Fourth Idiot said, ‘I want to sleep with that cow.’
Stone You said, ‘He was also chasing the chickens and ducks in the village.’
Fourth Wife You asked, ‘Did the chickens and ducks ever bother you?’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘I want to sleep with the chickens and ducks, and have a baby with them.’
As he was saying this, wave after wave of the new bride’s cries swept toward them, pushing the setting sun’s last rays back over the mountain. In the end, a final bloody scream rent the sky, and the sun disappeared in silence. The village immediately fell quiet, and there wasn’t the lightest breath of sound. It was as if the woman about to give birth had fallen asleep, or had passed out from the pain. The entire world had fallen quiet.
Fourth Wife You asked, ‘Fourth Idiot, why do you want to have a baby?’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘I want to have a baby so that it can cry for milk.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘If mother really does find you a wife, will you be able to give her a baby?’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘If Ma finds me a wife to hold while I sleep, I’ll give Ma a baby, and also make her a black coffin.’
Stone You turned pale.
Fourth Wife You said, ‘Do you want me to find you a wholer wife?’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘I’ll make Ma a coffin out of cypress wood.’
Stone You stared at Fourth Idiot and stamped his foot.
Fourth Wife You said, ‘A wholer wife, and a pretty one, too?’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘I’ll make the coffin from cypress wood, one inch thick.’
Stone You turned completely white and kept stamping his foot in front of Fourth Idiot.
Fourth Wife You continued asking questions, and each time she heard Fourth Idiot’s answers, her face would lighten. Eventually, she looked as peaceful as a bowl of water tucked beneath a wall so that it is never touched by the wind. In the entranceway a woman walked forward quickly. She said, ‘Third Auntie, can you guess what she gave birth to? It’s a boy! Quick, bring your family’s scale. People say that if you hang your scale outside your door for three days, then when the boy grows up and finds a wife, he will end up with the beautiful daughter of the county mayor. Fourth Wife You agreed, and the other woman departed, leaving the You Family courtyard as quiet as the rest of the village. In the mountains, this period just before sunset was the quietest moment of the day, like a cloud fading in the distance. Stone You stamped his feet in front of Fourth Wife You and screamed, ‘You must beat Fourth Idiot. Slap him! If you don’t, he’ll just get stupider, and will keep flying in the face of Heaven and Earth.’ But Fourth Wife You ignored him. Instead, she pushed Fourth Idiot away from her and stared at him for a long time. She saw that he had a clown-like smile on his face, as though Fourth Wife You really was about to find him a wife – as though his new wife was about to appear before him.
The woman who wanted to borrow a scale returned. The banging of the scale’s chain and weight sounded like music as she came nearer.
Fourth Wife You said, ‘Fourth Idiot, repeat to mother what you just said.’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘If Ma finds me a pretty wife, I’ll give her a baby boy, and also make her a coffin from cypress wood.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘The coffin should be made without any cracks, so that my bones won’t decay for decades.’ She added, ‘There is something else – tomorrow mother will prepare some packages, and you should take one to the families of your eldest and third sisters.’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘What am I taking them? The road to their homes is as long as the sky is high.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘If you deliver the packages, I’ll make you a fried bun.’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘I want five fried buns.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘Then I’ll fry five of them.’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘Use extra oil, and also some scallion blossoms.’
Fourth Wife You said, ‘I’ll use all of the oil we have left in the barrel.’
Fourth Idiot said, ‘After I finish eating I’ll go to sleep and won’t go anywhere.’
Fourth Wife You paused in surprise and stared at Fourth Idiot’s face as though it were a wooden board. A pre-dusk glimmer of sunlight shone down, and Fourth Wife You hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and re-emerged. She held it up in front of Fourth Idiot and said with severity, ‘What am I making you the buns for?’
Fourth Idiot turned pale, and his pupils shrunk until his eyes appeared almost entirely white. He stepped back several paces, saliva dribbling from his trembling lips. He said, ‘Ma, don’t chop me. Let me make you a cypress-wood coffin without any cracks. Then I’ll take the two packages to my sisters’ families.’
Fourth Wife You threw the cleaver down next to a whetstone in the kitchen doorway, and said, ‘Fourth Idiot, don’t be afraid. Mother is going to fry you some buns.’
The white receded from Fourth Idiot’s eyes and he licked the saliva from his face while watching his mother.
Fourth Wife You turned and headed into the house. After a while, she walked into the kitchen carrying a grain jar with a broken mouth and a barrel full of used oil. She began kneading the dough, and proceeded to dump all of the grain onto the table, whereupon she broke open the bottom of the jar by smashing it against the table. After removing all of the remaining grain, she threw the broken jar to the ground. The sky was almost black by this point, and the village was once again filled with the sound of people walking back and forth. These were men who, after eating, would congregate in the entrance of the village to chat. The women were still at home washing up after dinner, and the bright clinking of dishes circulated through the night. Fourth Wife You lit a lamp, and as she was kneading the dough, her face became covered in white flour. At this point Stone You walked in, stood in front of her, and said, ‘If you eat all of the grain you borrowed, what are you going to have tomorrow?’ She didn’t see him, nor did she answer. The dough in the bowl was a little stiff, so she got two handfuls of water from the water basin. Stone You said, ‘Something seems to be on your mind. What happened today?’ She placed the dough on the table and spread it out, then dumped out all of the oil in the barrel. She rubbed the inside of the barrel with some dough to remove all of the remaining oil. When the inside of the barrel was finally so clean you could see your reflection in it, she threw the barrel to the ground next to the broken grain jar. She added a pinch of salt to the dough, then another. She hesitated a moment, then added an entire fistful of salt. Stone You cried out, ‘You’re making it too salty! Do you want Fourth Idiot to die of thirst after he eats it?’ Fourth Wife You still didn’t answer, and instead glanced at Stone You and proceeded to dump all of the remaining salt onto the dough. She was about to throw the salt bucket under the table as well, but hesitated. She turned it upside down and looked at it, saw that there were two cracks in the side, then tossed it aside.
Stone You said, ‘Do you want to die? I don’t think you want to live. But if you die, how is Fourth Idiot going to survive?’
Fourth Wife You took some scallions from under the table and peeled them. Without even washing them, she chopped them up and sprinkled them over the dough. Then she squeezed the dough into a spiral and cut it into five portions. As she was doing so, some grains of salt rolled off like peas, and she scooped them up and placed them back on the dough. When she finished, she slowly lifted her head and looked up at Stone You as though seeing someone she didn’t recognise. At this point she appeared very calm and full of kindness. A warm glow radiated from her face. The night was as endless as the sky, and a mysterious sound from the fields crept inexorably into the You family courtyard. When Fourth Wife You heard this sound, she dropped her gaze from Stone You’s face, so thin and indistinct as to almost not be there, and looked at the one leg Stone You had left, after she had boiled the other for Second Daughter. She told Stone You quietly,