After one rain, it was already late autumn.
The wind carried away the few remaining leaves from the dry osmanthus tree in front of the courtyard. The rain drizzled down, soaking the earth and leaking into the dilapidated house.
People said that if someone was about to die, a tree in front of their courtyard would die first.
Zhang Fangyuan had originally never believed in such superstitions. It was not until he personally watched that lush and upright osmanthus tree outside the window turn yellow and wither overnight, its leaves falling into the autumn wind, and its trunk becoming lighter and unable to hold its roots firmly, that he finally believed it.
That osmanthus tree was something he had planted when he turned twenty and came of age. It had already lived for more than fifty years. All these years, no matter how severe the drought was in summer or how heavy the snow was in winter, once autumn arrived, the entire courtyard would still be filled with the fragrance of osmanthus flowers.
Such a tenacious osmanthus tree had died without the slightest warning.
All these years, there had only been one old bachelor living in the Zhang family’s courtyard. A person who had lived alone for decades—now that the tree in front of his courtyard had died, the person who was going to die could only be Zhang Fangyuan himself.
He lay in the cold house on a late-autumn rainy night. His body was weak and limp like a pile of rotten mud, curled up in bedding black and filthy as iron. Even taking a breath seemed capable of draining half the strength from his body.
There was no lamp lit in the room. Beside his bed, the only thing keeping him company was the cold wind blowing in through the window whose paper had not yet been pasted over. As the rain fell and the sky darkened, the room grew increasingly cold and silent.
Ever since he had become bedridden, his days had passed in a muddled daze. When he had a little more spirit, he would feel his way along the wall, get out of bed, and make a few bites of food for himself. When he could not get up, he simply lay in bed and went hungry. In any case, hardly anyone would come to his secluded courtyard even once every ten days or half a month.
His consciousness had been hazy for so many days, yet today was strangely different. After night fell, he felt cold. When he heard the rain begin outside, his consciousness suddenly became clear, and he could once again distinguish cold from heat.
His heart was clear. He knew this was the return of the light before death. Tonight was his final hour.
After regaining consciousness, he quietly listened to the rain filling the entire room. The dilapidated roof could not keep the rain out, and it leaked straight into the house. Some of it even dripped beside his bed. His heart had the will, but his body lacked the strength. He could only curl up on the bed like a piece of withered grass and think back over his muddled life.
The Zhang family had not originally been a lonely one. There had been lively times in the past. Zhang Fangyuan was not an orphan. Before he was twelve, he had both a father and a mother, as well as uncles and cousins.
Back then, he had lived a carefree life. Today he would go into the fields to catch fish; tomorrow he would go into the mountains to shoot birds. He had even learned the butcher’s trade from the old widower at the entrance of the village. Whatever he did, he was good at it.
Because he had grown the fastest and had a body full of strong muscles, the village children all looked up to him as their little king. He could summon the wind and call the rain; if he said one thing, none of the village children dared say two.
How full of himself he had been back then. He had patted his chest and told his old mother that in the future he would become the landlord of the village, earn several thousand guàn of money, build an entire stretch of houses, marry three or five wives, have a whole bunch of children, and make the Zhang family flourish and prosper.
His mother would always laugh at him, saying he did not know how high the heavens were or how deep the earth was, and that he was not at all steady or sensible, only concerned with spouting empty words every day.
Zhang Fangyuan made a vow that he would prove it to his mother.
Who could have known that before that day arrived, his father would come home drunk and get into a violent fight with his mother. His mother could not think things through and jumped into the river. Zhang Fangyuan hated his father so much that he wanted to bite him to death, but before he could do so, his father also swallowed poison the next day.
Only then did he learn that his mother had been unfaithful, and his father, unable to bear it…
Zhang Fangyuan handled his parents’ funerals, after which his life became completely upside down.
He took the money his family had saved for him to marry a wife and spent it drinking and having fun. He associated with a few useless rich young masters from the city, letting them use him as a knife while he happily thought himself capable of accomplishing great things. In the end, he took the blame for the young master he trusted most, was thrown into prison, and came out sick and disabled, unable to find work.
He had thought he had lived his whole life freely and without restraint. In the end, he did not even have anyone to care for him in his old age or see him off at his death. His uncles, cousins, and siblings all disliked him and had long since cast him out of the clan.
His reputation in the village was also muddy, and he had always been the useless old bachelor and good-for-nothing in everyone’s mouths…
He had been sick for so long, yet even the villagers who were enthusiastic about helping others in important matters had hardly come to see him. In the end, he was left alone to grow old and die in his bed.
Only when death was upon him did he finally understand.
He had lived a ridiculous life and wasted it all.
His eyes remained wide open. His heart was filled with regret and unwillingness as he stared at the dead osmanthus tree outside the house. Perhaps even he himself did not know when his breath had finally left him.
……
“Zhang Fangyuan, Zhang Fangyuan! Are you in there?”
“Zhang Fangyuan!”
In his half-conscious state, Zhang Fangyuan seemed to hear someone calling his name. Then came the violent sound of knocking on the door.
He was somewhat annoyed. Which junior in the village could directly call his name? No matter what, he was already of great-grandfather’s generation.
But the knocking and shouting were simply too noisy. He suddenly rolled out of bed and sat up.
Only at this moment did he realize that something was wrong. When had his body become so strong and light?
He walked out of the house in disbelief. Outside, the cold wind blew in gusts, all the plants had withered, and the courtyard was empty. The osmanthus tree that had accompanied him for several decades was actually gone.
“You’re in the house! The Xu family’s water has already boiled, and you haven’t gone over there. Everyone’s getting anxious! Hurry up, take your things and go. The people buying the meat have already arrived. Don’t make them wait for nothing.”
Zhang Fangyuan looked at the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar young face before him. He remembered that this kid was the fourth son of the Chen family, their neighbor. When they were young, he had often followed right behind Zhang Fangyuan. But this kid had fallen to his death from the bottom of a cliff when he was twenty. That had already been several decades ago. How was he still standing here perfectly fine now?
“What are you spacing out for?”
Zhang Fangyuan said, “Why are you calling me?”
“I think you drank too much liquor in town yesterday and still haven’t sobered up. The Xu family is slaughtering their New Year pig today. You agreed first thing in the morning to go over and slaughter the pig for them, yet you’re still dawdling around in the house. What do you think I’m calling you for?”
Chen Si saw that the man before him was still lost in thought. Helplessly, he went inside and gathered up all the tools for slaughtering the pig for him.
Zhang Fangyuan stared blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings. It was as though he had returned to more than thirty years ago, to when he was nineteen. Even the courtyard was still empty then, and the osmanthus tree had not yet been planted.
He ran around the front and back of his house. In the end, he stopped beside the well and looked at his young face and the sturdy body beneath his clothes, his chest muscles bulging and stretching the fabric smooth.
He rubbed his face, and eventually even tugged at the skin until he cried out in pain.
A surge of joy slowly rose from the soles of his feet, rushing through him until he could hardly remain standing.
“What are you doing over there? Have you been possessed?”
Zhang Fangyuan ignored Chen Si’s question. He happily snatched the tools from his hands and carefully touched this set of old companions that he had once spent a great deal of money acquiring. The wooden color of the knife handles was still clear, the blades had not yet become dull. Everything still looked brand-new.
Chen Si was just wondering why this man was acting so strange today when he was suddenly yanked up.
“You’re finally back to your senses. Hurry up, let’s go. Don’t make everyone wait.”
Chen Si was practically being carried along by Zhang Fangyuan. Seeing the man striding ahead with his mouth nearly split all the way to his ears, he found it rather creepy.
Feeling uneasy, he softened his tone. “Fangyuan, you’d better drink less when you go into town from now on. I know you’re not short of those few coins, but going every single day—back and forth like that—the villagers are loose-lipped. They’ll start gossiping again. I think you’re acting strange today. Besides, look at our age. We should have started discussing marriage long ago. If your reputation gets ruined outside, who would still dare come to your door?”
In the past, Zhang Fangyuan truly could not remember anyone saying such pertinent words to him. Perhaps back then, he had simply never listened. But after experiencing another lifetime, hearing such advice today caused his heart to stir.
He hooked an arm around Chen Si’s neck and agreed, “Fine. I won’t go into town to drink and fool around anymore.”
Chen Si knew that a person’s nature was not so easy to change. Zhang Fangyuan was pitiful, too. He had once been a fine young man, but after his family suffered a sudden upheaval, his temperament had deteriorated. Now that he had developed the habit of drinking excessively and indulging himself, how could two sentences possibly persuade him to turn back?
If he really could listen to advice, Zhang Fangyuan’s uncles and other relatives from the Zhang family would not shut their doors and put on cold faces whenever they encountered him. The aunts on Zhang’s mother’s side of the family would not sigh endlessly and avoid him either.
But seeing Zhang Fangyuan’s sincere attitude, even though Chen Si knew he had not necessarily taken his words to heart, he was still infected by it and smiled.
“That’s more like it. The Xu family is slaughtering their pig today and will keep half to sell half. There’ll be plenty of people going to buy meat. The Winter Solstice is coming soon, and my mother also told me to go help the Xu family hold down the pig. When the time comes, I’ll bargain a little and buy two jin of meat to take home and satisfy our cravings.”
Zhang Fangyuan cheerfully said, “You should eat mutton at the Winter Solstice. It’ll keep you warm.”
Chen Si sighed. “That stuff is so expensive. It costs almost half again as much as pork. How can we afford it?”
Zhang Fangyuan’s eyes were full of smiles. “I’ll get some and bring it back another day. Come to my house and eat.”
Chen Si’s eyes lit up. “Really? You’re actually inviting me?”
“Why would I fool you? Food has no flavor when you eat it alone. It tastes better when there are more people.”
“I’m afraid you’re the only person in our village who would say something like that.”
Zhang Fangyuan laughed. In the village, those whose parents had passed away and who had still been left some money really numbered only him. He could eat his fill alone without having to worry about feeding an entire family. In this regard, he was naturally more carefree than the ordinary young men from other households.
Chen Si was in high spirits, and he became increasingly talkative. He said mysteriously, “I heard that quite a few people went to the Xu family this time for the New Year pig slaughter. They aren’t all going to buy meat, either. There are matchmakers there too. I heard they want to go and have Madam Xu look over some girls and arrange marriages.”
Zhang Fangyuan raised an eyebrow. He had previously devoted all his attention to the town and did not know much about the village’s idle gossip. “Arrange a marriage?”
“You’ve forgotten? The Xu family’s second daughter, Xu Shaochun, already reached her hairpin age last year, but even now she still hasn’t chosen a family. I’m going over this morning to join in the excitement, too.”
Chen Si revealed the roguishly flirtatious smile common to men. “What if I’m lucky and the second young lady takes a fancy to me?”
Zhang Fangyuan knitted his brows.
Xu Shaochun was the publicly recognized village beauty of Ji Jiu Village. The girl was born delicate and lovely; even the daughters raised by wealthy households in town could only compare with her. The matchmakers all said she was a woman who would be good at bearing children, and she had bewitched the men in the village until they could no longer tell north from south.
Now that the young girl had reached the age when she could marry, she had naturally become a highly sought-after prize.
When the conversation reached this matter, Zhang Fangyuan’s heart also grew heated.