Close your eyes and it's dark - Wuhan Writer's Series

Author: Fang Fang / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: A teenager rides a bicycle underwater, racing madly along the embankment. The sun shines fiercely on the top of his head underwater. His scalp feels scalding hot, and his face turns red from the heat. His red vest is soaked, and his originally pale skin has been tanned to a bronze color. Since dropping out of school, he has worked physically for several months, and his arms have developed visible muscles. The teenager's face lacks a smile, and he looks cool. His legs pedal the bicycle rapidly, like an electric control, with a steady and swift rhythm. He glides past the workers repairing the embankment with the wind at his back. Some shout, "Underwater, why are you rushing so fiercely? Are you trying to die!" Others call out, "Underwater, don't work so hard. Come over and talk to me for a bit." The teenager ignores them. Only the sound of the wind whistling past his ears reaches him. The shouts are mixed with the wind and are blown away behind him. The floodwater has already risen to the embankment. The water surface is vast, like the sea. The waves crash against the embankment corner, as if they could overflow at any moment. Most of the trees protecting the embankment are submerged, with only a few tree tips sticking out of the floodwater, like green seedlings in a paddy field. The embankment at the Baizhou Bay upstream has broken, and many people have died. The laborers from the villages along the river have all gone to the embankment, taking turns to watch day and night. Underwater's father is sick and weak. Underwater takes his father's place. Underwater has been guarding the embankment for over a month. The embankment path is uneven. Underwater's bicycle is very old, making a clattering sound as he rides. His body bounces along the path. This bouncing makes him feel as excited as the wind, and his whole body radiates a sense of exhilaration. The teenager Underwater is truly excited. But he doesn't know where this excitement comes from.
At noon, Underwater's sister, Shuirong, brings lunch to the embankment. Shuirong tells Underwater that his aunt has found him a job at the town's procurement station and asks him to go home quickly so Shuirong can take his place. Underwater doesn't want to work. He feels that once he starts working, he'll have to stay in one place and won't be able to go anywhere, which feels suffocating. He thinks being a farmer is better, free and easy. Underwater immediately refuses. Shuirong says, "If you don't go in the afternoon, the procurement station will find someone else." Underwater replies, "Let them find whoever they want. It's none of my business." He doesn't care about the procurement station in town. He thinks, "If I really want to earn money, do I need to waste my time in this dump of a town? Of course, I can go far away. I'll go south to work, and I won't earn less money than you." That's how he thinks, so he has no respect for the procurement station in town. Underwater is a person with his own ideas. He doesn't talk much and only speaks after thinking things through. Shuirong is helpless. She says, "It's your own business, and I don't care." Underwater thinks, "When has my business ever been your concern?" He eats his meal silently. Shuirong, having nothing else to do, talks with a woman who came to deliver food. The woman asks, "Is that procurement station run by the Wednesday Boss family from Yutou Village?" Shuirong replies, "Yes." The woman asks, "Is the Wednesday Boss related to your family?" Shuirong says, "He's the husband of my aunt's younger sister." The woman says, "I heard the Wednesday Boss has a mistress in the city. Does your aunt know?" Shuirong says, "Don't talk nonsense." The woman then asks, "Is your aunt's younger sister's name Tianmei? She's really suffering. It's hard to put into words." Shuirong shouts, "Don't talk nonsense! Did you hear me?" Underwater doesn't listen to them, but their voices somehow sneak into his ears. He is startled and asks Shuirong, "Is the procurement station where Aunt Tianmei works?" Shuirong replies, "Yes." Underwater jumps up immediately. He looks at the vast, yellow river surface and suddenly sees the silhouette of a red-clothed woman moving above it. Her face is red, and she emits a faint scent that Underwater has never smelled before. He thinks, "Oh, it's Aunt Tianmei." He finishes his meal in a few bites, without wiping his mouth, and rides his bicycle like the wind along the embankment. The teenager Underwater thinks, "I have to help Aunt Tianmei."
The sun shines brilliantly, covering everything in light. This brightness is hard to describe in words. The sunlight falling on him feels like dense needles, stinging everywhere. Everything around him is scorching hot. If a basin of water is poured, only a white mist rises, and the ground remains dry, instantly drying out. The muddy road from the town to the countryside had been softened by recent heavy rains, but now the sun has baked it hard, like a file. In the morning, the people who came to deliver waste materials complained, "Can this road still be walked on?" The money from selling waste materials isn't enough to fix a tire. Tianmei says, "I don't care about that." She sorts out the waste materials delivered in the morning. Tianmei wears a straw hat and has a pair of worn gloves on her hands. Her tank top is torn at the edges, and a yellow towel is draped over her shoulder. She constantly wipes her sweat, but it's useless. The sweat has already soaked through her tank top, and the outline of her underwear is visible through her tight clothes.
Outside the procurement station is the road leading to the countryside. Green seedlings grow on both sides of the road, stretching as far as the eye can see. The yellowish road looks like a strip of cloth, as if it were casually thrown far away, disappearing into the distance without an end in sight. A small red dot appears at the end of the strip of cloth. Amidst the vast green, it stands out vividly. Tianmei puts on her goggles and gazes into the distance. The small red dot grows larger and moves toward her. Tianmei recognizes it as a teenager in a red tank top riding an old bicycle. The bicycle makes a clattering sound, and it seems the chain could fall off at any moment. Tianmei stands there, watching, as if waiting for the chain to fall. The teenager in the red tank top, Underwater, rides straight to Tianmei and brakes suddenly. The scorching sun has made his face red. His sweat flows down his face like a river. His eyes sparkle with light. A smile plays on his lips. He is handsome and beautiful, and his face is full of joy. Tianmei asks, "Who's child are you? You look familiar." The teenager Underwater shouts, "Aunt Tianmei, it's me, Underwater!" Tianmei is surprised and says, "Underwater? Which Underwater?" Underwater replies, "My aunt Tianxiang is your sister. I used to see you before."
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