Page 159 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

her. Zhou Yizhen felt nervous, but she couldn’t explain why. Zhou Yizhen said
she hadn’t thought about going back to see her old home, but she was grateful to
Zhu Mei. It seemed she’d done the right thing in selling the place to her.
“Please come and visit. Will you?” the woman insisted.
“Okay. I’ll come Saturday.”
As soon as she hung up, Zhou Yizhen had misgivings. How could she have
agreed? She wasn’t superstitious, but she wasn’t sure she could handle the
memories of those days when she suffered from the terrible disease. Intravenous
injections, handfuls of pills to swallow, and the frightening chemotherapy—she
had nearly buried these dark memories. Was she now ready to revive them? And
if Xu Sheng knew, he would surely not agree.
On the way back from the woolen mill, Zhou Yizhen began feeling better.

She hadn’t expected to receive so much—two hundred yuan! They could live on
this for three months. Although she was fifty-five years old, she felt more
energetic than ever. The world was green, and flowers were in bloom. Zhou
Yizhen was sweating as she walked. She was also working out a new design for
baby shoes. She nearly laughed out loud. When she was almost home, she
decided that Saturday afternoon she would indeed go to her old place in the city
and look around. She was proud of this decision.
After dinner, she told her husband about this.
“Zhu Mei isn’t an ordinary woman,” Xu Sheng said.
“Do you mean I shouldn’t go?”
“No, no, this isn’t what I mean. Why not go? Since you want to go, just go.”
Xu Sheng’s answer surprised Zhou Yizhen. She knew that it wasn’t out of a
lack of concern for her. How had he reasoned that she should go? Xu Sheng was
a straightforward, fairly simple man. If he thought she could go, then she
probably wouldn’t have to worry about this trip. And she was curious about her
old home.

The three days passed quickly. During this time, Zhou knitted an entirely new
style of baby shoes; they were very pretty. Xu Sheng held the wool shoes up and
looked at them from all angles. He was as happy as she was. “Remember to tell
Zhu Mei how skilled you are at knitting.” Zhou Yizhen asked why. He said, “I
don’t want her to look down on us.”
Zhou Yizhen was startled. What an odd idea coming from her husband.
“I don’t care what others think,” she replied.
“That’s good.”
Zhou Yizhen was a little nervous on the bus. She was still sort of worried
about going back. She kept saying to herself, If I continue thinking positively,
there won’t be a problem.
After getting off the bus, she headed for Jixiang Lane. Once there, she found