Shao Hong Collection - Everyone's Little Collection

Author: Xiao Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: In the winter of the Four-Wilderness Mountains, women gather together like pine nuts. In Wang Po's house, the (bed platform) is full of women. Wu Gu Gu is weaving straw sandals. For a laugh, she drops a needle into the mat seam. As she searches for the needle, she makes comical poses. She hops around like a nimble little pigeon on the, saying, "Who stole my needle? Did the little dog steal my needle?" "No! It was the new brother-in-law who stole your needle!" The newly married sister-in-law Ling Zhi always loves saying things like this. Wu Gu Gu walks over to hit her. "Don't hit her! If you hit someone, you'll find a pockmarked brother-in-law," Wang Po calls out from the kitchen. Wang Po is always either silent or joyful, different from other elderly women in the village. Her voice comes from the kitchen again, "How many pairs of straw sandals has Wu Gu Gu woven? You should weave many more for your little husband!" Wu Gu Gu sits there making expressions and says, "How can there be a woman like you, already in your fifties, saying things like this!" Wang Po speaks solemnly again, "You're all young and don't understand anything. Weave many more! Your little husband will like them!" Everyone laughs! But Wu Gu Gu doesn't dare to laugh, only laughing in her heart, lowering her head and pretending to search for the needle on the mat. When Ling Zhi returns the needle to Wu Gu Gu, the room settles down. The sound of Wang Po scraping fish scales in the kitchen and the sound of snow rubbing against the window paper outside mix together. Wang Po washes the frozen fish in cold water. Her hands look like carrots. She walks to the edge of the, warming her hands by the fire pit. She has spots on her nose. The widow with the new death in her husband's life puts down that small, ragged piece of cloth and searches through a pile of rags for a smaller one. She quickly sews and mends. Her face is a bit like Wang Po's—high cheekbones, deep-set eyes like glass embedded in small, hole-like orbits, and prominent brow ridges, just like Wang Po. Which woman doesn't like to hear some alluring words? She starts asking Wang Po, "Is your husband still alive?" The hands she is warming have a slightly fishy smell; a fish scale falls, making a small sound, and a wisp of smoke rises slightly. She uses the ash at the edge of the basin to cover the smoke. She slowly shakes her head and doesn't answer that question. The smoke from the fish scale is a bit unpleasant, and everyone wrinkles their noses or rubs them with their hands. The widow with the spots feels a bit regretful, thinking she shouldn't have asked that question. Sitting in the corner is Wu Gu Gu's sister, her voice monotonously falling as she weaves the sole of a shoe with a hemp rope. The kitchen door, frozen, moans like a broken one. "Oh! Why did you buy so many black fish?" Everyone knows it's Li Er Chenzi from the fishing village. Just by hearing her voice, you can imagine her slightly longer figure. "It's almost New Year's? Are you really rich enough to buy this much fish?" In the cold air, the sound waves are very crisp. As soon as she steps into the inner room, she sees the is full of people: "Why are you all gathered here! You hussies!" She is so thin that her waist seems about to break in the wind; her breasts are so high that they look like two opposing small mountains. From a side view, her stomach seems a bit uneven. P42-43