"Dandan, come here, there's a 'thread through a peony' here. How did you get 'threaded'? Ouch, does it hurt?"
Dandan laughed: "It doesn't hurt!"
My junior sister actually bought a box of "peony-threaded" fireworks to set off.
Master Miao, a seasoned traveler and seasoned warrior, was also moved by the magnificence of Dashilan: "This Dashilan truly survived the Great Fire of 1900!"
The junior sister asked, "You pronounced the word '栅' really strangely! Did you just roll it around on your tongue and call it that?"
Laughing and chattering all the way, we passed by the large golden plaques on the eaves downstairs, with inscriptions such as "Clouds and Mist" and "Embroidered Brocade".
Besides Ruiqixiang, the largest brand, there were also shops selling tea, jewelry, perfumes, grains, and shoes. They all had fine silk palace lanterns and meticulously painted scenes of the West Chamber and the Red Chamber, depicting human love and affection.
Dandan possessed too much affection, but not love.
She didn't actually want too much affection, just the love of one person. If she couldn't have that, she could accept other affections; otherwise, she would have nothing at all.
A group of people sat together again to eat glutinous rice balls. This stall made the rice balls on the spot, shaking them in a sieve as they sold. A large iron pot was also set up, boiling the white rice balls in the water. The rice balls tumbled and struggled in the boiling water, until they floated to the surface, releasing a sweet aroma.
Seeing that they were engrossed in eating, Master Nan asked:
"Did you know that in the past, the Lantern Festival wasn't called Lantern Festival, it was called Tangyuan?"
One of the wrestling prodigies had already eaten a bowl, so he asked the stall owner for more: "Big and delicious, I'll have another one!"
Master Miao snapped at him, "I'm asking you!"
He stuffed his mouth full: "Who knows? I wasn't even born yet back then."
Thinking about it, it makes sense. "It's true. For almost twenty years, when Yuan Shikai was about to become emperor, he was most afraid. Whenever he heard people selling Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls), he always felt that they were saying that Yuan Shikai was about to disappear from the world—"
Some were listening, some were eating, but Dandan spent a long time scooping up the glutinous rice balls. The rice balls were like a piece of her heart, and they gradually got cold and soft.
How could Master Miao not see it? He simply spoke earnestly:
"Dandan, white doves fly towards the light, that's only right," but fame is fleeting, like lightning. One's character determines one's livelihood. Although none of you share my surname, I do enjoy watching you get down to business and behave yourselves.
Seeing that Dandan remained silent, he continued:
"If you find someone who truly cares for you, I'll feel at ease. You see, Shanghai isn't our domain anymore. It's a glittering world, a bustling metropolis, that kind of place—"
"I've seen it before."
"You've never been famous."
He silenced Dandan with a single sentence.
She was never famous. She traveled from state to state, performing for a living, but never became famous. Who remembers who she is? What is she to him? He made no statement, no promise; she was just an ambiguous, intangible, and external object.
Although on the day they parted, Huaiyu made a three-year promise to her and Zhigao.
Huaiyu thought that three years was an ideal time; those who were meant to become famous would have become famous, those who were meant to be engaged would have been engaged, and those who were meant to be married would have been married...
The train journey from Beijing to Shanghai takes at least two days. Huaiyu had never left home before, and this trip was a long and arduous one. She learned that she first had to go to Tianjin, then take the Jinpu Railway to Pukou, cross the Yangtze River by boat, then go to Xiaguan in Nanjing, and finally catch another train to Shanghai. The journey was long and winding, just like her own sorrow.
The carriage was narrow and stuffy, with only two small windows, and passengers sat haphazardly on the floor. As soon as the train started moving, a strong wind rushed in through the cracks in the doors and windows, blowing dust and scraps of paper all over the carriage, swirling around in all directions.
"Cold?" Li Shengtian asked. He then spread a bare, single-layered fur coat on the ground, and everyone lay down.
"You're hopeless! You're already thinking about home before you even get to the port. How are you going to make it?" Everyone laughed. Huaiyu laughed too, shaking his head vigorously as if to shake off everything. Ah, the arrow is on the bowstring!
A train attendant came to light the teapot, and in an instant, the swaying carriage was filled with smoke again. Caught off guard, everyone's eyes watered and they coughed incessantly. With the kerosene lamp swaying from side to side, they coughed until they were tired and drowsy, and before they knew it, night had fallen.
Huaiyu took the gold ring out of his pocket, and the gold ring was back in his hand.
It was all Zhigao's fault; when he delivered the car, he glanced at Balengzi and returned it to him. Huaiyu asked curiously, "Why bring this when you're traveling?"
"Hey, this is for you to use for 'self-defense'!"
"For self-defense?"
“That’s right. If you’re working at the docks and you’re not used to the local conditions, the passengers are bad, and things are going badly, you can just sell it to cover your travel expenses,” Zhigao said.
"This tiny finger is not worth much."
"You can at least buy a train ticket, right? Here, keep this self-defense item safe. — Of course, I'll bless you so you never have to use it."
Huaiyu was so angry that she punched Zhigao several times: "You always ask me for things, luckily I don't mind."
Huaiyu weighed the gold ring in his hand, then carefully put it back into his pocket. His pocket was heavy with the five silver dollars his father had insisted on giving him before his departure. Old Tang had saved for a long time to earn ten silver dollars, which he had originally intended for Huaiyu to take with him. Huaiyu had stubbornly refused, thinking: "Once we get to Shanghai, I won't have to worry about making money!" He only asked for three, but his father pressured him to ask for seven. Through this back and forth, he finally got half—he promised to send ten times the amount he earned.
Spring of the 20th year of the Republic of China, Shanghai. 1
Of all the people she considered, only Dandan came to mind in the end. She had deliberately hardened her heart, refusing to look back. However, when she saw the train off, she said little, pausing and hesitating until the train was about to depart, still saying nothing. The train blew its horn first, then pulled away, billowing smoke, and she watched the train, from slow to fast, take away the person in her heart.
Dandan was startled. Her husband, Wang, had said, "The person you'll marry isn't the one in your heart." She remembered. —This heartless, iron-cast monster, I don't believe it, I don't believe it.
She suddenly waved her hand fiercely, but it was too late:
"Brother Huaiyu! You must come back! If you don't come back, I will come looking for you!"
It was all too chaotic. Amidst the clamor and noise, could he have heard or not hear those few words? Perhaps she never uttered them aloud—only reciting them a thousand times in her heart, ultimately swallowed by the wind and smoke. She chased after it, chased after it, until the train vanished without a trace. Was she chasing after those few words? Was she chasing after a missing person? Only the purse remained.
She carried his "soul" like a piece of "jade." Could it be that the name "Huaiyu" was given to her in this lifetime?
Zhigao accompanied Dandan home. Dandan brought Huaiyu's soul home with her.