Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

yelping like crazy.
    With his hands in his pockets, Jinlong turned, walked in circles, and puffed loudly. Then he opened the door, reached in, and wiped Kaifang’s face dry of tears and snot. “Okay, little one, no more tears. The next time you come, your uncle here will pick you up in a fancy VW sedan.” Then he patted Puppy Four on the head.
    “What are you yelping about, you little son of a bitch?”
    We flew down the road after that, leaving everyone else — horse- and donkey-drawn wagons, tractors of the four- and three-wheeled varieties, and people on bikes and on foot — in our dust. Bouncing around and rattling noisily, we rode along as Jinlong kept his foot on the gas and his fist on the horn. I held on for dear life.
    “Is everything bolted down tight on this thing?”
    “Don’t worry. I’m a world-class race-car driver.” We began to slow as we passed the donkey market and the road followed the contours of the river. The water sparkled like gold in the sunlight; a little blue-and-white motorboat sped past.
    “Worthy nephew Kaifang,” Jinlong said, “your uncle is an ambitious man who plans to turn Northeast Gaomi Township into a land of great joy and make Ximen Village a riverside pearl. That run-down county town you live in will one day be a Ximen Village suburb. What do you think of that?”
    There was no response from Kaifang, so I turned around and said, “Your uncle asked you a question!” He was fast asleep, drooling onto the head of Puppy Four, whose eyes were barely open. Probably carsick. Hezuo was looking out the window at the river, showing me the side of her face with the mole. Her lips were pursed in what could only be a scowl.
    We spotted Hong Taiyue just before we reached town. He was riding an old bicycle — from our pig-raising days — and straining to keep moving. The back of his shirt was sweat-stained and spotted with mud.
    “It’s Hong Taiyue,” I called out.
    “I saw him,” Jinlong replied. “He’s probably on his way to the County Committee with another complaint.”
    “Against who?”
    “Whoever he can.” Jinlong paused, then said with a laugh, “He and my old man are like two sides of the same coin.” He honked as we shot past the bicycle. “Even with all their disputes, Hong Taiyue and Lan Lian are two of a kind!”
    I turned in time to see Hong’s bicycle wobble a time or two, but he stayed upright and quickly faded into the distance, but not before his curses reached us on the air:
    “Fuck you, Ximen Jinlong! You’re the bastard offspring of a tyrannical landlord!”
    “I’ve already committed his curses to memory,” Jinlong laughed. “Actually, I kind of like the old guy.”
    We pulled up to our door and stopped. But Jinlong kept the engine running.
    “Jiefang, Hezuo, we’re looking back at thirty or forty years, and we must have learned one thing to survive till now, which is, we don’t have to get along with others, but we have to get along with ourselves.”
    “That’s the truth,” I said.
    “Actually, it’s crap!” he said. “I met a pretty girl last month in Shenzhen, who said to me, ‘You can’t change me!’ What did I say to that? Then I’ll change myself!’”
    “What does that mean?” I asked.
    “If you have to ask, you’ll never understand.” He made a spectacular U-turn, stuck his arm out the window, and made a couple of strange, childish gestures with his white-gloved hand before speeding off.
    As we stood in the yard, Hezuo said to the boy and the dog:
    “This is our home.”
    I took the box of anti-rabies ampoules out of my bag and handed it to her.
    “Put this in the refrigerator,” I said coldly “One injection every three days. Don’t forget.”
    “Did your sister say that rabies is always fatal?” she asked.
    I nodded.
    “Wouldn’t that solve all your problems?” She snatched the ampoules from me and walked into the kitchen to put them in the refrigerator.

39

Lan Kaifang Happily Explores His New Home
Puppy Four Misses His Old Kennel
    I received the best treatment anyone could ask for my first night in your home. Though I was a dog, I slept indoors. When your son was taken back to Ximen Village to be raised by your mother, he was only a year old, and he hadn’t been back since. Like me, he was curious about this new place. I followed him inside and immediately began running around to familiarize myself with the layout.
    It was quite a home, a palace compared to the kennel under the eaves of