Short story writer Hu Yuesheng offers a modern update on the wuxia novel
Bai Mei was cooking in the kitchen. There was something not quite ordinary about her technique. She chopped scallions while she heated the sesame oil, waiting for the moment it sizzled to give the wok a vigorous shake. At the same time, she threw a handful of chopped scallions in the air. Each green ringlet met a drop of oil in the air, where it fried for two seconds before falling into the porcelain bowl Bai Mei had ready in her hands, brimming with noodles and seasoning.
The hot oil created a watery mist on the cold noodles. By the time she covered it with a poached egg and brought it to Mr. Qi, they were no longer hot enough to burn the mouth.
Mr Qi glanced at the poached egg, frowned, and scolded, “I did not order an egg with my meal, Bai Mei.”
Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, in 1992, Hu Yuesheng works as an urban and rural planner by day. She describes herself as loving the city, the countryside, and the people who live on this land. Hu writes short stories and draws comics, and has since published two short story collections, Goodbye, Jianghu (《再见江湖》) and A Flash Back of How We Got Married (《关于结婚的一场倒叙》), on the digital publishing platform Douban.
Translated By
Ana Padilla Fornieles is a Spanish translator, writer and creative currently based in Beijing, where she is part of Spittoon International Arts Collective and a regular contributor to The Beijinger. You can find her prose and poetry featured in The Shanghai Literary Review, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, Womanhood, Sledgehammer and more. Her comics and linocut prints have appeared in Shaving in the Dark, F*EMS and Celestite Poetry. Her literary translation work has been published or is forthcoming with a series of publishing houses and magazines, such as Penguin, De Gruyter, Spittoon Magazine and Books from Taiwan.
