The Pawnshop
Xiao Hong

"You go and do the pawning! You go, but not me!"

"Ok, I go. I wouldn't mind. I'm not afraid at all. I don't seeanything wrong about it."

Thus, my newly-made cotton-padded gown, which had not been worn evenonce, accompanied me to the pawnshop. At the door of the pawnshop I hesitatedfor a while, recalling the asking price suggested by Lang Hua when I lefthome-"Nothing less than two Yuan."

I stood on tiptoe, face upward and back straightened, to hand thecloth-wrapped bundle onto the counter. How strange the pawnbroker should haveput up a counter so forbiddingly high!

A man in a skullcap turned the gown over and over to examine it.Before he could open his mouth, I said, "Two Yuan."

He must have thought me too unreasonable, for he rolled up the gownwithout even taking a look at me. Impatience was written all over his face asif he were about to throw the bundle onto my head.

"If two yuan won't do, then how much?"

"We won't take it for anything," said he, shaking hislongish watermelon-shaped head, the decorative red bead on top of his skullcapswaying.

I was aware that he was out to make things difficult for me.Therefore, bold and confident, I reached out my hand for the bundle. But, justas I had been doubly sure, he simply wouldn't let go of it.

"Fifty cents! The sleeves are too tight. The gown won't fetchmuch…"

"I won't pawn it," said I.

"Well, how about one yuan?...Can't give you any more. That'sfinal." He leaned back a little bit, his bulging paunch concealed behindthe high counter…Meanwhile, to signal "one yuan", he gestured with afinger raised as high as his temples.

Armed with a one-dollar note and a pawn ticket, I, unhappy as I was,walked with a light step and felt like one of the rich. I visited the foodmarket and the grain shop. I did not tire of carrying an armful of purchases.My hands ached with cold, but this was as it should be. I felt no pity forthem. It was their bounden duty to wait on me-even at the cost of sufferingfrostbite. I also bought ten steamed stuffed buns at a pastry shop. I was proudof my shopping. Again and again I felt so thrilled that I completely forgot allthe pain in my frostbitten hands. When I saw an old beggar by the roadside, Istopped to give him a copper coin. Why, if I had food to eat, he certainly hadno reason to go hungry! But I couldn't afford to give him more, for I neededthe rest of the money for keeping my own body and soul together! Before Iwalked on again, I put my hand on the pawn ticket in my pocket to make surethat it was still there. By then, the pain in my hands had become the onlything I was conscious of. So I was anxious to be home again. My back sweated,my legs felt like jelly, my eyes stung. At the gate of my home, it suddenlyoccurred to me that this was the first time I had ever been out to town since Imoved here and that accounted for my legs feeling so weak and my eyes being soshy of light.

On entering the courtyard, I touched the pawn ticket again. Lang Huawas still lying on the bed with the same aversion to a pawnshop. I wonder whatwas now in his mind. The moment I produced the buns, he jumped up from his bed,

"I'm so hungry. I've been long waiting for you to comeback."

It was not until he had gulped down more than half of the buns thathe began to question me closely, "How much did you pawn it for? Did theycheat you?"

I showed him the pawn ticket and he eyed the pitifully small sumscratched on it.

"Only one Yuan? Too little!"

True, the money was too little, but the buns were good to eat, sothat all's well that ended well. One after another vanished the buns into hiscavernous mouths-a mouth that looked even bigger than a bun.