by Eileen Chang
Mr Mi wrapped the scarf round his neck and said with a smile, ‘We really should go. Thank you for the tea and snacks.’
They said goodbye and walked out to the alley. Under the sheltered walkway someone had set a small stove on a patch of dry pavement. It was smoking and crackling like something alive. In the empty alley one could easily have mistaken it for a dog, or even a child.
They walked out of the alley on to the road. There were few pedestrians and it felt like early morning. Most of the buildings in this area had pale yellow walls, now black and mouldy because of the damp. Parasol trees lined the road, their yellow leaves looking exactly like flowers blossoming in the spring. Against the dark grey walls, the small yellow trees looked particularly brilliant. The leaves at the top waved in the wind and then took off, drawing an arc in the air before overtaking the two of them. Even after the leaves touched ground they drifted a long way off.
In this world, all relationships are frayed and patched up. Still, on their way home Dunfeng and Mr Mi loved each other. Walking on the fallen leaves that so much resembled fallen petals, Dunfeng reminded herself to tell him about the macaw when they walked past the post office.
Translated by Eva Hung
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Foreword
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN CLASSICS
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This collection first published in Penguin Classics 2007
This edition first published by Penguin Classics 2012
Copyright © by the Estate of Eileen Chang, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1979
Translations of ‘Traces of Love’ first published in Renditions, No. 45 (Spring 1996), copyright © The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000
The moral right of the translators and editor has been asserted
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-0-718-19631-8
Traces of Love
* Translator’s Note: Now Xikang Road in Shanghai. The road first came into being in 1899. Locals still refer to it as Xiaoshadu Road.
* Translator’s Note: A widely advertised anti-syphilis drug. 126