Telling stories

But he never drank much each day, just two bottles of beer with his meal, then he got into bed with his wife, watched a little television, and went to sleep early. Although he no longer needed to get up early, he was used to it.

Bai Jie finished eating early too, washed Jingjing up, and went to bed.

Ye Huan and his grandfather drank at a good pace that day too, wrapping things up by eight. His grandfather hummed a little tune as he went back to his room to sleep. Ye Huan tidied up briefly, picked up Jingjing, and headed out with plates of sliced sausage and salt-boiled peanuts.

"Saihu, guard the house." After giving Saihu his instructions, Ye Huan carried Jingjing toward the back mountain, with Xiaobai along.

"Woof!" Saihu said.

"Wow, Uncle, it's so pretty here!" Jingjing bounced on her uncle's bed in her bare feet. Ye Huan opened the retractable roof, revealing a sky full of stars through the glass. It really was breathtaking.

He tucked the chair under the desk, then took a bamboo-and-rattan recliner out of his space, one he had bought while shopping on that trip to Jinling. He set it between the window and the bed. It fit just right, with a narrow gap left to walk through.

Setting his drinking snacks on the windowsill, Ye Huan took out a six-pack of Brave the World, opened a can, and settled back. "Lie down and look at the stars, Jingjing."

"Okay." Jingjing lay down and even pulled the quilt over herself. She was so considerate it made Ye Huan's heart ache.

"Uncle, do you know how to tell stories?" Jingjing asked Ye Huan.

"Of course. Uncle will tell Jingjing a story. A long, long time ago, there was a little girl whose family was all gone. All alone, she dragged her goods onto the town's main street on a snowy night, barefoot, and called out for people to buy them."

"Sadly, although she called out for a long time, no one came to buy anything. The girl was cold and hungry. As she passed a house, she saw the family inside happily eating dinner together. Their table was covered with roast chicken, big prawns, fish, and roast lamb."

"In a daze, she seemed to see her great-grandmother making dinner for her too, even calling her over to eat. The girl found a sheltered corner and huddled there, hugging herself tightly, trying to get a little warmth from her ragged padded jacket."

"She knew she had just been imagining things. Looking down at her goods, of which she hadn't sold a single one, she wanted so badly to cry. She was so, so cold, so she lit one of the missiles she was selling. She saw dazzling fireworks, and she saw her great-grandmother, who loved her, hugging her tightly. She felt so warm now, not cold at all."

"After that, everyone in that little town followed the girl to meet her great-grandmother." Smiling, Ye Huan told the wildly reworked fairy tale he had seen online, "The Little Girl Who Sold Missiles." Then he looked at the sleeping Jingjing, got up to cover her properly, and tucked in the corner of her quilt.

Then he lay back in the recliner, pulled a blanket from the bed over his legs and belly, and drank beer and ate peanuts as he gazed into distant space. He wondered whether, on those faraway planets, someone was looking toward them at that very moment too.

By the time he had nearly finished the six cans, a sparse drizzle had begun outside. Ye Huan closed the roof and drew half the curtains to keep the night's light off Jingjing's face, watching the rain through the other, uncovered half.

Seeing that the indoor thermometer still read above twenty degrees, he stayed put, rocking and drinking, until he fell asleep.

"Uncle, it's morning!" Before eight the next morning, Jingjing shook Ye Huan awake. Seeing how energetic she looked, Ye Huan smiled and glanced outside. "Okay, the rain's stopped. We'll go down for breakfast in a bit."

"Mm-hmm, my tummy's hungry," Jingjing said. Then Ye Huan carried her back to the house at the foot of the mountain.

She went into her room herself and came out after changing her clothes. Ye Huan had already dished up the congee and peeled the eggs. He blew on her congee to cool it, and the two began their cheerful breakfast.

After the night's light rain, the morning air was especially fresh, and the little greens in the vegetable patch came up easily too. With nothing to do anyway, Ye Huan let his grandfather know and returned to the little mountain cabin to catch up on sleep.

Without realizing it, he had drunk quite a bit the night before, gone to sleep late, and gotten up early again that morning, so he still wanted to sleep. Jingjing followed him but did not sleep. Ye Huan opened his laptop, put headphones on her, and played cartoons for her to watch.

He slept until eleven and felt wonderfully rested. Ye Huan stretched. Jingjing, perhaps from watching for too long, had dozed off with her head on the desk. Ye Huan took off her headphones and picked her up, and she woke.

"Uncle."

"You're awake. Let's head back. It's time to eat." Ye Huan smiled.

Back home, his mother and Bai Jie were already cooking. Jingjing went over too, telling Grandma and Mama how beautiful the stars were, how cold the little girl was, and how the little girl had taken everyone in town to meet her great-grandmother.

Her account made both Bai Jie and Ye Huan's mother laugh. His mother even picked up a stick to give Ye Huan a beating, saying he was teaching the child bad things.

"Mom, why are you making so many dishes? Chicken, fish, you've even stewed that leftover venison leg. What holiday is it today?" Ye Huan asked.

"Your aunt and the others will be here soon. Keep the nonsense to a minimum," Ye Huan's mother warned her son. She and her husband had always believed that the old man had left all his treasures to his son, so they felt a little guilty toward her husband's older sister and her family.

"Oh, let them come, then." Ye Huan nodded in acknowledgment, then went to see his grandfather.

"Grandpa, Aunt and the others will be here at noon. Mom just told me."

"Mm, got it." The old man smiled and said nothing else. At first, he had thought of giving five million, then two hundred thousand. Now he was thinking, no, fifty thousand, and it had to be given in separate installments. Otherwise-he knew his daughter.

Mostly, the old man felt that now his grandson was back, he did not want the family arguing all day. If they angered his grandson into leaving again, where would he go to find him?

At half past eleven, the sound of a car came from outside the courtyard. Apart from Ye Huan and his father, everyone in the village who owned a car was away working, so Ye Huan knew his cousin and his family had come too.

His cousin's little Hyundai had been bought at the same time as their house. Their family had actually achieved a moderately comfortable life before Ye Huan's family.

Bai Jie filled a bowl with rice, topped it with dishes, and took it with her to inspect the house construction. Ye Huan knew it would be awkward for her to eat here. After all, his family would definitely be discussing things today, and she was an outsider.

She wanted to take Jingjing along, but Ye Huan stopped her. Whether it was Jingjing, Little Tangyuan, or any of the other village children, no one would say anything if Ye Huan carried one home for a meal.

When he was little, village children had often joined him at his grandfather's table to mooch a meal. There was meat to eat, after all.

It was just that many of those who had gone away to work or do business had, deliberately or otherwise, let themselves forget. Only Ye Huan's two childhood friends still remembered that kindness.

The others perhaps simply thought they had not eaten much, so it did not count as mooching a meal. They had been little, after all. How much could they eat?