"Ah, ah, Uncle Mu! Happy New Year! Fa-tsai, fa-tsai!"[1]
"Ni-how, Pa-san! Happy New Year!"
"Ai, ai. Happy New Year! Ai-ku also here?"
"Ah, ah. Uncle Mu . . . "
A chorus of voices thus greeted Chuang Mu-san and his daughter Ai-ku as they stepped on the passenger boat at Mu Lien Bridge. Some of the passengers raised their clasped hands in salutation, while others made room on the plank along the side of the boat. Chuang Mu-san greeted them all as he sat down, leaning his long pipe against the side of the boat. Ai-ku sat to his left and her sicklelike feet formed the character eight[2] with the more open side facing Pa-san.
"Are you going to the city, Uncle Mu?" asked one with a crab-shell face.
"Not to the city," Uncle Mu answered with a worried look—though one could not be sure of the worry, so wrinkled was his brown-sugar colored face. "I am going Pang-chuang for a little while."
The boat was silent and all eyes were fixed on them.
"Is it still about Ai-ku's affair?" Pa-san asked after a long while.
"Still about her . . . How sick of it I am! It has been
