The 9:40 to Suzhou was almost empty.
Wanqing took the window seat. She had on the dark green sweater under the dark coat. She had her hair in the small low Sunday braid. She had at her right hand the small folded paper cone of mooncakes Mother Plum had — by the Sunday-morning small careful arrangement we had agreed on at the Greenleaf Inn long-table dinner four IRL weeks ago — sold us at her stall on the way to the bus stop.
I sat at the aisle seat with the small canvas bag at my feet. The small canvas bag had in it the small careful Suzhou-cotton-paper notebook with its seven entries; the small careful December-thirteenth chestnut-cone-with-Mrs.-Pan-note that I had not, since the Saturday afternoon at the White Crane corner-window table, opened again; and the small careful pencil-on-Suzhou-cotton-paper signed half of the dual-signed Mei Yulan permanent civic-affiliate arrangement Wanqing had made me a small careful pocket-portfolio of.
Wanqing watched the rice paddies.
At the small Wuxi station break she said, in her ordinary voice: "Cangtian."
I said: "Yes."
She said: "My father is, this Sunday afternoon, going to do the elder-of-the-table acknowledgment. He has, by my mother's small careful relayed message at the small careful Wednesday auntie-network meeting and by his own small careful December-thirteenth-Saturday-evening sitting at the family-flat back-room small bench thinking about it, decided. The acknowledgment is the small careful kind a Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper father gives his daughter's small careful future husband when the small careful kitchen-table sitting-transfer at the husband's mother's flat has, by the auntie-network's small careful Wednesday-meeting-third-row-table count, been confirmed. The acknowledgment will be brief. He will not, in giving it, look at me. He will look at the table. You will, at the small careful giving, hold your eyes at the table too. The looking-at-the-table is the small careful protocol's small careful equality. You and he will, at the small careful giving, be at the small careful equal."
I said: "All right."
She said: "After the acknowledgment my mother will set the small careful Auntie-Wu-mother's late-November oolong pot at the small careful center of the small careful kitchen table. The pot will be the small careful pot Auntie-Wu's mother has been sending to my mother's small careful kitchen since 1990. The four cups will be at the small careful four-place setting. We will drink. The drinking is the small careful sister to the small careful four-sips-of-the-late-November-oolong from your own small careful kitchen-table sitting-transfer last Saturday."
I said: "All right."
She turned back to the window.
Suzhou north at 11:48.
The No. 4 bus three stops to Pingjiang Road. The cobbled lane. Auntie Wu was at the small careful chestnut brazier at the eastern end. She did not, this Sunday, look up. She had, by her own small careful Sunday-protocol, given the small careful look at the small careful Saturday morning yesterday. The small careful Sunday was — by the protocol — the small careful not-looking again.
We turned at the small careful third doorway on the left in the small careful three-lanes-north-of-Ye row. The small careful Su family courtyard was swept. The small camphor at the eastern corner had no leaves left to drop. The small water-jar at the southern wall had a thin small careful December skim of frozen rim.
Mrs. Su was at the kitchen window.
She did the small careful Suzhou-shopkeeper's-wife careful nod.
She said, through the open kitchen window: "Wanqing. Cangtian. Come in. Wash."
In the small careful front room my father-in-law was at the table.
He was at the head chair this Sunday. He had on a small clean white shirt and the small careful Saturdays trousers. His hands were on the table. The small careful long mahogany 2003-hand-down table had, at this small careful Sunday afternoon, four place settings — four small careful porcelain bowls, four small careful pairs of chopsticks, the small careful Auntie-Wu-mother's late-November oolong pot at the small careful center of the table with the small careful four matched small careful porcelain cups arranged at the small careful four-cardinal-points around it.
The pot was steaming.
I sat at the small careful east side. Wanqing sat at the small careful west side. Mrs. Su came in from the kitchen in the small clean grey blouse with the small white apron and sat at the small careful south end of the table opposite my father-in-law at the head.
Mr. Su said: "Cangtian."
I held my eyes at the small careful east edge of the small careful table.
I said: "Mr. Su."
He held his eyes at the small careful center of the small careful table where the small careful pot was.
He said, in the small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper register's small careful elder-of-the-table-acknowledgment cadence: "On the small careful Saturday two weeks and one day ago, your mother — at the small careful Pingjiang-Road kitchen three lanes south of mine — sat at the small careful chair across from you for the small careful four sips of the small careful late-November oolong. By the small careful sitting and the small careful four sips she transferred the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-cadence-line to you. The transfer was — by the small careful Wednesday-meeting-third-row-table count — confirmed."
He paused.
He said: "I am, this Sunday afternoon, acknowledging the transfer at the small careful Su family kitchen table. The acknowledgment is the small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper father's small careful equality with the small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper father whose son has, by his own son's-judgment, become the small careful kind of son a small careful first-pair-third-pair-carrier mother will give the line to. By the small careful equality, my own small careful daughter is — at the small careful sitting at the small careful chair across from you at this small careful table — the small careful co-holder of the line you have been transferred."
He paused.
He said: "The acknowledgment is given. The line is held by the two of you. Mrs. Su and I will, at the small careful next twenty-eight IRL years, hold the small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper-parents'-watching-corner of the small careful holding. The watching-corner is — by the small careful 1972-Pingjiang-Road-protection-protocol — the small careful seat the small careful parents take when the small careful son and the small careful daughter become the small careful holders. We are at it. Drink."
He picked up the small careful porcelain cup at the small careful north-cardinal-point.
He drank.
Mrs. Su picked up the small careful porcelain cup at the small careful south-cardinal-point.
She drank.
I picked up the small careful porcelain cup at the small careful east-cardinal-point.
I drank.
Wanqing picked up the small careful porcelain cup at the small careful west-cardinal-point.
She drank.
The small careful Auntie-Wu-mother's late-November oolong was, at the small careful in-mouth temperature, the small careful late-November oolong of the small careful Sat-Nov-29 kitchen-table sitting-transfer. The small careful taste was — by the small careful 1962-Pingjiang-Road-recipe origin Auntie-Wu's mother and my own grandmother and Mrs. Su's mother had all come up under — the small careful same.
Mr. Su set his cup down at the small careful north-cardinal-point.
He said: "Eat."
Mrs. Su brought the food.
She brought the small careful Suzhou-style braised eel in the small careful brown clay pot the small careful November-first lunch had had. She brought the small careful cold sliced pork with garlic sauce. She brought the small careful stir-fried garlic chives. She brought the small careful cold cucumber. She brought the small careful Auntie-Wu-mother's-recipe pickled radish — the small careful pickled radish Auntie-Wu's mother had been sending to the small careful Su family kitchen on the small careful weeks the radish was ready since 1990.
She gave the first piece of eel to Mr. Su. The second to Wanqing. The third to me. The fourth to herself.
The meal lasted forty-four minutes.
We did not, in the meal, talk. The not-talking was — by the small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper-elder-of-the-table-acknowledgment-Sunday-afternoon convention — the small careful kind of not-talking that the small careful elder-of-the-table-acknowledgment closed the small careful talking-window at. The talking-window would, by the small careful protocol, re-open on the next small careful Saturday at the next small careful Pingjiang-Road-Saturday-meal at either of the two small careful kitchens.
When the meal was over Wanqing stood and started to clear. Mrs. Su said: "Sit down. Cangtian will clear, he has done it since he was eight."
Wanqing sat.
I cleared.
I carried the bowls in the small careful three loads to the kitchen. I set them at the small careful counter beside the small careful sink. I came back. I cleared. I came back. I cleared.
When I had cleared the third load Mr. Su, with Mrs. Su's hand at his small careful weak left elbow, stood from the head chair. He walked, slowly, to the small careful western chair by the front room window. He sat down. He picked up the Suzhou paper.
He did not, the rest of the afternoon, look up.
In the kitchen Mrs. Su did not, this time, put a hand on my forearm. She did, instead, put a small careful folded paper of Suzhou cotton in my left hand at the small careful counter. The small folded paper was — at the small careful counter-render — the small careful cotton-paper, hand-folded to the small careful one-quarter-page size, in the small careful pale-blue cursive of an older woman's hand.
She said: "From Mrs. Pan. Through the small careful Wednesday-meeting third-row table."
I said: "All right."
I put the small folded paper in the small careful inside pocket of my dark jacket.
I went back to the front room.
Wanqing was at the small careful chair beside Sister Xiaoyu — wait, Xiaoyu was not, this Sunday, at the small careful chair. Xiaoyu was at the small careful end-of-fall-term-exam-set on Tuesday and was — by Mrs. Su's small careful relayed Saturday-night-phone-call to my mother — at the small careful Pingjiang-Road auntie-network's small careful Sunday-afternoon study-group at the small careful Number-Eight-Lane teacher's flat. Wanqing was at the small careful chair Xiaoyu would have been at. She had, beside her chair on the small careful side table, the small careful slim 1990s-Suzhou-vendor-press paper-bound novel Mother Plum had been reading at the IRL western fountain bench during the Mei Yulan visit. She had been reading it, by her own small careful Pingjiang-Road-Sunday-afternoon convention, since I had cleared the first load.
She set the novel down.
She said: "We leave at 2:40. The small careful 3:18 train. We will be at Hangzhou north by 6:54. We will, at the small careful western lane intersection by 7:30, walk past it together."
I said: "All right."
We left at 2:40.
Mr. Su at the front room window did not stand. He raised one hand at the small careful glass. He did not say anything. The not-saying was — by the small careful 1992-Pingjiang-Road-kitchen-table-education's small careful holding-protocol — the small careful father's signal that the small careful Sunday acknowledgment had, at the small careful Sunday afternoon, closed cleanly.
Mrs. Su walked to the wooden gate with us.
She said: "Walk safely. Both of you."
She turned. She walked back to the kitchen.
We took the No. 4 bus to Suzhou north at 3:05. We took the 3:18 train. Wanqing took the window seat. She watched the rice paddies in the small careful December afternoon's small careful pale-grey light.
At Wuxi she said, in her ordinary voice: "Cangtian."
I said: "Yes."
She said: "We will, on the small careful Wednesday the seventeenth at four PM, walk into the small careful White Crane corner-window table."
I said: "We will."
She said: "I will, at the small careful adjacent west-window-of-east-window table, sit. I will not, at the small careful naming, intervene. After the small careful naming we will walk back to the dorm-corridor western-lane intersection together."
I said: "All right."
We came into Hangzhou north at 6:54.
We walked the small careful western lane intersection together at 7:30.
She put a hand briefly on the back of my left hand at the wrist — the small one-third-of-a-second elder-of-the-table-toast-acknowledgment gesture.
She walked into the dorm-corridor north entrance.
I walked west to A-7.
In my chest the second voice — *four-month-flat* — was quiet. The first voice — the old counter — said:
*The Su family elder-of-the-table acknowledgment is given. Mr. Su sat at the head. Mrs. Su sat at the south. Wanqing and I drank at the four cardinal points around the small careful Auntie-Wu-mother's late-November oolong pot. The small careful Pingjiang-Road-shopkeeper-parents' watching-corner is taken. The small careful Wednesday at four PM is in three IRL days. The small careful Mrs. Pan note in my inside pocket — Mrs. Su gave it to me at the kitchen counter without explanation. The Wednesday-meeting third-row table relayed it. I will read it at the dorm.*
I lay down at the desk.
I took the small folded paper from the small careful inside pocket.
I unfolded it.
The small folded paper held three lines in the small careful pale-blue cursive of Mrs. Pan's hand:
*Cangtian. The Wednesday at four. Bring the small careful Mei Yulan permanent civic-affiliate arrangement's small careful pencil-signed Bladeless half. I will, at the small careful corner-window table, place the small careful Hangzhou-Six 1968-founding-formation's small careful charter beside it. The small careful two documents will, by the small careful naming-event, sit at the small careful east edge of the small careful round table. — P.*
I read the three lines.
I folded the small paper.
I put it in the small drawer at the back of the desk.
I lay down on the lumpy pillow at 8:14 PM IRL.
I slept.
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