Page 209 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

VENUS

Qiu Yiping, a thirteen-year-old middle school student, was secretly in love
with her thirty-five-year-old cousin with the whimsical name Xuwu. An orphan

whose parents had died long ago, he was a scientist researching hot-air balloons.
Qiu Yiping hadn’t seen him in the past, but in the previous year Xuwu had often
visited her village to test hot-air balloons and had become close to Qiu Yiping’s
family.
Whenever her cousin came to the village, Qiu Yiping grew so excited that she
couldn’t concentrate on her classes. As soon as school was out, she rushed home
and went to the mountain to the east to look for her cousin. He was tall, wore
glasses, was a little hunchbacked, and walked a bit sluggishly. He didn’t look at
all bright.
The mountain on the east was called Tomb Mountain; it was more than a
thousand meters above sea level. Generally, Xuwu launched his hot-air balloons
from the middle of the mountain and let them float along the contours of the
mountain: they floated above Yiping’s village. Everyone in the village would
come out to watch this rare sight. Each time, Yiping swelled with pride.
Her cousin had stayed overnight with her family only twice—both times
because it was raining hard. Ordinarily he slept in the wicker basket below the

hot-air balloon, where he kept the things he needed for daily use. Day and night,
Yiping yearned to soar into the sky in the hot-air balloon with her cousin, but he
had never invited her to go along. He said, “It’s dangerous.” She didn’t believe
him. She thought he looked down on her and was weary of her pestering him.
On the mountain, her cousin sometimes took off his coat and wore only a
sailor shirt. He curled up like a shrimp and repaired the hot-air balloon’s heater.
Sometimes, he did nothing, but just sat there looking at the sky. No matter what
her cousin was doing, Yiping liked to be beside him; she would even like to be
with him for a lifetime.
The hot-air balloon was red, the color of the sun setting at twilight. Many
times, Yiping thought that her cousin looked at the hot-air balloon as though he
were looking at his sweetheart. Yiping had heard her parents say that he hadn’t

married and that he didn’t have a girlfriend, either. Could it be that the hot-air
balloon was his girlfriend? When Yiping pondered this in the middle of the
night, her eyes glinted in the dark, and she felt warm all over. She made up many
stories about girlfriends her cousin had had in the past: she was sure he had had