Chapter 27: The Wild Rabbit's Flight

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Mother-in-law said that since they did not want either the character meaning “lose” or the character meaning “chess,” they should use their homophone to name the child Xu Qi. The “Qi” in the name, however, was written with the jade radical on the left, giving it an entirely different meaning.

Somewhat agitated, Mother-in-law immediately crossed the central hall and went into the bedroom to tell Feng Yueliang, who was still in confinement, about the matter of naming the child.

Feng Yueliang was not pleased. She touched the towel wrapped around her head to guard against catching a chill and, feeling that it had loosened, retied it with one hand as she said, “What’s so remarkable about choosing a name? Anything will do. Hmph! What good is it to be enthusiastic only about the name? I’ve been confined for nearly a month, and no one has properly stayed with me for even a single day. Is giving birth to a boy being human, while giving birth to a girl means being nothing?”

Mother-in-law sensed that Feng Yueliang was taking the opportunity to vent her resentment at her. “Isn’t my coming to look after you the same thing?” she said. “Sigui is a man. How could he be so attentive?”

Feng Yueliang swallowed her words and said nothing.

After the child’s month celebration, Feng Yueliang had gotten out of bed and was walking about when she heard bursts of firecrackers from the eastern end of the village. She casually asked Mother-in-law what the happy occasion was, but Mother-in-law knew and refused to say, merely replying that she did not know.

Feng Yueliang did not ask again. Later, when she carried the wooden basin containing Xu Qi’s soiled diapers to the communal pond by the house to wash them, she again heard bursts of firecrackers from the east end of the village. As it happened, a neighbor’s sister-in-law had also come to do laundry, so Feng Yueliang asked her, “What happy occasion are they setting off firecrackers for over there?”

The woman was squatting on another slab of bluestone beside the pond. She looked up at Feng Yueliang and, pretending to be surprised, said, “You still don’t know? The boy born on the same day as your daughter, from Wu Xiaofeng’s family, has reached his first month. They’re hosting a banquet to celebrate. They’re setting off firecrackers for the occasion—how could they not?”

Feng Yueliang felt a surge of resentment. She sensed that the Xu family’s preference for sons over daughters ran deep. Because she had given birth to a girl, they had not even bothered to host a banquet for her.

As if on purpose, the neighbor’s sister-in-law asked about it while scrubbing clothes. “Why isn’t your family hosting one? It ought to be a lively occasion!”

Feng Yueliang sighed. She lifted the wooden basin, now filled with freshly washed diapers, and stood up. “How could our family compare with Wu Xiaofeng’s? They have a building in town, with shops downstairs that they rent out. They earn money just by sitting at home. They’re rich! We can’t afford to host a banquet.”

The woman thought to herself: Hosting a banquet could even bring in a profit, since every guest would give a cash gift. How could anyone say they could not afford it?

But she did not contradict Feng Yueliang. She felt there was no need.

After saying this, Feng Yueliang hurried up the bank with the wooden basin. Of course, what she had said was not the real reason, but rather a mixture of self-pity and an attempt to save face. She thought: Isn’t the real reason our family isn’t celebrating the child’s first month that they are dissatisfied because I, Feng Yueliang, gave birth to a girl?

At that very moment, the Wu family in the eastern village was arranging banquet tables in both the front and rear halls—eight tables at a time. There were so many guests that some could not be seated and had to wait for the second round of the banquet.

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Some of the guests who had not yet been seated at the main tables were clustered in the yard in front of the house, playing cards. Others wandered back and forth, as if taking a stroll, or perhaps simply watching the spectacle.

Only the two people seated at a table beneath the eaves had barely moved. Their intense concentration made it clear that they had an unusual relationship with Wu Xiaofeng, general manager of the Cottonwood Town Construction Company.

Indeed, the young man on the left was Wu Xiaofeng’s secretary, Liu Xiangnan, who had been invited to record the gifts in the ledger. The young woman on the right was Wu Xiaofeng’s younger sister, Wu Xiaohui, who had been assigned to collect the cash gifts. Smiling, they periodically greeted guests who came forward to present their money and good wishes.

The pleasant scent of exploded firecrackers lingered in the air, and a thick atmosphere of celebration had been created.

People streamed in and out through the main gate—some helping with the arrangements, others merely wandering about. The moment one entered, the rich aroma of wine, meat, and cooked dishes filled the nose.

The banquet had now begun. The guests competed to take up their chopsticks, raising their wine cups as they ate, drank, and chatted merrily about whatever pleased them.

Only Xu Sigui, seated at the table in the back row of the rear hall, wore a faint, forced smile. He did not take the initiative to speak with anyone, but drank and ate in silence, keeping his eyes lowered.

One of the guests at the table deliberately asked him, “Sigui, your family has gained a daughter. You ought to invite everyone over for celebratory wine and make it lively.”

“We’ll see,” Xu Sigui replied.

The guest did not pursue the matter.

Just then, Wu Xiaofeng came around from the wine table in the front hall to toast the tables in the rear hall. When he reached Xu Sigui’s table, he said cheerfully, “When are you hosting your banquet? I’ll certainly come to offer my congratulations.”

Xu Sigui gave a dry chuckle and shook his head. “We’ll skip it. If my wife had given birth to a young master like yours did, I would certainly have hosted one. But…”

He left the sentence unfinished. Instead, he raised his cup and clinked it against Wu Xiaofeng’s. “Bottoms up!” he said, draining the remaining half cup of wine in one swallow. Then he turned the empty cup upside down to show Wu Xiaofeng.

Wu Xiaofeng displayed the bottom of his own cup as well. He guessed that Xu Sigui did not plan to host a banquet because he was dissatisfied that his wife had given birth to a girl. Wu Xiaofeng was a considerate man, and after hearing Xu Sigui speak that way, he no longer wanted to accept his gift.

He went outside and took the gift ledger from Liu Xiangnan. Looking through it, he saw that Xu Sigui had given one hundred yuan.

After finishing the meal at the main table, Wu Xiaofeng pulled Xu Sigui aside just as he was about to leave. He took out one hundred yuan and pressed it into Xu Sigui’s hand. “Since you don’t intend to host a banquet to celebrate your child’s first month, I’ll return this gift to you.”

“How can I accept that?” Xu Sigui said. He pushed the one hundred yuan back into Wu Xiaofeng’s hand. “If you refuse to take it, you’ll make it seem as though you think it’s too little.”

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Wu Xiaofeng pushed the money back into Xu Sigui’s palm, then closed his fingers around it. “Sigui, keep it. It’s easier for me to earn money than it is for you.”

Xu Sigui thought to himself: That’s true. He is a respectable construction-company owner and does not care about one hundred yuan. Returning the gift is simply an act of compassion.

So Xu Sigui deliberately put on a pitiful expression to win even more of his sympathy. “Manager Wu, you really are a good man. I truly have no ability. I’d very much like to find some work at your company.”

“All right.” Wu Xiaofeng patted Xu Sigui on the shoulder, then turned and pointed toward Liu Xiangnan, who was recording the gifts. “In a couple of days, go speak with Secretary Liu. Our company is hiring laborers. The specific types of work and wages are all set out in the regulations. After you look them over, you can sign a labor contract with the company.”

Xu Sigui was overcome with excitement. He reached out and shook Wu Xiaofeng’s hand.

It was noon in late autumn, but the southern weather held not even the slightest trace of chill. Row after row of cottonwood trees in front of the house remained lush and green. Small birds with wings like unknown flowers called out in twos and threes among the branches, chirping as though expressing, in their own avian language, congratulations on the Wu family’s young son reaching his first month.

Belching contentedly, Xu Sigui left Wu Xiaofeng’s home. Perhaps he had eaten too much, for on the way back he felt the need to relieve his bowels.

Ahead, a tiled-roof house had an opening in the wall where a door should have been. Inside was a latrine, and its stench could be detected from a considerable distance. Unwilling to go in, he took a shortcut through the woods and crouched beneath a horsetail pine whose crown spread above him like a green umbrella, easing himself with noisy relief.

Just then, the side branches of a bush not far ahead began to tremble gently. Between the leaves, a small, shaggy tail swayed back and forth. He realized it was a gray rabbit.

After finishing, Xu Sigui did not immediately stand up. Still crouching, he slowly bent forward and crept toward the bush, intending to catch the rabbit.

But before he could draw near, the gray rabbit sensed danger. It darted into the thicket and bounded away toward a slope deeper in the woods.

Xu Sigui straightened at once, seized a dry branch lying across the hillside, and chased after it, swinging the branch with all his strength.

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