Explore Chapter 6 of '彷徨' with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
On a street in the western part of the capital's model district, there was no commotion at this moment. The blazing sun had not yet directly shone upon it, but the sand on the road seemed already to glitter with light. The intense heat pervaded the air, exerting the full force of midsummer everywhere. Many dogs were panting with tongues hanging out, and even the crows in the trees were gasping with beaks open—though, naturally, there were exceptions. From afar came the faint sound of two bronze bowls clinking together, evoking memories of sour plum soup and a vague sense of coolness. Yet the lazy, monotonous intermittent metallic sound only deepened the silence.
A chubby boy of about eleven or twelve, with narrow eyes and a twisted mouth, was shouting in front of a shop by the roadside. His voice was already hoarse and still tinged with sleepiness, as if hypnotized by the long summer day. On the dilapidated table beside him lay twenty or thirty steamed buns and dumplings, utterly cold and lifeless.
Like a rubber ball thrown hard against a wall and bouncing back, he suddenly flew to the other side of the street. By an electric pole, facing the street, two men now stood. One was a policeman in a pale yellow uniform with a sword, holding the end of a rope. The other end of the rope was tied to the arm of a man in a blue cloth gown over a white vest. This man wore a new straw hat with the brim drooping on all sides, covering his eyes. But the chubby boy was short. When he looked up, he met the man's eyes, which seemed to be staring at his skull. He quickly lowered his gaze to the white vest, where rows of large and small characters were written.
In an instant, almost half a circle of onlookers had gathered. After a bald-headed old man joined, there were few gaps left, and immediately a red-nosed, stout man stripped to the waist filled one. This fat man was so broad that he occupied space for two, so later arrivals had to squeeze into the second row, sticking their heads between the necks of those in front.
The chubby boy noticed that the white vest was studying the shiny bald head, so he followed suit. He saw only an oily, bald pate with a patch of greyish-white hair near the left ear, nothing particularly novel. But a nursemaid holding a child behind tried to squeeze in. Afraid of losing his spot, the bald-headed man quickly straightened up. Though he hadn't finished reading, he had no choice but to look at the white vest's face instead: under the straw hat brim, half a nose, a mouth, and a pointed chin.
Again like a rubber ball thrown hard against a wall and bouncing back, a schoolboy rushed up, pressing the snow-white cloth cap on his head with one hand, and plunged straight into the crowd. But when he reached the third—or perhaps fourth—layer, he encountered an immovable, massive obstacle. Looking up, he saw a bare, broad back above a pair of blue trousers, with sweat streaming down it. Realizing there was no way through, he had to move right along the trouser waist. Fortunately, at the end, he found a gap letting in light. Just as he lowered his head to squeeze through, he heard a "What?" The buttocks below the trouser waist shifted to the right, the gap closed instantly, and the light vanished.
But soon, the schoolboy emerged from beside the policeman's sword. He looked around in surprise. Outside, a circle of people surrounded them. At the head was the man in the white vest, opposite him a chubby child stripped to the waist, and behind the child a red-nosed, stout man also stripped to the waist. Now he vaguely realized what the great obstacle had been and gazed at the red nose with awe and admiration. The chubby child had been watching the schoolboy's face, so he couldn't help but follow his gaze and turn around. There was a very fat breast with a few long hairs around the nipple.
The bald-headed man said nothing, just fixed him with wide-open eyes. Under that gaze, the man lowered his eyes. After a while, when he looked again, the bald-headed man was still staring at him, and others seemed to be doing the same. He grew uneasy, as if he himself had committed a crime, and gradually stepped back, slipping away. A tall man carrying a foreign umbrella took his place. The bald-headed man turned back to look at the white vest.
The tall man bent over, trying to get a look at the white vest's face from under the drooping hat brim, but for some reason, he suddenly straightened up. Then the people behind him had to stretch their necks even more. One thin man even opened his mouth so wide it resembled a dead perch's.
Suddenly, the policeman lifted his foot. Everyone stared in surprise, quickly looking at his foot. But he set it down again, so they turned back to the white vest. The tall man bent over once more, attempting to peer under the hat brim, but immediately stood straight and raised a hand to scratch his head vigorously.
The bald-headed man grew annoyed because he first sensed some disturbance behind him, then heard a murmuring sound near his ear. Frowning, he looked back. Right next to him on the right, a black hand was stuffing half a big steamed bun into the mouth of a cat-faced man. He said nothing and turned to look at the white vest's new straw hat.
"Having fun, are you? Your mother's..." Simultaneously, from behind the stout man, a rounder, Buddha-like fat face said this.
Yet the situation seemed far from peaceful. The nursemaid holding the child, having looked around during the commotion, hadn't paid attention. The "Suzhou-style coiffure" on her head, resembling a magpie's tail, bumped into the rickshaw puller standing beside her. The rickshaw puller pushed back, but pushed the child instead. The child turned around, facing outward, and clamored to go home. The nursemaid also staggered slightly but soon steadied herself. She turned the child to face the white vest and, pointing with one finger, said:
The tall man with the foreign umbrella was already irritated. He slanted one shoulder and frowned, glaring at the dead perch behind him. Probably, the hot breath exhaled from such a large mouth was hard to endure, especially in midsummer. The bald-headed man was looking up at the four white characters on a red sign nailed to the electric pole, as if finding it quite amusing. The stout man and the policeman were both squinting, studying the nursemaid's hook-like shoe tips.
From somewhere, several people cheered in unison. Everyone knew something was about to happen, and all heads turned. Even the policeman and the prisoner he was leading seemed to stir.
Across the street, the chubby boy was tilting his head, calling out sleepily as if in a daze. On the road, rickshaw pullers silently hurried forward, seeming to flee the blazing sun overhead. Almost everyone was disappointed. Fortunately, casting their eyes around, they finally spotted a rickshaw parked about a dozen houses away, with a rickshaw puller just getting up.
The circle immediately broke up, and they scattered, walking over in a disorderly manner. The stout man stopped under a locust tree by the roadside before going halfway. The tall man walked faster than the bald-headed man and the oval-faced man, getting closer. The passenger in the rickshaw remained seated. The rickshaw puller had fully risen but was still rubbing his kneecap. Five or six people around watched them, smiling.
He only nodded, pulled the rickshaw, and started off. Everyone watched him go, somewhat bewildered. At first, they knew which rickshaw had fallen, but later, mixed with others, it became unclear.
The street grew quiet again. A few dogs stuck out their tongues, panting. The stout man stood under the locust shade, watching the rapidly rising and falling bellies of the dogs.