Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

back, bent at the waist, and bowed his legs; with his head rocking from side to side and his eyes darting, he looked like an old man out for a stroll, and was rewarded with laughter and applause.
    “Move back! Clear the way!” Lan Kaifang squeezed up to the front. His heart had begun to sink when he received the busybody’s report, for rumors had reached his ears that Ximen Huan and Pang Fenghuang had been kidnapped and sent to Southeast Asia, where one was forced to perform manual labor, the other was sold into life as a prostitute; another version had it that they had both died of drug overdoses somewhere in the south. But deep down, he believed they were alive and well, especially Fenghuang. You, dear reader, would not have forgotten how he cut his own finger so Ximen Huan could test the restorative powers of Huang Huzhu’s hair. Well, that cut showed how he felt. So when he received the report, he knew who they were and knew they were back. He dropped what he was doing and ran to the square, the image of Fenghuang floating before his eyes the whole way. He hadn’t seen her since his grandmother’s funeral, when she’d been wearing a white down jacket and a white knit cap; her tiny face, red from the biting cold, had made her seem to be a pure and chaste fairy-tale princess. When he heard her raspy singing, Kaifang, who treated criminals with the callousness they deserved, felt his eyes glaze over.
    Let’s see Erlang carry a mountain and chase the moon
Then a phoenix spreading her wings to pursue the sun
    Pang Fenghuang picked up the little carrying pole and its two tiny baskets with her foot and flipped it into the air with such skill that it landed on the monkey’s back. First he rested it on his right shoulder, with one basket in front, the other in back; Erlang carrying a mountain and chasing the moon. Then he rested it on his back, with one basket to the left, the other to his right; a phoenix spreading her wings to pursue the sun.
    I perform all my tricks at least once
So please pay up for my song
    The monkey threw down the carrying pole, picked up a red plastic platter Fenghuang had thrown down for him, and began passing it around.
    Good uncle, good aunt
Grandpa and Grandma
Brothers, sisters, fellow countrymen
I’ll take even a dime if that’s all you have
But give a hundred, and you’re the Guanyin Bodhisattva come to earth
    While Fenghuang sang, the people tossed money into the platter held high over the monkey’s head. One-jiao, two-jiao, and three-jiao coins, plus one- , five- , and ten-yuan bills, fell into his pan with hardly a sound.
    When the monkey was face-to-face with Lan Kaifang, the policeman put in a thick envelope containing a month’s wages and overtime pay. With a screech, the monkey fell to all fours and, with the platter in his mouth, scampered over to Pang Fenghuang.
    Bong bong bong — Ximen Huan struck his gong three times and bowed deeply to Kaifang, like a circus clown. Then he straightened up and said:
    “Many thanks, Uncle Policeman!”
    Fenghuang took the money out of the envelope and, holding it in her right hand, slapped it rhythmically against the palm of her left hand to show off to the audience as she imitated a pop song:
    All of us, we’re Gaomi folk
Every one of us a living Lei Feng
You gave us a wad of RMB
A good deed without even leaving your name
    Kaifang pulled the brim of his hat down low, turned on his heel, and pushed his way through the crowd without saying a word.

57

A Painful Cut
    Dear reader, as a policeman, Lan Kaifang had the authority to drive Ximen Huan, Pang Fenghuang, and their monkey out of the train station square, but he didn’t.
    Since his father, Jiefang, and I were like brothers, he might be considered my nephew, while in truth I barely knew him; he and I had exchanged no more than a few words. I suspected that he was prejudiced against me, since I’d been the one who’d introduced his father to Pang Chunmiao, and that had led to a number of disastrous consequences. I tell you, Nephew Kaifang, if not Pang Chunmiao, some other woman would have come into your father’s life. That was something I’d wanted to say to you for the longest time, but the opportunity never presented itself, and now never would.
    Since I lacked any real contact with Kaifang, anything I say about what was on his mind is pure conjecture.
    I imagine that when he pulled the brim of his hat down and pushed his way through the crowd, he was beset by powerful