Of Mountains and Rivers 19
Chu Huan Felt as if His Heart Had Turned into a Handful of Cotton Softened into a Lump; His Entire Chest was Filled With Fluffy Cotton Wadding.
Up until now, Chu Huan never thought he was fated to become a source of calamity – he never said anything nor did anything; from the beginning to end he was just an innocent bystander, yet he’d unexpectedly almost caused conflict between two clans.
They first arrived at the county seat Nanshan had picked him up at and rested in the guest house for the evening. Chu Huan searched through the entire county, going back and forth several rounds, before finally determining there weren’t any books sold in this mighty transport hub.
The encounter with that strange ‘bookstore’ from last time turned out to be purely a coincidence. Chu Huan found out that ever since they sold the old books to them, they single-heartedly devoted themselves to transforming their store into a small food shop; there wasn’t a single paper with words in it.
The simple and honest locals took practical action to demonstrate what ‘economic foundation determines the superstructure’ meant – as a cornerstone, selling food was much better than selling books.
There was no second bookstore here – no wonder a damaged Xinhua Dictionary could become the Liyi Clan’s most cherished treasure.
But Chu Huan wouldn’t give up – he found a phone and contacted Old Wang. He reported his itinerary for the next three days and made an appointment to meet the other at the nearest prefecture-level city.
He had to hand the gun over.
After walking around, Chu Huan returned to the guest house they were staying at and saw Dashan and Horsewhip sorting out the different-sized bags of goods they had brought.
Although Dashan usually acted as the class representative, he wasn’t very familiar with Chu Huan, a stealthy teacher who’d only show up to class and immediately disappear after – besides, there was also a language barrier.
He smiled bashfully at Chu Huan. He hesitated a little before taking out his small waist knife and cutting off a piece of cured meat; he carefully gave it to Chu Huan.
Chu Huan casually stuffed it in his mouth. As he walked in, he asked, “How much is one jin1?”
Horsewhip shyly held up two fingers.
Chu Huan: “Twenty?”
These fellows are quite substantial at making business.
Horsewhip quickly shook his head. “No, no, two… Two ku-wu-ai2…”
Chu Huan thought he’d heard wrong.
Seeing his stupefied expression, Dashan thought Horsewhip’s pronunciation was incorrect, so he immediately helped convey the meaning; he lowered his head and, from a small satchel on his body, took out two dollars change, brimming with enthusiasm as he waved it. “This, this.”
“Two dollars3? Two dollars for one jin?” Chu Huan slowly chewed the meat. After pondering over it for a little while, he still couldn’t figure out how to evaluate his words, so in the end, he had no choice but to helplessly ask, “Are you two okay?”
Two naive youths looked at him with wide eyes, their expressions groundlessly reminding Chu Huan of the raptors that stood in a row that day.
Chu Huan pressed his temples; did they come all the way here to make losses and get swindled? What kind of dedication was this?
Chu Huan: “What about the prime cost? Do you have a prime cost?”
Horsewhip truly was an experienced worker who’d followed Nanshan for business; he could even understand what the two words ‘prime cost’ meant. He exhilaratingly held up one finger. “The prime cost is… is just one dollar.”
Faced with such a genius accountant, Chu Huan felt a strong sense of powerlessness. “…How was this calculated?”
Horsewhip patiently explained, “It’s the salt- Salt and… that black thing…”
As he spoke, he vigorously stretched out his hands, moving them back and forth with gestures.
Chu Huan: “Seasoning?”
Horsewhip and Dashan wildly nodded their heads.
Chu Huan turned around and sat on the edge of the bed; he scrutinised these two innocent flowers. “Then what about the meat itself? Labour? Aren’t those considered part of the prime cost?”
Horsewhip scratched his head with confusion. “Meat? Raised by myself- Myself, en…”
Dashan promptly cooperated by reaching out his hands to demonstrate a stirring action, the joy of labour worn on his face. He smilingly said, “Feed it myself.”
Chu Huan was left speechless.
After quite a while, he sincerely held Horsewhip’s hand and earnestly said, “So you are the great master rumoured to have excellent skills in accounting – forgive my disrespect.”
Horsewhip couldn’t understand and even thought he’d been praised; his face instantly turned red. As if drunk, he stumbled away.
•·················•·················•
The next day, Chu Huan made a final decision. Together, with those two fellows carrying large bags, they rode a bus to the tourism area.
Chu Huan observed the surroundings before choosing a location by the entrance. He directed the two children to set up a stall and erected a sign with the words ‘Organic Cured Meat. All Natural, Healthy, and Uncontaminated. Fourty Dollars a Jin’ written on it.
With his Heng and Ha Protector Deities, ‘Face-Nourishing Pickles from Legendary Traditional Medicine Recipes’ and ‘Mystical Ethnic Group Wishing-Wood Carvings’, he efficiently built a simple sales counter filled with local specialties.
Horsewhip and Dashan felt so anxious they were pacing around. Because the Patriarch had ordered them to always listen to Chu Huan, it wasn’t convenient for them to oppose him directly. They could only use gestures to attempt communication with this unreliable My King and tell him nothing could be sold this way.
Chu Huan loftily used his trump card, ‘I don’t understand’, to rebound their opinion.
Just as Horsewhip was scratching his cheek in embarrassment, a female tourist passed by. When she saw Chu Huan, her footsteps stopped; after giving him a once-over, it seemed her meng4-point was poked because she boldly and unrestrainedly yelled out, “Ai, handsome, turn around!”
As long as some yelled ‘handsome’ within a 100-metre radius of him, Chu Huan would turn around without any shame.
With a ‘click’, the camera held in the female tourist’s hands captured his side profile. While this bold and unrestrained lady giggled, she brazenly said, “Handsome, you have a nice figure.”
Chu Huan lifted the wooden sign in front of him. “We have organic cured meat for you to eat. Beauty, would you like to have a taste?”
Horsewhip: “…”
Dashan: “…”
They both watched as the goods they brought were sold out to all kinds of backpackers within less than a day and solidly experienced what a ‘ten-dollar hat on a five-cent head5’ meant.
While collecting and counting money, Horsewhip’s hands trembled; he’d never seen this much money. He was unable to resist asking Chu Huan, “Does this mean we can buy the two-wheeled- Two-wheeled…”
Chu Huan: “Bicycle? Yes.”
Horsewhip’s eyes brimmed with tears of excitement. “Then does this mean we can buy the one with four wheels…?”
A big bus drove past and Horsewhip pointed to it. “That one!”
Chu Huan was silent for a moment. “Maybe, if I sold you both.”
Until Chu Huan found a residence for them to settle in, both fellows wore dreamy expressions on their faces.
Chu Huan explained himself to the two, then used his own money to rent a pickup truck. He drove on Mount Pan’s road for an entire night before arriving at the nearest county seat with a train; without even stopping for a rest, he caught a train to the nearest prefecture-level city. There, Old Wang was personally waiting for him… and greeted him with a shower of abusive curses.
Chu Huan put the gun down and silently listened for two minutes before turning around, intending to leave.
Old Wang exploded with a shout. “What are you doing?!”
Chu Huan: “If there’s nothing else to do, I’ll be leaving first – I’m in a hurry.”
Old Wang: “In what kind of fucking hurry?!”
After he finished speaking, he irritably leaned back to scrutinise Chu Huan. Old Wang’s expression eased and he softly whispered, “You’ve become thinner, but your face no longer looks so ugly.”
Chu Huan: “All natural, organic cured meat – would you like to buy two jin?”
Old Wang rolled his eyes, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. “Alright. Since it’s your meat, then give me two jin.”
Chu Huan patted his pants pockets. “Aiyo, look at this – they’re all sold out and now we’re out of stock; we only have two thigh bones left, do you want it?”
Old Wang: “I do. Unload them. I’ll bring them home and feed them to the dogs. You little brat, you dare amuse me?”
The two of them laughed together. After laughing, Old Wang found the atmosphere quite good, so he carefully brought up a topic. “When are you coming back to work?”
Chu Huan paused by the entrance. “Soon – wait for me to stay another few months. I’ll come back after I’ve stayed enough.”
Old Wang’s implication was profound. “You’ve spent your holiday for more than three years.”
Chu Huan restrained his smile and softly responded, “I know.”
When he first walked in, although Chu Huan appeared rushed and travel-worn, with an expression of weariness on his face, Old Wang noticed a hint of vigour from him he hadn’t seen in a very long time.
But from answering this one question, Chu Huan’s expression suddenly sunk. In a blink of an eye, it was as if he’d reverted to his gloomy look from the past.
Old Wang suddenly regretted his decision and quickly found a way to make it up, “Actually, it’s okay. If you want to continue your holiday, then continue it – stay for as long as you want. We’re not lacking one or two years, so just steadily stay here.”
Chu Huan smiled perfunctorily. “It’s fine – life has to get back on track sooner or later. Hm… Is Xiao Lu’er’s child born yet?”
Old Wang held up two fingers. “Two.”
Chu Huan was taken aback. “What?”
Old Wang lowered his head as if slightly embarrassed and held up an arm like a general without an army. He was born with a 2.58 million6 face – from head to toe there wasn’t anything about him that didn’t look tough – so it didn’t seem very compatible with the foolish smile on his face.
Old Wang’s big hands unconsciously rubbed against his pants. “Hehe, the doctor said there are two. I… I suddenly became the grandfather of two children.”
Chu Huan couldn’t help but smile with him. “Then why are you still not pissing off to earn some money for milk powder?”
•·················•·················•
After bidding farewell to Old Wang, Chu Huan took a taxi and, as fast as lightning, circled almost the entire city.
First, he stayed an entire afternoon in a bookstore, hating how he couldn’t pick out every book to flip through them – this book was too intricate and obscure, but that book was too plain and boring; this book had no illustrations and was too dull, but that book had too many illustrations and didn’t have any substantial content…
Chu Huan felt even when he was buying Chu Aiguo’s cremation urn, he hadn’t been this picky.
By the time he exited the bookstore, the sunset’s afterglow had turned the ground red.
After he bought the books, he carried two stacks of books half a person tall directly to the nearest supermarket. He wanted to buy a bit of everything he saw, thinking that Nanshan, that mountain bumpkin, must’ve never eaten them before; he had to bring them back and have him taste them.
The moment he thought of Nanshan’s earnest and joyful expression whenever they ate together, Chu Huan felt he could carry back the entire food section in the supermarket.
In the end, carrying both books and food, he ran around most of the city and found an instrument store; he arrived just as they closed for the evening, so he spoke many sugar-coated words, forcing the store assistant to reopen the half-locked doors. He went in and bought a harmonica for Nanshan.
When Chu Huan left the store holding a brand-new harmonica, he seemed to be in a lively mood.
He involuntarily began whistling ‘Whisper of Insects’. Halfway through, he found out the tune was resounding all around him as if it was put together by thick poles, so he shut his mouth mindfully, no longer disturbing the people.
Then he stood there, carrying numerous bags at night, and inexplicably searched his heart. What am I being happy about?
Chu Huan suddenly realised he was just like a silly boy who’d been woken up late at night by a phone call from his girlfriend asking him to buy pan-fried pork buns and felt so happy he eagerly sent it to her doorstep. There was a sense of confusion and disorientation in his heart.
What am I doing?
Thinking this, he put the things down and freed his hands; he leaned under a street lamp beside him and lit himself a cigarette.
Chu Huan silently stared at the curling cigarette butt under the lamp-light; he knew he wouldn’t stay at Liyi Clan for long, otherwise, he wouldn’t have subconsciously ‘forgotten’ to buy himself some daily necessities.
The Liyi Clan was just like an inter-cutting, beautiful, and blissful dream.
Old Wang’s arrival woke him up.
No matter what secrets the clan kept, it had nothing to do with him; they would continue living their Shangri-la lives whilst he had to come back.
Just like how he promised Old Wang – back on the right track.
By then, the last thing he could probably do for Nanshan would be to think of a way to find a teacher – a real teacher; one that could teach.
That one little thought was always just ‘presumptuous thinking’ – it was meaningless – so he had to cut it off as early as possible.
Besides, Chu Huan always found Nanshan to be so pure he was like a blank sheet of paper; he was even afraid that speaking of men-and-women matters would dirty his audiovisuals, not to mention these filthy issues.
He was a good friend; even if they’d never meet each other again in Jianghu, he’d still be a lingering memory. Things that are unnecessary to mention should just be kept in one’s heart; if mentioned, it’d just hurt everyone’s feelings and break friendships. Why bother?
Chu Huan extinguished the smoke and threw away the cigarette butt. He suddenly thought, when the new teacher arrives, I have to tell them not to reveal what ‘My King’ meant.
Chu Huan took the evening train that night and left; he didn’t rest even after arriving at the county seat, instead, he drove the pick-up truck back the same way he came. He hadn’t closed his eyes for two nights and one day, highly efficiently completing a two-way journey.
•·················•·················•
When they went back, no gigantic snakes or water ghosts split the water to stop them at the centre of the densely fog-pervaded water. It was as if the raptors and strange people were a figment of his imagination; not even a trace of them remained and the clan had recovered their past liveliness and vitality.
As soon as the fog dissipated before him, Chu Huan saw Nanshan sitting barefoot by the river.
Nanshan seemed to have already heard the horses’ footsteps; from a distance, he revealed a small, cool smile at the people who’d traveled far to return home.
Chu Huan felt as if his heart had turned into a handful of cotton softened into a lump; his entire chest was filled with fluffy cotton wadding.
The slight fatigue from his travels – that wasn’t even worth mentioning in the first place – instantly changed to nothing.
Translator's Notes
- Also known as a ‘catty’. 1 catty is equivalent to 0.6kg (600g).
- What Horsewhip wanted to say was ‘块’ (‘kuai’) which means ‘dollars’, but because he isn’t quite familiar with pronouncing the word, what he said sounded like ‘库屋爱’ (‘ku-wu-ai’)
- The author used '块', which is a classifier for ‘yuan’, but I used dollars to make it easier to understand. 1 yuan is equivalent to 0.16 USD
- Chinese equivalent of 'moe'
- Describes people who are stupid
- 2.58 million (258万) – a Beijing slang meaning ‘powerful’. It’s a reference to mahjong (a Chinese tile-based game developed in the 19th century). It is said that a player needed 2, 5, and 8 tiles to become ‘king’ (‘将’), or else they can’t ‘hu’ (‘胡’, meaning to declare a completed hand). Since 2, 5, and 8 ‘tiao’ (‘條/条’)(Bamboo) tiles and 2, 5, and 8 ‘tong’ (‘筒’) (Circle) tiles aren’t as powerful as 2, 5, and 8 ‘wan’ (‘萬/万’) (Myriad), 2.58 million (258万) became the term used to describe something/someone as ‘powerful’.
