The next time Weichuang saw Ah Q, it was just past the midautumn of the year. On speaking of Ah Q's return, the people were astonished and would review the past, saying, "Where has he been heretofore?" When about to go to the city on former occasions Ah Q had enthusiatically told others about it, but it was not so on this occasion; therefore, no one had paid any attention to his going. He may have informed the old man who took charge of T'uku Temple, but according to the old customs of Weichuang, only the departure of the Venerable Messrs. Chao and Chin and the Hsiu-t'sai would constitute an event worth mentioning. If the "False Foreigner" were not worthy of consideration, what then of Ah Q? Thus, the old man would not have spread the report for him, and so the inhabitants of Weichuang would have had no means of knowing about this particular visit.
But on this occasion Ah Q's return was vastly different from those in the past and was, in truth, worthy of the astonishment it caused. The heavens had just begun to darken when he, seeing indistinctly before him, appeared before the door
