Medicine

I

In the late autumn night, the moon had set, and the sun had not yet risen, leaving only a dark blue sky; everything was asleep except for nocturnal creatures. Hua Lao Shuan suddenly sat up. He struck a match and lit the greasy lamp, casting a pale light throughout the two rooms of the teahouse.

“Are you off, Father Xiao Shuan?” It was the voice of an old woman. A fit of coughing also came from the small inner room.

“Hmm.” Old Shuan listened, responded, and fastened his clothes; he reached out and said, “Hand it over.”

Hua Da Ma searched under the pillow for a while and took out a package of foreign coins, handing them to Old Shuan. Old Shuan took it, tremulously put it into his pocket, pressed it twice outside, then lit the lantern, blew out the lamp, and went to the inner room. Inside, there was a rustling sound, followed by a round of coughing. Old Shuan waited for him to calm down before he called in a low voice, “Xiao Shuan… Don’t get up. As for the shop? Your mother will manage it.”

Old Shuan heard his son stop talking, thinking he was asleep at ease; then he went out of the door and walked onto the street. The street was dark with nothing, only a gray-white road was clearly visible. The light shone on his feet, walking back and forth. Sometimes he also encountered a few dogs, but none barked. The weather was much colder than inside the room; Old Shuan felt refreshed, as if he had suddenly become a young man, endowed with the ability to give life to people, with particularly high and far steps. Moreover, the road became clearer and clearer as he walked, and the sky became brighter and brighter.

Old Shuan was walking attentively when he was suddenly startled to see a T-shaped street clearly lying ahead. He stepped back a few steps, found a closed shop, squeezed under the eaves, and stood by the door. After a while, he felt a little cold.

“Humph, old man.”

“Quite pleased…”

Old Shuan was startled again, and when he opened his eyes, a few people passed in front of him. One of them looked back at him, the appearance was not very clear, but it was very similar to the look of a person who had been hungry for a long time seeing food, with a gleam of seizing light in the eyes. Old Shuan looked at the lantern, which was already extinguished. He pressed his pocket, and the hard object was still there. He looked up on both sides and saw many strange people, twos and threes, ghost-like, wandering there; when he looked closely again, he couldn’t see anything else strange.

Not long after, he saw a few soldiers walking there; the large white circle on the front and back of their clothes could also be clearly seen from a distance, and the dark red trim on the uniform could also be seen when they passed in front. A burst of footsteps sounded, and in the blink of an eye, a large group of people had passed by. Those who were in twos and threes suddenly gathered together, rushing forward like a tide; when they were about to reach the T-shaped street intersection, they suddenly stopped and formed a semicircle.

Old Shuan also looked over there, but he only saw the backs of a group of people; their necks were stretched very long, as if many ducks were being lifted up by an invisible hand. After a while of silence, there seemed to be a bit of sound, and then they shook again, and with a loud “boom,” they all retreated backward; they scattered all the way to where Old Shuan was standing, almost squeezing him over.

“Hey! Money for goods!” A completely black person stood in front of Old Shuan, his eyes just like two knives. It made Old Shuan shrink by half. The man’s big hand was outstretched towards him; in the other hand, he was holding a bright red steamed bun, the redness still dripping down bit by bit.

Old Shuan hastily felt for the foreign coins, trembling as he wanted to hand them over, but he dared not take the man’s item. The man became anxious and shouted, “What are you afraid of! Why don’t you take it!” Old Shuan was still hesitating; the black man snatched the lantern, tore off the paper cover with one hand, wrapped the steamed bun, and stuffed it to Old Shuan; he grabbed the foreign coins with the other hand, pinched them, turned around, and left. He hummed as he went, “This old thing…”

“Who is this for the treatment of?” Old Shuan seemed to hear someone ask him, but he did not answer; his spirit was now only on a package, as if holding a baby that has been passed down for ten generations, and other matters had been set aside. He now wants to transplant the new life in this package into his home and harvest much happiness. The sun also came out; in front of him, a broad road appeared, all the way to his home, and the dim golden characters “Ancient □ Pavilion □” on the broken sign at the head of the T-shaped street were also illuminated behind him.

II

When Old Shuan arrived home, the shop front had already been cleaned up, with rows of tea tables, all smooth and shiny. But there were no guests; only Xiao Shuan was sitting in front of the inner row of tables eating, with large beads of sweat rolling down from his forehead, his jacket also clinging to his spine, and the two shoulder blades protruding high, forming a yang character “eight”. Seeing this, Old Shuan couldn’t help but frown slightly. His wife hurried out from the stove, her eyes wide, and her lips trembling slightly.

“Did you get it?”

“Got it.”

The two of them went into the stove together and discussed for a while; then Hua Da Ma went out and soon came back with an old lotus leaf, which she spread out on the table. Old Shuan also opened the lamp cover and re-wrapped the red steamed bun with the lotus leaf. Xiao Shuan had also finished eating, and his mother hurriedly said:

“Xiao Shuan – sit down, don’t come here.”

While tidying up the stove, Old Shuan stuffed a green package and a red and white broken lantern into the stove together; when a red and black flame passed, the shop was filled with a strange fragrance.

“How fragrant! What snacks are you eating?” This was Humpback Fifth Young Master arriving. This person spends every day in the teahouse, coming the earliest and leaving the latest, and at this time, he just happened to sit by the table in the corner facing the street and asked the question, but no one answered him. “Fried rice porridge?” Still no one responded. Old Shuan quickly went out and brewed tea for him.

“Xiao Shuan, come in!” Hua Da Ma called Xiao Shuan into the inner room, placed a bench in the middle, and Xiao Shuan sat down. His mother brought over a plate of dark round objects and said softly:

“Eat it, and the illness will be cured.”

Xiao Shuan picked up the dark object, looked at it for a while, feeling as if he was holding his own life, with an indescribable strangeness in his heart. He carefully broke it open, and a white steam burst out from the scorched skin, and when the steam dispersed, it was two halves of a white steamed bun. In no time at all, it was all in his stomach, but he had completely forgotten the taste; in front of him was only an empty plate. Beside him, on one side stood his father, and on the other side stood his mother, both of their eyes seemed to want to pour something into him and take something out of him; he couldn’t help but feel his heart beating, pressing his chest, and then a fit of coughing.

“Sleep for a while, and it will be better.”

Xiao Shuan followed his mother’s words and coughed as he fell asleep. Hua Da Ma waited for his breathing to calm down before gently covering him with a jacket full of patches.

III

Many people were sitting in the shop, and Old Shuan was busy, carrying a large copper pot, running back and forth to brew tea for the guests; both of his eyes were surrounded by a black line.

“Old Shuan, are you feeling unwell? Are you sick?” said a man with a grizzled beard.

“No.”

“No! I thought, smiling, is not like…” The grizzled beard canceled his own words.

“Old Shuan is just busy. If it were his son…” Before Humpback Fifth Young Master could finish his sentence, a man with a face full of horizontal flesh suddenly rushed in, wearing a dark blue cloth shirt, with buttons scattered, and a wide dark blue belt loosely tied around his waist. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted at Old Shuan:

“Have you eaten? Is it good? Old Shuan, it’s your luck! You are lucky, if it weren’t for my quick information…”

Old Shuan held the teapot in one hand and respectfully hung the other hand down; he listened with a smile. Everyone in the room also listened respectfully. Hua Da Ma also had dark circles under her eyes and served tea bowls and tea leaves with a smile, adding an olive, and Old Shuan went to brew water.

“This is a good package! This is different from the others. You think, take it while it’s hot and eat it while it’s hot.” The man with horizontal flesh just shouted.

“Really, if it weren’t for Uncle Kang taking care of us, how could it be like this…” Hua Da Ma was also very grateful to thank him.

“It’s good, it’s good! Eat it like this while it’s hot. Such a steamed bun with human blood, it will cure any consumption disease!”

When Hua Da Ma heard the word “consumption,” her face changed slightly, as if she was a bit unhappy; but she immediately put on a smile and walked away. Uncle Kang did not notice and still raised his voice, shouting, shouting so loudly that even Xiao Shuan, who was sleeping inside, started to cough in unison.

“Originally, your Xiao Shuan has encountered such good luck. This illness will naturally be completely cured; no wonder Old Shuan is smiling all day.” The grizzled beard said while walking to Uncle Kang and asked in a low voice, “Uncle Kang – I heard that the criminal who was executed today is the child of the Xia family, whose child is that? What exactly happened?”

“Whose? Isn’t it the son of Granny Xia? That little guy!” Uncle Kang saw everyone pricking up their ears to listen to him, and he became even more delighted, his fleshy face full of vitality, and he spoke even louder, “This little thing doesn’t want his life, then he doesn’t have to. But I didn’t get any benefits this time; even the clothes that were stripped off were taken by Red-Eyed Yi, who is in charge of the prison. The first thing to consider is our Shuan’s luck; the second is that Xia San gave twenty-five taels of pure white silver, which fell into his pocket alone, without spending a penny.”

Xiao Shuan slowly walked out of the small room, pressing his chest with both hands, coughing non-stop; he went to the stove, filled a bowl with cold rice, soaked it in hot water, and sat down to eat. Hua Da Ma followed him, asking softly, “Xiao Shuan, are you feeling better? Are you still just hungry?”

“Good, good!” Uncle Kang glanced at Xiao Shuan and still turned his face back to the crowd, saying, “Xia San is really a clever guy. If he didn’t report to the authorities first, his whole family would have been executed. What about now? Silver! This little thing is really not a thing! Locked up in prison, he still wants to persuade the prison head to revolt.”

“Ah, that’s unbearable.” A person in his twenties sitting in the back row showed a very angry look.

“You should know that Red-Eyed Yi went to inquire about the details, but he talked with him. He said: This Qing dynasty’s world belongs to all of us. What do you think: is this a human thing to say? Red-Eyed Yi originally knew that there was only an old mother in his family, but he didn’t expect that he would be so poor, unable to squeeze out any oil, and he was already angry and upset. He still wanted to provoke him, so he gave him two slaps in the face!”

“Yi Ge has a good set of fists and staffs, these two hits must have been enough for him to endure.” The hunchback in the corner suddenly became excited.

“This cheap bone is not afraid of beating and still says to be pitied.”

The grizzled beard said, “What’s there to pity about hitting such a thing?”

Uncle Kang showed a look of disdain for him, sneering coldly, “You didn’t listen to my words clearly; looking at his expression, he was saying that Yi is pitiable!”

The gaze of the people listening suddenly became rigid; the conversation paused, and Xiao Shuan had finished eating, sweating all over his body, with steam rising from his head.

“A Yi is pitiable – nonsense, it’s like he’s gone crazy.” The grizzled beard said as if he had suddenly realized.

“Gone crazy.” The person in his twenties also said as if he had suddenly realized.

The guests in the shop then showed liveliness again, talking and laughing. Xiao Shuan also took the opportunity to cough desperately; Uncle Kang walked up, patted his shoulder, and said:

“Good, Xiao Shuan – don’t cough like that. Good!”

“Crazy.” Humpback Fifth Young Master nodded and said.

IV

West of the city, close to the city root, is an official land; in the middle, there is a crooked and narrow path, which is made by people who are greedy for convenience with their shoes, but it has become a natural boundary. On the left side of the road, there are people who have been sentenced to death and died in prison, and on the right side are the graves of the poor. Both sides have been buried layer upon layer, just like the steamed buns at the time of the birthday celebration in a rich family.

This year’s Qingming festival was particularly cold; the willows had just sprouted buds the size of half a grain of rice. Not long after dawn, Hua Da Ma was already in front of a new grave on the right side, arranging four dishes and a bowl of rice, crying for a while. After burning paper, she sat on the ground in a daze, as if waiting for something, but she couldn’t say what she was waiting for. A breeze blew, moving her short hair, which was indeed much whiter than last year.

Another woman came along the small path, half-white hair, tattered clothes and skirt; carrying an old round basket with red lacquer, with a string of paper mochi hanging outside, walking with a rest every three steps. Suddenly, she saw Hua Da Ma sitting on the ground looking at her, and she hesitated, with a pale face showing some shame; but finally, she steeled herself, walked to a grave in front of the left side, and put down the basket.

That grave was lined up with Xiao Shuan’s grave, with only a small path between them. Hua Da Ma saw her arrange four dishes, a bowl of rice, stood crying for a while, burned paper mochi; she thought to herself, “This grave also has a son.” The old woman wandered and watched for a while, suddenly her hands and feet started to tremble, she staggered back a few steps, staring blankly.

Hua Da Ma saw this and was afraid that he was about to be heartbroken and go crazy; so she couldn’t help but stand up, cross the small path, and say in a low voice, “Don’t be sad, you old lady – let’s go back.”

The person nodded, his eyes still staring up; also in a low, faltering voice, he said, “Look. – What is this?”

Hua Da Ma followed his finger and looked, and his gaze fell on the grave in front. The grass on this grave had not yet fully closed, revealing patches of yellow soil, which was very ugly. Looking up carefully, one could not help but be surprised; there was clearly a circle of red and white flowers around the pointed and round top of the grave.

Their eyes have been presbyopic for many years, but looking at these red and white flowers, they can still clearly see. There are not many flowers, arranged in a circle, not very spirited, but also neat. Hua Da Ma hurriedly looked at her son and other people’s graves, but there were only a few cold-resistant small white flowers blooming sporadically; she felt a sudden sense of insufficiency and emptiness in her heart, and she was unwilling to delve into it. The old woman approached a few more steps, looked carefully again, and muttered to herself, “There is no root, it doesn’t look like it grew by itself. – Who would come here? The children will not come to play; – relatives and family have long since stopped coming. – What is this all about?” He thought and thought, and suddenly tears flowed down again, and he said loudly, “Yu’er, they have wronged you, and you still can’t forget, and today you specially show some spirit to let me know, right?” He looked around and saw a crow standing on a leafless tree, and then said, “I know. – Yu’er, they pitied you, and they will have retribution in the future, and heaven knows; just close your eyes. – If you are really here, and you hear my words, then let this crow fly to the top of your grave and show me.”

The breeze had already stopped; the withered grass stood upright, like copper wire. A trembling voice in the air became more and more tremulous, thinner and thinner, until it disappeared, and the surroundings were as quiet as death. The two stood in the withered grass, looking up at the crow; the crow also stood with its head tucked in the straight branches, as if it were cast in iron.

A lot of time passed; the people who went to the grave gradually increased, a few old and young, appearing and disappearing among the mounds of earth.

For some reason, Hua Da Ma seemed to have taken off a heavy burden and thought of leaving; she persuaded, saying, “Let’s go back.”

The old woman sighed and listlessly picked up the food; after hesitating for a moment, she finally left slowly. She muttered to herself, “What is this all about?”

They had not walked more than twenty or thirty steps when they suddenly heard a loud “caw” from behind; both of them turned their heads abruptly and saw the crow spread its wings, crouched down, and flew straight into the distant sky like an arrow.

(April 1919.)