Poppies Home: A Series of Works by Su Tong

Author: Su Tong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Excerpt from the article: The barn was stacked with farming tools like plows and hoes, neatly leaning against the earthen wall, resembling a row of human shapes. The rusty smell emanated from them. This was my family's barn, a dark and unfathomable space. The grandmother's spinning wheel still hung in the air, with fine cobwebs woven around the wheel and blades. Yan Yi regarded that spinning wheel as a giant spider, forever gazing down at people's heads. As the sunlight on the window paper gradually faded, all the miscellaneous items and farming tools dimmed, leaving only blurry outlines. You looked like a row of human shapes. It was getting dark. Yan Yi's hunger struck again, and he ran to the door, desperately pushing and pushing the wooden door. He heard the clatter of two large locks, and the door was locked tight by his father, unable to be pushed open. "Let me out. I won't eat any more steamed buns!" Yan Yi screamed sharply. Yan Yi crouched down and peered through the door crack. A group of long-term workers and maids stood in the grand house. They seemed to be in high spirits over something, sniffing around like dogs. Yan Yi wondered what made them so happy. Yan Yi hammered the door with his fists, the door violently shaking. He saw the twilight in the sky falling like iron blocks, falling down. Yan Yi feared the dark; as soon as it got dark, he became ravenously hungry. That hunger turned Yan Yi into a furious young beast. You heard his shouts shaking the Liu family's grand house in 1930. Yan Yi shook the door and shouted, "Let me out. I want to eat steamed buns." Someone looked over toward the barn. Yan Yi thought, "They heard why didn't they come unlock it?" He judged from their mouth movements that they were cursing the hungry ghosts. "Hungry ghosts, hungry ghosts, you will be killed by them sooner or later." Yan Yi rammed his head against the door. A maid with a of keys around her waist walked over. The two iron locks fell down, and a deep purple evening light rushed toward him. Yan Yi covered his eyes and shook his head. It was due to the glare. You saw Yan Yi grab a piece of miscellaneous wooden stick and jab it against the maid's stomach. This was his habit of dealing with them (this action would repeat itself later).