Selected Prose of Zhou Minzhen

Author: Zhou Minzhen / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Only see the cousins busy making "pomelo fragrance," inserting many lit incense sticks into the pomelo peels, like a series of cigarette fireballs, then inserting them onto long bamboo poles, arranged in rows high up in the trees, interspersed with many lanterns, saying to let Sister Liu Sanjie from the heavens see. Chu, don’t go to the wrong place. At this moment, the incense fireballs and lanterns intertwine and shine, red light flickering, purple smoke swirling, the fragrance overwhelming the nose—truly a bit of "immortal aura"! The cousins, all dressed up, arranged rows upon rows of tea cups filled with tea water, along with plates of mooncakes and fruits. It was as if they were entertaining honored guests from the heavens. At this time, a few girls escorted a cousin dressed in an old "operatic costume" into the grain-drying. I looked, and she was none other than Pan Sister from the next door! She was only a few years older than me and always acted like an older sister, treating me like a child. She took me into the mountains to catch crickets, up to the orchard to climb trees and pick peaches. Once, I saw two white butterflies, and just as I was about to catch them, she quickly stopped me and told me the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. I was so moved that I couldn’t help but cry, but she couldn’t read or write—so it was I, the little student, who taught her to write her name. Pan Sister entered the grain-drying and was arranged to sleep on a bamboo mat. Then, the eight cousins each held a lit incense stick, encircling Pan Sister and swaying gently, singing a mountain song in unison, repeating it over and over again, and reciting it repeatedly. I still remember it to this day:
"On the 15th of the eighth month, light the lantern stand, one lantern, one row of tea, invite Sister Sanjie to descend from the heavens. Sister Sanjie was a rural girl, born with a talent for song. Her songs became mountains, her songs became seas—songs of mountains and seas surpass wealth."
The cousins encircling Pan Sister sang and walked in circles around her until Pan Sister fell fast asleep. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Sister Sanjie has arrived!" I stared up at the sky, but saw no one descending from the heavens. I quickly asked one of the cousins, "Where is Sister Sanjie?" He pointed to Pan Sister on the bamboo mat. She was slowly sitting up, rubbing her sleepy eyes as if just waking from a dream. I couldn’t help but cry out, "That’s Pan Sister!" Cousin quickly covered my mouth and said, "Don’t shout, she’s just the legendary Sister Sanjie who descended from the moon!"
I watched her with half belief, as if she no longer recognized the people around her. Her actions and expressions were different from before. Had she really become Sister Sanjie? At this moment, all the cousins bowed in reverence, showing their deep respect and adoration for Sister Sanjie. Pan Sister—no, now Sister Sanjie—stood up boldly and began to sing a mountain song. The cousins said it was a greeting song, a way for the song spirit to express herself through song. At the time, I didn’t understand what she was singing, but I could only feel how beautiful her voice was. I had never heard Pan Sister sing a mountain song before, but tonight she sang effortlessly, clear and fluent. I began to believe that she really was Sister Sanjie.
I gazed at the moon, as if asking it, "Is this a fairy tale world from a children’s picture book? Like the story of Snow White and the seven dwarfs, or the story of the black bear pretending to be the grandmother to knock on the child’s door, only to reveal its tail?" Could Pan Sister be China’s Pandora’s Box?
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