Читать книгу The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories - Shouhua Qi - Страница 13

Xing Qingjie

The day the girl’s flower shop opened, there was not much business. Only one young man came and strolled around with a bored look on his face. Then, almost whimsically, he bought three red roses, and asked the girl to deliver the flowers for him. Since she ran the shop all by herself, she asked the young man to take care of the shop for her before she returned. The young man said yes readily. When the girl had wrapped up the flowers, she picked a green flower from the bucket, inserted it into the red roses, and said:

“You are my very first client. So here is a bonus ‘lovebird’ for you!” Seeing the confused look in the young man’s face, she said, “Oh, it’s a flower from the south. ‘Lovebird’ is its name.”

The girl delivered the flowers to the address the young man had given her and saw the girl by the name of Quan. When Quan took the flowers and checked the name on the card, she murmured “thanks,” put the flowers aside, and went on doing whatever she was doing.

The girl felt sorry for the young man. Yet when she returned to the flower shop and met his warm eyes, she told him, against her own instincts: Quan was thrilled with the flowers and asked me to say thank you. The young man’s face blossomed with joy.

From then on at around the same time each weekend, the young man would come to the flower shop, buy three roses, and ask the girl to deliver the flowers to Quan. Every time Quan took the flowers from her, there was no look of joy in her face. Sometimes she even looked annoyed. So the girl felt she had to tell the young man the truth so that he would not waste any more time and money on Quan. Yet how could she bring it up to him? The girl thought: Perhaps with time Quan will be touched by the young man and he will win her heart. Gradually the girl became convinced of this possibility and didn’t think much of it any more.

Thus about half a year passed. One weekend morning the young man came to the flower shop quite early. He said to the girl: “Please deliver flowers for me one last time. Today Quan will be engaged.” The girl was surprised by this unhappy ending and even more so by the young man’s calm acceptance of the inevitable.

Once again, when she wrapped up three roses, she inserted a “lovebird” right in the middle: a perfect fusion of brilliant red and tender, dewy green. The girl said: “For last time’s sake, here is another ‘lovebird’ for you, on the house.”

When she was about to leave, it began to rain heavily. The young man was concerned, but the girl said: “Don’t worry. I’ll take a taxi.”

When the girl returned it was still pouring like crazy. Once out of the taxi the girl dashed to the flower shop, but was still drenched from head to toe. The young man didn’t turn to leave as usual, though. He said to the girl: “I . . . I want three more red . . . red roses.” The girl looked at him, puzzled. She wrapped up three flowers and, once again, inserted a “lovebird” in their midst. The young man took over the flowers, bent to smell them, and then presented them to her with both hands: “This is for you!”

Stunned, the girl lowered her head, her face reddening. Then she looked up and said; “Your feelings for Quan are so deep. How can you start to court someone else so fast?”

The young man said mysteriously: “It is time I tell you this secret: Quan is my sister.”

“What? You sent flowers to your own sister?” The girl couldn’t believe her ears.

The young man looked into the girl’s eyes and said: “Otherwise, what excuse do I have to come and see you?”

The girl smiled, her face blossoming like a flower.

(2003)