Before he could speak, Zhigao interrupted, deliberately adding, "No need to say anything, I'm relieved!"
— Caught off guard, Tang Huaiyu became famous.
The wind borrowed the power of the fire, and the fire borrowed the momentum of the wind. A popular martial arts actor emerged from Guanghe Tower, and the scene was very lively. Sometimes, the audience would give him so much praise that he would have to take four or five curtain calls before he could leave the stage.
Tang Huaiyu had just begun to gain fame, and besides "Burning Pei Yuanqing," he only performed a few plays: "Killing the Four Gates," "Jiepai Pass," and "Washing Fushan." His rise to fame was sudden, without any preparation. Fortunately, the audience still loved his signature skills and wanted to see him improvise. He was clear-headed, felt it wasn't enough, and practiced even more diligently.
Zhigao and Dandan sometimes couldn't see him for several days in a row.
That evening, Zhigao insisted on teaching him a lesson. After the night performance, Zhigao summoned Huaiyu to Rouge Alley. Upon entering, Huaiyu saw Zhigao "writing." Zhigao wasn't very literate; he practiced two characters over and over, writing them crookedly. Huaiyu went closer to look and wondered what he was writing.
It turned out to be the words "residential residence".
When Zhigao saw him arrive, he asked:
"Is this 'residential house' presentable enough?"
"True Ghost Path, what's going on?"
Zhigao said happily, "Huaiyu, let me tell you: my sister is getting married. -- No, Mother is getting married. There's nothing we can do about it, it's like the sky wanting to rain, Mother is getting married..."
"real?"
"Hmph, I'd be a fool to lie to you! She'll eventually marry that rascal!"
Zhigao then went on and on about how he wanted her to find a landowner. His thin, pointed head began to bob, and he became more and more smug as he spoke, because it was his instigation that had finally convinced his mother to "accept" following a man and stop selling herself.
"Marrying is still selling yourself, just a bit more elegantly. How long can she keep this up? While that big, fleshy guy surnamed Ba is willing, he's urging his mother to go and serve him exclusively, escaping her misery. She'll only need two meals a day, a place to stay, and roasted melon seeds every day." Zhigao laughed. "Even if he marries his mother off, he won't be short of food."
"She's leaving tomorrow, so let's have a farewell dinner for her tonight or so."
Huaiyu asked, "Where is he?"
"Take Dandan to the West Riverbank outside Qianmen to buy crabs. The crabs there are good; they all come from Shengfang and Zhaobeikou."
Oh, Huaiyu was surprised to hear that Dandan had become so close to them... Dandan even bought him groceries...
Zhigao buried himself in practicing his calligraphy again, writing with more care each time. Huaiyu suggested, "How about 'good house'? A good house is better than a common house."
"Yes, everyone is a 'citizen,' but we are 'good,' okay! Um, how do you write 'good'?"
Huaiyu then demonstrated one, and Zhigao copied it. Although it wasn't perfect, he was still very happy, so he pasted it on the door of the wedding.
“Huaiyu, this is my ‘home’ from now on!” Zhigao pointed and said, “My sister will come to visit me often. You should also come and visit often.”
“You have a family now,” Huaiyu probed without any expression, “Aren’t you supposed to settle down and start a family properly?”
"No way! Who married her? She's a vicious cat!" Zhigao shouted.
Huaiyu was taken aback. Just then, Dandan returned, carrying a string of crabs; they weren't large, but they looked fresh. She asked, "Are they dangerous?"
"No, I said crabs are fierce." Zhigao quickly pointed to the string of crabs in her hand. It turns out that when buying them, it's customary to buy them "in pairs," one pointed and one round, tied together with a bundle of grass, and sold by the pair, not by weight. Although tied up, because they were so fresh, the eyes with handles twitched frantically when pressed.
With Honglian and Dandan's help, they washed the horse grass with water, uncooked it, and threw it into the pot one by one.
The crabs in Shengfang are at their fattest when the sorghum ripens. Eating them at home is a simple affair, unlike at Zhengyanglou, where a whole set of tools—a small wooden hammer, bamboo skewers, and hooks—is required. It's all about tapping, banging, and hooking. At home, it's the most casual thing to do.
The crabs in the boiling water were the first to jump and thrash about, desperately trying to escape, stomping and trampling each other with loud cracking sounds. Dandan panicked and cried out, "Brother Cut Cake!"
Zhigao hurriedly brought over several red bricks and placed them one by one on the pot lid. The weight helped to steam the crabs, and their bodies turned from dark green to orange-red. Even in death, their claws stretched endlessly, reaching to the ends of the earth, showing no sign of peace.
Honglian spoke somewhat incoherently and didn't know how to greet him—in the end, it turned out that her son was seeing her off at the door.
Before they even started eating, Zhigao had already pulled out his gift bag. Ah, it was the one he bought at the Dong'an Market! Dandan was immediately interested when she saw it.
"Sister, take it apart and see, take it apart—"
"My hands all smell fishy."
“Don’t worry, it will be cleared away immediately.”
Zhigao splashed the Shuangmei brand floral water all over Honglian's face. Honglian both hit and scolded him, laughing:
"What a waste! You're so sissy, messing around with women's stuff like this. When will you ever stop?"
The small room was filled with a sweet fragrance; I've never looked so beautiful. — Tomorrow she'll belong to someone else.
Tomorrow she will change her surname to Ba. She's leaving, not even in a sedan chair, just a small bag containing everything she needs in her life, including her purse; she'll leave her bedding behind. Once she leaves, she'll be a member of the Ba family; if she dies, how can she not be a ghost of the Ba family? As for himself, he's already lost his father, and just so she can live well, he even sent his mother away.
Ah, this fragrance, an artificial fragrance, overpowers the aroma of the crab. It's all so helpless. Zhigao said, "Come on, let's eat it while it's hot."
Huaiyu flipped the crab over, first lifting the pointed navel to remove the shell. Seeing that Dandan hadn't finished yet because of the heat, she casually pushed her own crab to her.
Zhigao was breaking the crab body in half; it was full of roe and crab fat, really good. He gave half to Honglian and forced her to:
"Eat up, eat up!"
The crabs were plentiful. He said, "When we get to that Ba guy's house, we'll eat well too. Right? He treated you badly, I won't forgive him!" He added, "Even without wine or chrysanthemums, damn it, eating at a restaurant, we have to recite poems about chrysanthemums. But at home, we're all family, no need for that..."
As he spoke, he grew too tired to continue and forced himself to sing most of the opera. Huaiyu helped him out, saying, "The Wufangzhai restaurant in Dong'an Market starts selling crab roe shumai when it's in season. Another day—"
Suddenly, involuntarily, Zhigao felt a pang of sorrow and reluctance, his mind filled with thoughts of: Tomorrow, Mother will change her surname to Ba, tomorrow... she will belong to someone else. Unable to bear thinking any longer, he weakly cried out, "Mother!" and burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face, like a crab, mushy, fishy, and bitter.
The small house with the "Good House" signboard above its door was tightly shut. Rouge Alley was still like a woman's face, indistinct in black and white; a little water was added, and then a cotton swab of rouge was rubbed on the face; soon, it was brightly colored and ready to be sold. As for Red Lotus, she could start selling tomorrow night.
When Zhigao, with red and swollen eyes, squatted under the eaves watching the crickets in a sullen mood, Huaiyu and Dandan kept him company. He understood this perfectly well.
However, the two tiny insects in the small jar, called "Crab Shell Green," were poised and ready to pounce, failing to rouse Zhigao's interest. Zhigao remained silent, and Huaiyu was even more speechless. Dandan flicked a thin bamboo strip with chicken feathers and other hairs tied to its end at Zhigao's head, causing him to flatten his head.