Page 107 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

smell their aroma. What kinds of people were engaged in secret activity at
midnight on the other side of the partition? I heard their voices, but didn’t see
them. In the daytime, without letting Xiaoyi know, I sneaked to the workshop
gate. I planted my ear against the locked door: it was silent inside. I listened for a
long time, until I wearied of it.
“I miss the tin workshop. Can you take me there again at night?” I asked
Xiaoyi.
“No way.” His answer was straightforward. “Last time we went there by
accident. If we make our plans in advance, a leopard will be guarding the
entrance, and you’ll have no way to get in.”

“But how do they—and even that girl—get in?” I asked.
“They live there. There were some buildings in this town that you thought
were empty, but in fact they were inhabited. I’ve heard my grandpa speak of
this. But I’ve been to only one of them—the tin workshop.”
Afraid that I would ask him more questions, Xiaoyi took off in a hurry.
I was bored. I had no interest in the big lively kitchen; only the mysterious air
of the tin workshop could stir me up. Dad was yelling at me hoarsely, urging me
to hurry up and get on with the cooking.
I reluctantly washed radishes, chopped them, and placed them in a large pot
of water. Then I stood there, dazed. I noticed a brick in the wall had loosened,
and filled with expectations I watched it, but time passed and nothing happened.
When I turned the radishes with my spatula, I heard a sigh from over there: “It’s
so lonely here!”
It was a girl’s voice, but not the girl who had given me soybeans.
My sister came over with a big smile. She grabbed the spatula from me and
deftly scooped the radishes and spatula into a bowl.

“Hey—this boy is daydreaming!” she announced to everyone.
Everyone in the kitchen burst out laughing. I hated her.
When I looked again at the partition, I saw nothing going on at all.
A group of people standing around a large wok fried soybeans in the dark: I
was greatly attracted to this kind of thing, for you never knew what might
happen next. I felt great esteem for Xiaoyi.
Xiaoyi was hiding from me. The more he did this, the more my hopes soared.
I thought, My friends are on the other side of the partition. Over there, things I’m
interested in are happening. I forgot the pain I had suffered that night. What I
remembered were the faint aroma of the soybeans and the vague excitement in
the dark. I decided to go all out for it.

To be safe, I waited until late to slip out of my home—it was probably midnight.