Chapter 4. Bride's name: Li Ai. ...
***
Li Sheng called him "brother" more than ten years ago. Li Jiacong knew that Li Sheng would never call him that again. When Li Sheng spoke, his voice was as calm as ever: "Long time no see."
Li Jiacong stared intently at Li Sheng, as if he had caught prey he had been eyeing for a long time. Li Sheng was dressed in dirty clothes, but his appearance had not changed much. He had thick eyebrows, a straight nose, and light-colored eyes. Even when his mouth was relaxed, it was closed tightly. Li Jiacong traced the face over and over again. After a moment, he said, "Come out."
The two walked out under everyone's gaze. Outside, the sound of car horns filled the air. Li Jiacong leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and waited for Li Sheng to say, "It was quite a hassle to find you."
Li Sheng gave a stiff smile.
"Xiao Ai is getting married, did you know?"
Li Sheng paused for a long time before saying, "Wow, time flies, the little girl is already married."
Li Jiacong looked at him through the smoke he exhaled, his eyes thoughtful: "She wants you to be her best man, should you go?"
Li Sheng replied indifferently, "Go."
Li Jiacong handed him the invitation, which he carefully took, making sure not to get the oil stains on his hands.
"How long have you been working here?" Li Jiacong asked.
Not long after.
Where have you been all these years?
"Many places."
Li Jiacong remained silent, and they fell silent again. The brick steps led to the road, bustling with traffic, seemingly far away. Li Jiacong could only see and hear Li Sheng. Yet, something unseen seemed to separate them; more than ten years had passed, and the estrangement was inevitable. Could they reminisce? He didn't know how to begin.
Li Sheng spoke first, his tone unusually cold: "Is there anything else?"
Those bright eyes stared at him, and Li Jiacong had a sudden illusion, as if everything was still yesterday—their last meeting more than ten years ago, when Li Sheng bit his lip hard, making both of them's mouths full of blood, and said to him, "Let's do it again." He had been looking at him like that back then.
Li Jiacong said, "That's all."
The cacophony of cicadas returned to his ears. This time, he finally managed to finish a cigarette in front of Li Sheng. The man, clutching the invitation, turned around and said, "I'm going back to work."
Li Jiacong tried to persuade him to stay, but his words still sounded almost sarcastic: "So eager to leave?"
Li Sheng didn't react: "The boss can't see me, so he'll deduct my pay."
Li Jiacong smiled: "Okay," he looked at his back, "The day before the wedding, at two o'clock, the best man needs to go to the Blue Ocean Hotel to try on clothes and decorate the bridal chamber, don't forget to go."
Li Sheng nodded. Back at the auto repair shop, Li Sheng wiped his hands clean with a rag. A coworker working alongside him came over and asked, "Who is it? A customer complaint?"
Li Sheng: "No, he's a friend from the same village when we were kids."
What are you doing?
"Send out invitations."
"He's getting married? So elaborate, he even personally delivered the invitations?"
It wasn't his wedding; he didn't even know if he was married or not. Li Sheng looked at the invitation. He knew that someone like Li Jiazong wouldn't help with errands—he had come specifically to see him.
With a "boom," a car started up outside the door. Li Sheng looked up and the rising car window gradually obscured that familiar yet unfamiliar face.
His coworkers saw it too: "You and him... are from the same... village? That one wheel of his must be worth at least a year's wages for us. A golden phoenix has flown out of a chicken coop?"
Li Sheng remained silent. He knew Li Jiazong didn't come from a poor family; he had grown up in wealth and was a phoenix in disguise. That village wasn't his hometown. However, this was the only respectable way he could find to describe his relationship with Li Jiazong.
Li Sheng lowered his head, unfolded the invitation in his hand, and read the words on it: the wedding would be held in ten days.
Bride's name: Li Ai.
***2002
In the still-dark morning, the soft, limp water pipes in the vegetable field lay sprawled on the ground, like giant pythons that had come to life in legends.
Li Sheng herded the sheep back to their pen in the morning, then went to water the onion field. Holding the python in his hands, he went to the edge of the field and watched the water flow over the dry soil. A slight darkness fell overhead, and he turned around to see Li Jiazong.
"Why are you here...?"
"Nothing much, I just came."
Li Jiacong wasn't forced into this situation; he was just bored, and he discovered he didn't dislike Li Sheng. Li Sheng was probably the only person in the village he didn't dislike. Li Sheng was quiet, concise, and knew how to maintain a distance. This appealed to him.
Li Sheng frowned: "Why are you wearing this?"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"Let's sunbathe," Li Sheng said.
Li Jiacong was only wearing a white short-sleeved shirt. He looked at his arm and asked, "Are you alright?"
Li Sheng took off his straw hat and handed it to him, saying, "You wear it." Then he turned and walked into the field.
Li Jiacong called out to him, "Hey, what can I do?"
"There's not much work to do this morning," Li Sheng said, squinting in the sun and flicking the hose. "I'll just water the plants, and that'll be it."
Hearing this, Li Jiacong stood still at the edge of the field. After a while, feeling it was pointless, he wanted to speak, so he raised his voice and asked Li Sheng, "Is this all your land?"
It was an utterly useless statement, but Li Sheng didn't hear it clearly and went to great lengths to come over and ask, "What?"
Li Jiacong could only awkwardly continue asking, "Does all this land belong to your family?"
Li Sheng: "No, the land is calculated per person, it's just over one mu, that side belongs to someone else."
Li Jiacong nodded, and Li Sheng turned back and pulled the long water pipe to the next ridge.
He was hunched over, sweat dripping down the back of his neck, eventually trickling down to the ground near his Adam's apple. Li Jiacong frowned, adjusted his straw hat, and out of politeness, walked over and said, "I'll take care of the rest."
Li Jiacong was being sincere; he didn't want to engage in any hypocritical back-and-forth with Li Sheng. He simply snatched the water pipe from Li Sheng's hand and carried it to the next furrow. The pipe was heavier than he had imagined and harder to carry. The ground was uneven, and he stumbled forward. Suddenly, he felt the weight in his hand lighten. He turned around and saw Li Sheng carrying the other half of the pipe, silently helping him carry it.
Li Jiacong didn't say anything, and started watering the fields with the dirty hose. Li Jiacong himself couldn't believe that he could actually do farm work.
After watering the last row, Li Jiacong felt his arms getting sore. Reaching the finish line, he casually tossed the hose aside, splashing mud as it hit the ground. Li Jiacong clicked his tongue, and Li Sheng looked over, noticing several conspicuous mud spots on his dark blue sneakers, the edges of which were also dirty.
Li Jiacong squatted down, wiped his shoes with his fingers, and cursed under his breath. He hated dirty shoes, but for now he could only endure it. Watching the clear water roll across the parched ground, Li Jiacong asked, "Do we need to water it every day?"
Li Sheng shook his head: "Watering it every few days is fine."
Li Jiacong plucked at the tender scallion leaves: "When are we going to harvest these?"
“In autumn,” Li Sheng said, “in October, we can harvest and sell it.”
Li Jiacong asked again, "Don't you go to school?"
Li Sheng frowned, but quickly relaxed: "I won't read it."
“Oh,” Li Jiacong said, oblivious to the fact that he had asked the same question twice. “At noon, they came to my house for lunch again. It was the same dishes. The chicken was too tough. My grandma and grandpa couldn’t chew it, and I couldn’t eat much either.”
Li Sheng said, "Okay."
The morning's tasks were completed quickly, and the two headed back before the sun reached its scorching peak. The country road was flanked by fields on both sides, offering a wide view. Many villagers passing by would glance at them with curiosity, especially towards Li Jiazong, stopping to ask obvious, pointless questions.
"Is he the son of a high-ranking leader? Why is he back?" A particularly rough voice.
Li Jiacong didn't know the other person, but his father hit him hard, so he dared not and could not tarnish his father's "reputation," and answered every question with: "It's summer vacation."
Where are your parents?
"at home."
"How did you two get together?"
"What's the problem?"
After making his public appearance, Li Jiacong noticed that people here didn't seem to pay much attention to Li Sheng. Compared to how conspicuously he appeared, Li Sheng was almost invisible. He sensed something was off; shouldn't this young man, who had just lost a family member, be the one receiving concern and care?
Why?
By the time he got home, he had already been asked the same question by seven or eight people, and his face was already quite pale. He went to his room to change his shoes and threw the dirty pair next to the water tank.
When he came out, Li Jiacong found Li Sheng still standing in the courtyard. He frowned and said, "Come in."
Li Sheng nodded, but remained motionless.
Li Jiacong was a little puzzled: "Why isn't anyone leading you in? Aren't you going in?"
Li Sheng smiled awkwardly, which was taken as an admission.
"What a weirdo," Li Jiacong thought to himself, but said aloud, "You're quite polite."
He led Li Sheng into his grandmother's room. As soon as they entered, they found a little girl of about seven or eight years old sitting at the dining table in the middle of the room. She had a round face, braids, and was shouting, "I want to eat chicken legs! I want to eat chicken legs! Why can't I eat them yet!"
Li Jiacong had a strong impression of her; she was the granddaughter of his grandfather's younger brother, his cousin. He had met her a few times at family gatherings. She lived two streets behind him. Compared to Li Sheng, whom he had no connection with, Li Ai was his real relative.
“I also invited Ai Hai’er, but his parents aren’t home today,” Xiuying said, bringing out the last of the stewed chicken with mushrooms. “You guys eat, your grandpa and I have finished.”
The two sat curled up at the table. Li Ai looked at this one, then at that one, and suddenly pointed at Li Sheng's nose and said, "Why are you here too! The chicken smells good! You came here by the smell, hahaha! Dog nose, dog nose!"
Li Sheng said casually, "Grandma asked me to come."
Li Ai: "Is this your chicken? It's mine! You can't eat it!"
Li Sheng curled his fingers and remained silent.
Li Ai playfully put her thumb on her nose, made a face, and stuck her tongue out at Li Sheng: "Lelal lelal lelal—"
"Hey, why are you doing that? You'll look ugly if you stick your nose out like that!" Jia Cong's grandma said. "Stop it! Eat up!"
At this moment, Li Ai shifted her gaze, took her hand down, and tilted her head to look at Li Jiacong, who looked back at her without any attempt to hide it.
Li Ai clicked her thumb and pointed at him: "I've seen you before! What's your name again! Oh!"
Just as Xiuying was about to speak to her, Li Jiacong suddenly slapped her hand away from the person she was pointing at, and without any courtesy or generosity, glared at her and said:
"I'll eat the chicken leg."
A note from the author:
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