During the New Year holiday, Qin Yeyun stayed close to Yu Qiao. Wherever Yu Qiao went, she followed.
When Yu Qiao came to Lin Qile’s room to read the newspaper, Qin Yeyun sat beside him painting her nails.
Even though Lin Qile sat so close to her, they didn’t fight anymore.
Du Shang asked, “Cherry, you haven’t seen Jiang Qiaoxi these past few days either?”
Lin Qile tugged at the fur of the Bobby Sprite in her arms and shook her head.
For the 2001 Lunar New Year, Jiang Qiaoxi’s mother arrived at the Qunshan construction site. She was entirely out of place there, disliking social calls and not mingling with other workers. Although Lin Qile didn’t understand why, she felt nervous and very afraid whenever she encountered her.
“Is this… Manager Cai’s daughter?”
During their first meeting, Jiang Qiaoxi’s mother stood beside Jiang and his father, while Lin Qile sat with Cai Fangyuan in Uncle Cai’s car.
She smiled at Lin Qile, looking very much like Empress Wu Zetian on television. She seemed like an empress.
Manager Cai said, “No, she’s Engineer Lin Haifeng’s daughter, our Qunshan site’s Lin Yingtao!”
Jiang Qiaoxi’s mother responded with a flat “Oh.”
Manager Cai’s driver drove the car out of the construction site, taking the two children to buy firecrackers in town. Through the car window, Lin Qile saw Jiang Qiaoxi standing expressionlessly beside his parents, his gaze sweeping over to her. Jiang Qiaoxi’s face was pale—whether from the cold weather or some other reason was unclear.
Lin Qile recalled when she first met Jiang Qiaoxi in Qunshan, his face had been just as pale, unnaturally white, sickly, like deep winter snow.
This New Year, Lin Qile felt very lonely.
Although she was constantly with Yu Qiao, Du Shang, and the others, Lin Qile’s mind often wandered elsewhere. She wore a bright red cotton hat, bright red cotton shoes, and bright red knitted gloves. The aunts and uncles at the construction site smiled when they saw her, saying she looked like a China doll. Lin Qile carried a lotus lantern made by Du Shang’s mother, wandering along the numerous roads and paths of the Qunshan construction site.
She passed by the doorsteps of many homes, just walking, not even in the mood to count the icicles hanging from the eaves. Children were building snowmen and having snowball fights, but Lin Qile felt she had grown up and was no longer interested in such things.
She walked outside of Jiang Qiaoxi’s house, looked up, and saw the lit windows and the tightly closed door.
She hadn’t seen Jiang Qiaoxi for several days.
During dinner, her mother asked, “Cherry, what’s wrong?”
Lin Yingtao looked up, her bowl still half-full of uneaten ribs. She looked at her mother, then at her father.
Lin Dianwei seemed a bit helpless and said, “Cherry, did you hear something?”
Hear what? Lin Qile looked at them, not knowing.
Mom pushed Dad’s arm and said, “A few old ladies were just gossiping. Why are you telling Cherry about this?”
But Lin Dianwei looked at Lin Yingtao’s bewildered face, smiled, and said, “Our Cherry is still young, isn’t she?”
After dinner, Lin Dianwei held Lin Qile’s hand, intending to take her to visit Uncle Cai.
Coincidentally, as soon as they stepped out, they ran into the neighboring Manager Jiang’s family, who were also heading out.
Manager Jiang called out, “Engineer Lin!”
Lin Qile felt her father let go of her hand.
Lin Dianwei exchanged greetings with Manager Jiang, who introduced his wife Liang Hongfei, mentioning that for the first half-year after moving to Qunshan, he and Jiang Qiaoxi had practically eaten all their meals at Lin Dianwei’s home.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood beside his parents, carrying his small backpack. Lin Qile, wearing her bright red coat, was initially hesitant to approach. Only when she heard Jiang Qiaoxi’s mother speaking with her father did she cautiously come over?
“Jiang Qiaoxi…” she said softly.
It was no longer the carefree, uninhibited way she used to call him, laughing.
Instead, it was cautious.
Jiang Qiaoxi looked at Lin Qile too.
For a moment, neither child knew what to say.
Lin Qile said, “Did you know there’s a new seafood bun shop at the site entrance?”
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head.
“They’re so delicious. You have to queue for a long time early in the morning to buy them,” Lin Qile told him, seemingly making herself hungry. She smiled, “Do you want some? I’ll queue up with Yu Qiao and the others tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Jiang Qiaoxi said softly.
Strangely, it was only when standing this close, face to face, hearing him speak and looking into Jiang Qiaoxi’s eyes, that Lin Qile felt this was indeed the person she knew.
Jiang Qiaoxi left quickly. He turned his back to Lin Qile, led away by his parents into the night. Lin Qile could hear the sound of a car engine fading into the distance.
Early the next morning, Lin Qile jumped out of bed, washed her face, brushed her teeth, put on her cotton coat, and joined Yu Qiao, Du Shang, and Qin Yeyun to queue at the breakfast stall near the construction site entrance. Qin Yeyun had been her classmate since kindergarten but had never been as close as during this winter break.
After all, with Yu Qiao standing nearby, neither of them dared to start a fight for fear of getting flicked on the forehead.
It was indeed cold in the dead of winter, with everyone in line hunching their necks. Yu Qiao bought buns, fried dough sticks, and sweet soy milk that his little cousin Yu Jin had cried for, for his whole family.
The workers in line all praised Yu Qiao when they saw him, saying that the son of Labor Model Yu would surely have a bright future, growing so tall!
In comparison, Lin Qile seemed less promising. She bought two buns for her dad, two for her mom, one for herself, and then four shrimp buns for Jiang Qiaoxi.
Perhaps his parents would want to eat together? Lin Qile guessed.
In the depths of winter, the wind was bitterly cold. Lin Qile wore her cotton coat and, seeing that her pockets were too small, unzipped her coat and put the four shrimp buns inside her chest.
It was Jiang Qiaoxi’s first time trying them, and Lin Qile thought they tasted best when hot.
Yu Qiao looked at her, “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving first!” Lin Qile said and ran off.
Lin Qile arrived at Jiang Qiaoxi’s door. She took out the buns, held them in her hand, and summoned the courage to knock.
She knocked for quite a while before the door opened.
Jiang Qiaoxi stood in the doorway, wearing checkered pajamas with a coat over them.
Lin Qile immediately smiled and said, “Jiang Qiaoxi, I got the shrimp buns!”
Jiang Qiaoxi’s brow furrowed slightly, and before he could speak, a woman’s voice came from behind him.
“Who is it?”
Then came Manager Jiang’s voice: “Jiang Qiaoxi, who’s there?”
Lin Qile hesitated, seeing that Jiang Qiaoxi remained silent, seemingly in a state of long-suffering patience with his parents. Lin Qile spoke up loudly, “Uncle Jiang, I bought shrimp buns. Would you like some?”
“No need,” Jiang Qiaoxi’s mother replied directly from inside, “Thank you, but you can take them back and eat them yourself.”
Lin Qile stood stunned at the door.
Manager Jiang said from inside, “Cherry, bring them in.”
Mrs. Jiang said, “Why bring them in? Do you know what meat they use in those outside buns?” Then she called out, “Qiaoxi, come in. It’s too cold. Close the door.”
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his head at his mother’s voice and glanced at Lin Qile. For some reason, Lin Qile felt as if Jiang Qiaoxi had smiled, as if in self-mockery.
Jiang Qiaoxi closed the door and went back to his room.
That morning, after finishing breakfast, Foreman Yu was about to cycle with Yu Jin to the dental clinic. Passing by the row of single-story houses where Lin Yingtao lived, Foreman Yu recalled Qin Yeyun telling him earlier that Lin Yingtao had bought nine buns and secretly hidden four in her clothes: “She must be up to no good!”
He pushed open Lin Dianwei’s door, only to hear his daughter crying as soon as he entered.
Lin Dianwei was sitting on a small stool by the radiator, comforting Lin Yingtao who sat on his lap crying with tears all over her face, while eating shrimp buns with her.
“It’s so delicious!” Lin Dianwei tore open the soft, white bun skin, “So this is how good shrimp buns taste!”
Lin Yingtao rested her head on her father’s shoulder, softly sobbing, “Is it… delicious…”
Lin Yingtao cried from 7 AM to 8 AM, and she was still crying when Yu Qiao came to her house. Yu Qiao walked out and glanced at the tightly closed door of Jiang Qiaoxi’s house next door.
Cai Fangyuan had been sleeping in every day during the winter break, but Yu Qiao and Du Shang forcibly dragged him out of bed. When Manager Cai heard that Yu Qiao wanted to take Cai Fangyuan to do math homework, he was very pleased. He gave the boys a big bowl of strawberries and filled another bowl for Yu Qiao to take to Lin Yingtao.
Cai Fangyuan had no choice. Since Yu Qiao called for him, he had to go in person. Rubbing his sleepy, chubby face and hugging his math textbook, he knocked on the Jiang family’s door.
Lin Qile, wearing a soft yellow sweater, sat in her small room eating the strawberries her mother had washed. Yu Qiao was still reading a sports newspaper nearby, and Qin Yeyun was playing with the Barbie doll from Hong Kong on Lin Qile’s bedside table.
Du Shang nervously punched the air alone.
Cai Fangyuan entered Lin Qile’s house. Still drowsy, he tossed the math textbook to Lin Qile and lay down on Uncle Lin’s bed to start his second sleep of the day.
Lin Qile opened the math textbook and saw a line written by Jiang Qiaoxi:
“Before my mom leaves, pretend you don’t know me,” Jiang Qiaoxi wrote, “We’ll play together again after school starts. I’ll buy you as many buns as you want.”
Cai Fangyuan had just dozed off when Lin Qile shook him awake frantically.
Cai Fangyuan waved his hand, telling her to calm down: “Alright, alright, I heard his mom wants him to transfer back to school in the provincial capital, but he doesn’t want to…”
That evening, the Jiang family’s door was knocked on again.
Lin Qile, still wearing the red jacket from earlier in the day, held a plate of steaming jujube buns.
“Uncle Jiang!” she said, “My mom steamed a basket of jujube buns and asked me to bring some to you.”
Manager Jiang called from the bedroom, “Thank you, Cherry. You can put them on the table.”
Liang Hongfei said, “Little girl, take them away. We don’t like steamed buns.”
Manager Jiang said, “Liang Hongfei! Will you ever—”
“Uncle, Auntie, I’ve put the buns on the table,” Lin Qile said loudly through the bedroom door.
Her voice was sweet and crisp, innocent, leaving the adults at a loss for how to respond.
Lin Qile walked past Jiang Qiaoxi, who had opened the door. “Uncle, Auntie, I’m going home now!” she said.
She looked up at Jiang Qiaoxi, like underground party members making contact. Jiang Qiaoxi, wearing a coat, watched her and couldn’t help but smile secretly.
Our Generation – Chapter Note:
- Wu Zetian on Television: On March 30, 2000, the Drama Channel of China Central Television (CCTV) aired the drama Palace of Desire (Daming Gong Ci), in which Wu Zetian was portrayed by actress Gui Yalei.