The grandfather was now as light as a bundle of kindling on Song Gangs back. Every night after returning home from the village, Song Gang would lay his grandfather down and find him as still as death. The next day, however, the old man's eyes would open again at the crack of dawn, the life inside still flickering. Day after day, he looked as if he were already dead when in fact he was still holding on, though he no longer had the energy to speak or even to smile. One evening as Song Gang and his grandfather were standing under the elm tree next to Song Fanping and Li Lan s graves, the old man's appointed time finally arrived. Song Gang couldn't see that his grandfather was smiling behind him but heard him whispering softly in his ear: "Ah, the end of bitter days."
With this, the old landlord's head dropped onto Song Gang's shoulder and lay there motionless, as if he were asleep. Song Gang, his grandfather still on his back, gazed at the road leading to Liu Town as it gradually became more indistinct in the encroaching darkness, and eventually he turned and walked back into the village under the light of the moon. As he walked Song Gang felt his grandfathers head on his shoulder rocking back and forth in time with his footsteps. Upon returning home, Song Gang carefully put his grandfather to bed and tucked him in as usual. That night, the old landlord opened his eyes twice, trying to catch a glimpse of his grandson, but all he could see was silence and darkness. After that his eyes never opened again.
Song Gang got out of bed the next morning without realizing that his grandfather had passed away, nor did he realize it that entire day. It was not at all uncommon for the old landlord to lie in bed without eating or drinking or even appearing to breathe, so Song Gang didn't think twice about it. At dusk he picked up his grandfather as usual but noticed that his body had become stiff, and as he walked out the door his grandfathers head slid off Song Gang s shoulder. Song Gang quickly reached back to reposition the head and continued walking past each of the houses in the village. The whole time his grandfathers head swung in time with his footsteps, a pendulous weight on his shoulders. It slid down several more times as they approached the entrance to the village, until finally Song Gang felt the chill of his grandfathers face when he reached behind to right the head. Song Gang paused under an elm tree and placed a finger under his grandfathers nostrils but did not feel any breath; instead, he felt his own finger grow cold, and it finally sank in that his grandfather had died.
The next morning the villagers saw Song Gang hunched over, supporting his dead grandfather on his back with his left arm and carrying a straw mat and an iron shovel under his right. He stopped at one house after another, announcing bleakly, "Grandfather has died."
Several of the old landlord s poor relatives followed Song Gang to the village entrance to help him spread out the mats; they were joined by other villagers. Song Gang carefully lowered his grandfather onto the mat as if he were laying him down in bed. Several relatives helped roll up the mat, then wound three loops of heavy twine around the bundle. This would serve as the old landlords coffin. A few men from the village helped to dig a grave, and Song Gang carried the bundle containing his grandfather over to the grave and knelt down beside it. He placed his grandfather inside, stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes, then started filling the grave. Watching the now solitary Song Gang, the women from the village couldn't help shedding tears. The old landlord was buried next to Song Fanping and Li Lan. For fourteen days Song Gang wore a hemp shirt in mourning, and at the conclusion of his second seven-day mourning cycle, he packed his things, leaving the shack and the few pieces of furniture to his relatives. Someone happened to be going into town, so Song Gang asked him to relay a message to Baldy Li: Song Gang was coming home.
Song Gang was awake by four the next morning, and when he opened his door, he saw that the sky was still full of stars. Remembering that he was about to see Baldy Li, he hurriedly shut the door and set off for the village entrance. When he got there, he stood for a while in the moonlight, gazing back at the village where he had spent the past ten years and down at Song Fanping and Li Lan s graves as well as the old landlords freshly dug one. Then he set out on the desolate road under the moonlight, heading toward the sleeping town of Liu. Song Gang bid farewell to his grandfather, upon whom he had depended for the preceding ten years, and left to resume his life with Baldy Li.
At dawn Song Gang entered Liu Town through the southern gate. Completely covered in dust from the road, he was finally returning home. He was carrying the same travel bag that Li Lan had taken with her to Shanghai when she sought medical treatment there; the same bag she had when, traveling back from Shanghai, she received news of Song Fanpings death; and the bag into which she had stuffed the bundle containing the soil soaked with Song Fanpings blood. And when Song Gang went to the countryside to live with his grandfather, this was the bag that Li Lan used to pack Song Gangs clothing and the White Rabbit candies. Now Song Gang was carrying the bag back again, though all that it now held was a few pieces of old clothing. This constituted the extent of Song Gangs possessions.
Having left Liu Town as a child, Song Gang was returning home a handsome young man. But when he arrived, Baldy Li was not home, because, knowing that Song Gang was returning that day, he had also woken up at four and set off before dawn to have the locksmith make Song Gang a new key. He naturally hadn't expected that Song Gang would set off in the middle of the night and be waiting at their doorstep by dawn. Song Gang stood there with his travel bag for more than two hours while Baldy Li stood on the main street waiting for the locksmith to open his shop. Song Gang was now as tall as his father had been, though not as well built. Instead, he was pale and lean, with a shirt too short and sleeves and pants legs lengthened with patches from different colored fabrics. Song Gang stood patiently in front of the door to their house, waiting for Baldy Li to return home. He passed the travel bag back and forth from one hand to the other, careful not to place it on the ground so that it wouldn't get dirty.
On his way back to the house, Baldy Li spotted Song Gang from far away: this tall brother of his, holding a travel bag and standing blankly at the front door. Baldy Li snuck up on Song Gang from behind and kicked him in the rear. Song Gang staggered for a moment and then heard Baldy Li's laughter. The two brothers proceeded to chase each other around in front of the house for a full half hour, raising a huge cloud of dust in the process. Baldy Li alternated between kicking his feet and swinging his leg as Song Gang hopped and jumped out of the way — all the while holding onto his travel bag. They continued scuffling, Baldy Li attacking like a spear and Song Gang defending himself like a shield. Eventually the brothers collapsed into a hysterical heap, laughing until tears flowed from their eyes and snot from their noses, then both of them doubled up coughing. Finally Baldy Li, gasping for breath, took out the new key and handed it to Song Gang, saying, "Open the door."
Baldy Li and Song Gang were like weeds that, despite having been trampled underfoot, had continued to grow vigorously. Not a single factory was willing to hire the infamous Baldy Li upon his graduation from middle school. However, by that time the Cultural Revolution had concluded; Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Campaign had just begun; and their old benefactor, Tao Qing, was now the deputy director of the county's Civil Affairs Bureau. Tao Qing — recalling Song Fanping's abject death in front of the railway station and how Li Lan, in her gratitude for his help, had kowtowed with such force that her forehead was reduced to a bloody pulp — decided to give Baldy Li a hand up in life. He arranged to have him assigned to the Good Works Factory, which employed only charity cases and which happened to be administered by the Civil Affairs Bureau. Besides Baldy Li, the Good Works Factory had fourteen other employees: two cripples, three idiots, four blind men, and five deaf men. Song Gang's legal place of residence was still Liu Town, so upon his return he was assigned to work in the metal factory, where Success Liu-cum-Writer Liu was now section chief for supplies and marketing.