Free The Embroidered Shoes by Can Xue

so long as he did not mention it. Just let everybody be happy. My next question was whether this would affect his health.
    He gave me an attentive look, then he suddenly appeared sleepy. Yawning hard, he said, “Who doesn’t have something like that in his belly? They just don’t know, that’s all. That’s why they’re healthy. I’m always sleepy. You’ve talked so much. I rarely talk so much. You’re weird.”
    Despite my efforts to ask for more, he dropped his head down and fell into a sound sleep while standing by the table.
    *   *   *
    Sha-yuan’s mother got really excited, and she looked much younger now. While packing, she said, “It seems that travel is necessary.” Sha-yuan joined her with joy in packing. But after a while, he turned aside and started vomiting. “Nothing serious.” He wiped his pale lips and muttered almost secretly, “It was some mischief from the little flowery snake.”
    Quickly they started their journey on a northwest-bound train. It was a windy day.
    They did not come back until two years later. The three looked the same as they had been, harmonious and peaceful. Nothing unusual could be detected. Sha-yuan obviously had gained some weight, and his face looked healthier than before. When I asked him quietly about the snakes, he said they were still in his belly. But he had learned how to adjust, so that even running and doing the high jump would not cause him any harm. Sometimes, having snakes in his belly was even beneficial to his health. I asked him what benefit it could bring to the body, and Sha-yuan’s yawns started again. He complained that it was painful to listen to others. Sha-yuan’s mother invited me for dinner. While eating, the old lady, who used to grumble, was now silent. She did not appear as confident as before. Sha-yuan’s father only said one sentence: “No more travel.” Then everybody was quiet.
    After that they kept their front gate open. The parents stopped watching Sha-yuan’s behavior as if they had lost interest and become oblivious. But they appeared anxious and from morning till night they checked their watches constantly. Obviously they were waiting for something. “Waiting for their deaths,” Sha-yuan said. He tapped his belly, which was flat. There was no sign of anything inside. According to Sha-yuan, it had worked out fine. Nobody suspected that he raised snakes anymore. But in fact, the leopard can’t change its spots.
    The fall wind was whistling across the plain. It sounded musical from morning to night. This mysterious family was baffling me more and more. I remembered that the mother was only fifty, and the father, fifty-five. But just see how old they looked. Both were suffering from cardiac arteriosclerosis and their slow movements worried me. “He has destroyed us,” the father said suddenly one day. His facial expression revealed his confusion. “We are dying so fast.” After the remark, his face relaxed instantly. His glance lingered on the skinny shoulder of Sha-yuan. The glance was both kind and loving. The three certainly had a tacit understanding.
    *   *   *
    The parents had different explanations about the disappearance of the child. According to the father, the boy had mentioned going to the air-raid shelter after supper, because he hadn’t been there for a long time, and he was curious about any new changes there. Neither of the parents had paid any attention to their son’s remark. They were too tired. The son then stood up and walked toward the door with staggering steps. Recently he had become all bony. He did not return that whole night, and nobody bothered looking for him. “It’s too troublesome,” the father said, his eyes fixed on the windowpane.
    Sha-yuan’s mother never admitted that her son had walked out on her. “The child was never reliable. For more than