"The Mortal Chapter Of Qing Zhuan" - Chapter 6

Wonderful holiday

Time, like the water in the little river under the village bridge, flows on, never to return. And my cat also left me more than twenty years ago. I still miss the days when we used to go on adventures and play together.

She loved to rub her head against my face to show how happy and content she was.

That was the summer I was eleven. My cat finally left this world and left me.

He didn’t let me see him in his final moments; he chose to face death alone.

Finally, we found him lying in the cattails by the river, covered in bl00d. In that instant, all my sadness burst out like a mountain flood, and tears flowed like a breached river.

Later, we buried Mimi forever in the field of purple flowers that he loved the most.

Since then, I’ve returned to this place every summer. The flowers here are the most vibrant. In a trance, I can see my cat running toward me from that sea of flowers…

Let’s go back to that year, the year my cat left me. I was eleven.

On a sunny afternoon during summer break, Wenwen and I took Mimi to the river to catch fish. The water was cool, and the fish were plump and delicious. We sat under a willow tree, fishing with a rod Wenwen had made himself.

Mimi was rolling around in the cattails as usual, and he was quite round by then. We sat quietly under the tree, fishing. A gentle breeze brushed by, making everything feel cool, and the cicadas chirped their songs in the trees.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called from a distance, “Oh, you two are fishing again without inviting me!”

Wenwen adjusted his straw hat and turned to look. He saw Old Gao grinning widely, striding quickly toward us. Just then, Wenwen’s rod dipped. He laughed and started pulling the line back. Distracted by Old Gao’s chatter, Wenwen was talking to him and yanking the rod at the same time. He lost his footing when the big fish pulled, and he stumbled, falling face-first into the cattails.

Mimi, who had been sleeping nearby, was startled awake. He opened his eyes, looked around in a daze, gave a little yelp, and then went to curl up by my leg again.

I burst out laughing at the sight of Wenwen on the ground. “Hahahaha, Wenwen, how big is the fish you caught?!”

Then I yelled to Old Gao, “Hurry up, Wenwen caught a big fish, come help!”

When Old Gao heard that, he was so happy he rushed over to help pull the rod before he even stopped grinning. After a series of maneuvers, the two boys finally pulled the fish out.

The moment they pulled the fish out of the water, a half-meter-long grass carp, flopping and jumping, came into view. It thrashed around, splashing water everywhere.

The three of us were laughing. Old Gao held the fish, Wenwen held the rod, and I quickly scooped a large basin of water from the river and carried it over. Plop! The big grass carp was dropped into the basin.

The three of us stared at the fish, which was awkwardly wiggling its body in the basin. Old Gao wiped the water from his face. “Wow, what a fish! I thought you two would come up empty-handed again today. I can’t believe you had such a big catch. Wenwen, you’re so talented! To catch a fish this big with your homemade old fishing rod! You’re something else, kid!”

I squatted next to the basin, looking at the fish. I poked its slippery back with my finger, and it zipped to the other end of the basin.

Even though it just turned around, it was still pretty agile. I looked at Wenwen, whose hat was on crookedly, and teased him, “The way you’re wearing that hat, you’re almost like Straw Hat Luffy, hahaha!”

Old Gao looked at him and also laughed, clutching his stomach. Wenwen, blushing, wiped his face, took off his hat, and laughed. “What about you, Nami? You’re laughing at me, but look at your little white skirt. It’s all wet! Stop laughing! Hurry home and change your clothes so you don’t catch a cold! Let’s go, we’ll take the fish to your place first, then you can change, and we’ll do our homework.”

Old Gao laughed even louder. “Wenwen, did you fall on your head? It’s the middle of summer, and you think she’s going to catch a cold? It’s over 30 degrees Celsius! Hahahahaha, you’re killing me, man!”

Then Old Gao put his hands on his hips, turned to me, and said, “Da Yuanzi, let’s go, hurry home and change. Otherwise, your clothes will dry before you get there! Hahahaha!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I held Mimi and walked ahead. The two boys followed behind me, carrying the grass carp on a rope.

On the way, Old Gao looked at Wenwen with a gossipy expression. Wenwen, annoyed, asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Old Gao grinned slyly and whispered, “Do you like Da Yuanzi? Hey? I caught you, didn’t I, kid?”

Wenwen gave him a nudge with his elbow. “Keep it down! You figured that out?”

Old Gao put his arm around Wenwen’s neck. “Brother, not bad. You have good taste. Da Yuanzi is pretty, she has a great personality, she studies hard, and her family is respectable! But do you think her dad would approve?”

Wenwen sighed deeply. “Sigh, every time I see her dad, my heart starts to pound. I’m telling you, the last time I was at her place doing homework, I sat just a little too close to her. Her dad saw us, and that old fellow came at me with a feather duster. I was so scared I ran away through the window. Sigh, why did Da Yuanzi’s mom have to marry such a rough man?”

Old Gao frowned and retorted, “No way, Uncle Li isn’t like that. Uncle Li is a good man, very kind. Every time I go over, he gives me good food and loves to chat with me. How can such a good guy sound so bad when you talk about him? I don’t want to hear it! Don’t talk bad about my Uncle Li!”

Wenwen glared at Old Gao, pushed his arm away, and said in a low voice, “Fine, you Gao Jichang! I thought you were my brother, but you’re trying to steal my girl, aren’t you? You’re even kissing up now! Take this! Where do you think you’re going! You stop right there, Gao! Ji! Chang!”

I was caught by Old Gao’s voice behind me. He ran behind me, panting heavily. “Ah, ah, ah, no, Xi Shiwen, are you for real! You’re actually hitting me! You’re trying to kill me! Stop! I know I was wrong, okay! Boss, boss, stop hitting me! Stop!”

I looked at Wenwen, confused. “What’s going on with you two? Why are you fighting? What happened?”

Old Gao quickly changed the subject. “It’s nothing, Da Yuanzi, don’t ask so many questions. We’re just messing around. Hurry up and go home, so you don’t catch a cold. Your Brother Wenwen would be so worried!”

Wenwen, all red-faced, gave him another hard punch, hitting him on the biceps. Old Gao yelped. “Xi Shiwen, you old fart, stop hitting me! The fish is going to fall and get dirty, and it won’t taste good!”

I quickly stepped in to break up the fight. “You two, stop it. Let’s go. We’re going to get heatstroke standing in the sun! Hurry home and put this fish in some water, or it’s going to die of thirst before we can eat it!”

The two of them finally stopped. I laughed as I looked at them, twisted together like a pretzel. Mimi, sitting on my shoulder, meowed as if he was laughing at how childish they were.

When we got home, my mom was relaxing under the grape arbor. She was fanning herself with a cattail fan and holding a piece of watermelon, chatting with my dad in the rocking chair.

Old Gao’s loud laughter caught my dad’s attention. He called out, “Jichang, you’re here? What’s so funny? Tell us.”

Mimi saw my mom eating and anxiously jumped from my arms to my mom’s side, wagging his tail and meowing. My mom gently stroked his head. “You’re such a little glutton! As soon as you see my mouth move, you come over for food. Here, here, have a bite of watermelon.”

Mimi gently bit into a red, juicy, and fragrant piece of watermelon my mom had broken off for him. He squatted on the ground, slowly chewing. After he swallowed, he sniffed the ground and then rubbed his tail against my mom’s leg, looking up at her and swallowing, asking for another piece.

My dad laughed at my mom. “This big Mimi isn’t satisfied. Give him another bite, dear. Give him one more. It’s so hot. He might get heatstroke! Let him cool off.”

My dad then turned to Old Gao, ignoring Wenwen. “Oh, what a big grass carp! Not bad, you kids! Not bad!”

Old Gao scratched his head. “Hehe, well, this… Wenwen caught this one! He caught this big fish with his homemade fishing rod!”

My dad didn’t react to that and immediately changed the subject. “Have you all finished your homework? Go do your homework! My dear girl, take them inside to do their homework!”

I nodded. “Alright. You two figure out how to cook this fish. We went through a lot of trouble to catch it!”

My mom laughed. “Hahaha, alright, alright, we’ll cook it for you. You all go do your homework. You’ve been playing outside for so long, hurry inside and cool off, or you’ll get heatstroke! Go on!”

Wenwen nodded and looked at my dad. “Okay, Uncle and Auntie, we’re going to do our homework.”

My mom nodded, smiling. “Go on, go on.” My dad was over there playing with the big carp, not even bothering to respond to Wenwen. I noticed a hint of disappointment in Wenwen’s eyes. I knew he was hoping for a word of praise from my dad. But because of some misunderstanding between our elders, our two families, the Xi and Li families, were never on good terms.

And yet, Wenwen and I were the best of friends, which led to a lot of gossip in the village. My dad lectured me about it more than once, and Wenwen faced the same problem.

I walked over to Wenwen and patted his shoulder. “Let’s go inside. Look at you, your whole head is sweating! Go inside, and I’ll get you a towel.”

Back inside, Wenwen sat on a chair, wiping his sweat. Old Gao went to the cupboard in the outer kitchen to look for snacks. Old Gao was muttering to himself, “Hehe, let me see what’s good to eat today…”

I looked at Wenwen and explained, “My dad was just so focused on the big fish, that’s all…”

Before I could finish, Old Gao interrupted me. He had a chicken neck, which my mom had卤ed that afternoon, in his mouth and another in his hand. He walked over to Wenwen and handed it to him. “Wenwen, do you want some? It’s so good, try it!”

Wenwen frowned, looking at him, and then at me. I nodded. “It’s delicious. She made it just this afternoon. You should try it. I ate several for lunch! My mom’s cooking is the best in the world! You’ll miss out if you don’t eat it!”

Wenwen took it and started to gnaw on it. Then he looked at Old Gao, who had run to get two more. Old Gao laughed as he watched Wenwen suck on the chicken neck. “How is it? Good, right?”

Wenwen nodded. “It’s good, it’s good. Get me another one, brother.” Old Gao raised his eyebrows. “Addicted, huh? Go get it yourself.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as the two of them fought over the chicken necks in Old Gao’s hand. I gently tapped Wenwen on the head. “Stop fighting, I’ll go get you some, and I’ll get you a few pieces of watermelon too.”

Old Gao was spitting out chicken bones and eating watermelon. “I’ve almost finished my summer homework, but how should we do the social practice part? Do you two know?”

Wenwen, holding the chicken neck, said, “The social practice assignment didn’t give us a topic. It just said to do something meaningful, but what counts as meaningful?”

I thought for a moment. “Meaningful? There are so many meaningful things in the world. As long as it can give us inspiration, no matter what it is, isn’t it meaningful?” They both looked at me and nodded.

My parents were in the courtyard figuring out how to cook the fish, and the three of us were working hard on our homework.

Outside the window, the willow leaves swayed in the breeze. A cool wind swept over the hills. Just as everything was so beautiful, we didn’t know that something wicked was quietly growing in the darkness.

“The fiery clouds took the sun away, the affectionate stars brought out the moon, the clear river flowed with a gentle babble, and the wild flowers by the fields were exuding their fragrance…” My mom hummed a little tune as she brought out all kinds of delicious dishes. The three of us stared at the food, drooling all over the floor.

Mimi was also at the corner of the table, staring at the delicious food.

My mom had made: braised fish belly, sweet and sour fish fillets, fried fish cakes, and fish ball soup. My dad smiled and looked at us. “Cough, cough, I was going to make squirrel fish, but the fish was too big for our wok, so I could only make these dishes. But the taste is just as good! Hurry up and try them, kids!”

Wenwen smiled at me. “This food looks so good. Here, Yuanzi, have a fish cake.” I nodded.

My dad’s face, which had been bright, immediately clouded over when he saw Wenwen putting food on my plate. He coughed. “Eat up, everyone. Don’t be formal, just eat your own!” Old Gao was secretly laughing, eating his food quickly.

My mom also gave Mimi a piece of fish cake, which Mimi ate with big bites.

Suddenly, we heard someone yelling from outside the door, “Help, someone’s dead! Hurry, someone’s dead!”