21st Century Chinese Writer's Strength Show - The Water's Edge Siren

Author: Xixi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features:
"The Maya Bar": A woman sitting on a bar stool, drinking alone, has every reason to enter the story with the bar. She and her girlfriend, two young women, have dreams and sorrows. With the bar as the backdrop, the story unfolds in a melancholic yet beautiful way. Hazy, intoxicated, lost in a dream, like lightning and illusion. There are also the twelve robbers and the waiter Chuan, interwoven in the story. The story takes place in Hangzhou, by the beautiful West Lake, in the bar, in the tender Maya Village.
"We Will Never Understand Men": In a beautiful small town in the south, I met him. Like a dream meeting another dream, like a wind meeting another wind. A melancholic man, his gaze, a fatal temptation. Under the moonlight, I met him, as if we had known each other for a thousand years. Oh, God, if it weren’t for that fatal encounter, perhaps everything would not have changed. Love, merged into the wilderness. It was a frenzy, but also a chilling tremor. I loved him so much, and he loved me just as much. We fell in love with love. But in the end, he left. His soul, far away. I chased him endlessly, my heart even followed him to another world, but in the end, it was all just a dream. The man I loved was always on the road.
"A Circular City Transportation Map": Two beautiful women. Two beautiful cars. I’m leaving, I’m leaving this place, but I don’t know why I’m escaping. This is the prelude to a farewell: I drove with Meng, and what we saw along the way was strange and bizarre. Real police or fake police? The driving route is a circular city transportation map, a symbol of life. It’s a cycle, a repetition, a starting point and an end. I always drove aimlessly, not knowing where I was going. I wasn’t drunk, just a little sad, a little hurt.
"Xuesu’s Balcony": At thirty, Xuesu has not escaped the shadow of her self-imposed isolation, perhaps this is also the reason for her second failed marriage. During her days of living alone, a man named Aduan visited her every day. But in Xuesu’s heart, there was only Taija, she lived only for Taija, and she was always in Taija’s world. What kind of irreversible obsession was that? She met Taija, Taija entered through the balcony. In another story, a paralyzed man later created a shocking tragedy. This was a cruel story told by Aduan, related to the balcony. Between Aduan and Taija, Xuesu finally chose whom?
"The Rolling Red Dust": The story unfolds along two lines. I got divorced, and my son was my only connection. I went to a small town in Jiangnan and met Yang, a bossy lady who had seen her share of life’s hardships. Thus, the legend, like mist over the Feiyun River, spread: Mu Yun was the daughter of a merchant. Her father forcibly married her to the son of the county magistrate. By chance, she met a charcoal man. Later, that charcoal man took Mu Yun to an abandoned charcoal kiln. The men chasing them trapped the kiln. The charcoal man carried Mu Yun toward the firelight, a warm place.
"Autumn Water and the Person": The old man Wu, who ran an herbal medicine shop, finally married Wu Nian. However, Wu Nian hadn’t even finished that autumn before she left Wu. Wu and his daughter A’e relied on each other. One day, a boatman was injured, and Wu and his daughter saved him. The river was too rough, and the boatman couldn’t row. The kind Wu left him. One day, Wu returned home and saw A’e crying over the boatman. It turned out that the boatman’s injury had another hidden story. A story, tragic yet beautiful, like a legend.
This book is a collection of short stories, including "We Will Never Understand Men," "Autumn Water and the Person," "The Neighboring Fragrance," "Xuesu’s Balcony," and "The Water Sprite by the River."