Chapter 77: Chapter 68: Midnight Singing
Grandpa hitched the ox to the cart and had Xiao Man wait on board. He took a bamboo canteen to the inn up ahead to fill with water. When he returned, he was holding a warm kraft paper bag. It contained large steamed buns. The inn steamed a large batch of these buns every day for its guests. Private street vending was not yet permitted, so only people who were in the know would go to the inn to buy them.
This wasn’t the first time Grandpa had stabled the ox-cart here, so he was already familiar with the setup. That’s why he hadn’t been worried about tonight’s dinner. He bought six buns—three with cabbage and three with a sweet filling. He set two aside for Grandma, leaving two each for himself and Xiao Man. But Xiao Man’s chest felt tight and she had no appetite. Making the excuse that Sister-in-law Sun’s lunch had been so delicious she was still stuffed, she only nibbled on half a bun before giving the rest to her grandpa. Grandpa ate her other half for her but kept her second bun, just in case she got hungry on the road.
The ox-cart left Wancheng, following the main road through the open countryside. As twilight fell, the sky grew progressively darker. There was no moon, but brilliant clusters of stars began to appear. Under the starlight, the pale ribbon of the road was faintly discernible. There was no need to light a lantern; the great water buffalo navigated the path smoothly. Pulling an empty cart now, it was clearly moving a little faster.
Just as on the journey here, Grandpa didn’t whip the ox to hurry it along. This was exactly what he wanted: to use the cover of darkness to prevent anyone from their village from seeing him leave with a full cart and return with an empty one.
As the night dew began to fall, a rustling sound filled the air, almost like light rain. Grandpa took out the blue cloth again to cover Xiao Man’s head and put on his own bamboo-leaf hat. He then instructed Xiao Man not to fall asleep, explaining that a child’s soul is prone to wandering. If she felt sleepy, she had to wait until they were within their own county’s borders. Things were more familiar there, at least. On someone else’s turf, he said, he was afraid an unfamiliar wild ghost might steal her soul, and they weren’t easy to bargain with when you tried to get it back!
He added that this was something Second Granny Qiu had told him; she’d given him the tip yesterday when he’d asked her to help look after Grandma.
Xiao Man was speechless. ’Grandpa, you really think an eleven-year-old girl is that brave? Telling me things like this in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night.’
Grandpa’s next words, however, were both chilling and heartbreaking to Xiao Man. "Man Cang said you’re far too daring, that you even crossed the wooden bridge when the wind and rain were blinding. You’re never to do that again! And that five- or six-fen plot of land Liu Fengying had you clear in the middle of the burial mounds—let her take care of it herself. You are not to go there again! Once school starts, you just focus on your studies. You don’t need to worry about work; Grandpa will handle everything!"
After a moment of silence, Xiao Man spoke in a hoarse voice, "Grandpa, this night is so still, and we’re out here in the middle of nowhere. It’s too quiet. How about I sing you a song?"
Grandpa laughed. "My Xiao Man knows how to sing? But your voice is all hoarse, probably from the damp night air. Your grandma is going to start nagging again when we get back!"
"No, it’s just because I haven’t spoken in a while."
Xiao Man hopped off the ox-cart. As she walked, she gave a couple of forceful coughs to clear her throat, and sure enough, it felt better. Grandpa handed her the bamboo canteen. "Here, drink some more water!"
This was the tap water Grandpa had filled up at the inn, and Xiao Man had no intention of drinking it. When her grandpa wasn’t looking, she dumped the entire canteen’s contents into the roadside grass and refilled it with water from the Spiritual Spring. After taking two sips, she offered it to him. "You drink some too, Grandpa!"
Grandpa finished drinking and smacked his lips. "Huh, I never noticed before. The city’s tap water tastes just like the water from our well at home!"
Xiao Man: ...
’That was careless. I’ll have to be more careful about when I add water from the Spiritual Spring in the future.’
"Grandpa, are you ready? I’m about to start singing!"
"Heh heh heh! Go on, sing. I’m listening!"
Xiao Man pulled a few shimmering, colorful ribbons from her satchel and held them in her hands. Since there was no traffic on the road, she was free to dance and leap as she pleased. The ox-cart ambled along beside her with Grandpa sitting aboard. Under the starlight, all he could see was her little shadow, bobbing its head and waving its arms. Her movements didn’t resemble a proper yangge dance, but the tune she sang was a bona fide revolutionary song—the one often broadcast from the village loudspeakers, "Red Azaleas Bloom Bright and Red"!
"One mountain pass after another, yo, one river after another, our Central Red Army has come to Shanbei... A thousand homes and ten thousand households, ei hei ei hei yo, throw open your doors, and quickly welcome our dear ones in, yiya yiya de’er wei... A sky full of dark clouds, ei hei ei hei yo, is scattered by the wind... The red azaleas, oh, they’re blooming, so bright and red..."
Xiao Man loved to sing. Every household in the village had a loudspeaker that played revolutionary songs in the morning and at night. Occasionally, a work team sent by the higher-ups would arrive to organize the villagers and teach them the newest revolutionary songs. At seven or eight years old, Xiao Man could learn most of the melody and lyrics just by listening once from the sidelines. She never dared to sing in front of others, but she would constantly practice the songs in her head until she knew them by heart.
Later in life, when she lived in the city, she had loved to rent a private KTV room and sing her heart out all by herself. She thought she was pretty good, and the lawyer who accompanied her a few times said she was talented enough for the "Avenue of Stars" talent show. But in the end, he had also told her that, actually, both Tang Qingyun and Wu Xiaowen were fond of music. Tang Qingyun played the piano beautifully, and Wu Xiaowen was a trained dancer who had once been the White Swan in *Swan Lake*!
After hearing that, Xiao Man never went singing again.
Set against the dark silhouettes of the mountains flanking the road, with the night’s gloom waxing and waning, a revolutionary song—one with a beautiful melody that should have been passionate and soul-stirring—was somehow filled with sorrow, resentment, and a deep-seated bitterness in Xiao Man’s rendition. It was enough to turn Grandpa’s "Heh heh heh" into a series of coughs.
Grandpa didn’t know that Xiao Man’s heart was currently a tangled cocoon of emotions. She wasn’t so much singing as she was venting, trying to break free and return to the peace she’d felt just moments before.
The song ended, but before Grandpa could say a word, a sound suddenly came from a patch of shadow cast by the ridge to their left. A man’s serious voice spoke out, "Little girl, that’s not how that song is supposed to be sung. Your music teacher would certainly criticize you for it!"
Even with her hidden strengths and considerable courage, the sudden voice still made Xiao Man jump. She scrambled over to the ox-cart and cried out, "Grandpa, a ghost!"
Grandpa pulled the ox to a halt, climbed down from the cart, and patted Xiao Man’s shoulder. "Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. That voice is strong and clear. It’s a person, a real one!"
Another voice chuckled from the shadows, followed by the brash tone of a young man. "Hey, what nonsense is that little girl talking? There are no ghosts in this world! This is our—"
"Whoa now, Xiao Feng!" The man who had chuckled cut him off, his voice gentle. "She’s just a child. Don’t scare her."
Three figures emerged from the shadows about seven or eight paces away. The man with the gentle voice spoke. "Our apologies for startling you, my friend, and you, little girl. But it’s the middle of the night. Why are a grandfather and his granddaughter still out on the road?"
The hand Grandpa had on Xiao Man’s shoulder tightened slightly. Before he could speak, Xiao Man retorted, "And what about you?"
"Us? We were driving through the night, trying to get back to Wancheng, when our driver got too tired and ran into a bit of trouble. The car went off the side of the road. We’ve already sent someone to a nearby village for help, so we were just waiting here."
"Oh, I see. Is everyone okay?" Xiao Man asked, deliberately trying to change the subject.
