Siheyuan: I'm Jia Dongxu, and I'm Back

Spring, 1965.

Jia Dongxu pushed open the gate of the courtyard house. The door creaked like old bones groaning.

Qin Huairu came out of Silly Zhu's room with an aluminum lunchbox in her hands. Half a piece of braised pork still clung to the bottom. They stared at each other across the courtyard.

The lunchbox clanged to the ground. The meat rolled into a crack between the bricks, splattering grease.

Silly Zhu stood in the doorway, clutching half a steamed bun. Crumbs littered the floor.

Heads poked out all around the courtyard.

Yan Bugui stuck his head out from behind a window in the front courtyard. Second Uncle Liu Haizhong opened his front door a crack. Jia Zhangshi rushed out of the east wing, still clutching a half-finished shoe sole she had been sewing.

"Dongxu?"

Jia Zhangshi's voice sounded as if someone had grabbed her by the throat.

Jia Dongxu didn't answer. He stepped over the lunchbox and walked toward the middle courtyard. His cloth shoes crossed the grease, picking up a layer of it on the soles.

Silly Zhu came out and blocked the middle of the courtyard. He was half a head taller than Jia Dongxu, with shoulders a good deal broader, and he still held the half-eaten bun.

"Dongxu, you..."

Jia Dongxu stopped and looked up at him. He stared for three seconds.

Silly Zhu grew nervous under his gaze and crushed the bun in his hand.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.