Chapter 8

Three days went quickly, and then it was the twenty-fifth of April, a Friday.

The PE exam was being held at the Experimental Middle School, which was some way off, so the three of them were up early and out in a three-wheeler. The gates were still shut when they arrived, with students packed in front of them. Following yesterday's instructions, they went looking for their own classes' meeting points, and Li Lan was lucky enough to find her classmates not far from the gate.

At eight, Meng Qinghua — who had come with them — decided most of her students had arrived, said a few words about what to watch out for, and started handing things out. Li Lan watched the students at the front receive theirs and saw it was a cloth square with a number on it, to hang round the neck.

Once they were distributed, Meng Qinghua explained that with this many students the number served as an exam pass, so the teachers could record results. They were to look after them; they'd be collected in afterwards. Li Lan took hers and hung it round her neck as instructed.

Then came the timetable. Standing long jump and sit-ups in the morning, the run in the afternoon. Unluckily, her number was well down the order in both — and for the run she was in nearly the last group of all.

The exam started at nine. Once each class had its passes, everyone dispersed: those going first went to find their event, and those further down the order, like Li Lan, were free to do as they liked so long as they didn't miss their slot.

She found Li Cheng and Zhao Xinxin under a noticeboard, reading the schedule.

"Are you two waiting for me so we can go back together? Or going ahead?" Li Lan looked at her own timings with some resignation.

"We'll wait—"

"We won't. You don't finish till five and we're done at three. Wait two hours for you?"

Zhao Xinxin had barely started before Li Cheng cut across her and refused flatly.

Li Lan gave her sister a sideways look. "What's wrong with a younger sister waiting for her elder sister? Shouldn't you be cheering me on?"

"Hmph." Li Cheng, who had squabbled with her two days ago and was still in a mood about it, turned her head away and sniffed.

"Fine. Don't, then. I know the way." Mature soul or not, Li Lan had been bickering with her sister since they were small and had no sense whatever of being the elder.

Zhao Xinxin looked at the pair of them, apparently mid-cold-war, without a flicker. "Li Cheng and I will head back when we're done. There's nowhere to sit around here anyway."

She hadn't the energy to referee. The two of them fell out over something inexplicable every few days and made it up within two without anyone's help. It had alarmed her at first. She was used to it now.

Perhaps that was simply how sisters worked. As an only child she had no hope of following whatever went on between those two.

Once they'd split up, Li Lan found her event. There was time to spare, but the Experimental school wasn't in the town centre like Minhe No. 1 — it was out on the edge, with nothing to look at but trees and waste ground, so she went straight there and waited.

Late April had a wide gap between day and night temperatures, and today was particularly fine, the sun coming straight down onto the sports ground. Between that and the noise, by the time the morning's events were over Li Lan felt half her stamina had gone.

Mercifully she was late in the order for the run, and the temperature had dropped by the time her group was called. She finished the eight hundred out in front with a bit of coolness in the air, let out a breath, and slowed to a walk.

Watching the girls behind her come in gasping, she found herself thinking about the last time she'd run this. Then, she'd been reading at night and unable to get up in the mornings, so she'd barely trained at all — and afterwards her lungs had felt as though they'd burst, breathing was hard, and she'd half thought she was dying. It had taken a long time to come right.

This time she was only slightly out of breath, with nothing much wrong. A month and a half of grinding practice had clearly been worth it.

She handed her number back to the invigilator and left the ground. Unlike the crush of the morning, there was hardly anyone left on the campus apart from the school's own students. There was no sign of Li Cheng or Zhao Xinxin at the gate, so they had plainly gone ahead.

"Heartless pair. They actually went." Li Lan grumbled it out loud and went to find her own ride home.

---

By the time she pushed the door open, Zhao Xinxin and Li Cheng had rested and were packing. Hearing the door, Li Cheng stuck her head out. "How did you get back? Walk?"

A whole day out, and not much of a lunch: even Li Lan was thoroughly spent. She collapsed onto the sofa in a heap and answered from there. "I ran into three classmates. We shared a ride."

"Right. Well, good timing — get your things, we need to go or the bus'll be gone." Li Cheng came back out of the bedroom with a bag.

Only then did Li Lan remember today was the day they'd agreed to go home. She'd packed the night before. "I nearly forgot. I really don't want to move. Why don't you two go on ahead?"

"Give it up. Come on. Is this yours?" Li Cheng pointed at a bag on the sofa.

Li Lan followed the finger. "Mm."

"Hurry up, Li Lan. If you don't move, Xinxin and I are honestly leaving without you." Li Cheng stood in the doorway.

"All right, all right. Coming." Li Lan got up and went. She wasn't genuinely too tired to move.

Li Cheng knew she was putting it on, but she'd only just come out of an exam with no rest, so the three of them took a three-wheeler to the station. Possibly the last bus had something to do with it too.

Between hurrying and dawdling they made the six o'clock, and were home by half past, with the light still in the sky.

Li Lan and Li Cheng had meant to drop their bags at the house and then go and find their parents at the scrap station, but they found the gate padlocked and looked at each other. Neither of them had a key.

"Grandad and Grandma have probably both gone over to the east yard. Do we wait here or go over?" It was nearly dinner time, and Li Lan reckoned they'd be back soon.

"Let's go over. We'll have to after we've eaten anyway," said Li Cheng, after a moment. She'd missed her grandparents, but she missed her parents a bit more.

"Fine. Come on, then." They set off towards the scrap station.

They'd barely got onto the main road when they met Li Tieshi and Song Qiulan coming the other way, with Li Jingyu trailing behind.

Li Jingyu had the sharpest eyes and saw them first. "Grandad, Grandma — Li Lan and Li Cheng are back."

At his shout the girls spotted their grandparents too, and turned towards them. "Grandad. Grandma."

It had been nearly two months, and Song Qiulan was plainly delighted. "Lanlan, Chengcheng. You're back."

Even Li Tieshi, who was severe as a rule, softened considerably at the sight of them, the set face easing into something like a smile. "Good timing. Your grandmother's on her way back to cook."

At which the two of them tacitly said nothing about having been on their way to find their parents.

"Perfect. We came straight back after the exam, we haven't eaten. The gate was locked, so we thought we'd go and find Mum and Dad," said Li Lan, smiling.

"We lock it when there's nobody in. If we'd known you were coming we'd have left it. Come on, quickly, I cook fast — we're not having you hungry." Song Qiulan picked up her pace.

Watching her go faster, Li Lan felt a jolt of alarm. Her grandmother was in decent health, but she was past sixty. "Grandma, we're not that hungry. Take your time."

"Li Lan, how come you're so much thinner?" Li Jingyu asked, bouncing along behind her like a shadow.

"Dieting. What do you reckon, am I better-looking?" Li Lan grinned at him.

"No. You looked better before." Song Qiulan turned round at that. To her mind Li Lan's old plumpness was what looked well; what was appealing about being all skin and bone?

"If I don't look good I'll put it back on, then," said Li Lan, walking beside her.

Song Qiulan nodded, smiling. "Better with a bit of weight on you. Eat plenty in a minute. Anyone can see you've not been eating properly in the county town."

They were barely in the door before Song Qiulan was hurrying to wash vegetables and start cooking. Li Lan lent a hand with the washing, and was told off for being in the way. "I can wash them myself. Go and watch television in the front room."

"It's fine, I do all the cooking in the county town. Chengcheng even says it's good." Li Lan drew water and chatted as she worked.

"What sort of good food can a child cook?" Song Qiulan said it dismissively, but watching Li Lan bustle about she couldn't keep the pleasure off her face. Lanlan had grown up a good deal this time.

On the other side of the room, Li Tieshi took twenty yuan out of his pocket and handed it to Li Cheng. "Chengcheng, go down to the crossroads and get a roast duck. And a couple of cold dishes."

Li Cheng made a noise of assent, took the money and headed for the door.

"I'm coming too." Li Jingyu, who had just sat down to watch television, was up the moment he saw money change hands.

"Come on then." Li Cheng had wanted company anyway and didn't object.

Song Qiulan had dinner ready just as Li Cheng got back with the duck, still warm. She put it and the cold dishes in the middle, and with her grandmother's three dishes as well, the little square table was covered — as generous a spread as you'd see outside a festival.

"Wow, look at all this food," said Li Jingyu, thoroughly excited.

"That's enough out of you. Eat. Chengcheng and Lanlan must be starving." Song Qiulan put a duck leg in each of the girls' bowls.

"We're not. We usually eat about this time." Li Lan ate as she said it, and didn't mention that she rarely had dinner at all.

"Grandma's cooking is so much better. Li Lan's food is just — cooked. It isn't nice at all," Li Cheng said, with deliberate exaggeration, after a mouthful.

"Oh, please. You said my cooking was good before, and you cleared the plate every night," said Li Lan, not letting that pass.

"I had no choice. It was your cooking or nothing."

Song Qiulan and Li Tieshi watched the pair of them bicker cheerfully and made no attempt to stop it, while Li Jingyu chipped in from the side — first for Li Lan, then for Li Cheng, with no loyalty whatsoever.

Chen Ying and Li Quan walked in on exactly that: three of them chattering and squabbling under the dim yellow light of the front room.

"Mum. Dad." Li Cheng turned, saw them in the doorway, and shouted it.

"What are you two doing here?" Li Tieshi was mildly surprised.

"Well, Chengcheng and Lanlan rang to say they were coming back today. There wasn't much coming in at this hour so we shut early. Here — roast sausages for the three of you." Chen Ying put them down, and Li Jingyu and Li Cheng cheered and packed them into steamed buns with the ease of long practice, which was the better way to eat them.

They'd known the girls were coming — Li Cheng had rung two days ago — and after waiting at the scrap station all evening with no sign of them, they'd guessed they had gone straight home, at which point neither of them had any appetite for collecting scrap. They locked up and came.

"You two haven't eaten, have you. There's plenty tonight, I'll get you some rice." Song Qiulan started to get up.

Chen Ying pressed her back down. "Mum, sit still. Li Quan and I can serve ourselves."

By the time the two of them came back out with their bowls, room had been made at the little table. It hadn't been large to start with, and two adults made it more crowded still — and a great deal livelier.