颜歌，小说家，1984 年出生于四川郫县。迄今为止，她出版了包括《平乐镇伤心故事集》《我们家》《五月女王》在内的十本小说，作品也见于《收获》、《人民文学》等杂志，并获得了《人民文学》“未来大家 TOP 20”及华语文学传媒大奖年度潜力新人等奖项。

The Spices of Life

by Yan Ge

– translated by Poppy Toland

Not Carrying Money

Before Pi County New Town was built, the county town, Pitong, used to be so small it was like a yeerba – a sticky-rice bun filled with minced pork and greens – with all the townspeople squashed together snug but not stifled, knowing each other thoroughly, intimately. At that time, successful people were described in the town as, “Folk who go out onto the street without a single penny on them and walk fast.”

This may sound like a good thing, but you can’t generalise.

My father was giving me a lift on his bike one day when suddenly, just past the West Gate of the city wall, we heard someone calling out to him. “Dai Wei! Dai Wei!” My father jumped in surprise, applied the brakes, and turned his head to the wonton shop across the road to see Third Brother Huang from South Street sitting there. “Third Brother, it’s been a while,” father said, a bit taken aback, leading me over to say hello. “Come on, address him properly. Say ‘Hello Uncle Huang.’”

So I called out to Uncle Huang, who responded with a half-hearted grunt, before turning to father, saying, “I’m really sorry Dai Wei, but I haven’t got a penny on me. I ate half this portion of wontons before realizing I’d forgotten to bring any money out today! Oh my days!”

It immediately became clear that his greeting had been a cry of desperation. Father gave Third Brother Huang the money he needed, and Third Brother Huang thanked him repeatedly saying, “Oh, dear how embarrassing, I’ll give it back to you another day.”

“It’s one yuan – there’s no need to pay it back!” With a wave of his hand, father and I took off.

This was just a case of your basic, unintended Not Carrying Money. But then there was Serious Next-Level Not Carry Money, which was more calculated.

One example occurred not long after father had graduated from Pi Teachers Training College and started his job. He was walking down the street, when he heard someone calling out his name: “Dai Wei! Dai Wei!”

Father turned to see his friend Qiu, who he’d known almost all his life, on the other side of the street. It had been a long time since they’d last met, and they were delighted to bump into each other, Qiu jumping up and down as he crossed the road, patting father’s shoulders and saying “Dai Wei! I’ve heard you’ve been doing really well for yourself!”

“I’m not doing that well, I’m just a teacher!” father said.

“You’re a teacher of the people, that’s an honorable profession!” Qiu said flatteringly.

They were both in their early twenties, neither of them attached, and they stood by the side of the road chatting enthusiastically, smoking a couple of cigarettes together as they caught up. “Hey, Dai Wei, it’s been such a long time. Come on – let me take you out for a meal!” suggested Qiu.

“You want to eat out?” Father looked a little shocked. “Qiu, you old dog, you hit the jackpot, didn’t you?”

Ignoring him, Qiu dragged my father to the Wang Family Restaurant by the East Gate and they both sat down, ordered half a kilo of braised pigs’ ears and began to eat.

They ordered a number of dishes, and a bottle of wolfberry wine, which they knocked back, drinking until the day turned to night. The two of them told drunken stories of back in the day, chatted about their current situations, and shared visions of the future.

At closing time, the restaurant manager came over. “Sorry to bother you, but it’s time to pay up – your bill is ten yuan and three jiao.”

Qiu reached his hand into his pocket for his wallet. At once, his facial expression altered theatrically. “Oh damn, oh damn. Oh, son of a bitch. Dai Wei! Damn! Do you happen to have any cash on you? How can I have forgotten my money...?”

It just so happened that Father had just received his paycheck, and the forty-one yuan and five jiao that he’d been keeping warm in his pocket was immediately reduced by a quarter.

He followed the streetlight-illuminated city wall back home that evening, the whole way thinking, “That bastard Qiu, calling out to me so sweetly, then treating me like scum! He was clearly taking me for a fool. Oh, but it was my own fault really, leaving the house with so much money. I won’t be carrying any money on me from now on!” He thought about the ten yuan and three jiao and felt a painful tug at his heart.