The Death of a Friend

On the eve of the summer vacation in 1937, my friends Zhuang Yaquan, Du Zhaokang, and I spent the entire morning packing our belongings, preparing to go home. In the afternoon, with nothing else to do, we started chatting about how amazingly accurate the divination sticks at the Matchmaker’s Shrine (Yue Shui An) across the lake were. Excited, we rowed the school’s small boat to go pray. Sitting in the boat, our little fat friend talked about receiving a letter from his father a few days ago, saying, “My father told me that I have particularly good luck this year, and he asked me to buy the popular aviation lottery tickets. I’ve already bought ten of them (each costing 10 yuan). If I really am lucky and win the jackpot, I can sit back and enjoy life for the rest of my days!”