Page 150 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

Looking at Ji’s back, Lu-er thought to himself, Is this what Auntie Hua meant
by “something nice”? Even after Ji had been gone a long time, Lu-er was still
really excited.
When he slipped out the window, Ji was waiting for him. Ji was wearing a
straw hat decorated with many feathers. He was carrying a spear. In the bright
moonlight, he looked like a savage. Lu-er was jealous of the way he dressed, and

asked who had taught him to dress this way. Ji said he had learned it from a
magazine that belonged to Auntie Hua’s nephew.
“There are leopards out there. We can’t go without a spear,” he said.
He walked in front, and Lu-er thought he would head up the mountain. But he
made a big detour and entered the rapeseed plot. When they walked in the vast
rapeseed plot, Ji would stop every now and then and listen alertly to distinguish
sounds. At those times, he raised his spear, as though to stab the sky with it, but
then hesitated and didn’t do it. Lu-er thought it was strange: Could they be in
danger? Rapeseed was their village’s main source of income, and so this plot
was enlarged every year. Lu-er had no idea where the plot ended.
“Ji, where is the leopard?”
“It’s wherever my spear reaches,” Ji said arrogantly.

“But you haven’t done anything with your spear.”
Lu-er admired Ji greatly. He thought, Ji definitely can summon a leopard!
This idea made his blood boil. All of a sudden, Lu-er saw the shadow of a
gigantic person swaying in the sky. Each time the shadow flashed by, the earth
seemed to vibrate along with it—but it was a light vibration. Ji raised the spear
again. This time he was facing that human shadow in the sky. He flung his body
out along with the spear, but he quickly tumbled to the ground.
Ji cursed through his moans. Lu-er asked if he was hurt. He answered, “I’d
rather be dead.” Ji’s ambition was remarkable. The best Lu-er had ever done was
jumping from a rock three meters high, yet Ji tried to leap into the sky! Lu-er
looked up at the sky. It was the same sky; there was nothing unusual about it.
Ji sat up slowly. He asked Lu-er to find his spear. Lu-er found it quickly
nearby. It had been broken into two pieces. Ji threw them into the rapeseed plot
and said, “I don’t want it anymore. I’m ashamed. When I was on the cliff—”
“What was happening when you were on the cliff?”
“Ah, I remember. It isn’t worth talking about.”

Lu-er was furious, but what could he do? Ji was very arrogant. No one could
make him talk about something he didn’t want to talk about.
“Now I have no spear. We might as well go home.”
Each of them went back to his own home.
It was daylight when Lu-er’s father awakened him.
“Lu-er, didn’t you hear me call you yesterday in the rapeseed plot?”