Mao Yinpeng|"Human Memory" - "Dumb Bracelet"
Eventually, it will all pass
A lot of gone
Not even a memory remained
Mom said she wore a pair of jade bracelets when she was a child. One is red and the other is green, smooth and cool, and she often licks it with her little tongue. They are tied to their wrists with red ribbons, and they are always talking, singing, dancing, and so lively!
Later, they gradually got tired and thin, and told their mother that if they continued to lose weight, they would not be able to stand it.
Mom used her long shiny hair to make a shiny sweater. They are dressed together, tightly together, and live their lives quietly.
Sometimes, when mom talks to them, they just blink their colorful eyes and are silent. Mom's tears dripped down on them, calling them "dumb bracelets".
Back at home, I talked to my mother about Ling'er. I thought I was a farmer, my family was poor, and Ling'er was a worker, so we couldn't get together. My mother said that Aunt Ping'er had asked her a few times, but I first went to school, and then as soon as I left the school, I said that I wanted to be a writer, and I didn't talk about anyone for the time being. And Ling'er became a bright girl, and the matchmaker stepped through the threshold. The stepfather's leg disease pulled down a lot of debts, and the educated youth supported a lot.
From under the blackened wardrobe, the mother pulled out a pair of shiny silver bells. The red ribbon, which has faded to off-white. I changed into bright ones and tied them to my son's shoes. The wife said it was too old-fashioned, so she untied it and threw it in the pile. I took it secretly and kept it in a bookcase. Late one night, when I was tired from reading, I took out a silver bell and shook it a few times. My wife blinked sleepily and said I was crazy.
After that, I went to open a store in another place and never saw Aunt Ping'er again. I wanted to return to my hometown next spring, and when the snow covered the fields, I would walk the road in front of the village in front of my childhood and shake the bell. It's a pity that now that the climate is warming, a little dandruff-like snow in our hometown disappears as soon as it touches the ground. The loess road has been turned into a concrete road, and there is no trace of the past.
Many new buildings have been added to the village. Ling'er's grandfather's adobe house is now crooked. The brick joints are smooth and mud-free, and large protruding adobe bricks resemble the loose teeth of an old man. The bronze sunlight came obliquely, like an old man's tongue, licking the old wall tiles.
The fairy has passed away and is buried on the pine hill behind the village. In the barren grass beside the grave, a few gray sparrows chirped. My mother said that when I got married, the fairy was far away from my house. Seeing my mother going to pull, he hurriedly ran away. Talking about that dream, the fairy said that that morning, when he was in a hurry, he broke it and failed.
In the field in front of the village, there are still green rapeseeds. In this deep winter, there are two early-blooming rape flowers, standing golden and bright. I heard that these flowers rarely bear seeds. Could it be that the early blooming flowers are just the memories of the beauty of the flower family?
To this day, I often talk about business with people on sunny days, and even handle the renminbi, but suddenly my mouth is dumb, my eyes are confused, and my mind flashes: That early spring morning...
Writer's Archive
Mao Yinpeng: Born in Wuxue, Hubei Province in 1963, he has opened stores in Beijing and other places. The short story "The Old Man Leaves the West" won the "Beijing Literature" Award and the Lao She Literature Award.