The Chicken Coop and the Thatched Cottage

Jiang Sansui had been with me since we were kids, like a shadow. I could never figure out who he took after, so he was always crying. The county town was tiny, small enough to cross by electric scooter in half an hour, but it took me my entire youth to understand the little glimmer in his eyes. Later, he went back to his Northeast, and I left too, staying behind in this place.