A Strange Encounter
Mo Yan
In the fall of 1982, I came back to Gaomi Northeast Township from Baoding Prefecture to visit my family. The train was late, so it was already past nine in the evening when the shuttle arrived at the Gaomi Bus Depot. There's only one bus through the township each day, and I'd have to wait until six in the morning. I looked up and saw a third-quarter moon hanging in the sky. It was clear and bright, and I decided to take advantage of it and walk home rather than getting a room in town. That way I'd see my parents sooner, and also get a breath of fresh air in the open fields.
I only had a small bag with me for this trip home, so I could walk quickly. I didn't take the asphalt road after going through the tunnel under the train tracks because it turns off at a right angle and is much farther. I went up through the bent-over thistles to the dirt road that had been abandoned years ago, which cuts off at an angle towards Gaomi Northeast Township. The dirt road had been dug up in several places in recent years, so not many people walked that way and the road surface was covered with weeds and brush. There was just a trace of a trail down the middle, trampled down by people.
Crops were growing on both sides of the road: sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes and more. The moon shining on the crop leaves made them glisten with a faint silvery light. There was almost no wind, so all the foliage was motionless. The chirping of grasshoppers came up from under the crops, very loud, and seemed to penetrate my flesh and bones. The grasshoppers' cries made the moonlit night seem particularly lonely.