Shi Ding walked dejectedly back to his house. But then he bit his lip to suppress loud cheers when he noticed that Wang Lixin was hopping straight towards the invisible drain.
“Ermei, you’ll be out … Oh!” Wang Lixin stumbled and fell right into the drain. He tried to push himself up but banged his head on the edge of the drain and collapsed back down. Wedged in the drain, he howled: “Oh hell! I’m stuck!” Shi Ding bent double with laughter. Dong Ermei joined in from behind her door.
“What are you all doing here? Didn’t you hear me calling? Go out and clear the snow now!” Sun Lanfen strode into the yard. The western house where she lived had traditionally been the housekeeper’s and now, as it happened, Sun Lanfen was the elected compound leader. She was red in the face, her forehead covered in sweat, and her whole body radiated heat. “The street is blocked but some important foreign guests will be coming to Beihai Park to celebrate our Lantern Festival. Do you hear?” She clambered over to the drain, grabbed Wang Lixin by the ear and dragged him out. “Ah, Aunt Sun, you’re killing me! Mum, help me!” Wang Lixin squealed like a stuck pig.
“Spare your mum. She’s sick and you and your dad never help. Get up!” She pulled harder.
Wang Lixin hauled himself up. “You’re pulling my ear off. Ouch!”
“Shut up, you wuss. It’s always you – wherever there’s trouble, you’re in it.” She turned and saw Shi Ding. “You, too. Get a broom and go out to the street. You’re not much better than him, full of tricks.”
“But Aunt Sun, what about Mr Dong?” Shi Ding pleaded.
“What about him?” She walked down the steps to Dong’s house and kicked the snow aside with her feet as she shook the door with force. Chunks of snow fell from the door onto her hair and shoulders but she kept on shaking. Finally, the door opened a crack, and with Mr Dong and Ermei pushing from the inside they were eventually able to squeeze out. “Snow won’t move away by itself.” Sun was breathing heavily as she stepped up to ground level. “You need to do something about it.”
“Thank you.” Mr Dong followed Sun Lanfen and humbly explained, “I had a day off. That’s why I was home last night. If not for you – oh, Heavens –”. Turning around to look at his house, he fell silent.
“Don’t thank me,” Sun Lanfen said, dusting the snow off her shoulders. “I need you to go out to clear the snow.” Noticing how pale Mr Dong was, she stopped. “What’s the matter?”
Mr Dong trembled and quoted an old saying: “When snow buries a house, lives must be lost. Mrs Sun, what should I do?”
The southern house not only had a low foundation, but also a low-pitched, almost flat, roof. Wrapped in snow, the house looked like a big white coffin. It was a bad omen, Sun Lanfen understood, but she said bluntly, “Come on, this is a new society. Nobody believes that superstitious nonsense.” She yelled at the three youngsters listening keenly to their conversation: “What are you loafing around for?” As they disappeared through the gateway, she turned back to Mr Dong. “Listen, I’ll call Old Shi to see if he can do something about it.”
II
Shi Ding’s mother worked at the turbine factory. On this day she was allowed to go home early as a reward for her extraordinary effort in making 300 stuffed buns, the special Lantern Festival treat for the workers, before morning tea break. “You’ve set a great example of serving the people, Lin Guiru,” the director of Beijing Turbine Factory said, praising her. But Lin Guiru knew that she had done it because of the elation drawn from meeting that morning with Wang Tong, her neighbour, her boss and, since then, her … She did not know how to put it.
Since commencing work in the canteen, Lin Guiru had left home at five every morning to make the fifteen-minute walk to the bus stop. View Street was in Beijing’s Central Park District, linked at one end to Beihai Park, and the other to Jingshan Park. It was shaded by an avenue of huge ancient evergreen trees with low shrubs hugging the wide footpaths. When the weather was still, moonlight or streetlights cast shadows that seemed like giant ogres lying in wait. When the wind blew, the tall canopy of trees gave up strange noises, howls and whispers, and the branches made the street lights flicker. In Lin Guiru’s imagination, the noise was the curse of heaven, the branches the arms of ghosts, the shrubs the hiding place of thugs. She had a sense of being followed by ghosts or by thugs because she seemed to hear faint footsteps behind her. Of course she never dared to look back.
This morning, the footsteps were so distinct in the crisp snow that it could not be her imagination. She started to run but tripped, falling face down. Suddenly a big pair of hands were thrust under her armpits and pulled her up. “No, no! Spare me, please …”
“Shhh … it’s me, Wang Tong.”
He had been following her, he told her, every morning for two months. Why? “I promoted you to the canteen and then I realised that because he was a night shifter, Old Shi could not walk you to the bus stop. I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to you. So I …” Wang Tong sounded shy. “Sorry, Little Lin, I didn’t mean to scare you. I tried to be as quiet as possible. Forgive me?”
Lin Guiru blamed her husband Shi Wangcai for what happened afterwards. Shi Wangcai had been a good husband. He was the most skilful at work and the handiest in the home. Apart from his mechanical inventions, he did exquisite work with wood and fabric, so their house was well equipped and decorated with beautiful things. He was also a good cook who could create sumptuous banquets and turn radish skins or outer leaves of cabbage into delicacies. His skills had brought honour, extra money and comfort to his family.
But lately, Lin Guiru felt there was something lacking in her husband. While everyone else tried hard not to be left behind by the rapidly unfolding revolutionary situation, he had actually gone backwards. In order to avoid the weekly political study sessions in the factory, Shi Wangcai had asked to be put on permanent night shift. “Why?” Lin Guiru asked him angrily. “Why are you so willing to team up with the likes of Mr Dong?” As usual, she did not get an answer.
If Shi Wangcai had just been more in tune with the times, she would never have allowed Wang Tong into her heart.
Lin Guiru planned to stop at the local shop on her way home to buy a couple of red lanterns and some sticky rice balls for the evening. It would make her husband happy and today she wanted to be nice to him. Then she saw Wang Tong waiting outside the change room, holding a box. “Little Lin, this is for you.” Inside were two bags of sticky rice balls, half a dozen steamed buns and two foldable paper lanterns. “Enjoy the Lantern Festival!” He pushed the box into her hands and quickly started to walk away.
“Excuse me, Old Wang,” Lin Guiru called out after him. “I, I … How can I …?”
Wang Dong turned back. “You can, you just can.” He looked around quickly. Seeing they were alone, he whispered, “Tomorrow morning at quarter past five, I’ll see you at the end of the street.”
Shi Wangcai worked on Mr Dong’s house for a couple of hours, even though he did not believe in superstitions. He had agreed to do it for Sun Lanfen’s sake. The woman was loud, impulsive and sometimes brash, but Shi Wangcai respected her.
No. 10, a compound of thirty-three households, had a front gate, two public toilets, electricity and water meters. Every day, the toilets and yards needed to be cleaned and the gate locked and unlocked. Every month, water and electricity bills needed to be calculated for each household and the money collected door to door. It was Sun Lanfen who organised