◎ Five Elements Lacking Earth ◎

“Someone will buy this second-hand. If you don’t need it, Cousin, you could sell it. A digital pager that’s at least eighty percent new can fetch quite a bit — it would be such a waste to throw it away.” She had seen second-hand buyers when she’d been wandering around Zhongguancun earlier.

Luo Peiyin studied Gu Qiao’s face, taking in the way her bangs pressed down over her forehead, making her eyes look even darker. She spoke with complete seriousness, as though his comment about “throwing it away if he didn’t need it” stemmed from the kind of foolishness that couldn’t imagine second-hand goods being worth money, or simply didn’t care about money at all. She had genuinely considered the throwing-away option, decided it was too stupid and wasteful, and suggested he sell it instead. He wasn’t sure whether she was being deliberately pointed, or was simply that guileless.

“Are you complaining that what I gave you is used?”

“Of course not…”

“It was thoughtless of me, giving someone a second-hand item. Don’t take offense.”

Gu Qiao quickly explained, “Cousin, I didn’t mean — I genuinely have no use for it. I don’t have any business dealings where people would need to reach me by pager.”

“Is that so?”

To prove she truly wasn’t complaining about the second-hand gift, Gu Qiao pointed at her short coat. “The coat I’m wearing today was given to me by my younger aunt. I know you all mean well…” She said this, of course, to show she wasn’t the kind of person who looked a gift horse in the mouth — she didn’t even mind old clothes, let alone a second-hand pager that could be converted directly into cash. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt something was slightly off, and stopped herself. She lowered her gaze to the ground.

Luo Peiyin gave a self-deprecating smile. In Gu Qiao’s eyes, he was no different from her younger aunt — just another well-meaning relative. He had always wondered why his stepmother kept passing her old clothes on to Gu Qiao. If she had taken the girl in, she must value this relation at least somewhat, and she was a woman who cared about appearances — constantly making a younger relative wear her cast-offs was hardly dignified. Why not buy Gu Qiao a few new outfits? Was it purely to save money? Today, he suddenly understood his stepmother’s intention. It wasn’t that she thought clothing didn’t matter — quite the opposite. She thought it mattered enormously. A girl buried in an elder’s hand-me-downs would have little energy left to pursue the things his stepmother feared Gu Qiao might pursue. From his stepmother’s perspective, it truly was for Gu Qiao’s own good.

Gu Qiao looked up again with a smile. “I know you gave me the pager because you couldn’t reach me yesterday. I really put you to so much trouble.”

“If you truly don’t mind, keep it for now. When you get a new one someday, you can sell this one then. Early or late, it comes out about the same.”

From what Gu Qiao knew, early versus late actually did make a difference. But this time she didn’t refuse again. Refusing would make it seem as though she were being difficult about his goodwill.

“Cousin, let me treat you to hot pot tonight.” She didn’t ask Luo Peiyin what he wanted to eat, because even if she asked, he wouldn’t say. When both parties had money, treating each other to meals was a way of maintaining the relationship. But when one party had none, there was a great deal more to consider.

This time, Luo Peiyin didn’t stand on ceremony either. The north wind stung Gu Qiao’s face. She dug a large yellow scarf out of her bag and wrapped it around her face.

Thinking of the long ride ahead of them, Gu Qiao also pulled out a pair of pigskin gloves. “Cousin, wear these for the road — no sense freezing your hands.”

“How many pairs of gloves did you bring?”

“I was planning to go sell gloves after work today. I’ve got plenty in my bag.”

“No need — didn’t you give me a pair before?” Luo Peiyin pulled from his overcoat pocket the gloves Gu Qiao had given him.

Gu Qiao’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “Good thing you brought them!”

The wind had turned Gu Qiao’s face slightly red; now most of it was wrapped in the yellow scarf. Luo Peiyin had a sudden urge to pinch her cheek, but his hand did not touch her face. Instead, he slipped it into the gloves she had given him.

On the road, Luo Peiyin asked, “You really like yellow?”

“I do! And I feel like yellow brings me luck.”

“How so?”

Gu Qiao hesitated, then couldn’t help herself. “A few years ago, my grandmother had my fortune told. She said I’m lacking Earth among my five elements and need to supplement it. Earth corresponds to the color yellow. I figure yellow might just bring me a little good fortune.” A few years back, after her grandfather passed, her grandmother had gone back to her old superstitions. The old woman could not accept that death was simply the end — that a person could vanish like a snuffed flame with nothing remaining — and desperately hoped that ghosts, reincarnation, and that sort of thing were real, so there would at least be something to hold on to. Fortune-telling had found its way into that longing. Her grandmother had her own fortune read, then had Gu Qiao’s read as well, and afterward praised her for being clever — the child hadn’t even had her fortune told yet and already knew what she needed to supplement, all those yellow clothes and yellow hair clips.

“You believe in that?”

“Anything that might work in my favor, I’m very willing to believe in right now.” Besides, she already loved yellow — if it also brought her luck, so much the better. Though the moment she said it she regretted it and blew a little puff of air at nothing in particular. It had probably done nothing good for her image in her cousin’s eyes. She imagined that someone like Luo Peiyin would be devoted to science and would have nothing but contempt for such things.

“When is your birthday?”

Gu Qiao gave the lunar date, then added the solar one. She’d noticed her younger cousins always said the solar date first. Her lunar birthday was in the second month, her solar birthday in March — but Lou Deyu had registered her with a May birthday when filing her household registration. That whole affair was truly something, the way Lou Deyu had handled it, as though there were something shameful to hide. Who didn’t know what kind of person her mother was? It wasn’t that she thought her mother could never have fallen for someone before marriage, but she knew her mother was the sort of person who loved deeply and held firm. If she had truly had a child with someone else, she must have cared for him very much — so how could feelings that deep have vanished within two months, replaced suddenly by feelings for Lou Deyu? It simply wasn’t possible.

She didn’t ask Luo Peiyin his birthday, because she already knew it from his younger brother. For most of the journey she was quiet — if Luo Peiyin didn’t ask, she didn’t speak. The wind was so strong, and unlike her, he hadn’t wrapped a scarf around his face — opening his mouth would mean swallowing a great deal of cold air.

Winter was the season for hot pot, and Gu Qiao thought of home, where the whole family would gather around the table to cook slices of meat. The pot here was the same as theirs — copper, reddish-brown. She wondered whether her family would have hot pot this winter. She thought they probably would. When money was good, they’d pile in plenty of meat; when money was tight, a family gathered around a pot of napa cabbage and potato slices was no bad thing either.

This restaurant specialized in lamb hot pot, but Gu Qiao ordered only a small amount of lamb and instead ordered two plates of sliced fish. She remembered that Luo Peiyin preferred fish. Since she was going to the trouble of treating him, she wanted him to actually enjoy the meal — otherwise, what was the point? After tonight, the next time her cousin might be lucky enough to eat at her invitation was anyone’s guess, since he was going abroad next year.

“Cousin, the fish is all for you. Grab it while it’s tender — it won’t taste as good if you wait.”

“You’re not eating it — why order two plates?”

“Cousin, don’t tell me you can’t finish two plates.” She was already fishing the tender slices out of the pot and into his bowl. “Eat up, don’t be shy. I ordered plenty for the two of us. We’re practically in the nineties now — let’s drop that whole ‘Kong Rong offering the bigger pear’ routine. After I finish my lamb and potato and cabbage, I still want to cook myself a bowl of noodles.” Gu Qiao said this and then seemed to find it quite funny, letting out a couple of dry laughs.

Perhaps her laughter was too abrupt — Luo Peiyin stared at her.

Gu Qiao swallowed her dry laughs along with her lamb and said, looking down at her bowl, “The lamb is really good here, and the dipping sauce is excellent. I’ll season mine the same way when I go home for the New Year.”

By the end of the meal, Gu Qiao had eaten herself into a warm, steaming glow. Though she had long since shed her coat, the tip of her nose was beaded with sweat. She had kept her head down and eaten without speaking, and near the end ordered a handful of noodles to cook in the broth along with the remaining greens.

Gu Qiao insisted on paying. As she counted out her money at the register, Luo Peiyin watched her go through the bills one by one. No matter how worn or crisp, every note was perfectly flat. Anyone who saw Gu Qiao’s money would immediately sense how carefully she cared for each one.

Gu Qiao told Luo Peiyin to head home first; on a night like this, her gloves would surely be a very tempting offering to anyone venturing out.

Luo Peiyin pulled on the gloves she had given him. “These are really good. I have a relative with a small company — they’re looking for gifts to give employees at New Year’s. They were thinking of hats and gloves, small things like that. How much are these per pair? Don’t give me a lower price on my account — it’s not my money anyway. If the price works out, you could sell your gloves directly to them.”

Gu Qiao was delighted at the prospect of new business. She thought it over and asked, “Could I meet this relative of yours? Whatever they want — not just gloves — I can source it for them. And gloves don’t have to be just this type. I can get pigskin, cowhide, lambskin.”

After a few seconds of silence, she heard Luo Peiyin say, “I’ll ask.”

“Thank you, Cousin! But I still need to go set up my stall tonight. These gloves here are pigskin — different from the pair I gave you.”

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