Li Lan's gasp woke Baldy Li from his dreams. Seeing his mother's astonished expression, he rubbed his eyes, climbed down from the cart, and proudly explained that the pullcart belonged to Blacksmith Tong, the recliner and the oilcloth umbrella were Yanker Yu's, and the hemp rope binding it all together was borrowed from the department store's warehouse. Baldy Li exclaimed, "Ma, now you can travel in comfort!"
Li Lan regarded her demon of a son and wondered, How in the world could a fifteen-year-old pull off a feat like this? She felt that she really didn't know him at all, this son who seemed to be able to whip something out of his bag of tricks every other day.
Mother and son had breakfast, and Baldy Li then lifted their hot-water thermos and carefully poured water into the glucose bottle. "There's somewhere between half an ounce and an ounce of nutritious glucose in here," he told Li Lan, adding that it was in case she got thirsty on the road.
Baldy Li thoughtfully placed his neatly folded blanket over the chair, explaining that it was going to be a bumpy ride but the padding should do the trick. With his left foot holding down one of the pullcart's handles, he gently helped Li Lan climb onto the cart and lie down on the chair. She cradled the basket with the paper ingots and coins and looked up at the oilcloth umbrella over her head, realizing that it was to keep the sun and rain off her. Baldy Li then handed her the bottle with the hot water and glucose mixture. As Li Lan accepted the bottle tears rushed down her face. Baldy Li saw that she was weeping and asked, astonished, "Ma, what's wrong?"
"Nothing at all." Li Lan dabbed at her eyes, then smiled. "Son, lets get going."
That morning Li Lan took a ride on the most luxurious pullcart Liu Town had ever seen. The cart wound its way down the main street with Baldy Li at the fore. The crowds stared, mouths open in astonishment. They simply couldn't believe their eyes; never in their wildest dreams having imagined such a contraption. Someone called out to Baldy Li, asking him how he had managed to put this thing together.
"This thing?" Baldy Li smugly replied. "This thing is my mom's exclusive-use cart."
Everyone was befuddled. "What's an exclusive-use cart?"
"You've never heard of an exclusive-use cart?" Baldy Li asked, then continued proudly: "The jet that Chairman Mao flies in is his exclusive-use jet, the train compartment that Chairman Mao travels in is his exclusive-use compartment, and the car that Chairman Mao rides in is his exclusive-use sedan. Why? Because no one else can use them. My mom's cart is her exclusive-use cart. Why? Because no one else can ride in it."
Everyone broke out into knowing laughter, and even Li Lan couldn't help but laugh out loud. With myriad emotions Li Lan watched as her son proudly pulled her exclusive-use cart through the streets. This son, who had once shamed her as deeply as her first husband, Liu Shan-feng, now filled her with a pride akin to what she had felt with Song Fanping.
The women in Liu Town thought that Li Lan's cart resembled a wedding sedan. Giggling nonstop, they called out to Li Lan, "Are you getting married off today?"
"No, no," Li Lan replied, blushing. "I'm going down to the countryside to sweep my husband's grave."
Baldy Li pulled Li Lan's exclusive-use cart out the southern gate. When she heard the creaking of the wheels, Li Lan guessed that they had just gone over the wooden bridge and were now bumping along down the dirt road. She could smell the country air as a fresh spring breeze wafted past her; she raised herself, holding on to the umbrella pole, and looked out to a field of golden greens glistening in the sun. She watched the winding paths that framed each paddy, the various details of houses and trees at a distance, the ducks flying over the nearby pond and their reflection in the water, together with the sparrows flying by the road. This was the last trip that Li Lan would take along this dirt road; despite its bumpiness, she fully enjoyed the beautiful spring day while riding along on the cart.
Li Lan looked down at her son pulling the cart with all his strength. Baldy Li was now bent over and constantly wiping the sweat from his brows. Feeling sorry for him, she urged him to take a rest, but Baldy Li shook his head and replied that he wasn't tired. Li Lan tried to get him to pause and drink from the drip bottle, but he again shook his head. "That glucose water is nutrition for you."
When she saw how good her son was to her, Li Lan wept tears of joy. Sobbing, she said, "Good son, please, I'm begging you, take a rest and have some water."
Just then Baldy Li caught sight of Song Gang in the distance, standing at the entrance to the village. He saw that Song Gang's grandfather was seated on the ground and leaning against the tree. Every year at Qingming, Song Gang and his grandfather would wait at the village entrance for their arrival. Song Gang spotted a very odd cart coming toward him, but he didn't dream that it would be Baldy Li pulling Li Lan. When Baldy Li saw Song Gang, his bent-over body straightened out a bit and he broke into a run, jostling Li Lan back and forth. Baldy Li yelled out at the top of his lungs, "Song Gang! Song Gang!"
When Song Gang heard Baldy Li's cries, he ran toward them, arms waving, and shouting, "Baldy Li! Baldy Li!"
CHAPTER 26
UPON RETURNING from her trip to Song Fanping's grave, Li Lan lay down on her bed to think things over. She felt that she had completed all the necessary preparations, and so the next day she could check into the hospital without worries. As she had expected, her illness became much graver once she arrived in the hospital, and it became clear that she would never check out again. Within two months, she was reduced to voiding her bladder through a catheter, ran an unabated high fever, and spent most of her days asleep.
As Li Lan s condition deteriorated Baldy Li stopped going to school and instead began spending every day at her bedside. Deep into the night, each time Li Lan woke from her stupor she would see her son asleep next to her, head leaning against the bed railing. Weeping, she would muster the energy to urge him to go home and rest.
When Li Lan felt that the end was approaching, she began to desperately miss her other son. She asked Baldy Li to lean over, and, with a voice as weak and soft as a mosquito's buzz, she asked him again and again to bring Song Gang back from the countryside.
The road to the countryside was long, and it would take at least half a day to get there and back. Baldy Li set off to fetch Song Gang but, worried about his mother in the hospital needing his care, paused at the wooden bridge outside the southern gate. He waited on the bridge for two hours, and whenever he spotted a peasant leaving through the gate, he would ask him what village he was from. He asked more than a dozen people but didn't find anyone from Song Gang's village. Finally an old man with a hog approached. By that point Baldy Li had pretty much given up hope and was preparing to run like a marathoner all the way to the countryside. When the old man replied that he was from Song Gang's village, Baldy Li leapt down from the bridge railing and almost gave the man a hug. Shouting, he asked the man to send word to Song Gang urging him to rush to town. "It's an emergency. Tell him to come find Baldy Li."
It was dawn by the time Song Gang arrived. Baldy Li had spent another night at the hospital and had just gotten home and fallen asleep when Song Gang knocked on the door. Drowsily, Baldy Li opened the door, and Song Gang, who by this time was a head taller than he, nervously asked, "What's going on?"
Baldy Li rubbed his eyes. "Mama doesn't have much longer and wants to see you. Quick, go to the hospital."
Song Gang burst into tears, and Baldy Li said, "Don't cry now, just get going. I'll sleep a bit more and then come join you."