Old Town

by Lin Zhe

  That evening, Mrs. Yang returned from doing the washing at someone’s house. She sat in a chair, coughing and coughing. Ninth Brother suspected she had caught tuberculosis. When he urged her to seek treatment at a hospital, Mrs. Yang glared coldly at him. That look made it impossible for him to hold on to the remaining silver dollars—four of them in all. He handed her three of them and kept one, thinking that tomorrow he would go to the hospital where he had once practiced and get a prescription for her.

  He had no travel fare now. And the road back home was a very long one. But, in fact, Ninth Brother’s heart felt at rest. On this night, as he and the older Yang boy squeezed into the little attic, he slept better than he had for the past several days.

  Quite early on the second morning, Ninth Brother had just gotten on the electric tram headed for the hospital, when, looking up, he saw a familiar face, a former classmate from Hangzhou in the church school. The two men were overjoyed at this chance meeting. This fellow had just moved from Hangzhou to Shanghai and he was on his way to work at the very hospital that Ninth Brother was going to. When he found out about the Yang family, he gave his full assurance that he would look after Mrs. Yang and the two children. This Hangzhou classmate was from quite a prosperous family and for him to assist the Yang family hardly required any effort on his part. Before alighting from the tram, they had arranged everything. Ninth Brother was so happy he made a total spectacle of himself. Standing in the streetcar, he grasped his two hands together in front of everybody and exclaimed loudly, “Thank you, God! Thank you, Lord Jesus!”

  Several days later, the Yang family totally broke free of all their difficulties. Mrs. Yang and her old mother-in-law received the best medical treatment and the two boys were back at school. All the problems of the travel money to return home and the identity documentation were no longer problems. Ninth Brother was ecstatic, like a happy child that is eager for praise and approval after doing something that pleased an adult. When he went to Sixteen Wharf Landing to buy the boat ticket he said to his dear Heavenly Father: Your child is incapable on his own but thanks to your great power he helped a family in need. Maybe this was your intention—for your child to stay in Shanghai. Helping others fills my soul with happiness. And I see the Yang family’s lives just as if I were seeing the difficulties Second Sister and the children are going through. I beseech you, Heavenly Father, to protect the homeward path of your child. Your child will all the more love the wife and children you have blessed him with.

  Whenever my grandfather got elated, he would radiate a kind of childishness. He would do this even in old age. I still remember normally taciturn Grandpa standing under the sky well, playing at squirt guns with my little cousin. These were rough-and-ready toys made from plastic bottles. Grandpa and grandson paid not a bit of mind to the difference between them in age but played together quite happily. At the time, I was extremely surprised since most of the time my grandfather was rather stern and never said much. His final years were not an easy time for him.

  Ninth Brother, a childish smile on his face, stepped lightly up the steps of the ticket sales office, only to be told that three days before the Japanese had sealed off the sea route to Old Town—sealed it off indefinitely!

  How to take such a direct blow? And how could he go back to the Yang family in Zhabei? Mrs. Yang had prepared a few small dishes and invited the Hangzhou classmate for Young Mr. Lin’s send-off dinner. They waited until past ten o’clock at night, and only then did Young Mr. Lin appear, so drunk he could barely stand up. They rushed forward and asked what had happened. Leaning on the wall, he pulled over a chair and sat down. He opened his reddened eyes and stared first at Mrs. Yang and then at the Hangzhou classmate. Then he said something that seemed to make no sense at all: “When the nest overturns, how can the eggs remain whole?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN – GRANDMA’S GUARDIAN ANGEL

  1.

  GRANDMA SAID THAT everyone has a guardian angel. You can’t see an angel with your physical eyes, but not even your tiniest hair escapes the angel’s notice. When Grandma got so old she could no longer take care of herself, our family arranged for a nursemaid to come in. This nursemaid discovered the old lady had one peculiar failing: she was unwilling to take off all her clothes when she bathed. The nursemaid would tell her, “At your age…and anyway, we’re both women, so why be shy?” My grandmother would say, “I don’t want the angel to see me so old and ugly.” Bewildered, the nursemaid looked all around the room and asked who this angel was. “You can’t see it. In my whole life I have seen it just one time,” was my grandma’s reply.

  Grandma told a lot people about the time her soul went soaring off as proof of this angel business. She believed that the angel took her up into the heavens, supporting her in the palm of its hand and rescuing her from painful reality. Grandma supposed that after she died she would be sent back to the world to be somebody else’s guardian angel. So early on, she prepared a complete, shining white angel’s outfit: a many-plaited hat trimmed with lace, a jacket and trousers set, and a pair of soft-soled shoes. When I arrived home for the summer break during my third year at the university, Grandma had her “old-age glasses” on and was busy sewing. I was the one she was the most worried about, she said. In time to come, she would definitely request her Heavenly Father to let her be my guardian angel. The angel outfit lay in the trunk over the years. Every time I ran into Grandma, she would always say to me with a sigh, “Has the Heavenly Father forgotten me?” She lived to be ninety-five years old before finally putting on that spotless white angel outfit and going to heaven.

  My great-aunt was one of those surgeons of the thought revolution. She worried that Grandma’s testimonies about the angel would lead us children astray. Once, behind Grandma’s back, she called all the cousins together and explained this angel. She said it was a temporary amnesia, the body’s self-defense mechanism. It was just like someone who lost consciousness while suffering an extreme level of pain. She added a whole lot of other scientific facts that sounded dull and dry to us. Compared to these, we were happier listening to Grandma’s mysterious stories.

  The good-hearted yokels of the area helped Fourth Brother take Second Sister and the stricken Fifth Brother home. Little Baoqing followed at the rear of the crowd, wiping his tears as he walked along. Soaring high above, Second Sister saw everything in a vast panorama. “Baoqing, don’t be sad, Ma is here.” Baoqing couldn’t hear this. He wiped his face with his sleeve, almost already totally soaked with tears…

  Second Sister’s mother hobbled to the end of the bridge, Gan’er in tow, to await the news. Everyone in this family, from the youngest to the oldest, is like a migrating bird, laboriously carrying grass in its beak to build a nest. No sooner do they stop to catch their breath, when yet another deadly blow falls upon them. The three generations are scattered in all directions, like birds spying a bow. Will they find Baohua? And can Second Sister bear up under this shock? If Second Sister breaks down, this family will be totally done for. Second Sister believes in the Foreign Buddha, doesn’t she? Ah, Foreign Buddha, consider this husband and wife who have always believed in you, and make your presence felt. However, at this point, what Old Lady Guo wanted to do above all else was to go to the temple and burn a pillar of incense. There was a temple on the distant mountaintop, but her little feet really couldn’t move any farther.

  Gan’er was cranky from lack of sleep. Old Lady Guo just sat right down on the spot and, holding her grandson, gazed helplessly at the far end of the bridge. When two carry-chairs appeared, she didn’t dare believe that it was Second Sister and Fifth Brother seated on them.

  Second Sister saw her mother and told the carriers to stop. Looking surprised, she asked, “Ma, it’s so dark now, what brought you here?”

  Baoqing realized his mother could speak now and a smile broke out on his little tear-streaked face.

  Second Sister helped her mother onto one of the carry-chairs. When they returned to their house, she casually greeted the
local folk and went in to wash and drink some water. Pulling Fourth Brother over, the old lady softly asked where Baohua was. Fourth Brother gave a look of total bewilderment. After sending off the visitors and putting Baoqing to bed, Second Sister boiled water, washed her hair, and bathed. Then she changed into some loose-fitting clothes and, picking up her wicker sewing basket, sat by the lamp and began to sew. “So late and you’re still not sleeping?” Old Lady Guo probed. “I’ll go to bed when my hair’s dry.” She was too normal, so much so that her mother and the two younger brothers grew frightened.

  Gripping his slingshot, Baosheng walked with rapid steps in the dark night. He was wearing his Old Town primary school uniform, the pockets filled with small but quite heavy stones. Flames of anger flared in his breast and it was as if some high-powered engine were driving him swiftly on.

  Ah, my good son. Young as you are, you are showing the heroism of a true man. Of the three children, Daddy especially loved Baohua. Ma tended most toward Baoqing. Ever since he was little, naughty and mischievous Baosheng had not been particularly endearing to people, and both Second Sister and Ninth Brother had used the switch on him to make him behave. But Baohua and Baoqing had never received as much as a stern look from their parents. Now, though, his mother regretted this deeply. Ninth Brother, do you see this? Our Baosheng is a really fine fellow. Each one of our three children is the pride of their parents. We must love them equally and not show any favoritism.

  The next evening, Second Son Guo stood drinking beside the counter of the postal relay station. As he drank and drank, he suddenly burst into a fit of tears and sniveling. The woman at his side was worried that Second Sister would come after them and kept urging him to get on the road. Number Two bent over the counter as loose as mud but with a tongue so stiff it could hardly move. He lashed out at her, “Stinking whore, you bad luck star. You’ve brought death and ruin to my family. Oh, Mother, your son is ashamed to face you. When you die, I won’t be there to cover your head or pay my last respects. Second Sister, oh, I am so sorry.” Usually, the woman led Number Two around by the nose. When she wanted to go east, he would never dare even glance to the west. Once in a while Number Two got drunk and behaved atrociously, but she could put up with it. She stared dully at her man and thought about abandoning him and just ending all this, but then a feeling of despondency overpowered her. In this world of chaos where could she go? People age and pearls lose their luster. The little bit of money saved up in their earlier days had all been squandered. All she had now was this down-and-out, good-for-nothing princeling. But I’ll stick with him. Good or bad, at least he’s somebody to be with.

  The postal relay station was a little wooden structure out in the middle of nowhere, its sparsely planked walls letting out the dim glow of its lamps. That was what caught Baosheng’s notice. He remembered the time they had come there from Old Town when he had rested his weary feet and changed sedan chair carriers. Since it was too dark now to find carriers, could those two rotten eggs be spending the night inside? He knew that there were guest quarters on the second floor and the steps were next to the kitchen. All he had to do was block those steps and they couldn’t run away. A watchdog was tied to the main door. Baosheng nimbly circled round to the rear door leading to the kitchen. When his small form suddenly charged in, the night watchman let out a yell of frightened alarm. The sound of this had barely faded when it was followed by two cries of pain. Second Son and that woman were each hit by a stone from Baosheng’s slingshot. Second Son shielded his head. The woman covered her heel. They both rolled around on the ground in agony.

  Baosheng stretched the slingshot and aimed right at his uncle’s eyes. “Where’s my sister?”

  The woman cursed and yelled as she leapt forward in an attempted counterattack. Baosheng then let fly with a stone that hit her right on the bridge of her nose. Immediately she was dripping blood.

  The watchman thought that a robber had entered and he took hold of a vegetable cleaver from the kitchen. In an instant, Baosheng let fly again. Clang! The cleaver fell to the floor. The watchman was just about to bend over and pick it up when Second Son cried out, waving his hand. “Don’t touch that deadly thing! Don’t hurt the child! He’s my sister’s son!”

  These words softened Baosheng. Everyone said uncles loved their nephews. “Even if a bone gets broken it is still linked to the tendon,” the saying goes. Among Mama’s own family, Second Uncle loved him the best. Second Uncle had never thought he was naughty. Sometimes they would even play practical jokes together. The year before last during the Dragon Boat Festival races, he had sat on Second Uncle’s shoulders. Recalling this, Baosheng slackened the tautly pulled slingshot. “Give me back my sister and I’ll let you both go!”

  Second Son’s woman was lying facedown on the floor regaining her strength. Suddenly, she sprang up and opened her blood-smeared hands. Bam! Smack! Bam! She boxed Baosheng’s head on the left and the right and he was soon covered with blood. Second Son stood there stupefied for an instant then dashed forward and the three of them got all twisted up into a pile. After a while, when the woman discovered that the person hitting her was Second Son, she let go of Baosheng and grabbed hold of her man’s collar, shrieking and cursing until she was hoarse.

  This uproar disturbed the lodgers upstairs. Almost all of them came out from under their quilts and gathered at the top of the steps to watch the melee. Was it a fight between husband and wife? Then why was the child’s face beaten all bloody? A bespectacled youth with a questioning look on his face went up to Baosheng and took hold of the boy’s shoulders in both his hands. “You look very familiar. Are you from Old Town?”

  Baosheng recognized this young man as Pastor Chen’s son, Enchun. Baosheng’s nostrils quivered and he wanted to burst into tears, but he just clenched his teeth.

  The pastor and his wife came over and asked, “Baosheng, how come you’re here? And your ma, where is she?”

  Fuming with rage, Baosheng pointed to the man and the woman still pummeling each other and said, “They tricked my big sister into going with them and then they sold her!”

  The pastor’s wife quickly blocked the main entrance and shouted, “If you don’t hand over this boy’s sister, we won’t let you leave this place!”

  Second Son recognized the pastor of West Gate church and his wife. Weeping, he knelt down before her. “Oh, Mrs. Pastor, I am too ashamed to face Second Sister. Please tell her that I ought to die. Baohua’s at some rich guy’s home. The boss of the opium den in town knows where it is.”

  One hand covering up where her clothes had been torn, Second Son’s woman poked him savagely on the head. “These days a girl is cheaper than a cat, and over that little wench you’re beating me!”

  Pastor Chen asked for a clear account of all this and, bringing Second Son up to his feet, said, “You don’t have to face your sister, but you do have to take us to find Baohua. I’ll give you whatever money you’ll need.”

  This repulsive-looking pair hadn’t spoiled the mood of the pastor and his wife, who, full of affection, said to Baosheng, “Child, be at ease. Our Heavenly Father has always watched over your sister and brother and he sent us here to help you. I’m sure your sister will return safely to your mama’s side.”

  The situation in Old Town was really going downhill. People said that the Japanese had taken a fancy to this well-situated and resource-rich place and wanted to make it into an air base. With the Old Town people scattering far away in all directions to escape this calamity, the place had become still as death. One rich merchant of Old Town who had contributed funds for the building of a church in Qingpu County sent someone to invite Pastor Chen to preach there. Qingpu and Nanjing were adjacent counties and the relay station where the Chens were resting on their journey was right at the boundary line. The evening before they actually had not planned to spend the night here, but Mrs. Chen had been suddenly seized with a violent case of dysentery at the road crossing ahead of them and was unable to go on. This appear
ed to be a coincidence, but in the eyes of Christians, all coincidences reflected God’s good purpose. Mrs. Chen, who was never sick, no matter when, had been stricken at the gate of this station. Not only that, but the moment she stepped into the building, they ran into an old practitioner of Chinese medicine who was also stopping over here and this doctor soon had her all fixed up. Last night they had expressed their gratitude to God for making them find this place and meet the doctor. Now it was even clearer that the power of God far exceeded anything they could imagine. God himself had led them to help Dr. Lin’s family when all along they had been concerned about the Lins. How could they not feel an overwhelming gratitude at this fortuitous encounter with Baosheng?

  Second Son didn’t believe in God, but he did believe that Pastor Chen wouldn’t deceive him. When the sky grew light again, he got the pastor to hire him a carry-chair and he went back to Nanjing to look for Baohua. Second Son’s woman was still angry and said fiercely that she wanted to make a clean break from him. “If I never see him again, I’ll shed no tears at my death.” But the moment they lifted the carry-chair, she chased after him.

  2.

  BAOHUA WAS LED off by her future “mother-in-law.” Second Uncle had said, “This auntie is a relative of ours. Your ma is visiting at her house.” The county town was a peaceful place of little streets and alleys amid the surrounding hills and streams. After passing through town, they got onto a mountain road. Now Baohua began to feel afraid and said she wanted to go home. “Mother-in-law” tightly gripped her by the hand and humored her, “We’re almost there. Your ma is waiting for you.” After going a few more steps, at the foot of the mountain a big and burly fellow leapt up, and in one swoop took up frail little Baohua into the crook of his arm. Then, with vigorous strides, he hurried toward the mountains, as if on wings.