Traces of Love Read online

  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

  Other stories available in this ebook series

  Kingsley Amis

  All the Blood Within Me

  Donald Barthelme

  I Bought a Little City

  Donald Barthelme

  The Glass Mountain

  Paul Bowles

  A Distant Episode

  Paul Bowles

  The Circular Valley

  Eileen Chang

  Traces of Love

  Robert Coover

  The Babysitter

  Isak Dinesen

  The Invincible Slave-Owners

  Shirley Jackson

  The Witch

  Shirley Jackson

  The Intoxicated

  Vladimir Nabokov

  Spring in Fialta

  Vladimir Nabokov

  The Doorbell

  Varlan Shalamov

  Shock Therapy

  Varlam Shalamov

  Condensed Milk

  John Steinbeck

  The Chrysanthemums

  John Steinbeck

  Saint Katy the Virgin

  John Updike

  Foreword

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin...

  Follow the Penguin Twitter.com@penguinukbooks

  Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube.com/penguinbooks

  Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your Pinterest

  Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook.com/penguinbooks

  Find out more about the author and

  discover more stories like this at Penguin.co.uk

  PENGUIN CLASSICS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Block D, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Gauteng 2193, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  www.penguin.com

  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