In the Dragon Lane of Xianghe Village, the villagers with big bowls of blue flowers in hand were talking about Genshui and Qin Yaoto. They wondered whether Anran and Grandama Three would become relatives by marriage. Then something happened to Anran’s again. Cuiyun hanged herself quietly in her flat roof room.

    Since the bet for a Dacron shirt with those young boys, Cuiyun had changed completely. She didn’t say anything at home. In those days, Qin Yatou would always stay with her. All her families were afraid that she would take things too hard, it was just for a temporary happiness after all. An unmarried girl, half naked with her nipples exposed to a group of hungry young boys, walking around the square pond, so humiliating.

    During the nights right after that, she suffered terribly. Cuiyun cried and cried, out of breath, didn’t eat or drink, became thinner within a few days. Her families tried to comfort her, calm her down. Since it happened, beyond any help, there were too many scandals in the world, much worse than hers, but days passed by, she had to live on. As long as she stopped doing things wrong in the future, nothing would be too hard. Then again, it was only a bet. Qin Yatou had told everything she could to comfort Cuiyun.

    Cuiyun was grateful to Qin Yatou. Told Qin Yatou and her own families that she had opened up, taking it as a bad dream, never thought of it again. So she began to take care of the tofu business at home as usual. No one ever thought that she hanged herself in her small room.

    Cuiyuun hanged herself the next day after Qin Yatou’s incident. She lost all hope of this world. She had thoughthis second brother Chunyu and Qin Yatou were such a happy couple, but since Chunyu came back from Yang’s Village, he became indifferent to Qin Yatou. So she didn’t understand why people could change so easily and fast. Next, Genshui raped Qin Yatou. Then she thought about herself, having something in others’ hands, even if she found her husband in the future, with a slight disappointment, he would complain about her fault in the past, they would not live happily. If he was bad-tempered, he would even beat her. The more she thought, the more bitterness she suffered. She was in despair. So she committed suicide, never thinking of her father and brothers in sorrow. After all, she was too young.

    Fortunately, Chunyu knocked at her door, trying to ask her to grind soybean milk with him. His father was still too weak to work. It would take another few days for him to recover completely. So he decided to ask Cuiyun to work with him instead. But no response to his knocking. He shouted a few times, his father was woken up, said to him, “It’s still early in the morning. Why do you shout aloud? Didn’t your sister sleep to death?” Anran was in an angry tone. He didn’t like the shouting. Chunyu felt something wrong as he couldn’t get any response from his sister. He stepped back, with all his strength, holding his arms, rushed to the wooden door. The door was pushed open, “Dad, too bad. Cuiyun hanged herself.” He saw a figure hanged in the air, it must be his sister, so he called his father with trembling voice.

    Chunyu laid down his sister, put her on his back, ran to the hospital in the village. Anran ran after them, crying out, “Chunyu, run fast, it’s urgent to save your sister.” In the long Dragon Lane, everything was quiet, only Chunyu’s fast footsteps could be heard, beating against the ground, echoing in the air.

    At this moment, it was too early. Mr. Wang and the nurses weren’t up yet, the  gate was closed. “Open the door. Help!” Chunyu stretched out his hand knocking  at the door, out of breath. Mr. Wang and other doctors came out immediately.  Mr. Wang’s clothes were not put in order, but he quickly took over the person on  Chunyu’s back. “My sister hanged herself, please help.” “Hanged? Put her on her  back quickly, give her artificial respiration, otherwise she would be in danger.” It  was lucky that it’s not far from the east end to the hospital. Mr. Wang felt the pulse  of Cuiyun, it was still there. Then he looked at her pupils, said, “She is still alive.” Hearing this, Anran fell on the bench, fainted. He had just entered the gate.

    After about half an hour of emergency treatment, with artificial respiration and chest compression, Cuiyun coughed and breathed normally. She came back to life. All the people got relieved.

    “Who told you to make me survived? I would suffer and get taunted.” Cuiyun burst into crying, all her wrongs suffered came out. In fact, she had made up her mind to leave this world, but she hated to part with her father and brothers,especially her eldest brother Chungen. And of course, her best friend Qin Yatou. But except them, what else could make her reluctant to leave? So she looked calm, but he had her own idea in heart.

    The man who wanted to die didn’t die, but the man who didn’t died quietly.

    Grandma Three had not been sick or in a disaster, but she died calmly in the kitchen of the medical station. After she cooked supper for the doctors, she sat down before the stove for a break. In winter the rear part of the stove was the best place to get warm. Grandma Three didn’t feel well, just wanted to close her eyes for a break before going home. But who knew that she was never able to open her eyes again.

    Grandma Three died from old age, although she wasn’t very old. Honest villagers believed piously that death was as natural as life, riches and honour depended upon God. Everything had a definite number, no one could change it.

    When Er Kuazi got the sad news, came to the medical station with the whole family, Grandma Three was lying quietly in the bed, covered with a white bed sheet. Mr. Wang knelt down before her, crying without tears, “My sister, that was my fault in that year, my fault. Sorry. You suffered all the scandals. I am a coward. My sister, I am a sinner, a guilty person.”

    The whole family and people in the medical station had never seen Mr. Wang like that, he was always gentle and appropriate to deal with people. The scene they saw was surprising, made them confused. But Er Kuazi, having been in the army, got great experience. He was the eldest in the family. He felt some special relationship between Mr. Wang and his family. So he quickly asked the other doctors to leave the room. It’ better to keep the family matters a secret. The elderly mother suffered all her life, was dead now. He didn’t want her to be talked about with irresponsible remarks. As the old saying went, domestic shame should not be made public.

    Er Kuazi indistinctly felt it, soon confirmed by Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang was a brotherly friend of their father Little Dog, about six years older than him. He was one of the people who followed the Third Girl to listen to stories and drama in Blind Wang’s house. Soon they had an affair. The Third Girl was doomed to hide the secret. So she took all the responsibility on herself, she refused to tell who was the father of the baby in her tummy.

    If the first child in the family were still alive, they would have one more half bother (*). Things were hard to predict, no one could assure what’s going to happen.

    Mr. Wang insisted on paying for the funeral of Grandma Three. He said that she suffered all her life, the final thing for her should be done in extravagance. He would undertake all the expenses. How could that be? Er Kuazi had a store, even he was poor, he would make every effort to have the funeral for his mother. Why should they use Mr. Wang’s money? He was very stubborn. Mr. Wang could do nothing but kneel down before Er Kuazi to beg his agreement. “For the sake of your dead brother, let me, the sinner, on behalf of my child(debt collector), to take the filial duties. Please!”

    The funeral was decent. There were paper devils in animal forms, paper clothes, paper house, paper sedan, everything for people to enjoy in the world. Special drummer, funeral team, playing music that made people going up to heaven, circled round the Lane for the neighbors to farewell with Grandma Three, then carried the coffin onto the boat for the burial in the crenel field.

    Qin Yatou made an appointment with Chunyu to meet at Coal Golden Marsh. She asked Cuiyun to pass on the message, saying it was not convenient to see him in his house because she was in a filial piety. She knew that she didn’t deserve Chunyu’s love any more, just asking him to meet her for the last time for the sake of their happy days together. She would not meet him in the future.

    Chunyu agreed, rowing his boat alone to the marsh. “Chunyu, come over quickly, kiss me!” “No, No.” “I don’t care whether the neighbors see us or not. None of their business. I like you, Am I wrong?” Rowing along the River of Xianghe, Qin Yatou’s shadow came out before his eyes, her witty words echoed in his ears for a longtime.

    Was it for the last meeting? Living in the same village, they would meet either in the morning or in the evening, could not get away from each other. Chunyuknew the meaning of a last meeting. Was it true to let her separate from him, be forcibly occupied, owned by that bad guy Genshui? That was his beloved girl, her smile, witty eye contacts, little nose, shorthair, white skin, smooth and clean body, round nipples, charming private part, every part of her body he was familiar with, presented beautifully before him, making a transformation of his life. He would never forget that it was she who made him become a real man. Many mornings, he left Xianghe with her by rowing the small boat. Many evenings, he walked with her at the gate of the village. How wonderful it was to linger in two people’s world. They had already planned to love each other for the whole life. She said she would have many children for him. The kids would be playing, laughing, fighting in the house. How happy would they be? The happiness of a family reunion!

    All the beautiful things were suddenly turned into bubbles, broken. Chunyu was heart-broken, bleeding in heart.

    I couldn’t let Genshui’s dream come true, or let Qin Yatou leave me. But what about Xuehua? Her infatuation went even further than Qin Yatou’s. She didn’t hesitate to be humble like that in order to have him meet him once. Chunyu couldn’t even forget her crying, which broke his heart, liver and five internal organs, pathetic, heart-breaking, soft-hearted. But the reality was cruel, he couldn’t love two girls at the same time, live with them. He had to make a selection. He knew that the selection was to give up one of the two. He must make a selection between Xuehua and Qin Yaotu, giving up one of them. Although, from the bottom of his heart, he liked both of them, Qin Yatou’s tenderness and Xuehua’s infatuation had left deep mark in his heart.

    In a sense, the incident at the work site of Cheluhe helped Chunyu make the selection, no matter you admitted or not, willing or unwilling, this fact already existed objectively. It couldn’t be changed by Chunyu’s will. More exactly, Chunyu and Qin Yatou would never be married. In the Xianghe area, affairs between men and women, Genshui and Qin Yatou were not the first, nor the last. In the dark, you could love her, he loved you, no one cared unless it came to light. But once it was known to the public,there were certain rules to obey. If a man made a girl pregnant, he had to marry her, his family shall not say NO, otherwise if someone died of it, it would not be a good ending. It was another story if the girl’s family didn’t agree. But few of them would.

    The wild duck without its nest was swimming against the water in the river,

    The brother on the bank was walking against the wind,

    The sister in the boat was singing against the wind,

    Tears were falling on the bamboo pole,

    Brother, brother, ——

    Don’t ask the sister why, Ahyaoyao,

    Don’t ask the sister why.

    Chunyu could hear that Qin Yatou was singing, more exactly she was crying.

    He knew how Qin Yatou was suffering. As he listened, his heart was getting more and more grieved, tears whirled in his eyes.

    Although the sunshine in winter made the reeds crisp, crackling, they were still weak without strength Chunyu and Qin Yatou entered the Coal Golden Marsh, went to the same place as if by prior agreement where they were last time. Only after a few months, they were still familiar with everything there, except that the green reeds had turned into withered yellow. The water plants in the marsh were still beautiful and lively. The birds were also flying over happily, twittering as before. Chunyu felt very sorry for the girl in front of him. He put down the oar, hoping to jump from his boat to Qin Yatou’s. “Don’t, please don’t.” Was that her voice? It sounded strange and confusing.

    Chunyu was right. Qin Yatou opened her mouth, but tears couldn’t help falling down, “Chunyu, I just want to look at you, keep you in my mind. It is not what I don’t want to give you, but my body is dirty now, not worthwhile for you to have me. I knew that Xuehua wasn’t seriously ill. She became crazy, thinking of you. So you must love her well in the future because she is honest with you. Chunyu, I am not lucky to be with you, all the things we had thought of before couldn’t be realized. Please forget me from today on, thinking that I am not in the world. Otherwise you shall suffer, it won’t be fair to Xuehua. I shall take all the beautiful days we had together all the way to my tomb. You know you are the only man I loved in the world, no one else. In one or two years or all my life, I will live like a dead-alive person, day by day, without hopes. When we meet each other in the village, you go your way, I go mine. Don’t care how I feel. In case you married Xuehua, she finds out we are still contacting each other, she will be worried. Every woman hopes her husband loves her whole heartily. Don’t blame me for my ingratitude. I won’t answer you even if you talk to me. I won’t let people point at my spine, call me a fox, robbing others of their husband. Chunyu, I don’t blame anybody. God had eyes but failed to see, giving me to Genshui. Blame that you and I didn’t have the fate of marriage, only a short period of time. But this short period of time is enough for me to live a whole life, to call to mind throughout my life. Chunyu, our fate of this life is gone, let’s hope for the next life.”

    Qin Yatou cried as she told Chunyu, in tears. All of a sudden, “Bang”, she fell on her knees at the head of her boat. Her forehead was broken, blood dripped on the deck, in the marsh. Chunyu was choked with sobs, couldn’t say anything. He stood there like a log, as if he was dead. At this moment, the blood on her forehead made him awaken from the dream, stepped onto her boat with a brisk strides, hugging her into his arms, “Little Qin, little Qin, ……”

    Two hot mouths pressed together, kissing. Two young hearts were burning in bitterness, melting. “Chunyu, Not that I don’t want you, I wanted, but my body isn’t what it was before, dirty now. I am afraid you hate it. Chunyu, my heart is bitter, ……” Her white and shining body was lingering in his arms, twisting, the two round nipples were sucked and bloated by Chunyu. “Little Qin, I love you, love you all my life. You are a silly girl, how could I hate you? You are the most clean and holy girl in my eyes.”

    They both knew that they couldn’t be together after today. So they were especially emotional. With rubbing each other, the desire of sex was getting stronger. They were moving like two fish, sometimes, he was riding on her, sometimes, she was on him, turning over in the boat, pit-a-pat. The boat was shaking violently in the marsh, sometimes, making gentle waves. Sometimes, a few birds flying over their heads.

    Winter sun was shining on the Coal Golden Marsh, the reeds were golden, bringing warmth to the people in the cold winter.

    After a few bottle of “saltwater”, Anran recovered from his sickness. He was a busy person, liked to find something to do when he was well. It was deep winter. The business in the store was slower. It was true that not many people would visit friends and relatives in cold days. More important, about one hundred people in each village had gone to work in the “l(fā)arge scale” projects. So few people came to buy tofu and pigments. Would the business still be good?

    Now, Anran was making straw sandals in the hall-room. There was a heavy snow last night. It was white on the roof, in the lane, on the tree branches, looking from the distance, the fields became all white, too. It stopped snowing, the sun came out, but not warm enough. Anran was good at making straw sandals. It was not difficult for him to make one or two pairs in a day. He never sold them, only for the families to wear, or gave away as gifts. To wear a pair of new straw sandals into soft and comfortable,the feet had to suffer. The sandals would hurt the heels, leaving some with splits. In the village, most people at Anran’s age were suffering from these splits. Every evening before going to bed, the first thing to do was to drip plaster into those splits. Warm the plaster on the oil lamp first, wait until it melted, then dripped them into the splits. It was both painful and comfortable. Sometimes, their mouth would be crooked by those hot plaster drops. But they still wanted the drops. The moment the plaster dropped in the splits, they felt so itching and comfortable. The plaster did work on the splits.

    Nowadays, Chunyu and Cuiyun seldom wore straw sandals. Anran added some soft cloth into the straw sandals, that would make them soft and comfortable to wear. The young people wouldn’t get splits on the heels anymore.

    Genshui came to Qin Yatou’s house to seek marriage alliance. Normally the new brother-in-law had to bring regular presents: Noodles, tea snacks, fish, meat, etc. Er Kuazi led him in, asked him to kowtou three times before the memorial tablet of Grandma Three, Genshui benthis forehead to the floor every time he kowtoued. He was thinking that Grandma Three was angry to death by him. He was really sorry for her. A few days ago, Genshui sent someone to ask about their marriage. Er Kuazi and his wife didn’t say anything. They knew what should be done according to the local custom. Agen Huo was not interested in her marriage. But Qin Yatou hated him in her heart. Well, today he must show his honesty and sincerity.

    However, Qin Yatou still didn’t forgive him. In the hall-room, Genshui was still kneeling on the floor. Qin Yatou came out from her room, shouted, “Go away, you wicked ghost. Who wanted you to come to my house?” Throwing away his presents at a mess, as she said. The two swordfish were especially caught by “Black Vegetable Melon”, since his father Hunchback was put in prison, he continued catching fish after finishing teaching in the school. But he never threw nets, only carried his fish basket on the back, put on his leather suit, held a short wooden stick, walking around the river branches and entering the reed marsh.

    The swordfish were jumping on the floor. Er Kuazi put them back in the basket, didn’t stop his sister. He knew she had much resentment in heart, it was better for her to feel avenged at this time rather than at the wedding in the new year. Duck Li felt sorry for Genshui who was still kneeling down. “Qin Yatou, there’s always an end to it. Take my advice. Be generous. Let bygones be bygones. From now on, if he dares to take advantage of you, I will make the decision for you.” Duck Li took angry Qin Yatou to one side as she said. “Genshui,did you hear what I said?” “Yes, I did. As long as she marries me, I will never complain about serving her like a cow or a horse. Who dare to bully her? I would be stuck to death by lighting and split into two halves.”

    Now as long as Qin Yatou could forgive him, Genshui would be willing to make any curses on himself, to do anything degrading. Otherwise, why was it called to beg a marriage alliance?

    While Genshui was seeking marriage at Qin Yatou’s house, his mother was negotiating at Xiangyuan’s. When she learned about the affair of Genshui and Qin Yatou, Shuimei refused to marry Genshui, which settled a matter which had been weighing on Lai Tizi’s mind. Otherwise, she would not know what to say to Xiangyuan. For the sake of Xiangyuan, she agreed that Genshui would marry Shuimei, but that was really unfair for Genshui to be a step father as soon as he got married, Why did you owe Xiangyuan? Am I easy to raise you up by myself without your father? One side was Qin Yatou, the other was Shuimei. If not marrying Shuimei, they couldn’t return Xiangyuan’s favors. If not marrying Qin Yatou, they would be scolded by the neighbors for being unreasonable.

    Who knew that Shuimei first refused it? This was really good news for her. But Xiangyuan didn’t agree, insisted that Shuimei marry Genshui, otherwise she must abort her baby. Shuimei didn’t give in, neither agreed to marry Genshui, nor to abort her baby. So Xiangyuan was worried, he couldn’t let Genshui seek marriage with Qin Yatou, otherwise, Shuimei would have the baby without a husband, then he wouldn’t be able to lift up his head all his life in the village.

    When she heard of this, Lai Tizi became anxious. Anyway, she only cared about her own son. She might help Shuimei as much as she could. Now she couldn’t help her, but her son. So she tried to persuade Xiangyuan to give up since Shuimei refused. Even if they married, they would quarrel and fight each other in the future, the parents would not be free from worry, thus agree with Shuimei. But Xiangyuan became raged as soon as she said these, giving her a big slap, which made her fall on the floor. “I am subjecting my daughter to discipline, why should you get in? Genshui couldn’t go, seek marriage at Qin Yatou’s!” “So you don’t allow him to go?” Lai Tizi rose up from the floor, without dusting herself off,raised her voice. “I tell him not to go, he can’t go.” His attitude was as hard as an iron plate. “Then I will die at your house. Listen, in half of my life, I live to be your woman, I die to be your ghost.” Lai Tizi began to yell, trying to bang her head against the wall.

    This frightened Qiao Guanzi. She had never thought of her husband having affairs with this widow, never stopped. No wonder why Genshui was willing to marry Shuimei. This was the reason. When she came back to her conscience, Qiao Guanzi ran to Xiangyuan, started to struggle. While they were fighting, just a “bang”, Lai Tizi fell on the floor, blood flew down from her head. Shuimei shouted out, “Stop fighting, someone is going to die.”

    Xiangyuan’s house was made in a mess.