so that the mouse jumped onto Little Sixth as if it had a life of its own. The baby screamed with joy; Nini was startled and then laughed.
“What a lucky man I am to have a pair of flower girls here,” Bashi said.
Nini stopped laughing. “What did you say?”
“I said with one trick I made both of you laugh.”
“No, you said something else,” Nini said. “What did you mean?”
Bashi scratched his head. “What did I mean? I don't know.”
“You're lying,” Nini said, and before she knew it, tears came to her eyes. She sounded like the bad-tempered women she saw in the marketplace; she sounded like her own mother, and she was ashamed.
Little Sixth chewed on the tail of the kerchief mouse and watched them with interest. Bashi looked at Nini with concern. “Do you have a stomachache?”
“What ideas do you have about the baby?” Nini said. “I tell you— she's not yours. She'll have the best man in the world.”
“A man even better than I?”
“A hundred times better,” Nini said, though already she was starting to smile. “Don't ever set your heart on Little Sixth.”
“For heaven's sake, she's only a baby!”
“She won't always stay a baby. She'll become a big girl and by then I know you won't like me, because she'll be prettier and younger. Tell me, is that your scheme, to marry me so you will one day get Little Sixth?”
“I swear I've never schemed anything.”
“And when the baby is an older girl—”
“I'm her big brother so of course I'll watch out for her. Pick for her a man a hundred times better than I.”
“Brother-brother,” Little Sixth said, the kerchief still between her teeth.
She did not believe him, Nini said, trying to keep her face straight.
“I'm serious. If not, all the mice of the world will come and nibble me to death, or I will be stung by a scorpion on my tongue and never talk again, or some fish bone will stick in my throat and I will never be able to swallow another grain of rice,” Bashi said. “I swear I only have you in my heart.”
Nini looked at Bashi and saw no trace of humor in his eyes. “Don't swear so harshly,” she said in a soft voice. “I believe you.”
“No, you don't. If only you knew,” Bashi said, and took a deep breath. “Nini, I love you.”
It was the first time he had said love, and they both blushed. “I know. I love you too,” Nini said in a whisper, her arms and legs all in the wrong place, her body a cumbersome burden.
“What? I can't hear you. Say it louder,” Bashi said, with a hand on his ear. “What did you just say?”
Nini smiled. “I said nothing.”
“Ah, how sad. I'm in love with someone in vain.”
“That's not true,” Nini said, louder than she'd intended. Bashi looked at her and shook his head as if in disbelief, and she panicked. Did he misunderstand her? “If I were not telling the truth, the god of lightning would split me in half.”
“Then the goddess of thunder would boom me to death,” Bashi said.
“No, I would die a death a hundred times more painful than you.”
“My death would be a thousand times more painful than yours.”
“I would become your slave in the next life,” Nini said.
“I would become a fly that keeps buzzing around you in the next life until you swat me to death.”
Neither spoke, as if they were each entranced by their desire to demonstrate their willingness to suffer for the other. In the quietness they listened to the baby babbling. Nini wondered what they would become now that they knew how much they desired each other. When Bashi touched her face, it was only natural for his lips to touch hers, and then they let the rest of their bodies drag them down to the bed, onto the floor, without a sound, and they held tight to each other until their bones hurt.
Bashi picked her up and put her on his grandmother's bed. Little Sixth watched and then, when the curtain was drawn, she lost interest. She crawled on Bashi's bed, from one end to the other, exploring the new territory, enjoying the freedom without the rope that bound her to the bed. Soon she rolled off the bed, but the pillow she had been dragging along cushioned her. She cried halfheartedly and then crawled to the other bed, past the curtain that threatened to tangle her, around a pair of big shoes and then another pair, bigger, and finally she reached the place she had set her mind to, under the bed where her big sister and big brother were panting in their inexperienced joy and agony. She picked up half a stick of ginseng from under the bed and chewed it. It was sweet at first but then it tasted awful. She took the stick out and threw it as hard as she could, and it landed in one of the big shoes.
“Bashi,” whispered Nini.
Inches away, Bashi gazed at Nini, and then buried his head into the curve of her neck. “Let's wait until we get married,” he whispered back. “I want you to know that I'm a responsible man.”
Nini looked at her undone clothes and smiled shyly. He buttoned her shirt and together they listened to the baby talking to herself.
“I'm going to find Mrs. Hua and Old Hua right after you go home,” Bashi said.
