunset, entertain customers diligently, collect money and keep accounts. The store had a lot of rules despite its small size, even a set rule for where to keep the feather duster after use. Lovely Child's head was like glass and whatever went in could be seen clearly. Old Cai finished his instructions by reminding the young man, "Remember to stay in the shop and absolutely never leave."
"Where would I go?” the student from Beiyang University replied with a laugh. “I’ve got nothing to do except study. Don't worry!"
Old Cai grinned and put Evergreen in the young man’s hands.
Lovely Child had never worked as a store clerk, but he was smart and could do anything. The first day it was all new, the second day he was familiar with it, and after two days he understood everything. Only a few dozen people came in to shop each day, mostly from the neighborhood. When these old neighbors saw Lovely Child, they’d ask, "Where’s Old Cai?" and the young man would answer, "He’ll be back in a few days."
The neighbors knew each other well and didn't talk much. They only bought food and other necessities of daily life. If they ran out of salt or ginger or kerosene, especially when cooking at noon or in the afternoon, they’d come in to buy whatever was missing. Passers-by mostly bought packs of cigarettes or, if they had a sweet tooth, some candy to put in their mouths.
Lovely Child rushed from the school to Evergreen at dawn every day and followed all of Old Cai's instructions. He opened the ground lock, removed the door panels, put various goods in order both inside and outside the store, dusted and swept. He kept watch over the store from morning to night. If he had to pee, he’d go in a small iron bucket which he’d then empty into the gutter outside the back door when he had time. If he had to poop, he’d hold it in and stop at a toilet on the way back to school at night. In the store, he put all his energy into welcoming guests, selling goods and collecting money, calmly and orderly, without any deviation. He ate dry food he brought with him for three meals a day. When it got dark in the afternoon, he closed the stall, counted the goods and collected the money, put the door panels back up and went back to the school to sleep.
For three consecutive days, everything was peaceful and nothing untoward happened. The next morning, though, just after he arrived at Evergreen, a classmate stopped by and said that a fellow from the foreign concession had come by the dorm. The foreigner was very tall and sported a full beard. He liked photography and wanted to take pictures of their school. Beiyang University was the first foreign-style school in China, which interested the foreigner, but he said he couldn't just take pictures of the facilities -- he also had to take pictures of the people. Since few people were on campus during summer vacation, the classmate had come to get Lovely Child.
Lovely Child told him that Evergreen’s owner had ordered him not to close the store during the daytime, and he couldn't shut the door in the old customers’ faces. The classmate laughed and said, "Who’s that rigid? If you close the store, can’t people go somewhere else to shop?" He saw that Lovely Child was still hesitant and said, "What's there to be afraid of if you close up for a while? He won't know." Lovely Child thought that made sense, so he closed the door and ran with the classmate all the way to Beiyang University on the Xigu Canal.
This was the first time that Lovely Child had seen a box camera or observed how to take photos. He accompanied the foreigner to the school gate, classroom, laboratory, library and stadium taking pictures. He and several classmates also played various roles. Everyone worked happily and they had a lot of fun until the sun was setting.
It was dark by the time he hurried back to the west of the city. When he walked to the street corner and faced the dark shop with the door closed, he didn't recognize it for a while and thought he’d taken the wrong road. He realized that the closed shop was Evergreen when he got closer and felt a little guilty. He’d let Mr. Cai down. When he counted the inventory and added up the accounts, he saw he hadn't made a single copper coin all day because the shop hadn’t been open. Wouldn't that mean a loss for Mr. Cai? So he took merchandise with the same price as the average sales for the previous three days, and recorded them as that day’s sales; then took that amount of money from his own pocket and put it in the money box. That made him feel at ease.
Old Cai returned the next day. Lovely Child told him about various things that had happened in the store during the five consecutive days he was gone. He reported that everything was fine and, when he brought out the account book and cash box, everything balanced. Old Cai was still a little worried at first, but after seeing Lovely Child and hearing his narrative, he grinned through the stubble of his beard. He paid Lovely Child a good salary for his few days' work, and the young man said, "This much money is enough for a trip home."
So the problem was solved. But it wasn’t yet resolved.
One day when he was back at school, Lovely Child received an unexpected message from Old Cai inviting him to come to Evergreen that afternoon. When he got there, Old Cai set a table with about eleven ounces of booze and some food he’d prepared. It wasn’t a special occasion, just a meal to thank Lovely Child for his previous help. Old Cai had no tolerance for alcohol, and Lovely Child wasn’t a drinker either, so they both got drunk quickly.
Old Cai said, "I really like you. I couldn’t have found anyone as honest as you even with a lamp. I can't do anything to help you, but this shop is yours. Whatever you want to eat or use -- just come and get it! You can take whatever you want!"
Lovely Child got shook up. He wanted to show that he was a good person, so he told Old Cai about the time he had closed the store because something was happening at school, then made up the lost sales from his own pocket so that Old Cai wouldn’t lose money. He thought this would strengthen Old Cai’s belief that he was a good person. Who would’ve thought that Old Cai would immediately sober up at the revelation, lose the smile on his face and stare at the young man through narrowed eyes. It was as if he had burned Old Cai's store down.
"What's the matter?" Lovely Child asked.
"How long did you keep the door closed?" Old Cai demanded, looking quite fierce.
"From the morning until…. It was almost dark when I got back."
"All day? Were the door panels up?"
"They were. I wouldn’t dare just close the door and leave."
After a moment’s silence, Old Cai abruptly yelled at him. "You've ruined me! I told you to keep an eye on the store and never leave it unattended, never close it! Three generations of my ancestors have never in a hundred years let anyone get the door shut in their face! You shut the place up and kept it a secret from me. I'm telling you, the neighbors have been acting strange these last few days. You've screwed me and slandered my ancestors! You -- Get out of here!" Old Cai pointed at the door, breathing fire directly into Lovely Child's face.
Lovely Child didn't understand what was going on. He was shocked and puzzled, but Old Cai's anger and despair left him unable to speak. Old Cai's eyes bulged and the hand he pointed at the door shook violently. Lovely Child hurriedly stepped back, went out the door and left the area.
No one knew about this, so naturally no one talked about it. The strange thing is that from then on, no one in the area talked about the "house rule" of Old Cai’s family anymore; the Evergreen brand became ordinary; and the magical light that had surrounded Old Cai also disappeared.
People say that Old Cai got ill a year later and couldn’t be cured. He lay at home and wasn’t able to open the store. Evergreen’s door panels were often left up. It wasn’t the same! After the Chinese New Year, his son took Old Cai to Beijing for treatment and recuperation and his wife went along. They never came back. The store’s fixtures and stock were tossed out bit by bit and the little brick building sat empty. After a long period of disuse, the roof was covered with weeds like a temple in the wild or an abandoned house, and the "Evergreen" shop sign disappeared at some point.
Old Cai's son came back half a year later and sold the building to a man from Yangliuqing. The guy opened a breakfast shop selling fried dough sticks, baked white flour cakes and big bowls of soy milk, all steaming and fragrant. It was like a change of scenery over the nation on the changing of a dynasty.
Text at p. 3. Originally published in俗世奇人芯片. Translated from 51t at https://blog.wenxuecity.com/myblog/73070/202306/11032.html
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2. Joyful (欢喜)
Feng Jicai (冯骥才)
They say there’s a kind of fish called “red stingray”. It’s very interesting: If you tickle one, it’ll immediately curl up and make a "giggling" expression. Little do people know that this is actually the stingray’s defensive reaction to stress, and its "smiley face" represents pain and fear....
Zhenshi Street [in Tianjin] is as old as Guiyi Street. All kinds of strange people populate this old road. A man named Joyful lived on the westernmost side of the street in the late Qing Dynasty and the early days of the Republic of China. There were no roads further west.
Joyful’s surname was Yu. Joyful was his given name and his nickname was Laugher.
His mother didn’t call him Laugher because she wanted to make him laugh. It was because he was laughing from the moment he was born.
And it wasn’t that he was born to love laughing. It was that he was born with a smiling face and would smile even when he wasn't laughing. His eyebrows were like crescent moons; his eyes were like peach petals; his mouth was like a fresh water chestnut; and a shallow dimple flashed at each corner of his mouth.
That was what he was like when he was born, a pleasing and likable child, always smiling and making people happy. That’s why he was named Joyful and nicknamed Laugher.
But couldn't Joyful cry? Didn't he feel bad sometimes? Did he laugh when he was hungry? His mother said, "This child is always laughing. He makes you happy and never cries or makes a fuss. He really knows what it’s all about!" Such a person had never been seen before.
He was from a poor family: His father Old Yu was a poverty-stricken teacher who had to endure a poor man’s life even though he was a good person. Neighbors said that the little guy being born happy might be a lucky star and a good omen for Old Yu's family. His little flower-like face seemed to carry an air of mystery about it.
But reality turned out to be quite different from expectations. Old Yu came down with tuberculosis when Joyful was three years old. He coughed all day long and ate up almost all the family's savings trying to treat the disease. He was still coughing when he went to meet his maker.
Thus the smile on Joyful's face was no longer such a mystery. He remained the same in spite of everything, always the same expression no matter what was said to him or what happened.
But how does one feel when faced with an unchanging, nongenuine smile? People grow to detest it after a while, and so the people around Joyful gradually began to dislike him. Some even said that this three-year-old child who’d lost his father wasn’t a lucky star, but a nemesis, a smiling tiger.
Joyful’s widowed mother, now called Auntie Yu, was so poor that she could barely make ends meet. When Joyful was ten years old she married Big Teeth Ma, the owner a rickshaw company, and took Joyful with her. Big Teeth was a course fellow. His wife had just died and left him with two sons and no one to take care of the household. His home was like a dorm for rickshaw drivers -- a real mess -- and he married Auntie Yu to take care of the place. His company did a good business so he had meat to eat every meal and money to spend every day. Life with him should’ve been easy, but he loved to drink. He’d get drunk every time he drank, and when he was drunk, he’d act crazy. He didn't hit people but loved to curse them, and his language was fierce and ugly, especially when he cursed Joyful's mother in front of the boy.
Big Teeth and his two sons found it strange that Joyful kept smiling when he swore at the boy's mother. His language grew ever filthier and coarse as he tried to make Joyful angry, but no matter how much he cursed, the smile on Joyful’s face didn't change.
Only Aunt Yu knew what was behind her son's smiling face. She was afraid the boy would suffocate one day from stifling his anger, so she went to a respectable man that Old Yu had known and asked him to help. He recommended that Joyful go to work as a houseboy for a wealthy family named Zhang in the city, sweeping the floor, cleaning the house, serving tea and water, guarding the door, serving the master of the household.... Joyful could do all these jobs.
The Zhangs were a large, rich family with many irons in the fire. They owned lots of courtyard houses filled with people from top to bottom, but they were a family of farmers and scholars with strict rules. They didn't like servants to prick up their ears, poke their heads in the family’s affairs or talk too much. This suited Joyful's temperament to a T. He’d been disciplined by his father from the time he was a toddler to know his place and never talk too much. He worked very hard because his family had been poor, and his natural smile was perfect for entertaining guests. It made people happy to be greeted and seen off with a smile.
Joyful was recognized by the head of the family after he’d worked for them for three months. The master had him move into the servants' quarters in the mansion. This was good because Joyful could leave the rickshaw house where he’d had to hear curses every day.
That was not the end of the young boy's good fortune. Soon, he caught the eye of the family’s matriarch. The old lady said, "I just like looking at his little face. No one can smile all the time, and if they do, it’s surely fake. But Joyful's little face smiles naturally. When I see him, all my worries disappear. Let him look after my quarters and serve me."
The old lady's words were music to Joyful’s ears, so he went to serve her. He worked in her quarters for four years, and people said that the old lady smiled all day, every day. She treated him like a grandson and always fed him well. When she passed away, Joyful wore mourning clothes and stood outside the mourning hall for several days and nights, without eating or sleeping, to show his loyalty and filial piety. Some people said he was laughing to himself, however. This rumor spread and people took note of it. Indeed, he did keep smiling while he stood outside the mourning hall.
Everyone was crying and wailing on the day of the funeral. Several people saw Joyful standing around, though, shrugging his shoulders and looking skyward with his mouth wide open, as if he were laughing. He looked absolutely absurd.
Someone told the head of the family about this, and he called Joyful in to ask him about it. Joyful said he should be struck by lightning if he’d been laughing. The old lady had treated him with mountainous generosity and he was heartbroken that she was gone. The master asked, "Can you cry? Why have I never seen you cry?"
"When I feel pain in my heart, the flesh on my face tightens and becomes uncomfortable. I can’t tell you what it feels like."
The master immediately ordered someone to drag Joyful downstairs, give him six strokes with a paddle and then drag him back up. Joyful half-knelt on the floor, with his head down, howling in pain. The master told him to raise his head so he could see what the boy looked like when he was suffering. When Joyful raised his head, the master was shocked to see that he still had that smiling face!
The master was an experienced man and knew that Joyful was one of a kind. His mother had loved this young boy when she was alive, so he should remain with the family as a reminder of her. He therefore had someone help Joyful recover from his injuries and let him continue to work in the mansion.
Text at p. 7. Translated from 书香天地 at
https://www.ahszyd.com/home/periodical/articleDetail?articleId=3873904
Also available from 故事会 at http://vertical.591adb.cn/journal/article_wqjd_3873904.html
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3. Young Sir Wang Five (小尊王五)
Feng Jicai (冯骥才)
The Honorable Li from Baoding Prefecture was transferred to Tianjin to serve as County Magistrate. The people around him advised him not to put his head on a chopping block -- the gangs in Tianjin were too powerful and feared nothing in Heaven or on earth, so officials at the time were afraid to go there. But The Honorable Li was a distant nephew of Li Zhongtang1; he thought highly of himself and didn’t take the local gangsters seriously at all. He brought a fellow named Big Boss Teng, a famous gangster in his own right, with him to Tianjin, so who would dare stand up to him? The Honorable Li smiled and said, "I’m a strong dragon and not afraid of local snakes."
When The Honorable Li arrived at the Port of Tianjin, he plopped his butt down in the lobby of the county government office and, without waiting for any gangsters to come around and cause trouble, he went on the attack. He asked Big Boss Teng to search out a few well-known, powerful local gangsters and subdue them to show his power. The first target was Young Sir Wang Five.
Wang Five sold ironware in the Baiyi Nunnery area in the western part of the city. He liked to wear white clothes, so he looked fair and clean, but he was a wicked man with a smile on his face. No one knew how good his kung fu was, but everyone knew he feared nothing, alive or dead, and that the hatred in his heart had no bounds. He'd caused a few incidents in Tianjin with wide-ranging ramifications that frightened people, so the gangsters gave him the nickname "Young Sir". He had at least forty or fifty ruffians in his entourage, each of them willing to die a thousand deaths* for him. The town government was to the east of Baiyi Nunnery, and the county government was further east past Gulou North Street, so of course The Honorable Li had to remove this thorn in his side first.
Early one morning, several ruffians brought Wang Five jellied bean curd, fried fruit and steaming hot, fresh baked pancakes. While the gang was eating breakfast in the courtyard, one of them said the County Magistrate had recently ordered all gangsters in the city to register at the county government office, especially those who had been involved in fights. They’d be arrested if they didn’t register.
"Don't pay attention to him,” Wang Five said. “No one has the nerve to make us register."
The ruffian said that a certain Big Boss Teng from the county government was in charge of this matter. He was the right-hand man of The Honorable Li, and a ruthless fellow. Several gangsters had already fallen into his hands.
Wang Five said, "Where does this bastard live?"
"Very close, on a side street just past the warehouse entrance."
"Let's go,” Wang Five said. “You guys lead the way!" He picked up a kitchen knife from the iron tools beside him and rushed out of the door, hell bent for leather. The gang followed him.
When they got to Teng 's house, they started “bang banging” on the door. Teng was also having breakfast and he still had some fruit in his mouth when he opened the door and came outside. "What’re you doing here?" he demanded when he saw Wang Five.
Without saying a word, Wang Five raised the kitchen knife and pointed it, not at Teng, but at himself. He cut open a large wound on his forehead, "tsss", and blood gushed out. Then he said to Teng, “You cut me with a knife, Let's go see the magistrate!"
Big Boss Teng was startled but soon understood. This was a gangster looking to "compete in viciousness" with him. According to the rules of the local gangsters, if Teng replied, "Who cut you?" it would mean he was afraid and admitted defeat. How could that be acceptable? So Teng got a determined look on his face and said, "You’re right. This old gentleman cut you and was glad to do it. If you want to go see the magistrate, let’s go!"
Young Sir Wang Five glanced at him and thought this is one tough Big Boss. The two went to the county government office, and The Honorable Li came out to hear the case. Young Sir Wang Five knelt down and spoke first. "My last name is Wang and my given name is Five. I sell smoked tofu in the city. This team leader of yours eats my tofu every day but doesn’t pay. This morning I went to his house to collect. Without saying a word, he brought a kitchen knife out from the house and slashed me. Here’s the lethal weapon -- I snatched it away from him. And this is the wound -- blood is still dripping from it. Great Lord, you have to rule in my favor, mere commoner that I am."
Li thought, “I’m arresting people for fighting and making trouble here, but my right-hand man is causing trouble.” He asked Big Boss Teng if that truly had happened.
If Big Boss were to now say, "I didn't cut him, he cut himself", it would still mean he was afraid of trouble and he’d still lose. So he said, again with a determined look, "What the punk said was right. I ate his smoked tofu, but why should I pay him? This morning he actually came to ask me for money. I gave him a knife."
Young Sir Wang Five glanced at him again and thought that this Big Boss really was ferocious.
"You know the law, so how dare you break it!" The Honorable Li was furious. He pointed at Big Boss Teng with his left hand, slammed the gavel down with his right, and shouted, "Bailiff, come here! Bring the palm holder! Fifty strokes!"
The bailiff rushed forward carrying a rack called a palm holder. He took hold of Big Boss Teng’s hand and stuck his thumb into a hole in the rack. Then he twisted his hand until the palm faced up and started swinging a jujube wood board to hit him. "Pow, pow, pow, pow," ten times, and his palm swelled up to two inches thick. "Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow," fifteen more times, a total of twenty-five strokes, halfway to fifty. Big Boss Teng could no longer hold himself up. His rock-solid shoulders drooped as if the muscles had been pulled out.
The corners of Young Sir Wang Five’s lips curled into a smile when he saw that. “Ha!” he laughed as he raised his hand and said, "My Lord! Stop the beating. What I said just now wasn’t true. I was playing a joke on Big Boss Teng. I don't sell smoked tofu, I sell ironware. He didn't eat my tofu and he doesn't owe me anything. He didn't cut me with the knife, I cut it myself. The knife isn’t from his home, it's from my shop. You can see the words 'Mr. Wang'2 engraved on it!"
The Honorable Li was confused and didn't understand what was going on. He asked the bailiff to check the knife and, sure enough, the words "Mr. Wang" were on it. He asked Big Boss Teng, but the man couldn't say anything. If he said that Young Sir Wang Five was wrong, he’d have to take the remaining twenty-five blows. If he nodded and agreed with the gangster, he’d be admitting defeat. But his hand was made of flesh, and the flesh on the palm had been beaten away, so he couldn't bear one more blow. He had to hang his head and admit that Wang Five was telling the truth.
This put The Honorable Li in a difficult position. Wang Five said that he cut himself, so who should be convicted of a crime? If he let it go, wouldn't that mean this punk had made fools of all the people in the county government office? And that Big Boss Teng had suffered twenty-five strokes with a paddle for nothing? If he admitted that what Wang Five said now was true, wouldn't it be tantamount to admitting that he was a fool and had been duped by a gangster?
He was furious and at a loss for what to do, but just when he realized he had a tiger by the tail, Wang Five piped up and rescued him. To everyone’s surprise, Wang Five said, "My Lord! Wang Five doesn't know the depth of his responsibility. He just wanted to have some fun and screw around with the government’s office. You shouldn't let him get off so cheaply. You have to give me at least fifty strokes no matter what! And add on the twenty-five strokes that Big Boss Teng has left, for a total of seventy-five!"
The Honorable Li had not yet got control of his anger and he was not yet out of this embarrassing situation, so he thought that was a good idea. "You’ve got your wish”, he shouted. “You want to get beaten? Good! Bailiff, give him seventy-five strokes!”
Without waiting for the Bailiff to grab him, Wang Five walked to the palm holder, thrust his thumb into the hole, raised his shoulder, and thrust his palm out. The bailiff began to beat him, “Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow". The jujube wood paddle rose and then fell again in turn, and the gangster’s palm grew thicker with each blow. Blood and flesh flew everywhere. Wang Five looked at his broken palm and felt fine, even happy, as if he’d been served a plate of fried three-meats for dinner at a restaurant. When the beating was over and he’d thanked the County Magistrate, he turned around and left, giving Big Boss Teng the cold shoulder in the hall.
A month later, Big Boss Teng said that his wrist was broken and he couldn’t hold a knife, so he resigned his commission and returned to Baoding Prefecture. The matter of cracking down on gangsters was shelved and no one mentioned it again. Thus another chapter was added to the legend of Wang Five, the Young Sir of Tianjin.
[Footnote in original]
*“Die a thousand” [死千] a Tianjin localism and also gangster jargon meaning “undertake a life-threatening task”.
[Translator’s notes]
1. Li Zhongtang is an alternate name of Li Hongzhang, a famous official during the late Qing dynasty.
2. "Wang Register" [忘记] i.e., “Person Registered at Birth as a Member of the Wang Family”.
Text at p. 9. Originally published in俗世奇人芯片. Translated from 今日头条 at https://www.toutiao.com/article/7205854896187523616/?source=seo_tt_juhe
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4. The Babu Bed (拔步床)
Nie Xinsen (聂鑫森)
The old folks on Twisty Lane said that Uncle Dry Abundance Yu and his wife Dawn Moon Ba had treated each other courteously for decades. They never got red-faced with anger or had a fight, and their relationship was as strong as taffy that couldn’t be pulled apart. It was because they slept together on an old-style babu bed every night and even had the same dreams.
That’s a joke, isn't it? But everyone on Twisty Lane believed it, men, women, old and young. A few middle-aged ladies, especially, smacked their lips in envy.
"Babu beds are really great, but unfortunately we don't have one at home. No wonder my old man’s been sleeping in a separate bed from me for a long time."
"Mr. Yu and his wife have no children, just an empty courtyard. They have to huddle together for warmth."
"That's true."
Abundance was seventy years old, skinny, with a bent back and a low voice. He’d been a woodworker at Hunan Furniture Company in the city before he retired. He’d specialized in replicas of antique furniture and was skilled in carving. Dawn had also worked there as a painter. She was only two years younger than her husband but much healthier. They didn’t work in the same shop but could go to work and come home with each other, like birds of a feather flocking together. After they retired, they had a whole lot of time to gaze affectionately into each other's eyes. Abundance did go out occasionally, though, when his old friends invited him to have a few drinks.
Master craftsmen and woodworkers all love to drink, and Abundance was no exception. He could hold his liquor, but the thing was, he drank like crazy and he drank a lot. He developed stomach problems and had to go hassle his doctor frequently. Dawn urged him to take it easy, but to no avail -- until a few years ago when he became much more restrained because her heartfelt words shocked him. "Old Yu, you know I've always been a worrier. The nights are long, and if you go first, how will I make it through until the sun comes up? I hope there’ll always be two people sleeping on this babu bed!"
Abundance slapped the bed’s panel. "We... we can't betray this bed," he said.
The Yu family had been woodworkers for generations. They’d carved flowers, birds, landscapes and human figures in bas-relief, deep relief, round relief and open relief, all of them lifelike, on beds, tables, desks, cabinets, chairs, stools…. Their skills had been passed down from generation to generation and their name was well-known in the ancient city of Xiangtan.
This babu bed had been made in the late Qing Dynasty by the grandfather of Abundance's grandfather, but in the style popular in the middle to late Ming Dynasty. It consisted of two parts, the bed frame and a portico or platform in front of the frame, and the two parts were connected to form a single unit. Tables and stools were placed on both sides of the portico, so people felt like they were entering a room when they stepped onto its wooden flooring. (That’s why babu beds are also called pedestal beds.) Eaves were hung around the top of the bed and a low railing surrounded the bottom, all of which were carved with various designs symbolizing conjugal bliss, such as flowers in bloom under a full moon, couples gazing at one another, the shepherd boy and weaver girl meeting across the Milky Way, musical instruments playing in harmony.... It was full of auspicious scenes invoking joyful sentiments.
The bed had been kept disassembled, wrapped and hidden in the Yu family’s attic. When the sweet osmanthus was in full bloom in 1977, and 26-year-old Abundance and 24-year-old Dawn were getting married, his father assembled the bed in their new home and told them, "This is a good luck charm. I wish you a happy marriage with many children and a long life together!"
Abundance and his wife slept on the bed for 44 years. His father and mother passed away one after the other while the newlyweds grew old, but the bed remained the same!
Unfortunately, they had no children. The Yu family's carpentry skills would no longer be passed to another generation.
Dawn told her husband, "I’m sorry for the family, Old Yu. I didn't give the family a successor for its unique skills!"
"What are you talking about?” Abundance replied. “I’ve trained so many disciples. Aren't they the inheritors of the family’s skills?"
"It's too bad you and your apprentices have never made a babu bed."
"They’re expensive. They require loads of time and materials, and no one has placed an order, so the company’s bosses won't allow us to make one."
"Back then when your dad moved the babu bed to our place for us to use, did he have some other reason?"
Tears suddenly appeared in Abundance's eyes.
He recalled that more than ten years previously, an expert from the Municipal Museum had come to the Yus’ home to have a look at the bed. He’d asked Abundance, "Can you sell us this bed? Even though it was made in the Qing Dynasty, it’s a good example of Ming Dynasty things. The workmanship and carving are first-class. We can work out a price."
"I can't sell things left to me by my ancestors. You can go to the furniture company where I work and order one. I'm confident that my craftsmanship can reach this level."
"But museums can’t collect contemporary objects. There are rules."
…
The autumn wind was getting cooler, bringing with it the fragrance of chrysanthemums as the Double Ninth Festival drew near. It also brought shocking news from Twisty Lane: Abundance and Dawn were sleeping in separate beds!
It was while the Neighborhood Committee Director was bringing people around to visit their retired senior colleagues. At the Yus’ house, Dawn couldn't keep herself from telling them. She even led them to the bedroom for a look, and it turned out to be true. A simple flatbed made by Abundance himself had been placed next to the babu bed. Unpainted, it bore the fragrance of fir. A wooden wobble-toy figure whose head and face closely resembled Abundance sat on a long table in front of the window, and a wooden cane rested next to the table. The cane, which was as high as a person's shoulder and shaped for walking, had the head of the Daoist deity Zhong Kui carved on the top.
The Director asked, "Mr. Yu, you two have been so close for decades and have been role models for your neighbors. Why are you sleeping in separate beds all of a sudden?"
"I smell bad,” Abundance whispered. “I'm afraid the stink will get passed on to my wife."
Dawn said: "I'm not afraid of that. I... I like the smell."
"But I can't stand it myself. I keep having to get out of bed and go outside for some fresh air. I’d disturb you if we didn't sleep in separate beds. I know you're a worrier, so I carved a Zhong Kui head on this cane for you. It can ward off evil spirits and give you courage. I also carved this wobble-toy for you. When you look at it, you’ll know I'm by your side."
The Director smiled. "You misunderstood Master Yu, Sister Dawn. You two might not be sleeping in the same bed, but you’re in the same room. Master Yu is so thoughtful. It's a rare thing. We'll be going now."
Abundance passed away without warning two months later, due to advanced lung cancer. While he was dying, he struggled to sit up, leaned against the sideboard of the flat bed, and told Dawn and several old neighbors, "I’ve known for some time that I have a terminal illness and won’t live long. Dawn’s a worrier, so I have to sleep on a separate bed while I’m still alive. That way she can get used to sleeping alone on the babu bed. And this flatbed I’m sleeping on, just throw it away after I’m gone...."
Dawn burst into tears.
After Abundance's funeral was over, Dawn donated the babu bed to the Municipal Museum and only accepted a simple "donation certificate". She didn’t throw away the unpainted and unfinished flatbed, but slept peacefully on it every night with her husband's wobble-toy figurine next to her pillow. Sometimes when she left her courtyard to go shopping, she’d keep ahold of the cane with the head of Zhong Kui carved on it.
"You’re looking fit, Grandma!"
"Thank you for your concern!"
Text at p. 13. Translated from China Writer at
https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0524/c418987-32693816.html (first story)