84 | Farewell, Compound
I’m worried that if Gu Mingxi returns, he won’t be able to find me.
Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) 2005, while everyone was immersed in the New Year’s celebrations, a thing (lit. something neither big nor small) happened at the Golden Compound.
Although Old Zeng was nearly 80 years old, head full of white hair, teeth all fallen out, he was still very healthy. Over the past twenty years, the residents of the compound had changed time and time again, but he happily and leisurely remained in his guard house on his own. But just a few days before the Spring Festival, he collapsed.
The ambulance arrived quickly, but he’d already stopped breathing. Old Zeng had been a solitary old man, relying on the metals company to live all his life. There weren’t many old employees of the metals company still around though. The warmhearted Pang Shuisheng acted as the person in charge and made the funeral arrangements for Old Zeng.
The funeral diluted the festiveness of the New Year celebrations. Every time Pang Shuisheng left the compound and looked at the locked up guard’s room, his heard felt a kind of sadness.
Everyone said that now that Old Zeng, who’d been guarding the Golden Compound for the past twenty something years, was gone, it signified that the compound had finally reached the end of its line. Sometimes, there were things that were just so incredible. After the Spring Festival, news came about transferring deeds for the residents. Pang Shuisheng told Pang Qian that a developer had reached an agreement with the metals company, and they were going to build a shopping center there. They were going to demolish the place soon.
Originally, Pang Qian wasn’t concerned about the compensation. But Pang Shuisheng said she’d grown up and was studying finance, so she should partic.i.p.ate in the family discussion.
Most of the original tenants decided to leave and then return after construction. The developers said they would also build a residential place for them to return to, or they could take a sum of money. Pang Qian carefully went over the doc.u.ments from the development company, and realized that, although the new residences would be a bit larger, since they were more than twenty stories high, the value of a new house would be less(?). She boldly told her father her concerns and suggested not taking the house, but just taking the money.
Jin Ai’hua was against this proposal, but Pang Shuisheng agreed with his daughter. Their current home couldn’t be considered small, but neither was it large. If the chance came, of course they should get a bigger house.
And so, Pang Shuisheng accepted the 550 thousand compensation. A lot of people called him a fool, and Pang Shuisheng didn’t explain to them. He just clenched his teeth and bought a new house in the center of the city, in the Prosperous North neighborhood. It was 109 sqm and cost 760 thousand, and he put down a 100 thousand mortgage.
Since the new place couldn’t be given to them yet, Pang Shuisheng and his family rented out a place for the meantime. All the residents of the Golden Compound trickled out and moved away, and all the old enmity between old neighbors gradually eased up.
Zhong Xiaolian sought out Jin Ai’hua. Zhong Xiaolian had already retired, while Jin Ai’hua was still three years short of retirment. They stood at the entrance to the building as they talked about their more than twenty years at this place. In the end, they landed on the topic of Li Han.
“Ah Han was a good person,” Zhong Xiaolian said. “And Gu Mingxi, he was a really good kid. I can’t do anything about having a son. But if I had a daughter, I would have definitely made him my son-in-law.”
Jin Ai’hua, “…”
When they moved, Pang Qian packed up all her things. She was born in the compound and she’d grown up there. That small room was filled with her twenty years of memories.
If she didn’t need to pack, she wouldn’t have known. But after she packed, she realized how many things Gu Mingxi had given her. Expensive things, things not worth money, big and small… In nearly every drawer, she found something that brought back memories of him.
She found a large paper box and put all of the comics Gu Mingxi had given to her on the bottom. Then she put in the rest of the things, one by one. She threw away a lot of her own things, but all the gifts Gu Mingxi sent her, even the rough greeting card he’d made in primary school, were carefully packed into that box.
Pang Qian said to Pang Shuisheng, “Dad, can we keep our phone number even if we move houses? I’m worried that if Gu Mingxi returns, he won’t be able to find me.”
Pang Shuisheng pat his daughter’s head and said, “I know. I won’t change the number.”
In April 2005, Pang Shuisheng took his wife and daughter and moved out of the Golden Compound. It was different for them, because unlike the other residents who would return here, they wouldn’t be coming back.
When they were leaving, Pang Shuisheng stood outside his front door and looked over at Apt. 502. Li Han and Gu Mingxi likely left because of Gu Guoxiang. Their apartment was empty. Pang Shuisheng had the spare keys to Apt. 502, but Pang Qian had never gone into it.
There once was a boy who leaned against that door frame, watching and smiling at her. It was a scene, a moment that would never come again.
While Pang Shuisheng was buying a new house, Gu Mingxi was worried about another problem.
After Li Han’s relapse, she started a new round of chemotherapy in preparation for a second surgery after the start of the new year.
The painful chemotherapy and cancer relapse dealt a blow to Li Han’s enthusiasm for treatment. Her spirit suffered heavily, and her physical condition was worsening. She lost a large amount of hair, her face was jaundiced, her eyes muddy, her stomach bloated, and she couldn’t sleep at night. Because of the pain, she sometimes couldn’t stop from yelling out. Gu Mingxi kneeled down beside her and comforted her in soft whispers. He spoke to her and they would finally get through each nigh.
The treatment fees were like water, all flowing out and away. Each month, they had to pay 30 or 40 thousand out of their own pocket. Gu Mingxi was faced with a tremendous amount of pressure. He stopped listening to Li Chun and Li Mu’s ideas. Their ears were soft and easily susceptible. Whenever they heard about some new medicine being good, they immediately wanted to get it for Li Han. Whenever they heard about a doctor being good or successful, they wanted to take Li Han to see them. Gu Mingxi realized that the amount of money they had remaining wasn’t enough to sustain such blind treatments, so he took over managing their finances.
That Spring Festival, Gu Mingxi and Li Han returned to Z City and had dinner at Li Mu’s new house. In front of the elders, Li Mu and Li Chun threw some veiled criticisms over at Gu Mingxi. Their tone insinuated that Gu Mingxi didn’t do his best to get treatment for Li Han. He was holding onto the money too tightly, probably because he was afraid that they’d use all the money for treatment.
Li Chun said, “Mingxi, this is your mom, your only mother. Even if you have to sacrifice everything else, you have to keep treating her. What are you afraid of? Your mom still has a house. It’s worth 300 thousand.”
Li Mu said, “Moreover, if there’s not enough money, you can ask your dad. Asking him for 200 thousand isn’t hard. He’s a big boss. If they ask him to do something, they have to send thousands his way each time.”
Before Gu Mingxi could say anything, Li Han already spoke. “I’m not selling my house. I’m leaving it for Mingxi. If the day comes that I don’t have the money to keep getting treated and have to sell my house, I’ll just go jump off a building first.”
Gu Mingxi’s expression immediately changed. “Mom!”
Li Han let out a sigh and looked at him sorrowfully. “I’m useless. I don’t have anything left to give you except for this house. If one day when I’m gone, you don’t even have this house, what are you going to do?”
