"You're the fusspot who thinks pond water is too dirty to wash vegetables in, and insists we use well water."
He had no answer to that, so went to fetch the water. When he returned, the two buckets hanging from a pole on his shoulders, he noticed the water vat inside the house was still almost half full. He stopped and said to his mother, "I saw Uncle going to Xizhang."
His mother stared. "Don't talk rubbish."
"I haven't said a word up to now. But I've seen him three times."
"Well, pretend that you haven't seen anything." His mother lowered her voice. "Don't tell anyone, and especially not your father."
"What are you in such a flap about?" Yingcai asked. "Uncle is ideologically sound, there's no way he would do anything inappropriate."
His mother gave a forced laugh. "It's just a shame the same can't be said about your aunt. Otherwise I'd go to their house and tell them off for making you wait for a job like this."
"It's not her fault that he's going about the place acting the grand official."
"Your uncle should have been more steady. If he had married Lan Xiaomei from Xizhang, he wouldn't have ended up a slave to a woman like Li Fang. It's better not to pair with someone from a higher class than yourself."
"Are you saying I shouldn't ask him for help?" Yingcai replied touchily.
"Why are you making such wild guesses about what your uncle is doing anyway?" His mother replied hurriedly.
Yingcai came out with it. "I've had enough; I don't care if I fall off his coattails. I'll be blunt: if you don't make Uncle help me find a job, I won't lift so much as a rice straw for this family." He put the pole back on his shoulders and carried the water outside. The step which kept the animals out of the courtyard was a little high. He stumbled but did not fall, though he did swear.
His mother was angry. "Who are you cursing now? The thunder god or your uncle?"
"Nobody asked you to have such a useless son, did they? No good at school, no prospects. But I'm pretty good at swearing—if you don't believe me, just wait and see."
Sure enough, when he came back with the water Yingcai swore again. His mother smacked his ear, then started to cry. "Just wait until your father gets home, he'll deal with you then."
Yingcai had no dinner as a result. By the time his father came home he had already gone to bed. He lay on the bed and listened to his father asking what had happened. His mother covered for him and said that he had a headache so was lying down.
"All that learning has made him lazy." His father sounded angry. "He's nearly eighteen and useless as a fart. Last year he missed going to college by three points. When he retook the test this time he got one point less!"
Yingcai bolted the door to his room, then sat down at the table to write a letter to a girl he knew from school called Yao Yan.
I've just read the book you recommended last semester, A Small Town Youth. The chapter called "The Ninth Street Stall" is reallygood, there are so many details that could have happened at school. Yu Jie reminds me of you; you both have beautiful souls.
After filling one sheet of paper in this way, Yingcai ran out of things to say. After a lot of thought, he continued.
My uncle is the head of the town's education station. He is going to help me find a good job.In a few days I will be posted to a unit with lots of talented people.I can't tell you where I'll be working just yet, I'll write again when I start—and I guarantee that you'll be amazed when you see the postmark on the envelope.
Yingcai read the letter through when he finished. In spite of himself he blushed and picked up his pen to cross out the last paragraph of boasts. He lay back down on the bed, staring blankly at the bright light playing over the ceiling.
When he woke he realised that he'd slept through the night without putting the mosquito net up; his whole body was covered in red bites. He sat up and looked at the half-eaten bowl of eggs from the night before. He was hungry, but he remembered the health advice posted on the school noticeboard: Do Not Eat Leftover Eggs. He withdrew the hand that had been hovering over the bowl. Just then his mother knocked. He didn't feel like opening the door, but the bolt was loose and it only took a couple of pushes for his mother to open it.
"Your uncle is here," she said quietly. "You need to behave properly, don't act with him like you do with your father."
His mother looked at the half-eaten bowl, then at Yingcai, and sighed. She picked it up and finished it off quickly. Yingcai got dressed and went into the main room. He had planned to address the man across from his father politely as "Uncle" but at the last moment something else slipped out.
"Station-Head Wan, you must have been busy lately." It sounded like a deliberate insult.
"Zhang Yingcai," the station head said, "I've come about a job for you."
"Don't be an idiot" , said his father, "hurry up and say thank you."
