Plain Wooden Spear

Gao Sui

At the moment the plain wooden spear pierced the gray-shirted man’s belly, the fourteen-year-old youth became a man.

But the lady in white, that innocent corpse, on that sinful soil, would never return…

It was hot, so Stone pushed open the window. The sun would soon be sinking behind the mountain, the dazzling gold sunlight beaming in. The whole sky was bright. In the courtyard he could hear the cries of the hens laying their eggs, the cicadas rattling long among the tree branches. Elsewhere a rhythmic metallic clank, probably his mother in the kitchen chopping up a fresh chicken. Some of the fragrant plantain lilies Lanlan had planted were in bloom, their fragrance mingling with the cool breeze wafting in through the window.

Stone suddenly jolted. Opening his eyes, he saw the green leaves of the big poplar tree swaying in the wind, blowing with it the sound of water. It was already light, though a few stars still shone through. Stone thought a moment and realized he had dreamed the whole thing.

Fortunately, he was following the main road heading east; in two or three days he would be back home. These past few months, he had missed his mother, missed Lanlan, but at last he was almost there. Stone got up, picked up his spear, stamped his feet, and continued on ahead. The summer dew was heavy, the bottom of his pant legs wet. Yesterday he had again spent the night in the wilderness.

It was said that, since last autumn, the state of Cao’s attacks had become more frequent, and from time to time soldiers riding tall, big horses would ford the river, enter villages and kill the inhabitants, steal the livestock, and set fire to the houses. There had been fighting for over ten years, and at first no one feared such rumors. Unfortunately, last winter it didn’t snow at all, and it was a dry spring, the wheat never ripening. At any rate, there was a total crop failure, and those who had some means to get away did so, and took their families and headed south.

As a result, nowadays any small town or village you entered, even the finest house would be empty, thin strands of spiderweb covering the walls, swallows flying down from the roof beams, a new nest already made, the baby swallow chicks opening wide their yellow beaks and chirping.

Stone just yesterday at dusk had passed by a beautiful residence, but he didn’t dare stay there. He had tried it once, without success. When the wind blew at night through the broken window paper, Stone always felt it sounded like a woman crying. He was only fourteen years old, and was somewhat frightened. It made him think of and miss his mother, with the result that for half the night he was unable to sleep.

The sun was up, hanging red and round in the sky. Before long it had ascended high, warming him up. The dew on his pant legs was dry, and the sky was very bright. Stone walked quickly head-on into the cool wind, yet he still sweated a little.

He suddenly stopped. Before him was a vast field, with a road running north to south. Stone stopped at the intersection. At the crossing there was a three-room thatched cottage, with a small sign out front, crudely written in very black characters. But there were too many words, and Stone didn’t recognize them, though the place looked to be a restaurant.

Before the town was sacked, he had eaten once at the military camp. A big tray of cornbread buns shaped like a bird’s nest. Because there was little wheat bran added, it looked golden-bright and dazzling, and smelled great. Stone devoured three of them and put four in his pockets. An old, grizzled soldier from Hangwu Ward had told him to eat whenever he could, because once the fighting started it was every man for himself.

These past few days, Stone had relied on those four steamed cornbread cakes as he made his way back home, and it made him miss his mother more. If he were to give that same cornmeal to his mother, she could turn them into cakes even more fragrant than these. Stone ate frugally, but even so, after a few days, he had eaten every last crumb. He swallowed his saliva and couldn’t help but proceed toward the thatched hut.

There had been fighting with the state of Cao for over ten years, both sides contending for control of the river. Stone heard an old soldier say the state of Cao had deposed the emperor, or something like that. Seemed like some kind of strong enmity, but of what nature he never did figure out. But even if there was more fighting, people still needed to live, and people still needed to eat, so it was quite possible the restaurant would still be open.

It wasn’t yet noon, but there were already several people sitting under the grass awning. The air was dry, with a lot of dust. Everyone who had stopped to rest was covered from head to foot in dust, their eyes set in a state of fatigue and boredom. Even those resting at the tables didn’t speak, just sat sullenly or ate.

He didn’t need to see, Stone could smell what they were eating. Scent of white steamed buns, noodles with vegetables, pickled radishes in sesame oil, and… steamed buns stuffed with bean paste, all made his mouth water!

Even though the smell made him more hungry, Stone still leaned against the wall and sat down, setting his spear on the ground, the spear which he had relied on all the way to repel dogs and beat snakes. He had already walked half a day, so he had to rest for a bit.

It was a bright, sunny day, not a cloud in the azure sky. It was almost the end of the fifth month. It had been a dry year; the peach and apricot blossoms didn’t bloom, but shriveled up, and it got hot early in the day.

Stone was a bit sleepy so he decided to sit for a while before starting out again. Mother and Lanlan would be ecstatic to see him. That year, when his father left and didn’t return, his mother still made winter clothes for him. This year, Stone thought, he was definitely going to wear the winter clothing his mom made for him.

Just then, far down the road a cloud of yellow dust was rising. If you listened carefully you could hear a clopping mixed with the tinkling sound of bells. Before Stone could react, a horse had already ran up to him, its tail nearly brushing his face. He instinctively held out his hand to ward it off, and heard the horse’s long neigh, the rider already pulling up on the reins, the horse’s forehoof knocking against the ground, spraying him with dust.

Stone got up quickly and beat the dust off his clothes. He still wore his military-issued overcoat, which was gray, very thick, and not filthy-looking on account of its color. Unlike the white horse before his eyes. Not too tall of stature, and not thin, just dirty, its hair all black, its no-longer-new bridle and saddle also dirty.

With a swish the reins were laid upon the saddle. Stone turned to look, and a lady dropped down from the horse, dressed in white, with a white cloak, red boots, and a cold, snow-white face. She made quickly for the grass awning, brought two long benches and finally, turned around and sat by a table on the adjacent side of the road. The vinegar pot on the facing table was knocked over with a crash by her cape, smashing on the ground. Everyone stared blankly, no one including the shopkeeper daring to go over to greet her.

Before long, a yellow horse stopped by the grass awning’s entrance. Stone lost no time in hiding himself far away. The man on the horse looked about the grass awning, then dismounted.

The man was young, not tall, and he wore a jacket and trousers, sweat on his brow. He walked toward the lady in white, then stopped, hesitating, after a moment calling to the shopkeeper, “Two bowls of noodles and ten bean paste buns.” Only then did he continue on toward the girl and stood next to her quietly. The girl didn’t move or speak.

The man looked around for a bit, then finally sat down on the bench next to her. Maybe he sat wrong, or had something on his mind, but he faltered, nearly slipping off the bench.

Stone figured they probably knew each other. But even after a long while, neither made a sound. Everyone present kept their heads lowered, only stealing a peek every now and then out of the corner of their eyes.

The man was the first to open his mouth. “Sister… Come back with me. Master is worried. This turbulent, chaotic war…” His voice becoming more and more faint, Stone didn’t catch the last part. The girl still moved not, spoke not.

Stone thought, maybe she’s hungry. His mother had said, a person is iron, rice is steel. She was so right. He himself had walked half the day without eating, so that right now he was too exhausted to move, no energy to talk.

The shopkeeper came from behind the counter carrying a black wooden tray containing two bowls of noodles and ten bean paste buns, which he placed on their table. The noodles were steaming hot, the buns white and fat. But the girl didn’t eat, didn’t move, didn’t speak.

The man brought forth a little smile, his face all red, likely from the hot steam. “Let’s eat first and talk about something else, then we’ll talk…” He reached out his hand to tug at her sleeve.

This time the girl responded. She jerked her hand and stood up, and with one smooth sweep knocked the plate of buns to the ground. Then she took a step back as if to leave, but he grabbed her hand.

Stone finally heard the girl speak. “In this big world there’s nowhere I can’t go. Who do you think you are? You can’t tell me what to do!”

“I… Sister, I…” The man seemed somewhat speechless, Stone thought. He must have really been concerned about that plate of bean paste buns. Those snow-white buns now on the ground.

The two were talking now, but what they said Stone couldn’t hear. He only thought, since those two are bickering, probably no one would bother to pick up the bean paste buns. Ten buns! This past New Year, because Stone Bridge Village’s Do-Gooder Zhang took his whole family south, no one came to collect the rent, so Mother was able to steam ten bean-paste buns. They were quite big, and Lanlan ate seven in only two days. He had eaten two, his mother only one. Lanlan jumped up and down happily around the house, and he had lightly rumpled her braid. His mother had praised him, saying “Stone has matured.”

Stone squatted, lowered his head, and sneaked his way over to the grass awning. One, two steaming hot buns wrapped in his embrace. Stone thought to bring them back and give them to Lanlan; that would really make her happy.

As he went to pick up a third bun, a red boot flashed before his eyes and kicked the bun across the dirt road. Then he heard the girl’s loud voice above his head. “This military-garb-wearing, lousy-spear-carrying big brother ought not be a deserter! Now that Dingzhou has been captured, and Hangzhou captured , and you’ve had to do battle with the state of Cao, you all run so fast, come here and pick up food so quickly!” As he listened, he felt someone jerk him up by the collar.

He was pulled to his feet at once. He never thought the girl would spot him while in the midst of her quarrel. “I’m not a deserter… Dingzhou was captured and I fled with everyone else. I thought to go back home… The buns I thought I’d give to Lanlan…” His mother often said, “My Stone is already a dauntless man”, but now, seeing the lady in white’s pinched brow, tears coursed down his face.

The lady in white again didn’t speak, looking him up and down. She gradually loosened her grip on his collar. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Tell Big Sister, how old are you?”

“Fourteen. I’m not a deserter… I miss Mother…” Stone wiped away his tears roughly with the back of his hand.

The lady in white shook her head, sighed, and took his hand and let him sit on the bench, put a pair of chopsticks in his hand, and pushed a bowl of noodles in front of him. “Eat, eat. You can have that other bowl as well.”

Stone didn’t really understand at first, but he didn’t ask any questions. His mother had said, “Talk little, eat more.” He lowered his head and devoured it, and in a moment, both bowls of noodles were empty. Stone never expected that relying on his uniform and his plain wooden spear would get him even one bite of food, much less noodles.

He thought as he ate, since the lady in white isn’t angry, maybe he could stay a bit and still be able to pick up those left-over bean paste buns and take them back with him. But in the end he didn’t have to pick them up. As soon as he finished eating, the lady in white placed a plain white cloth bundle on the table, and said she was giving it to him. Stone picked it up. It was hot, the scent of white flour just out of the steamer emanating from within. He didn’t know what he should say, and for fear that the lady in white might go back on her word, he merely took the bundle and left.

After walking a pace, Stone stopped and opened the bundle to have a look—ten clean bean paste buns. Stone was delighted. He thought, tomorrow he would eat those two he already had tucked away, and would likely reach home.

For half the day Stone followed the main road east. Because he had eaten, he had energy. This area was all wasteland, though occasionally he came across some corn only about as thick as his thumb, yet already tasseled. He also passed by a thicket, a small grove of trees, standing feebly under the sun with only a few pale green leaves.

Stone thought, I wonder how everything is at home? Did the plantain lilies Lanlan planted last year come up? Did Mother have time to take advantage of the third month spring rains to plant the corn? With all the young people of the village gone, he didn’t know if it would be like last year. Did Uncle Yu still help? Thinking about these things, Stone quickened his pace.

The sun in the west, Stone suddenly saw some people coming toward him, first some scattered young people, then an old man on a donkey cart, the parents calling after their children. They passed through the wasteland and crossed the main road heading south.

As they crossed paths, he vaguely heard talk of Hangzhou, and so forth. He recalled what the lady in white had said and figured they were refugees escaping the captured towns.

If Cao people see you, they kill you. Stone still remembered, when Dingzhou was sacked, he ran along with a stream of people south, the Cao army at their backs, pursuing. All a single-color mass of big, tall horses, shiny armor and torches twinkling, their spears looking longer than his own. A man running alongside him called out and fell. Stone didn’t dare turn his head to look, just ran straight ahead, clutching his spear tightly in his hands…

Thinking of this, Stone felt his legs weaken. Maybe the Cao army had fought in Stone Bridge Village? He dared not carry the thought further, just lowered his head and continued east, carrying his spear, on which hung the white cloth bundle. The sun cast a longer and longer shadow before him.

Stone finally entered a small grove beside the road. After stopping to rest for a bit, he would continue on until dark, then tomorrow he would be home and would see his mother and Lanlan.

It was a grove of poplars, all no bigger around then the mouth of a rice bowl, not densely populated, about a hundred steps square. In the center was a clearing, several horse carts standing within, along with several men and women, old and young, either sitting or laying down. Stone looked for a shady and cool place along the edge and leaned against a tree and sat down.

Sitting beside him was a family, the parents wearing coarse cloth, a little girl wearing a red shirt and pants. The girl was about the same age as Lanlan, also with a small thin braid. She looked at Stone and crawled toward him, extending her hand to grab the red tassel at the end of Stone’s plain wooden spear he had set down beside him. Stone whipped it away and the girl grabbed air, but she wasn’t angry, she just laughed, two dimples like an opera clown appearing on her cheeks. Stone laughed as well. The little girl’s mother walked over and picked the girl up in her arms, and stayed to talk with him.

It turned out that the family really were refugees from Hangzhou. It seemed that the Cao army especially liked attacking in the evening; they had overrun the town the day before yesterday, at night, then set fire to the town. The little girl’s mother said they had walked a dozen li before turning to look. Hangzhou already roasted under a great fire, lighting up half the sky. She said this time only half the townspeople managed to escape.

Stone recalled those people, when he had fled, when they fell, never to get up again. He was silent for a time.

Suddenly, Stone heard the sound of horse hooves outside the grove; the others heard it as well. Nobody made a sound, nobody moved. The children’s mouths were covered for fear they would cry. The sound outside gradually subsided. He thought he heard talking, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Stone raised his head to look, and saw a cloud of dust kicked up amongst the trees, reflected in the sunlight.

He gripped tight his plain wooden spear—he’d only used it once to stab a scarecrow, but a real person… He didn’t want to think about it. So he waited, listening to the sound of footsteps as a cluster of shadows crept in from without the grove.

Stone took his white cloth bundle and tucked it away inside his overcoat, but he saw the soldiers didn’t wear shiny armor. There was about a dozen of them, all wearing the same gray overcoat as him. Stone released his breath, put his white cloth bundle back on the ground and loosened his grip on his spear.

He said to the little girl, “Don’t be afraid, these are our troops.” He figured the Cao army had finished razing, pillaging, and killing, and had went back up north. It was impossible the Cao army would chase after such a small group of people.

The sound of a sword pulled from its scabbard. Stone raised his head and saw a shiny steel sword, bright as snow. “If you want us to spare your lives, hurry up and hand over all your valuables.” Stone recognized the voice as his hometown dialect.

He was dazed, These aren’t Chen’s troops? He still remembered, at Dingzhou, every night he took off his shoes and listened to the men and women sing mountain songs, tell him stories, all wearing the same gray overcoat. Were these not his own people?

Stone watched as a number of soldiers rushed toward the horse carts, the women crying, their hair disheveled, getting out of the cart, then tossing down colorful clothing. There were soldiers all over the clearing; when they saw a bundle they ordered it opened up. They had swords and spears; the men and women all sat on the ground, not saying a word, only trembling nonstop.

A blade flashed down before Stone. The soldier spotted the white cloth bundle on the ground, and saw Stone’s spear, then looked him over. Stone eyed the soldier: very thin, long face, thin wisp of a beard. He looked a lot like Uncle Yu.

He didn’t know if the soldier could make out his dress, but the man didn’t take his white cloth bundle, and instead turned toward the little girl’s family and walked over. The soldier took a small blue cloth bundle and opened it; several articles of clothing and head ornaments dropped out.

As he was rummaging through their valuables, suddenly the clear voice of a child said, “Mom, why do they want to steal our things? Didn’t he say they were our troops?” It was the little girl in red.

All around, the soldiers paused. Stone watched as their faces took on a faintly knowing and murderous air.

Stone thought to stand up, but he still sat, and in the end didn’t move at all. He thought to call out, but he didn’t dare. So he just sat there stupidly watching as a soldier in front of the horse cart, with one stroke of his steel blade, plunged his sword into a woman’s chest.

Then he heard cries, men standing up thinking to run. They were all cut down from behind. Blood splattered the soldiers’ gray overcoats. Stone grabbed his spear and made his way slowly into the deep recesses of the grove. He saw men stand and fall, all of it happening quickly.

The grove was by no means bright, the sun likely about to set, or maybe Stone just didn’t see clearly. He just felt a shadow flash past and felt something wet splatter against his face. He dared not reach up to wipe it off, he dared not even think, he just stepped backward slowly, risking his life, grasping his plain wooden spear.

He suddenly saw a trace of white flash by and a gray-jacketed soldier dropped to the ground. Stone started, and heard a voice yell out, “In broad daylight, do you not know we have laws?” It was the white-clothed, white-cloaked, red-boot-wearing lady.

The soldiers all seemed to have heard her, because their swords and spears all turned to point at her. Stone watched as the girl’s silhouette flew up from amongst the crowd and a man was thrown out. Her once white clothes were now streaked with red. He couldn’t help but thinking, why doesn’t that man from before come?

The fight gradually moved from the horse cart out into the center of the clearing. The lady in white’s cloak had already vanished, a lock of hair plastered against her face. Stone recalled her pinched eyebrows, her snow-white face, how she had given him noodles and the bean paste buns. He recalled his mother saying he was fourteen years old, already grown up.

He suddenly didn’t think of running. He looked around, at the stream of people’s blood all over the ground, at the little girl’s mother just about to pick up the child and carry her off into the woods. He glimpsed the flash of a blade, then a soldier dropped beside him. Then he saw the lady in white, her sword raised. The soldier grabbed her and…

The lady in white froze.

Stone later thought, for the rest of his life he would never forget that moment. He saw the lady in white’s big eyes, the tip of a glittering sword protruding from her chest. He saw her fresh blood spurt out like a fountain. She slowly, slowly, collapsed.

Stone rushed out from his hiding place, raised his plain wooden spear, and with all his effort plunged… He seemed to hear the internal organs smash to pieces, and he looked down to see his own spear sunk into the soldier’s belly, and the very red blood immediately come pouring out.

In the end he had killed a person, he had avenged her. He considered himself to have really grown up. He looked at the soldiers laying on the ground. The little girl in red was surprisingly still laughing, her small, deep dimples showing.

The remaining soldiers rushed over. Stone suddenly thought that actually, death wasn’t that extraordinary. He only thought that it was such a shame that it was too late to go back home, that he wouldn’t see his mother and Lanlan.

But in the end, Stone didn’t die. Though somewhat late, the lady in white’s senior brother finally showed up. He made short work of the remaining soldiers. But he was too late; the girl he had quarreled with would never be coming back.

Stone scanned the corpses. Guilty, innocent, they would none of them ever come back. Stone suddenly felt it was all no more than a dream that he was waiting to wake up from, and then he would smell the scent of the plantain lilies in the courtyard…

Stone, supported by his spear, left the grove. The little girl’s family quietly headed south. The lady in white was carried by her senior brother, who went back west, the dirty white horse following a few steps behind.

Stone settled down, took up his plain wooden spear and continued on east. After all was said and done, he hadn’t died, and tomorrow he would be home, with Mother and Lanlan all there waiting for him.

Behind him a round red sun, very big, was just sinking below the horizon to the west.

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Originally published, along with another short story on this site, Whirling Snow, in an issue of the Chinese wuxia magazine 《今古传奇·武侠版》 (Legends Old and New: Wuxia Edition)