"The Cracked Vase" by Liang Xiaosheng

#2024-0503

短篇小說欣賞：

《有裂紋的花瓶》 by 梁曉聲

Here's a new translation of the short story "The Cracked Vase" by Liang Xiaosheng, a Chinese novelist and screenwriter born in Harbin, Heilongjiang in 1949.

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(以下英譯為 初譯稿, 有關 "男主人" "女主人" 等語詞, 有待斟酌; 可進一步修訂！)

This is an ordinary vase. Deep blue, with a curled mouth, slender neck, widening at the top and narrowing down, the most traditional style. It’s a relic of the past. There are no patterns. Apart from the all-over blue, there are no other embellishments.

Nowadays, it's rare to come across such a common vase. Just like it's hard to find "Liberation" brand rubber shoes; hard to find clothes made of plain or twill fabric; hard to find a large rough porcelain bowl.

Times phase out certain things, just like autumn winds blowing leaves from the branches.

But this incredibly ordinary vase has had the privilege of being a gift to congratulate newlyweds on many occasions.

The first recipients were a couple from the late 1960s.

It was priced at only a couple of yuan* back then. [Mookoo’s Note: “Yuan,” written as 元 or 圓 in Chinese, is the basic unit of currency.]

The person who gave it felt that using it as a wedding gift was a bit "insufficient," so they added an extra five yuan. Five yuan was quite a bit of "gift money" back then. So, in reality, it was more like a companion gift worth five yuan.

This made the vase feel somewhat lost. Of course, it was quite unwilling to be a five-yuan companion gift.

Luckily, the young couple liked it. In late 1960s China, even urban households mostly didn't have vases. They were young intellectuals with a particularly simple new home. Apart from an old double bed, there wasn't even a table. Two old wooden crates were placed side by side, serving as a table. The couple covered it with a piece of plastic and placed the vase in the middle. Next to the vase was a small alarm clock someone else had given them. The alarm clock, like the vase, was considered a "craft" that enhanced the aesthetics of their home. The hostess found a small piece of red fabric, folded it, and draped it over the alarm clock. It was May, and there was an old lilac tree in the yard, blooming with clusters of pale blue flowers. The husband cut a few clusters and placed them in the vase. The simple new home was thus filled with intoxicating fragrance.

At night, the vase and the alarm clock watched the endless affection between the newlyweds, deeply moved.

The vase said, "It’s nice to be human beings."

The alarm clock flashed its "cat eyes" on the dial and said, "Yes!"

The vase continued, "Love is really wonderful."

The alarm clock, feeling the same, murmured, "If the strings inside me were not so tightly set, I would rather my hands move much slower, so that this loving couple could spend a very long wedding night.”

At the moment, the husband held his wife’s face and kissed her, saying, “I love you!”

The wife also said, “I love you!”

When she said these words, her eyes sparkled.

The vase whispered to the alarm clock, “Did you hear that? I’m sure what they said is poetry!”

The alarm clock murmured in reply, "If such beautiful words are not poetry, then there is no poetry in the world.”

From that moment on, this ordinary vase, as ordinary as could be, acquired a spiritual connection with humanity.

Later came the "Cultural Revolution." Before the couple went to the countryside for re-education, they gave it as a gift to another newlywed couple. They felt odd giving it away on its own; they felt they should add some extra money. The wife said, "Let's add another five yuan."

The husband said, "That's not appropriate. It’s as if we're re-gifting something someone else gave us. Let's add ten yuan. Adding another five changes the nature of it."

So, then, the vase became a ten-yuan companion gift.

In the past, vases were actually surplus items in ordinary households. In most urban households, even if there were vases, there were no fresh flowers to put in them. For those who cared about home aesthetics, they could only buy paper flowers before the holidays. But paper flowers attracted dust, and once they got dusty, they couldn't be cleaned. Often, after the holidays, the dusty paper flowers were thrown away, and the vase became nothing more than a decoration.

Vases like this, surplus items, were perfect for being passed around as gifts, especially during holidays. In the past, the income of most Chinese people was pitifully low, so this was absolutely understandable. However, every time the vase was passed on, there was inevitably some money accompanying it. If the amount exceeded five yuan, the vase felt aggrieved because it seemed to be less valued. It didn't want to be a companion gift. If the amount was less than five yuan, the giver naturally felt awkward, but the vase was quite happy because it felt like it was the main focus.

And so, the vase was passed from one family to another...

From the day it became a vase, it had a growing desire, which became increasingly strong. That is, it longed for a bouquet of flowers that belonged to it. Even just a single flower would do!

This was the instinctive desire of the vase.

And so, this vase contracted a kind of sickness. We humans call that sickness unrequited love. The fragrance of lilacs lingered in its memory. It deeply regretted that when it had those few clusters of lilacs, it didn't quite understand love. It secretly swore that if it ever had another bouquet of flowers, or even just one flower, its fascination with flowers would be deeper than people's fascination with each other. It would say those poetic words — "I love you!" — a hundred times a day to its beloved.

After the 1980s, the living standards of Chinese families generally improved. This vase could no longer have the luck of being passed on as a wedding gift. Doing so would be looked down upon.

As a result, it became a surplus item in its last owner's home.

Even though it remembered so many human love stories...

One day, the wife picked it up and said, "The more I look at it, the uglier it gets. We should clean it or throw it away!"

The husband said, "Don't throw it away! At least it was a gift from someone else. If you really think it's ugly, put it on the windowsill!"

So, the vase lost even the privilege of being displayed in the house.

From then on, it was abandoned in a corner of the balcony...

When the husband was cleaning the balcony, he knocked the vase over. As a result, it got a crack, which was not long and therefore wasn't very noticeable. The crack was at the waist of the vase, making it prone to leaking.

"Alas, now it's completely useless!"

The man picked it up. He thought he might as well smash it. But then he changed his mind. The attachment to old objects played a role in his heart. He pushed open the balcony window and placed it inside the balcony railing.

This household now had a new vase. A beautiful crystal vase. The husband and wife had been married for twenty years, and their friends gave them this commemorative gift.

Fresh flowers were available everywhere now. The wife liked flowers. The crystal vase never lacked fresh flowers.

The cracked vase, from within the balcony railing, could see the crystal vase inside the house.

It envied the crystal vase greatly.

It mourned for its own flaws deeply.

Its longing for flowers was its longing for love!

From inside the balcony railing, it could also see all the windows of the building across. There were vases behind those windows. Vases from the 1990s, all so stylish and beautiful. All those vases it could see were filled with delightful fresh flowers.

It wished to possess a flower, no, it merely harbored the desire to possess a flower, and this desire grew stronger.

It was a desire tormented by envy and sorrow, unquenchable.

. . .

Then, one day, the woman brought home a bouquet of flowers. She plucked out the withered roses from the vase and discovered the budding flower stems. There was just one, too delicate, with buds too small. "It probably won't even bloom if I put it back in the vase," she thought.

She spotted the cracked vase on the balcony. "Here, take it, you useless thing!" she said, casually inserting the stem she thought would never bloom into the vase.

The cracked vase trembled with excitement.

"Oh, God, merciful God! I finally have a flower of my own! Now I can pour all my love into this little flower! Even though I'm ugly, even though I'm seen as worthless, I will prove to my beloved how tenderly and devotedly I can love..."

But it cried. Because it realized, after all, it was a vase without water!

Water!

It had witnessed people's wastefulness with water.

But it didn't have a drop of water.

Not a single drop, and it was scorched by the sun. It heard a whimper from its little flower as it was being scorched.

Even if it's just a little bit of water that's going to be poured out of the crystal vase, please give it to me!

But it watched helplessly as the woman went to change the water in the crystal vase...

After a while, the crystal vase was back in its place. A bouquet of white roses in the crystal vase, absorbing water, looked so fresh! As if every leaf and petal were oozing droplets of water.

But the cracked vase did not have a drop. It and its "little beloved" were only left to weep in despair.

Two or three hours later, its "little beloved" wilted...

At night, after its "little beloved" had fallen asleep, the cracked and abandoned vase prayed devoutly to God: "Merciful God, why do you grant me love but not the nourishment of love, water? Why do you grant me such a lovely little beloved but make me a sinner who hurts her? If you are truly merciful, then please send a heavy rain..."

The clouds gathered...

Lightning...

Thunder...

What a heavy rain!

The little flower was "awakened" by the rain.

The cracked vase was filled to the brim with water in the rain!

"Thank you for your prayers," said the flower.

The cracked vase said, "Now, I don't know if I'm worthy of your love, but I can say that sacred poem — my little beloved, I love you!"

The flower blushed and bowed its head.

The flower affectionately kissed the vase's lips for a long time...

But after all, the vase was cracked. When dawn broke, half the water in the vase was gone, and it was deeply worried.

The flower comforted it, "My beloved, cheer up! I have a way to mend your cracks!"

So the flower tried its best to secrete a liquid from its stem, and the liquid seeped into the cracks of the vase; the vase tried hard to tighten its body, making it easier for the flower's liquid to stick to its cracks.

This was very detrimental to the flower, because as it secreted liquid, it also lost nutrients. And this was very dangerous for the vase, because if it didn't control the force properly, it would be too easy for it to split in half due to excessive force.

But for their love, for loving each other, they were willing to endure any loss, to risk any danger.

The cracks were sealed.

The water no longer leaked out.

The flower gradually regained vitality, the leaves began to become lush, and the buds grew day by day.

The vase was intoxicated with its happiness. It told its "little beloved" countless times every day, "I love you!"; every day, it recounted its experiences to its "little beloved." To the flower, the experiences of the vase seemed so tortuous and legendary. When it spoke of sadness, the flower comforted it with kisses. Sometimes, the vase would despair, and the flower would proudly say to it, "My dear beloved, don't belittle yourself! You should understand how worthy you are of my love! Because your history gives you a different kind of spirit, a different kind of temperament! This is not something that can be brought to a vase by advanced materials and costs!"

Finally, one day, the bud completely bloomed!

A bright red rose, blooming so beautifully! So enchanting!

The vase spent the whole day happily whispering sweet words to its "little beloved" and singing passionate and romantic love songs. It couldn't finish speaking, couldn't sing enough; the flower, always so beautiful and enchanting, bloomed for six days.

In those six days, the vase felt infinite happiness, growing thicker and deeper with each passing day. In human terms, the vase was simply "overjoyed"!

On the morning of the seventh day, the master looked out at the balcony in surprise and said, "Hey, how come there's a flower blooming in that broken vase?"

The mistress answered as she dressed in front of the mirror, "It was thrown in a few days ago. Since it's blooming, take it out and put it in the crystal vase. Who can see it in that broken vase?"

So the master went out to the balcony.

"Farewell, my little beloved!" choked the cracked vase.

Looking at the master, the flower bowed its head and kissed the vase's lips, saying calmly, "No, my dear beloved, I only belong to you, cracked vase, because without you, I wouldn't bloom."

"My little beloved, leave me alone and go to the crystal vase! The bouquet of white roses will set you off even more beautifully!"

"If that's the case, I won't be able to kiss you again or hear the sweet words you say to me or the love songs you sing for me..."

The master reached out and took the cracked vase in his hand, wondering how it could hold water with cracks?

"How beautiful our love is! Darling, I appreciate you!" the flower sobbed.

The vase nodded gently, too sad to speak...

As the master's hand just pulled the flower out of the vase, the cracked vase suddenly split into pieces, the fragments splattered, and water spilled all over...

Almost simultaneously, the beautiful rose in the human's hand withered instantly, becoming completely bald.

Each of the bright red petals fell on those fragments of the vase.

In this way, they completed the last embrace, cuddle, and kiss of their lives.

"Love you!..."

"Love you!..."

— True love is without hesitation, filled with gratitude, and thus imbued with vows and poetic significance.

— Love born out of gratitude is not genuine; to love and be loved with gratitude makes the sentiment of love even deeper and more intense.

This sentiment is precious...

（全文完）

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