Silence—About Su Nan

When Su Nan was eleven years old, she realized she was different from everyone else.

She hardly followed new trends, didn’t like listening to music, and didn’t discuss with her peers the challenges their generation was facing.

She spent a year trying to build up her interest in these things, but in the end, she failed and had to face the truth. The redundant information this society produced had evolved into consumable media, which was all meaningless noise to her.

This was certainly undesirable for a teenager. Su Nan could hardly make any friends because she had nothing in common with them. 

It was at that age that she began searching for her own happiness.

She simply wanted to know whether there was anything that could interest her and give her a sense of belonging.

This process lasted for about three years. When Su Nan hit puberty at fourteen, the “content” contained in her figure was surprisingly rich. This exacerbated her pain because more and more people around her—including both men and women— seemed to like her. The more this occurred, the more she became disappointed with the world.

“The world’s been reconstructed into one that’s easy to understand and easy to use. The challenges that people often encounter have all been resolved by the rapid developments that have taken place over several centuries. Humans now lack problems. They need questions that are hard to solve. It’s why we’re grateful for things like energy crises, AIDS, and global warming, which are difficult to overcome. There aren’t many problems like this, but they do manage to unite us humans.”

One day when she was fifteen, she was smoking on the street. There was an eight-year-old boy who was also smoking on the street corner. Su Nan was wearing a T-shirt that had the words “Global Warming” printed on it, which the boy said to her.

Children these days could easily recall concepts they had learned from all kinds of documentaries. They probably didn’t understand them, but when the issues were discussed, they could recite the whole story. Su Nan thought about it, but ultimately decided not to pay any attention to this eight-year-old boy.

She pinched out the child’s cigarette and took the rest of the pack from his pants pocket.

The boy smiled. His smile was like that of someone who was almost forty.

Su Nan saw this smile again on Wu Xie years later. 

When Su Nan came out of cram school (1) that night, she found two fingers inside the child’s cigarette pack. They were two very long fingers. 

Su Nan immediately called the police, but she was so terrified that she was incoherent. It was the Qixi Festival (2) that night, so the streets were crowded. Su Nan threw the pack of cigarettes away and dialed 110 (3) with her Nokia phone. Soon, the police arrived. 

The policeman had his hat pressed low over his face and he appeared to be a little hunchbacked. Su Nan could still clearly remember that the policeman from that night was pale and very young.

His fingers were very long and as he carefully examined the pack of cigarettes, Su Nan felt that the fingers inside might belong to him.

The policeman asked Su Nan some questions, recorded her information, and then gave her a ride to the police station. Su Nan smoked the policeman’s cigarette in the car as she looked at the Qixi Festival passing by outside. She remembered it clearly even now. That eight-year-old boy from before was smoking a cigarette as he passed through the crowd. Su Nan could see that he was wearing a T-shirt that read: Under the Seat.

The little boy pointed to his shirt and Su Nan somehow got the hint. She reached under the seat and felt a small hand, which handed her a can of Coke.

Su Nan held the Coke in her hand, completely stunned. She turned her head and looked out the window. The Qixi Festival crowd was blocking the car, but she could still see the little boy in the crowd make a move like he was opening the Coke.

Su Nan glanced at the policeman, who turned to look at her. Ever since that moment, Su Nan’s life completely changed. 

<Master Black Glasses Sequel: Wu Xie’s Island Adventure 8><Table of Contents><Extra: The Tenant>

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TN Notes:

(1) They’re schools that offer supplementary classes, often in preparation for key school and university entrance exams. Students usually go to cram school after regular school lets out.

(2) It’s Chinese Valentine’s Day. Takes place on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month. More info here.

(3) It’s basically 911 in China (but for police only). FYI: In China, you have to dial 110 for police, 112 for an ambulance, 119 for firefighters.

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Note: Su Nan is a character from the “Sand Sea” drama. She doesn’t appear in the novel at all.

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Translated by: Yvette
Edited by: merebear226

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