A Bookmark in Hand, Lotus Breeze in My Heart

Su Yan, a part-time clerk at the “Qingtang Bookshop” at the end of the lane, was a handsome, delicate young man who seemed to have stepped out of an ink-wash painting. When turning pages, he gently pressed a fingertip against the spine to keep it from creasing. When customers complimented his voice, his ears turned pink and he lowered his head with a shy smile. Even when watering the mint on the windowsill, he crouched and poured carefully between the leaves, afraid a drop might splash onto the old letter lying open beside them. His days were so quiet he could hear a pen nib glide across paper. Then, one afternoon in early summer, just after his twentieth birthday, everything suddenly went “off script.” While tidying a Republican-era edition of “Shuyu's Lyrics,” a bamboo bookmark slipped from between the pages. It was engraved with the words “Lotus breeze crosses the moon; the moon seeks you.” The instant his fingertips touched the carving, a breeze carrying the scent of lotus flowers rushed in through the window, sending the thread-bound books on the top shelf tumbling down with a clatter. He hurried to catch them, only to collide with a girl carrying a woven basket. Her name was Lin Wanhe, and the mung bean cakes in her basket spilled all over his shirt. Amid the sweet, sticky fragrance, a neatly folded note fluttered out. It read, “Whoever finds the bamboo bookmark must eat thirty kinds of sweet cakes with me.” From then on, Su Yan's life turned into a completely absurd little comedy. Every morning, fresh ink appeared on the bamboo bookmark. Sometimes it read, “Wear an ivory shirt today, and you'll catch a hydrangea blown loose by the wind.” Other times it said, “Go to the lane entrance for tofu pudding, and you'll meet an orange cat wearing a tiny bell.” And Lin Wanhe became the owner of “Lotus Breeze General Store,” next door to the bookshop. By day, she sold ceramic cups that hummed little tunes and notebooks that could record the evening glow. At night, she squatted outside her shop discussing with the cats whether the moon looked round tonight. And she was always using “making up for the spilled cakes” as an excuse to drag him along...