Chinese Annual Short Story (2005)

Author: "Novel Selection"
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features:
Wood Pillow Leaf Mi① Wood Pillow woke up early in the morning. Outside the house, a magpie was chirping—it had arrived the day before and had started chirping before dawn today. Wood Pillow lifted her head, pulled open the curtains, and saw the magpie, which was shouting, looking quite ugly. Its tail was ragged, like a broom that had been used for many years. Wood Pillow averted her gaze and slowly got out of bed, lazily getting dressed. Once she was dressed, she began to comb her hair, which was something she loved to do every day. Sitting in front of the dim mirror, she felt quite good. In the dim mirror, there was a similarly dim woman, somewhat unreal, like a woman from an old wall calendar. She looked dazed, with a stiff expression, posing in a sensual manner. Her hair fell all the way down to her waist, not very smooth, but she had a lot of hair, fluffy and unkempt. When she walked, she wasn’t graceful, but her movements had ups and downs, as if she were half-hesitating and half-encouraging. She went to the market with her vegetable basket, just like her neighbor, who was the market next door. She knew most of the vegetable sellers there. Of course, some of the men who sold vegetables would take advantage of her, but it was just verbal, nothing more than these kinds of remarks: "Wood Pillow, you’re really beautiful today! When can I use you as a pillow? Do you want pumpkin? Look at this pumpkin—it’s grown so well, like a pillow!"