Chinese Literature

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At last that’s settled, thought Chun-mei, with a sigh of relief. Now that she relaxed she became aware of the biting cold. The swirling night air was like ice-water. Not only were her clothes soaked with the damp, her fingers and the tip of her nose were frozen stiff. The chill was creeping in through her sleeves and other openings in her garments, intent on driving all warmth from her body. Shivering, she noted that Hsiao-chang’s clothing was thinner than her own.

“Are you cold, Hsiao-chang?”

“T don’t feel it!”

The boy was really impervious to cold. His eyes were fixed on the stars shining between the branches of the big cedar. The stars were laughing, and his thoughts were running far into the future... .

Infected by his rapt, dreamy expression, Chun-mei was laved by a surge of warmth. But then she recalled the pitfalls that lay ahead of them. This was not yet the time for joy. She stood up abruptly.

“Hsiao-chang, do you know why, even though I’m a girl, I forgot all about face and called you to talk in such a hurry 2”

Actually, he hadn’t the faintest idea. Hsiao-chang made no reply. Just as Chun-mei was about to explain, a stone came bounding down from behind the big cedar, ripped through a patch of brambles and struck a sapling so hard that it vibrated. The startled youngsters jumped to their feet. Chun-mei whirled around and shouted towards the dense growth on the upper slope.

“Who’s there? Speak up if you’ve got anything to say! Your sneaky tricks don’t scare anyone! I’ve been a slavey to a landlord, I’ve seen every dirty trick in the bag! A little spit’ll cure a hornet sting. It wouldn’t need that much to take care of you!”

Hsiao-chang rushed out and searched through the bushes. But the intruder was gone. There was a crackling of snapped twigs in the distance and the sound of someone running. When Hsiao-chang returned to the cedar, he found Chun-mei seated and composed.

“Neyer mind about him,” she said. “We’ve got important things to discuss! If he wants to come back and listen, let him. I don’t care if the whole village hears!”

She had thought it all over. Unless she was willing to be led around by the nose, this question of her marrying Hsiao-chang would have to be battled out in the village.

Chun-mei related the facts to him simply: Her mother had told her that her marriage had already been arranged. On the recommendation of Yang the Elder, senior member of the Yang clan, and with “Glib ee of ete and grocery shop, serving as matchmaker, related to the ine oe a eae a Een mg eas cst

a z g clan. Though called “the Pedlar,” he was primarily a peasant. On market days, he kept a small stand where he sold needles and thread and the like. What he couldn’t dispose of in the local market,