The Game of Life

The squad leader warmly invited Han Guishan to stay for dinner and spend the night, and Han Guishan readily accepted, with neither of them mentioning the goods in the sack.

The villagers who had gathered around saw that the peddler had been invited to stay by the squad leader, so they all dispersed. Those who needed to work in the fields went off to do so, those who had housework returned home, and the children playing in the mud continued their play, while Han Guishan was pulled away by the squad leader for a drink at his home.

To call it a drink was something of an understatement—one small cup each, which seemed barely a sip to finish, and on the table was a plate of peanuts which you could count on one hand. The squad leader asked his daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law to cook some good dishes in the kitchen, while he took Han Guishan inside for a chat.

“Where are you from, Han the peddler?” the squad leader asked as he nibbled on a peanut, squinting his eyes blissfully.

“I’m from Shenzhen,” replied Han Guishan.

The squad leader was taken aback, sitting up straight: “To come to our humble place from Shenzhen is not easy, not easy at all. Han the peddler, what exactly are you carrying?”

“Just some trinkets, nothing of real value,” said Han Guishan. “Squad leader, I didn’t seem to notice a supply and marketing cooperative in the village. I came from the provincial city, and there are department stores in the provincial city, and there’s a supply and marketing cooperative in County Yalom, but here…”

“You come from a big city like Shenzhen; you wouldn’t have been to a backwater like ours. Here we have nothing but mountain paths, difficult even for people to walk on, let alone vehicles. We carry out the yearly grain tax on our backs, and our fields are all terraced—ah, explaining this to you wouldn’t make it any clearer. The seven or eight neighboring villages don’t have a supply and marketing cooperative. The nearest one is a day’s walk away, and we only send a few youths at several times in the year to buy everything we need all at once. And those cooperatives are often out of stock, ah…” The squad leader’s expression grew more troubled as he spoke about the roads. “Here in the deep mountains, we won’t starve, but we don’t have money either. Apart from the lean years, girls from other places are unwilling to marry into our village, so we just marry among the nearby villages. And my youngest son, ah…”

“Oh, by the way, Han the peddler, how did you get here, from Xason County?”

“I came here by way of County Yalom,” Han Guishan said.

“County Yalom? My word, Han the peddler, you must have traveled for two or three days. You’ve really had a tough journey. If you were to go to Mr. Anhe, you’d have to walk for another half day, and that road is even harder to travel. Instead, look… Han the peddler, what are these goods of yours exactly?” The squad leader was trying to get to the point.

The conversation having reached this stage, Han Guishan didn’t hold back any longer. He opened the sack and showed the squad leader the contents.

The sight made the squad leader’s eyes pop; feeling his hands were too dirty, he only dared to sigh repeatedly, “Oh my, this towel is so soft, and this toothbrush from Shenzhen, it must last at least a decade, this bristle looks very soft. Oh my, this clothing, this is that, what was it…”

“Sea Soul Shirt,” said Han Guishan.

“Right right right, Sea Soul Shirt! It’s what people from the big cities wear!” The squad leader was amazed, “These cups, oh my, and these pants, these pants are…”

“Bell-bottoms.”

“They must be popular in the big cities, right?” The squad leader couldn’t let go of Han Guishan’s merchandise.

“Yes, they’re the kind worn by movie stars from Hong Kong City,” Han Guishan said, blatantly lying. Bell-bottoms had been in fashion a few years back, but were now very common; even people in provincial cities didn’t fancy them as much anymore, let alone in Shenzhen.

Having seen the merchandise, the squad leader was now even more determined not to let Han Guishan leave.

The goods Han Guishan carried couldn’t be found at the supply and marketing cooperative, the only items available being toothbrushes and cups. Han Guishan’s toothbrush bristles were softer than the ones at the cooperative, and his cups were more stylish and appealing than the enamel ones sold there. The enamel cups sold at the cooperative were quite expensive, owned only by households like the squad leader’s and the accountant’s in the village; villagers would look on enviously when they were used to drink water.

The more the squad leader compared his items with those from the cooperative, the more he liked Han Guishan’s goods, and the more afraid he was to ask for the prices.

Could he afford such fine items?

The squad leader hesitated.

“Um, Han the peddler, this toothbrush, how much for the toothbrush?” The squad leader dared not ask about the obviously expensive clothing or cups, but tentatively pointed towards the toothbrush.

The squad leader thought, if it was the same price as the cooperative, he would buy one for his youngest son and one for his wife too, because the bristles of the toothbrushes at the cooperative were too hard and often made their mouths bleed from brushing.

“Ten cents,” said Han Guishan. He had bought the toothbrushes in Shenzhen for less than five cents apiece.

The price of toothbrushes was seven cents in the provincial city and eight cents in County Yalom. Han Guishan bet that the cooperative near the remote barley-producing squad would sell them for even more than County Yalom.

The squad leader was tempted.

Toothbrushes at the cooperative cost twelve cents each.

“I’ll take 2… no, I’ll take 12!” The squad leader gritted his teeth and decided to buy one for every family member, including his two-year-old grandson.

“Towels are four yuan and sixty cents, Sea Soul Shirts cost nineteen yuan, bell-bottoms are twenty-three yuan, enamel cups are four yuan and seventy cents, tin frogs are three yuan and thirty cents,” Han Guishan began to list the prices, based on those at the cooperative in County Yalom.

The squad leader felt like he was about to lose his breath; he wanted every item, even the tin frog, which he hadn’t even heard of and didn’t know what it was—he just wanted it.

He didn’t care why a frog would cost three yuan and thirty cents; if it was from Shenzhen, maybe that’s just the asking price!

The squad leader felt he needed to discuss it with his wife, as she was always the one in charge of their finances.

“Um, Han the peddler, keep eating the peanuts, have the peanuts, I need to step out for a moment,” the squad leader chose to make his escape.

Jiang Feng didn’t believe that he was really going to the latrine and followed behind him.

The team leader closed the door and ran to the kitchen.

The team leader’s wife was directing two daughters-in-law to wash vegetables and make a fire, with a rare aroma of meat coming from the pot. Seeing the team leader coming, she asked, “Weren’t you in the house keeping the peddler company? It’s not mealtime yet, right, what does the peddler sell? Brown sugar? Cloth? Does he have scissors?”

The two daughters-in-law pricked up their ears to listen secretly.

“What brown sugar and cloth, aren’t those things all available at the supply and marketing cooperative? You want San to walk a bit further and he could buy them, right? That peddler Han is from Shenzhen, I saw, it’s all good stuff, fashionable in the big cities, like clothes, trousers, even toothbrushes and towels, oh so soft, and enamel mugs, two whole dollars cheaper than the cooperative and prettier too!” said the team leader in a rush, “Those bell-bottom trousers, fashionable in the big cities! Isn’t San going to high school in the county? Didn’t we say we’d buy him a pair of leather shoes at first? The cooperative’s shoes cost 35, bell-bottom trousers only 23, doesn’t that look a lot fancier than leather shoes. And our youngest, she’s going to talk marriage next year, buy her a Sea Soul Shirt so her in-laws wouldn’t dare to bully her.”

“Get an enamel mug for San and Guishan too, and towels, toothbrushes, buy them for the daughters-in-law as well,” the team leader’s wife said calmly as she glanced at the two daughters-in-law.

“Buy… alright, just like that, he also has some kind of frogs, I’ll go ask what kind of frogs those are. Eh, what’s in this pot?” The team leader had originally intended to say that one towel per son’s family would be enough, but he changed his mind as soon as he saw the daughters-in-law.

“Smoked meat, Guishan’s wife, go kill a chicken! Make sure to take good care of the peddler so he comes back next year, preferably with some candles; kerosene lamps are too irritating for the eyes. If he could bring a sewing machine, that would be even better.”

“Sewing machine? The roads here are so bumpy they could shatter iron, how could there be a sewing machine. Don’t worry, once San makes something of himself, we can move to the market town, maybe even to the county, then we’ll be able to buy whatever we want,” the team leader consoled.

“Dad,” the silent eldest daughter-in-law spoke up, “could you talk to the peddler and ask him to bring some floral fabric next time he comes?”

“Right, right, right, and a thermos bottle. When I went back to my mom’s house, my sister-in-law said that a thermos bottle is very useful,” Guishan’s wife chimed in.

“Guishan’s wife, go and kill a chicken, and with that thermos bottle, is cold water going to kill you or what, so picky. You, you go keep the peddler company. It’s been over a decade since a peddler last came to our village, and if he comes every year, we won’t need to take a special trip to the town or the county for days on end to buy stuff,” the team leader’s wife commanded.

With her orders, the team leader returned to the room to continue playing Tai Chi with Han Guishan.

As soon as he entered the room, the team leader said with a smile, “Peddler Han, my daughter is going to talk marriage next year, and I’m thinking of buying her a fancy piece of clothing. This Sea Soul Shirt of yours, do you think you could…”

“Team leader, I’m already selling it really cheap, maybe they don’t even have it for sale in the county. This journey of mine…”

“I know, but you see, we are poor here, these 19 dollars could buy quite a bit of fabric, you see, could you maybe, this…”

The two started to share their sorrows, engaging in a Tai Chi of bargaining.

One trying to haggle, the other firmly refusing to budge.

Jiang Feng watched, dumbfounded.

Does traveling mountain roads also enlighten the mind?

A few days ago in the provincial city, Han Guishan was saying “Ma’am, these are defective goods I got directly from the factory,” but now he really did look a bit like an itinerant peddler going from street to street.

Jiang Feng couldn’t help admiring, a boss is a boss; this inhuman learning ability truly isn’t something ordinary people can match.

The two continued their tragic tales, interspersed with chit-chat, until dinner time. Finally, Han Guishan relented and agreed to sell the Sea Soul Shirt to the team leader for 18 dollars and 20 cents, and would also give him two toothbrushes, but only to the team leader, not to anyone else.

The team leader happily invited Han Guishan to dinner.

He would never know that these outdated Sea Soul Shirts were bought by Han Guishan for 10 dollars and 30 cents.

The dinner was quite sumptuous, with white rice, clear stewed hen, potatoes cooked with smoked meat, stir-fried wild vegetables, and taro stewed with sweet potatoes. The performance of the team leader’s two grandsons and granddaughter showed that this was indeed a rare feast.

“Peddler Han, what’s Shenzhen like?” As soon as the team leader’s eldest son asked, everyone at the table looked at Han Guishan in unison, and the team leader’s six-year-old granddaughter even stopped sneaking bites of smoked meat, pulling her hands back.

Han Guishan began to describe Shenzhen to everyone.

Differently from his previous stories to Wang Jing, Han Guishan now chose only the positive aspects to talk about. Foreign guest hotels, department stores, cars, elevators, televisions, ships, records, CD posters, and the like, leaving this group of people, who had never left the deep mountains of the county, completely dumbfounded, all aspiring for more.

They stopped eating, listening raptly.

Before he even finished, someone came knocking.

It was one of the spectators at the village entrance from this morning.

“Team leader, is Peddler Han here?” A villager, with hands tucked in his pockets, smiled and leaned in to whisper to the team leader, “Do you know what Peddler Han sells?”

Jiang Feng noticed that Han Guishan glanced at the door and smiled..