When Grandpa got home,it was almost time for

breakfast.Arms and shoulder poles laden with packages,he called out for Cuicui from the top of the hill for her to pull the boat across the stream to meet him.Having scen so many pcople getting to go to town,Cuicui there in the boat was beside herself with impatience,but the sound of her grandpa picked up her spirits.She hollered back,shrilly, “Grandfather,Grandfather,I'm coming!”When the old ferry- man had got into the boat and set down his load in the prow, he helped tug the boat as he smiled at Cuicui,himself as meek and bashful as a child.“Cuicui,I'll bet you thought I was never coming,didn't you?”She was going to complaig to her grandpa,but instead she answered,“Grandfather,I knew you were on River Strect,plying people with wine,having a won- derful time.”Cuicui knew how much her grandpa loved to hang around on River Street,but to go on about it would have

made her grandpa sputter embarrassed denials,so she kept it

back.

Counting up all the bundles in the prow,Cuicui noticed

that the wine gourd was missing.She snickered.

“Grandfather,you'te so generous,letting all those soldiers

and boatmen drink off you,you even let them swallow your

gourd!”

Smiling,Grandpa quickly put in:

“No way,no way.Elder Brother Shunshun took it away

from me.He saw me out on River Street inviting people to

have a drink and said,Hey there,Captain Zhang Heng of

the ferrymen,we can't have this.You don't own a distillery!

How can you go on like this?If you have to be a philanthro-

pist,a real sport like the heroes of Mount Liang,then give it

over,Ill drink it up for you!That's what he said,Tll drink it

up for you!'I put down my wine gourd.But I figure he was

kidding me.Is there any lack of wine in his houschold?What

do you think,Cuicui?”

“Grandfather,do you really think it was about him hav-

ing a drink,even if it was all in jest?”

“What,then?”

“Nothing to be upset over,he must have confiscated your

gourd because you picked the wrong place to be serving all

comers;he didn't want you to end up with no liquor at all.

He'll send it back with one of his men in a little while.You

still don't get it!For Heaven's sake!”

“Do you really think he will?”

By this time the boat had reached the shore.Cuicui hur- ried to help her grandpa gather up his bundles before he could pick them up,but all she got was a lone fish and the embroi- dered waist pouch.The money was already gone;in its place were a packet of white sugar and a box of sesame cakes.

The two had just brought the new purchases into the house when someone hailed them for service from the other side of the stream.Asking Cuicui to keep an eye on the meat and vegetables lest a feral cat get them,Grandpa rushed ahead of her to the ferry.Afier a short time,he headed back home with the passenger,speaking loudly and excitedly.The visitor had indeed come to return the gourd.Grandpa said,“Cuicui, you guessed right!He really did bring it back!”

Before Cuicui could escape into the kitchen,Grandpa entered the house with a young man.He was dark and broad- shouldered.

Cuicuiand the visitor smiled at each other,letting Grandpa tallk on.The guest kept on looking and smiling at Cuicui, who seemed to realize what the staring meant.She began te grow a little embarassed,so she went into the kitchen to light the fire in the stove.When yet another person came to the stream and hailed the ferry,she ran out the door to the boat and took him across.And just then there was another pas- senger.Though it was drizzling,there were far more people to serve than usual,requiring three trips.Once on board,as

Cuicui tended the boat,she began thinking about her grand-

dad's happy mood.She sensed,somehow,that she knew this

city fellow who'd been dispatched to return the wine gourd.

But though he looked familiar,she didn't know where she'd

seen him before.She seemed unwilling to figure it all out and

could not guess his identity.

Grandpa hollered from the bluff:“Cuicui!Cuicui!Come

up and sit awhile,keep our guest company!"She'd intended

to go ashore and light the stove since no one necded ferrying,

but now that her grandpa had called her,she didn't.

The visitor asked Grandpa,“Are you going to town to see

the boats?”“I have to stay with my boat,”replied the old ferry-

man.The two continued talking about other things.Finally,

the visitor came to the point:

“Uncle,your Cuicui is grown up now.She's very prety!”

The ferryman smiled.“He talks just like his elder

brother—says exactly what's on his mind,”he thought to

himself.But he said,“No.2,you're the only one in these

parts who deserves that praise.Everybody says you'te hand-

some!Folks have made up epithets to acclaim your virtues:

the Leopard of Bamian Mountain,the Golden Pheasant of

Didi Stream!”

“What nonsense!”

“They've really captured you!I heard some boatmen say

that last time when you were piloring a boat and it wrecked

up below the Three Gorges in the rapids at White Rooster

Pass,you rescued three men from the dashing waves.They say you stayed overnight by the rapids,and when the village girls got a look at you,they crooned the night away with love songs outside your shack.Is it true?”

“That wasn't any serenading by young women,that was the howling of wolves!The place is famous for them,just look- ing for the chance to eat us!We kept a big campfire to scare them off-that's the only way we escaped with our lives!"

The old ferryman chuckled:“All the more!What they said about you was right!A wolf only picks out young maidens and children to cat-and handsome young seventeen-year- olds—never an old bones like me.It'd take one sniff at me

and go away!”

At that,No.2 said,“Uncle,you've seen a lot of sunrises in this locale.Everybody says the excellent feng shui here, the gcomancy,is propitious for the emergence of great men.I wonder why we haven't had one so far?”

“You mean the good feng shui should have given us some- one with a big name?I don't see anything so bad about not having such a person born in a little place like this.It's enough that we have young people who are bright,honest,brave,and able to work hard.The men in your family,for instance,have brought this place a lot of glory!"

“Uncle,you're right,I was just thinking that.This place of ours produces good men,not bad men-men like you, Uncle.You may be old,but you're still as strong as a nanmu

tree,living a steady and stable life on this patch of earth--

both decent and gencrous.There aren't many like you.”

“T'm an old man,what am I worth?I've had everything

that was my lot in life:sun and rain,long journeys bearing

heavy loads,living it up on food and liquor,then suffering

hunger and cold-and pretty soon,Ill be lying beneath the

cold,cold earth,feeding the earthworms.There's plenty wait-

ing on this earth for you young follk.If you do your work well,

it wont let you down-just hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Uncle,with your diligence setting the example,we young

people dare not let you down!"

They'd been talking for some time,so No.2 was ready to

go.The old ferryman stood outside his doorway and called

for Cuicui to come into the house to boil water and cook a

meal while he took her place on the boat.Cuicui didn't want

to come ashore,but the guest had already boarded the boat,

so as she tugged the boat,Grandpa pretended to scold her:

“Cuicui,aren't you coming back?Surely you don't expect

me to be a housewife and do the cooking?"

Throwing a sidelong glance at the visitor,Cuicui saw that

he was staring at her.Turning her head away and pursing her

lips,she smartly attended to her business pulling on the cable,

until she d slowly pulled the boat onto the shore.The visitor

stood in the prow and said to Cuicui,

“Cuicui,when you've eaten,won't you come with your

grandfather to our stilt house and watch the boat race?"

At first too embarrased to speak,Cuicuifinally answered, “Grandfather says he's not going,because then there'd be no one to tend the ferry!”

“Won't you come?”

“If Grandfather won't go,neither will I.”

“Do you have to tend the boat,too?”

“I want to be with Grandfather.”

“What ifI get someone to take your place on the boat?”

The boat reached the shore with a thud as it bumped into a mound of earth.No.2 jumped up on the bank and said, from the slope:

"Cuicui,Ive put you to trouble.When I get home,Fll send somcone to take the place of both of you.Eat your meal and hurry on over to my house to see the boats.A lot ofpeople are there already,it's very lively!”

Misunderstanding the good intentions of this stranger, and why she had to go to his house to see the boats,Cui- cui giggled berween her litde pursed lips and pulled the boat back to the other shore.When she got to the bank where her home was,the young man had reached the top of the hill on the other side.He was still there,as if waiting for semething Cuicui went home and lit the fire.She stuffed some damp grasses into the stove and inquired of her grandpa,who was just then testing out the wine in the gourd returned by the

visitor.

“Grandfather,that fellow said he was going back to get

somcone to replace you,so the two of us can go see the races.

Will you go?”

“Would you like to?”

“Ifwe go together.I like that young man.He seems famil-

iar.Who is he?”

“Good,he likes you,too!”Grandpa thought to himself.

He said,with a smile,“Cuicui,don't you remember two years

ago,you were on the big riverbank and someone said you

might be eaten by a big fish?"

Cuicui understood,but she pretended not to.She asked,

“Who is he,then?”

“Think,Cuicui.Take a guess.”

“I couldn't possibly guess who he is.”

“He's No.2 of Fleetmaster Shunshun's household.He

remembered you,but you still don't remember him!"He took

a sip of winc and said,in a low voice,as if to praise the wine

and a certain man at the same time:“Good,just right.You'te

not this lucky very often!"

People wanting the ferry hailed him from outside the

door.The old grandpa reiterated,“Good,just right….”Then

in a Hash he was in the boat,getting down to work.