Nightfall

Father and Son

“The woman was a natural beauty and she thought she deserved more than to be a concubine. So she saved money and sold all her jewelry to buy her own freedom, then she married the hotcakes seller and bought a house on the street with the money they had earned. She stayed in the house, doing needlework and chores. The life was plain and peaceful. The couple shared happiness and sorrows. Sometimes, the woman would even admire herself for all she had earned.”

Sangsang knew what was in the Big Black Horse’s mind, and she was saying it while looking at the couple at the end of the street.

She then continued, “People are always greedy and unsatisfied, they always think that they deserve more from the world. There will be a day when the woman resents her short husband and mock him. The man feels guilty, so he stays modest and tries not to talk back. Then the woman finds the man even more boring in that way. She is so impatient and unhappy until someday her clothesline pole falls onto a handsome rich playboy downstairs. The playboy sees her under-skirt flesh. He feels itchy, so does the woman. Someday when they are caught in bed, the woman will be so ashamed and fearful, she leaves all those vows and peaceful days behind, and tries by all means to kill the dwarf so that she can hook up with her lover.”

The storm settled, and snow on the eaves started melting. As the sun moved westward, it turned colder and the water dropping from the eaves froze into ice again.

She was talking while looking like the chilly ice ridges, transparent and emotionless. Her beautiful exterior had been torn, revealing the cruelty hidden inside.

The Big Black Horse stopped wagging its tail. It looked down at the melting snow on the street and felt cold. It knew she could see through all that was happening here, and those cruelties of hers must be the reality of the mortal world.

Sangsang held the rein in her hand, and with her hands behind her back, she walked towards the end of the street.

Someone called out to her when she passed by a yard. The short hotcakes seller, with a cloth-pack in his hands, looked at her and stammered for quite a while. He was too nervous to express himself clearly.

Sangsang glanced at him expressionlessly and was about to leave.

The beautiful woman squeezed out of the door, and grabbed over the cloth pack in the short man’s hand. Then she looked at Sangsang with a smile and said, “Don’t be afraid, girl. We’re not bad people. My husband saw you walk in the snow with bare feet and he felt sorry for you. He’s giving you a pair of cloth shoes made by myself. The needlework may not be that delicate, but it’s tough enough. Just take it, please.”

Saying that, the woman thrust the pack in Sangsang’s hand. Then she held the short man’s hand and went back inside the house. Sangsang could hear them flirting.

Sangsang watched the pack in her hand for a while in silence. Then she tossed it in the snow by the street, walking forward with hands behind her back. The Big Black Horse felt sorry for the shoes.

The middle-aged woman next door saw a young man walking towards her. She smiled and greeted him, saying, ” Where are you going, young man? Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?”

The young man looked handsome and glowing. His eyes seemed as if they could speak. The most fascinating part was that he was so gentle, even when he was talking to the middle-aged woman.

Sangsang walked out of the city without giving one more look at the stories playing out in the streets.

The young man chatted with the middle-aged woman for a while, and was about to go inside to have a cup of tea. As he passed by the stone stairs, the ice dam on the eaves suddenly broke and fell down to the ground. “Puff-puff”, the young man’s chest was pierced by the icicles and he died in no time. The whole street started screaming.