Frog

~ ~ ~

Dear Sugitani Akihito sensei,

Your willingness to spend so much of your valuable time reading a long letter it took me two months to finish so I could save money on postage and then to offer so much encouragement and positive feedback has both moved and made me feel guilty.

What caused a welter of feelings was learning that Pingdu Garrison Commander Sugitani during Japan’s invasion of China was your father. Because of that, you represented your deceased father by apologising for his offences to my aunt, my family, and the people of my hometown. Your attitude in facing up to history and assuming responsibility for certain actions moved us deeply. Apparently, you too were a victim of the war. In your letter you wrote about how you and your mother suffered fearful pangs of anxiety throughout the war and debilitating cold and hunger when it was over. If you want the truth, your father was a victim too. As you have said, if there had been no war, he would have been a surgeon with a brilliant future. The war changed all that; his life and his nature would never be the same again. A one-time saver of lives, he became a taker of lives.

I read your letter to my aunt, to my father, and to many of the people here who lived through the war. They reacted emotionally, even tearfully. You were no more than four or five years old when your father was the Pingdu Garrison Commander, and you are not culpable for his crimes. But you shouldered his crimes and demonstrated a willingness to expiate them for him. By doing so, you have endeared yourself to us, for we know how precious that sort of attitude is. It is an attitude too seldom seen in today’s world. If all people could reflect on history and on their own lives, mankind would not display so much idiotic behaviour.

My aunt, my father, and my fellow townspeople are eager to welcome you again as a guest to Northeast Gaomi Township. My aunt would like to accompany you on a visit to Pingdu city. She took me aside to tell me that she harbours no ill will towards your father. There is no denying that there were many cruel, vicious, and ill-mannered Japanese officers who participated in the invasion of China, the sort we see in movies about the war, but there were also cultured officers, like your father, who treated people with courtesy. My aunt judged your father this way: He was far from the worst of the lot.

I returned to Gaomi in June, more than a month ago. While here I’ve done a bit of research for the play I plan to write, focusing on my aunt. I’ve also continued relating the story of Gugu’s life in letter form, as you asked me to do, and, as you requested, included in those letters as many of my own experiences as possible.

My aunt and my father have asked me to pass on their regards to you and your family.

Northeast Gaomi Township welcomes you!

Tadpole

July 2003, Gaomi

1

Sensei, 7 July 1979 was my wedding day. I married a classmate from elementary school, Wang Renmei. With our long legs, we looked like a pair of cranes. Just the sight of her legs made my heart race. We met at the well one day when I was eighteen. When one of her buckets fell into the well, she walked around in circles, not knowing what to do. So I jumped up onto the wellhead and fished her bucket out for her. I was in luck that day, snatching it on my first try. Hey, Xiaopao, she said admiringly, you’re a master bucket fisherman. A substitute PE teacher at the elementary school, she was tall, had a long thin neck and a relatively small head, and wore her hair in braids. Wang Renmei, I stammered, I want to tell you something. What? she asked. Did you know that Wang Dan and Chen Bi like each other? She froze briefly, then broke out laughing. Xiaopao, she said between laughs, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Wang Dan is so little, and Chen Bi’s as big as a horse. They are a terrible match. She stopped, seemed to think about something, and started laughing so hard she actually bent over; and she was blushing. I’m not lying, I declared solemnly. If I was, I’d be a dog. I saw them with my own eyes. What did you see? she asked. You can’t tell anybody what I’m about to say. Last night after leaving the work points office, I heard some sounds in a haystack on the threshing floor. I went up to see what it was, and I heard Chen Bi and Wang Dan whispering things to each other. Don’t worry Brother Chen Bi, Wang Dan was saying, I might be small, but I have everything a girl’s supposed to have, and I promise I’ll give you a son. Wang Renmei bent over laughing yet again. Do you want to hear what I have to say or don’t you? I said. Yes, she replied, but hurry up. Then what happened? What did they do after that? I think they kissed. Nonsense! she insisted. Tell me how they kissed. I’ll give it to you straight, I told her. They kissed the way they’re supposed to. Chen Bi took Wang Dan in his arms, like he was holding a baby, and they kissed the way they felt like it. Wang Renmei blushed again. Xiaopao, she said, you’re a little hooligan! And so is Chen Bi! Wang Renmei, since Chen Bi and Wang Dan are dating, do you think you and I could become friends? Again she froze, and again she laughed. Why do you want us to be friends? You have long legs and so do I. My aunt says that if we got married, our child would have nice long legs, and we could train the kid to be an international champion athlete. You’ve got quite an aunt, she said, still laughing. Not only is she good at performing vasectomies, she’s a matchmaker as well. Wang Renmei picked up her water buckets and walked off. Her carrying pole rocked up and down with each long stride, nearly sending the buckets on the ends flying into the air.

Years later, after leaving home to join the army, I heard that she and Xiao Xiachun were engaged. He was teaching language and writing as a substitute teacher in the agricultural school. One of his essays, ‘An Ode to Coal’, which was published in the newspaper Masses Daily, created a stir in our hometown. I had quite an emotional reaction to the news, because those of us who had actually eaten coal did not write any odes to coal, while Xiao Xiachun, who hadn’t eaten it, did. Renmei, it seemed, had chosen a mate wisely.

When Xiao Xiachun was accepted into college, his father set off three strings of ‘thousand head’ firecrackers out on the street in celebration and hired a movie company to erect a screen on the school grounds to show three movies, one after the other. It was a display of arrogance the likes of which we’d never seen.

As a decorated soldier returned from the Sino-Vietnamese Conflict who had received a commission as an officer in the regular army, I was visited by a host of matchmakers. Xiaopao, Gugu said, I’ve found the right girl for you. I guarantee you’ll approve. Who is it? Mother asked. My apprentice, Little Lion. She’s thirty if she’s a day, Mother said. Exactly thirty, Gugu confirmed. Xiaopao is only twenty-six. The older the better, Gugu said. They know enough to be caring.

Little Lion’s fine, I said, but Wang Gan has been gaga over her for more than a decade. I can’t steal a girl from a friend.

Wang Gan? Gugu remarked. He’s the proverbial toad wanting to taste the swan’s flesh. If there’s anyone Little Lion won’t marry, it’s Wang Gan! His father hobbles over to the health centre every market day, bent at the waist, cane in hand, to make a scene and blacken my name. And for years, mind you! He’s gotten no less than eight hundred yuan in nutritional expenses from the centre.

That Wang Jiao, Mother said, is pretty good at faking things.

Pretty good? Gugu railed. He’s a master of the art. He takes the money he extracted from me to the market to feast on braised meat and strong liquor until he’s drunk, at which time his back is straight and he zips around the market. Tell me why I’ve bumped into scoundrels like that all my life. Then there’s that bastard Xiao Shangchun, who damn near killed me during the Cultural Revolution, and now struts around like a lord and master, waving his palm-leaf fan as he enjoys the good life at home. I hear his son has tested into college. Is that right? What happened to the old saying that ‘good is rewarded with good, evil with evil’? The good people suffer, the rotten eggs live like kings, that’s what. People still get what’s coming to them, Mother said. It just takes time. How much time? Gugu asked her. My hair has already turned white!

After Gugu left, Mother said, Your aunt has not had an easy life. Someone said Yang Lin came to see her after what happened, I said. That’s what she told me, Mother confirmed. By then he’d been promoted to the position of district commissioner, and arrived in a chauffeured sedan. He apologised to your aunt and told her he was willing to marry her to make up for his behaviour during the Cultural Revolution. Your aunt sent him away.

As we were sighing over Gugu’s misfortunes, Wang Renmei came barging in the door. Aunty, she said to Mother, I hear that your Xiaopao is searching high and low for a wife. How about me?

I thought you were spoken for, young lady.

I broke it off, she said. He’s a latter-day Chen Shimei, the storybook character who deserted his wife when he became a high official.

Mother said, How could he drop you just because he’s going to college?

He didn’t drop me, Renmei said, I dropped him. So he’s going to college. What’s the big deal? Firecrackers, movies, I’ve never seen such insolence! Xiaopao’s better than that. He’s an army officer without having to blow his own horn. As soon as he came home, he went into the field to work.

You’re too good for Xiaopao, young lady, Mother said.

I guess we’re going to have to ask Xiaopao what he thinks, Aunty. Xiaopao, what do you say — I’ll be your wife and present you with a champion athlete son.

You’re on! I said, gazing at her legs.

2

The weather was bleak on my wedding day. Dark clouds gathered as thunder rumbled. When the thunder ended, a downpour followed.

Yuan Sai said he’d picked a fine, auspicious day for you to get married, Mother complained, but what we got was flooded streets.

At ten o’clock Wang Renmei arrived during a cloudburst in the company of two female cousins. In their raingear they looked like dike control volunteers. A plastic tent with a stove inside had been thrown up in our yard. I was on my haunches stoking a fire with a bellows to boil water. My cousin Wuguan (Facial Features), who was known for speaking his mind, said: What’s a hero of the self-defence-counterattack conflict doing crouched down by a stove to heat water when his bride-to-be has arrived? Then come take my place, I said. No, your mother put me in charge of the firecrackers, which will require all my skills in this rain-squall. Wuguan, Mother called from the doorway, stop the idle chatter. It’s time for the firecrackers. He reached under his coat and removed a string of firecrackers wrapped in plastic. After he lit the fuse, he held the string in his hand — no pole for him — opened an umbrella, and leaned out into the rain to set them off. The pounding water kept the gunpowder residue from spreading beyond him. Wuguan, kids cried out as they clapped their hands and stomped their feet, all soaked to the skin, Wuguan, you’re turning green! What are those pathetic excuses for children shouting? Mother remarked.

This is how it was supposed to happen: the bride was to say nothing as she entered the house and went straight to the wedding chamber, where she sat on the kang to wait, what’s known as ‘sitting in bed’. But Wang Renmei stopped as soon as she was in the yard to watch Wuguan do his thing. His face was blackened by the firecracker residue, as if he’d stepped out from a stove. That made her laugh. She ignored the tugs on her sleeves by the bridesmaids. Her high-heeled plastic shoes made her taller than ever, tall and straight as a tree. Wuguan looked her up and down. Anyone who wants to kiss you, good Sister-in-law, will have to stand on a ladder! he quipped. Be quiet, Wuguan, Mother demanded. You’re a moron, Wuguan, Wang Renmei said. Wang Dan and Chen Bi don’t need a ladder when they kiss! Hearing the bride trading quips with her soon-to-be brother-in-law in the yard had the older women whispering among themselves. I emerged from the tent with my coal shovel. Our hero has emerged! the clapping, stomping kids cried out. Here’s our hero!

I was wearing a new uniform, with a Merit Third Class medal pinned to my chest, my face as black as soot, coal shovel in hand, looking like a freak of nature. Wang Renmei doubled over laughing. I was so confused I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. She seemed to be losing her mind. Take her inside this minute! Mother insisted. Madam, I said to Renmei with dripping sarcasm, the wedding chamber awaits. It’s too stuffy in there, she said. It’s nice and cool out here. Ao! Ao! Ao! the clamouring kids shouted. I ran inside, grabbed a gourdful of sweets, then stood in the doorway and flung them down the lane. When the kids swarmed over to fight for them in the mud, I grabbed Renmei by the wrist and pulled her inside, unfortunately banging her head with a loud thump as she went through the low door. Ouch! she complained. Damn you, you’ve cracked my head open. The older women laughed so hard they were rocking back and forth.

The room was too small for so many people. We could hardly turn around. The three young women took off their dripping raingear, but the only place they could hang it was over the door. The floor was wet to begin with, and the muddy soles of their shoes had made a real mess. Piled high at the head of a kang barely two square metres were four new quilts, two bed mats, two woollen blankets, and two pillows, all from Renmei’s family; they nearly touched the ceiling. The moment Renmei sat down, she shouted, Damn, this is no bed, it’s a frying pan!

This comment so incensed Mother that she banged her cane on the floor. Frying pan or no, you sit there! We’ll see if it manages to cook your butt.

That too made Renmei laugh. Xiaopao, she said under her breath, your mother has a great sense of humour. But if my butt really does get cooked, how will I give you your champion athlete?

I was so mad I was getting dizzy. But I couldn’t show it on such an auspicious day, so I reached out to touch the bed surface. It burned my finger. All the aunts and grannies in the family were expecting to eat, so the stove never had a chance to cool down — steaming buns, stir frying vegetables, boiling noodles — until the bed mat nearly melted. I took one of the quilts from the pile, folded it into a square, and laid it on the bed against the wall. Madam, I said, please take your seat. She giggled. Xiaopao, she said, you’re a riot, calling me madam. Follow local customs and call me daughter-in-law or, like you used to, Renmei. I didn’t know what to say. With a crazy bride like her, what could I say? My sarcasm in calling her madam had gone right over her head, and she didn’t realise I was unhappy with her. All right, I said, Daughter-in-law Renmei, please take your seat. With help from the two bridesmaids, I took off her shoes and her soaked stockings so she could climb up onto the bed. She immediately stood up, her head nearly touching the ceiling. In that cramped little room, she looked taller than ever, so tall the calves of her crane legs seemed to disappear. And her feet — they were almost as big as mine — two large, bare feet dancing on a little kang. By custom, the bridesmaids were supposed to sit next to the bride, but there was no room, so one of them stood by the wall, the other sat on the very edge of the kang. To show off, Renmei stood on tiptoes to see if she could touch the ceiling with her head. It was all a game to her — walking on tiptoes in circles and jumping up and down to bump the ceiling with her head. With her hand on the doorframe, Mother stuck her head in. Daughter-in-law, she said, if you ruin the kang, where will you sleep tonight? If it’s broken, she giggled, I’ll sleep on the floor.

At sunset Gugu came over for dinner. Gugu’s here, she called out as she walked in the door. Isn’t anyone going to welcome me?

We ran out to greet her. We didn’t think you’d be coming with all that rain, Mother said.

She had come with an oil paper umbrella, her pant legs rolled up, and bare feet, shoes tucked under her armpits.

You couldn’t keep me away from the wedding of my nephew the hero if knives fell from the sky, Gugu said.

I’m no hero, Gugu, I said. I’m only a commissary officer, in charge of cooking. I’ve never laid eyes on an enemy soldier.

Commissary officers are important. Men are iron, food is steel. If a soldier doesn’t get enough to eat, how’s he going to face an enemy charge? Now get me something to eat, so I can get back in time. The river’s swelling and if it swamps the bridge I’ll be stuck.

That’ll give you a chance to rest here a couple of days, Mother said. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to talk. You can tell us stories tonight.

Not tonight, Gugu said. The Political Consultative Congress is meeting tomorrow.

Xiaopao, did you know your aunt received an official promotion as a member of the standing committee?

Did you say official? Gugu said. More like adding rotten goji berries to a plate just to fill it up.

Gugu walked into the western room, sending all the people into a flurry of activity. The ones sitting on the kang tried squeezing together to make room for her. Stay where you are, she said. I’m leaving right after I have a few bites.

Mother told my sister to make a plate of food for Gugu, who went over, took the lid off a pot on the stove, and took out a corn muffin. It was so hot she sort of hissed as she tossed it from hand to hand. Finally she split it open, put some steamed pork with rice between the two halves, folded them back, and took a bite. Um um, she said. I don’t need a plate, she said, or a bowl. This is the way I like to eat. Ever since I’ve been working at this job I haven’t eaten more than a few real sit-down meals.

Let’s have a look at the wedding chamber, she said as she ate.

Renmei was sitting on the windowsill — the kang was too hot for her — reading a children’s book by light coming in through the window. She was giggling.

Gugu is here, I said.

Renmei jumped down and took Gugu’s hand in hers. Just the person I’ve been looking for, she said. And here you are.

What is it?

Renmei lowered her voice. I hear you have some kind of drug I can take to make me have twins.

Where did you hear that? Gugu said with a frown.

Wang Dan said so.

A nasty rumour, Gugu managed to say as she choked on the muffin. She coughed, her face turned red, and she drank the water my sister rushed to hand her. She thumped her chest a couple of times. There’s no such drug, she said, but even if there were, I wouldn’t hand it out to anyone.

Wang Dan said a woman in Chen Family Village took a pill you gave her and had twins, a boy and a girl, Renmei said.

Gugu stuffed the half-eaten muffin into my sister’s hand. Damn, that makes me mad! she cursed. I can’t tell you how hard it was to get a baby out of that little witch Wang Dan, and she has the nerve to go around spreading rumours. I’ll split that shitty mouth of hers the next time I see her.

Don’t get mad, Gugu. I nudged Renmei’s leg with my foot. You just shut up! I said under my breath.

Ouch, damn you! Renmei said with excessive drama. You almost broke my leg.

You can’t break a dog’s leg! Mother said angrily.

You’re wrong, Mother, Renmei said insistently. Xiao Shangchun broke the leg of my second uncle’s dog with his steel trap.

Xiao Shangchun, who had returned home after his retirement, spent most of his time brutalising living creatures. Arming himself with a fowling piece, he went around shooting birds, all kinds of birds, even magpies, which the villagers considered harbingers of good luck. He’d put up a mist net, with holes so tiny even inch-long fry could not get through, to catch them. And he’d set powerful steel traps in the woods or in the graveyard to catch badgers and weasels. A dog belonging to Renmei’s second uncle had its leg broken when it carelessly stepped into one of his traps.

Gugu’s face darkened when she heard the name Xiao Shangchun. That evil man, she said through clenched teeth, deserves to be struck by lightning. But no, he lives the good life, with fine food and drink. He’s healthy as an ox, which just goes to show that even the heavens are afraid of that louse.

The heavens might be afraid of him, Gugu, Renmei said, but I’m not. If you need a wrong revenged, I’ll do it for you.

That made Gugu happy. She laughed. I’ll tell you the truth, I was opposed to my nephew marrying you at first. But I changed my mind when I heard that you broke off your engagement with Xiao Xiachun. She’s got spunk, I said. So he’s going to college, so what? The Wan family children will all go to college, and not just any college, but Peking University, Tsinghua University, Cambridge, and Oxford. And not just undergraduate degrees either, but MAs, even PhDs. They’ll be professors and scientists and champion athletes!

Then give me the drug that’ll let me have twins, Gugu. That way I can double my contribution to the Wan family’s legacy. The news will probably kill Xiao Xiachun!

My goodness! They all say you’re on the slow side. Well, they’re wrong. You ambushed me! Then she turned deadly serious. You youngsters need to obey the Party, walk the Party line, and not veer from the straight and narrow. Family planning is national policy, and is of paramount importance. With Party secretaries in command, all Party members must get to work, leading the way as exemplars to strengthen scientific research, improve techniques and implement procedures. They must mobilise the masses and never let up. One child per couple is set in stone for the next fifty years. China is lost if she does not control her population. You’re a Party member, Xiaopao, a revolutionary soldier, so you must set an example.

Just give me the drug on the sly, Gugu, and I’ll take it right away. No one will ever know, Renmei said.

Child, I’m afraid that you might be as slow as they say, after all. I repeat, there is no such drug, and even if there were, I wouldn’t dare give it to you. Gugu is a member of the Communist Party, a member of the Consultative Conference standing committee, and deputy head of the family-planning group. How could you expect me to be the first to break the law? I want you all to know that even though I suffered unjust treatment, my heart is as red as ever, and will never change. Alive I’m a Party member, dead I’ll be a Party ghost. I go where the Party sends me. Xiaopao, your wife’s thinking is a problem. She can’t tell which is hot, the ashes or the fire. You need to be clear on matters and not get any crazy ideas. People have begun calling me the ‘Living Queen of Hell’, and I couldn’t be prouder. I’ll take a bath and burn incense before delivering babies for those who follow family-planning policy, but I’ll deal mercilessly with those who go beyond one pregnancy — every last one of them! She made a chopping gesture.

3

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the day the kitchen god is sent off, my daughter was born. Cousin Wuguan brought us home from the commune health centre on his tractor. Before we left, Gugu said to me: I inserted an IUD in your wife. Wang Renmei ripped the scarf off her head and confronted her: How could you do that without my permission? Gugu put the scarf back. Keep that on, so you won’t catch cold. Inserting IUDs right after birth has been ordered by the family-planning group. No exceptions. If you had married a farmer and your first child was a girl, you could remove the IUD eight years later and have a second child. But you married my nephew, an army officer, for whom the rules are more stringent. A second child means immediate dismissal and a return to the farm. So don’t ever think about a second child. There’s a price to be paid for the opportunity to marry an army officer.

Renmei sobbed like a baby.

With our infant wrapped tightly in my overcoat, I climbed onto the tractor. Let’s go, I said to Wuguan.

We chugged down the pitted country road, black smoke puffing from the exhaust pipe. Renmei lay in the cab, covered by a quilt, her sobs punctuated by each bump in the road. Who said she could insert an IUD… no permission… how come I can’t have more than one… who says so…

Stop crying, I said. She was trying my patience. It’s national policy. That only made her cry harder. She stuck her head out from under the quilt; her face was pale, her lips blue, and there were flecks of straw in her hair. Who says? It’s something your aunt dreamed up. They’re not this strict in Jiao County. Your aunt is just looking for commendations and a promotion. No wonder people rage against her.

Shut up, I said. If you’ve got something to say, wait till we get home. If you cry and carry on the whole way, people will laugh at us.

She threw off the quilt and sat up. Glaring at me, she snarled: Who will laugh at me? I’d like to see who has the guts to laugh at me.

Bicycles kept passing us. We were pummelled by a cold north wind, with frost on the ground as a red sun climbed into the sky. Steam from the riders’ mouths frosted their eyebrows. The sight of Renmei, with her dry, chapped lips, dishevelled hair, and staring eyes was nearly unbearable, and I had to say something kind. No one’s going to laugh at you, now lie back and cover up. Getting sick during the first month is no laughing matter.

That doesn’t scare me. I’m like a pine tree atop Mount Tai, fighting the bitter cold and warding off the wind and snow. I have a morning sun in my chest.

I forced a smile. I know all about you, I said, you’re a mighty hero. Aren’t you insisting you want a second child? Well, that won’t happen if you ruin your health with this one.

Suddenly there was life in her eyes. You agree we’ll have a second child, she said excitedly. You just said so, I heard you. Did you hear that, Wuguan? You’re my witness.

Okay, I’m your witness, Wuguan said in a soft, muffled voice up front.

She lay back down compliantly and drew the quilt up over her head. You’d better be true to your word, Xiaopao, her voice came from underneath. You’ll have me to deal with if you don’t.

When our tractor reached the head of the village, we saw two people arguing on the bridge, and blocking our way.

My classmate Yuan Sai was having an argument with the villager who made clay figurines, Hao Dashou (Big Hand).

Hao Dashou was holding Yuan Sai by the wrist.

Let me go! Yuan Sai was yelling as he tried to break free. Let me go!

His struggles weren’t working.

Wuguan got down off the tractor and walked up to them. What’s going on here, guys? Who gets into a fight this early in the morning?

I’m glad you’re here, Wuguan, Yuan Sai said. You can talk some sense into him. He was pushing his cart in front of me, and I wanted to pass him on my bicycle. He was bearing to the left, so I went to the right. But when I got up right behind him, he shifted his arse and moved to the right. Fortunately, I’ve got good reflexes. I let go of the handlebars and jumped onto the bridge. I could have been dumped into the icy river with my bicycle. If it didn’t kill me, it would have crippled me. But Uncle Hao blames me for his cart winding up under the bridge.

Hao said nothing in rebuttal; he just held onto Yuan Sai’s wrist.

So I stepped down off the tractor with the baby in my arms. When my foot hit the ground, a sharp pain shot up my leg. Damn, it was cold that morning.

I hobbled up the bridge, where I saw a bunch of coloured clay dolls. Some were smashed, others were fine. A beat-up old bicycle lay on the icy surface of the eastern side of the bridge, a little yellow flag curled up alongside it. I knew without looking that the words ‘Little Immortal’ were embroidered on the flag. Yuan Sai, different from other people, had been odd even as a child. He could draw nails out of a cow’s belly with a magnet, he could geld pigs and dogs, and he was proficient in physiognomy, feng shui, geomantic omens, and the eight trigrams of the Book of Changes. Complimented by some people as the ‘Little Immortal’, he affixed an apricot yellow flag embroidered with those words to the rear rack of his bicycle, where it snapped in the wind. At the market, he planted the flag in the ground. His business flourished.

A wheelbarrow lay tipped over on the icy surface to the west; one handle was broken, as were the two willow baskets it had been carrying, the contents — dozens of clay dolls, most of them smashed — strewn across the ice. A tiny few remained whole and undamaged. Everyone was in awe of Hao Dashou, a true eccentric. Holding a lump of clay in his large, skillful hands, he’d fix his eyes on you and, in hardly any time, produce a remarkable likeness. He didn’t stop making his dolls even during the Cultural Revolution. Both his father and grandfather had made fine clay likenesses of children, but his were better than theirs. He made his living creating and selling human dolls only. He didn’t have to. He could also have made simple figurines of dogs, monkeys and tigers, which were popular with children, who were the primary customers for such artisans. Adults would not spend money on something their children did not like. But Hao Dashou made only children. He lived in a large house with five main rooms, two side rooms, and a big tent out in the yard; all were filled with clay figurines. Some were finished, with powdered faces and all the features in the right places; others were awaiting the application of colour. There was only enough empty space on his kang for him to lie down; the rest was cluttered with clay figurines. A man in his forties, he had a ruddy face and grey hair that was combed into a braid at the back. Even his beard was grey.

Neighbouring counties had figurine artisans too, but their dolls came from a single pattern and were identical. His were all made by hand, every one unique. People said: He made all the dolls in Northeast Gaomi Township. People said: Every resident of Northeast Gaomi Township can see what he looked like as a child. People said: He only went to market to sell dolls when he was out of rice. He sold his dolls with tears in his eyes, as if he were selling his own children. I could barely imagine the pain all those shattered dolls caused him. Why wouldn’t he hold Yuan Sai by the wrist?

I walked up, holding my baby in my arms. I’d been in the army so long, it would have felt unnatural to be in civilian clothes, so I’d accompanied Renmei to the hospital in uniform. A young military officer carrying a newborn infant had plenty of authority. Let Yuan Sai go, Uncle, I said. He didn’t mean to do it.

Yes, that’s right, Uncle, I didn’t mean it, Yuan Sai sobbed. Be forgiving. I’ll find someone to fix your wheelbarrow and baskets, and I’ll pay for the broken dolls.

For my sake, I said, and for the sake of my daughter and her mother, let him go so we can cross the bridge.

Renmei poked her head out from the cabin. Uncle Hao! she shouted. Can you make me an identical pair of boy dolls?

Popular wisdom in the township had it that if a woman bought one of Hao Dashou’s dolls, tied a red string around its neck, laid it at the head of the kang, and made offerings to it, she’d have a baby exactly like it. But Hao would not let people choose the dolls they wanted. Artisans in other counties laid their wares out on the ground for people to choose. Hao Dashou kept his in covered willow baskets. After sizing up the buyer, he’d reach into one of his baskets to take one out, and that would be the only one he’d sell you. If you complained it wasn’t attractive enough, he would not exchange it. With a sad smile on his lips, though he’d say nothing, you could almost hear him saying, Are there really parents who complain that their children are ugly? The more you look at the doll in your hand, the more it appeals to you, and the more alive it becomes, like a living breathing child. He won’t bargain with you, and if you don’t offer him money, he won’t ask for any. No one ever heard him say thanks when they did pay, and people gradually came around to feeling that buying one of his dolls was much the same as ordering a real child from him. The talk kept getting stranger. If the doll he sold you was a girl, they’d say, when you went home, you’d have a girl; if it was a boy doll, that’s what you’d have. And if he took out two, you’d go home and have twins. This was a totally mystical arrangement, one that held up as long as you didn’t talk about it. People like my wife were impossible to reason with, and no one but she would blatantly try to get a pair of boys out of him. By the time the mysterious talk about Hao Dashou first reached our ears, she was already pregnant. It only worked before a woman was pregnant.

For my sake, Dashou let go of Yuan Sai, who rubbed his wrist and sobbed, This has been a terrible day for me. I walked out the gate and saw a bitch piss in my direction, and, sure enough, I walked into trouble.

Hao bent down to pick up the broken doll pieces and tucked them into his jacket. Then he moved to the side of the bridge to let us pass. There was frost on his beard and a solemn look on his face.

What did she have? Yuan Sai asked.

A girl.

No problem. The next one will be a boy.

There’ll be no next one.

Don’t you worry, Yuan Sai said with a conspiratorial wink. I’ll think of something when the time comes.

4

My daughter was nine days old on the first day of the year of the dog. According to local custom, this was a day of momentous significance, and friends and relatives arrived to help celebrate. We asked Wuguan and Yuan Sai to come over the day before to help us borrow all the tables and chairs, teapots and cups, glasses, plates, and chopsticks we’d need. A rough calculation came up with about fifty people. That meant two tables each in the eastern and western side rooms for the male guests, and one table in Mother’s room for the women. I produced a menu with eight cold plates and eight hot dishes per table, in addition to a soup. Yuan Sai took one look and laughed. This won’t do, my friend. Your guests are all farmers. They’ve got stomachs like bushel bags. What you have there is an appetiser for them. Listen to me, he went on. Forget all the variety and just pile on the meat. That and a big bowl of strong liquor counts as a feast for farming people. You’re being too fancy, and their chopsticks won’t be moving long before it’s all gone; then they’ll wait for more — which won’t be forthcoming. You’ll lose face, big time. I knew he was right, so I had Wuguan go to town for fifty jin of pork, half lean and half fat, and ten braised chickens, the kind with plenty of meat on their bones. Then I went out and ordered forty jin of tofu from Wang Huan, the bean curd peddler, and told Yuan Sai to buy ten Chinese cabbages, ten jin of bean noodles and twenty jin of liquor. Renmei’s family sent over 200 hen’s eggs, and when her father, my father-in-law, saw the preparations, he had a satisfied look. Son-in-law, he said, now you’ve done it. People have always laughed at your family for being cheap, but this lavish arrangement will change that when you send everyone home with a full belly. People who accomplish big things need to do everything in a big way.

About half the guests had arrived when it dawned on me that I’d forgotten to buy cigarettes. So I told Wuguan to go to the co-op to get some just as Chen Bi and Wang Dan arrived with their baby. Wuguan pointed to the gift they’d brought. No need to buy cigarettes, he said.

Chen Bi had done well in recent years, becoming one of the village’s rich men, what we called a ‘ten-thousand-aire’. He’d gone to Shenzhen and brought back some digital watches, which he’d sold to fad-crazy young people. Then he went to Jinan where he bought cigarettes from a wholesaler he knew and had Wang Dan sell them in the marketplace.

I’d seen her peddling them. She’d hung a well-designed device around her neck — a carrying case folded up and a display rack when let down. She’d dressed in a form-fitting blue jacket, with her baby strapped to her back in a cotton poncho, so only her nose showed. Whether they knew her or not, everyone who passed by took careful notice of her. The locals all knew she was the wife of the cigarette merchant Chen Bi, and the mother of the chubby little one on her back; outsiders took pity on the pretty girl who was out selling cigarettes with her baby sister on her back. Folks usually bought her cigarettes out of sympathy.

On this day Chen Bi was wearing a stiff pigskin leather jacket over a cable-knit turtleneck sweater. His face was red, his chin freshly shaved — big nose, sunken eyes with grey irises, hair curled.

Moneybags is here, Wuguan announced.

Moneybags, my eye, Chen Bi said. A small-time entrepreneur is more like it.

Tovarisch, Yuan Sai said. Your Chinese is pretty good, comrade.

Chen Bi raised the package he was holding. I’ll give you a taste of this! he threatened.

Cigarettes? Yuan Sai shouted. Just what everyone’s been clamouring for.

Chen Bi flung the package at Yuan Sai, who caught it and opened it to find four packs of Rooster cigarettes.

A true businessman, he said. How generous.

With that mouth of yours, Yuan Sai, Wang Dan said in a tiny voice, you could make a dead man dance disco.

Aiya, Sister-in-law, pardon my lack of manners, but how come he isn’t holding you in his arms?

I’ll split your lip! she said as she raised her hand threateningly.

Pick me up, Mama… It was Chen Er, who came around from behind her; she was now nearly as tall as her mother.

Chen Er, I said as I bent down and picked her up. How about letting your uncle hold you?

She started to cry, so Chen Bi took her from me and patted her bottom. Don’t cry, Er-er. I thought you wanted to see your uncle the army officer.

Chen Er reached out for Wang Dan.

She’s shy around strangers, Chen Bi said as he handed her to her mother. A moment ago she was fussing about wanting to see her uncle the army officer.

Just then, Wang Renmei smacked her hand against the windowsill. Wang Dan, she shouted, come here!

Carrying her daughter like a big toy in a puppy’s mouth, a sight that was both comical and earnest, Wang Dan waddled over like a cartoon animal, her daughter’s legs wrapped around her.

What a lovely little girl, I said. Like a doll.

How could a Soviet girl not be lovely? Yuan Sai said with an exaggerated wink. Brother Bi, everyone says you’re hard-hearted, that you don’t give your wife a moment’s rest.

Shut your mouth! Chen Bi said.

Go easier on her, Yuan Sai persisted. She’s still going to have to give you a son.

Didn’t I tell you to shut your mouth? Chen Bi gave him a kick.

Okay, already, Yuan Sai said with a laugh. I’ll shut it. But I want you to know how much I envy you. Married all these years, and still enjoying a good hug and a kiss. There’s your proof that love marriages and arranged marriages are nothing alike.

Everybody’s got troubles, and you, for one, don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Chen Bi said.

I gave Chen Bi’s belly a friendly pat. I see you’ve got a general’s paunch.

Life is good, he said. I never dreamed I’d one day enjoy such a good life.

You can thank Chairman Hua for that, Yuan Sai said.

I’d rather thank Chairman Mao, Chen Bi said. If the old fellow hadn’t up and died, everything would be the same as before.

More guests had arrived and were standing in the yard listening to our conversation. Even those who had gone inside were coming out to see what the commotion was all about.

My cousin Jin Xiu approached Chen Bi, looked up at him, and said, Elder Brother Chen, you’re like a god in our village.

Chen took out a pack of cigarettes, handed one to Jin Xiu, and lit one for himself. Then with his hands thrust into his pockets, he said proudly, So, tell me, what do they say about me?

They say you flew to Shenzhen with only ten yuan in your pocket, Jin Xiu said as he scratched his neck, and that you fell in behind a delegation of Russians. The girls who worked there all thought you were part of the delegation and bowed to you. You responded with Harasho — very good. They say you checked into that fancy hotel with the Russian delegation, that you ate and drank like a king for three days, and that you received a lot of gifts that you turned around and sold on the street, making enough to buy twenty digital watches, which you sold here. You used what you earned to make more money, and it didn’t take long to get rich.

Chen Bi stroked his big nose. Go on, he said, keep the story going.

They say you went to Jinan and roamed the streets until you saw an old fellow wandering aimlessly, and when you asked him why he was crying, he said he’d gone out for a walk and now couldn’t find his way back. You saw him home. The old fellow’s son was the head of the Jinan Supply and Marketing Department, and he rewarded your good deed by declaring himself to be your sworn brother. And that is how you were able to acquire cigarettes wholesale.

Chen had a big laugh over that. Are you writing a novel, young man? he said when he finished laughing. Now I’ll tell you the real story. I’ve flown on aeroplanes many times, and I’ve bought my own ticket for every flight. I do have friends at the Jinan tobacco plant, and they sold me cigarettes at a slim discount, enough for me to make three fen per pack.

No matter what you say, you’re someone who knows how to get things done, my cousin said with heartfelt admiration. My dad wants me to become your apprentice.

The one who really knows how to get things done is right here, Chen Bi said, pointing to Yuan Sai. He’s conversant with heavenly principles and earthly truths. He knows everything that happened five hundred years ago and half of what will happen five hundred years from now. He’s the master you’re looking for.

Elder Brother Yuan is a great man too, my cousin said. He set up his fortune-telling stand back home in the Xia Village marketplace, where we know him as the Little Immortal. When an old hen in my aunt’s house went missing, Elder Brother Yuan curled his fingers and said, Ducks on the river, chickens in the grass. Go see if there’s a grassy nest. Well, that’s exactly where we found it.

He’s not just a diviner, Chen Bi said. He can do lots of things. If he taught you even one of them, you’d have enough to live on for the rest of your life.

Kowtow to the master, Wuguan said.

No, the things I do are appropriate only for someone in the lower walks of society who’s eking out a living. You need to follow your cousin by going into the army and becoming an officer. Or take the college exam and go to school. Those are the paths to a bright future as a leading member of society. Yuan Sai first pointed to himself and then to Chen Bi. We, including him, are not engaged in lines of work that are on the up and up. We do what we do because we have no choice. But you, you’re still young, so don’t follow in our footsteps.

No, my cousin insisted stubbornly, you’re the ones with real skills and abilities. That’s not the case with the army or college.

Good for you, young man. You think for yourself, that’s good. In the future, we can work together, Chen Bi said.

Where’s Wang Gan? I asked Wuguan.

I’ll bet you anything he’s posted himself at the health centre.

That guy’s possessed, Chen Bi said. A team of horses couldn’t pull him away from it.

The problem is his house, Yuan Sai said mysteriously. The front door is in the wrong place, so is the toilet. I told your father-in-law more than a decade ago that he had to make changes to his front door and to move the toilet; if not, someone in his family would go batty. He thought I was putting a curse on him and picked up a whip to use on me. So what happened? What I warned against came true. Every chance he gets he picks up a cane, bends at the waist, and goes to the health centre to put on a shameless act. If that isn’t batty, I’d like to know what is. Wang Gan’s no better, a farmer with petty bourgeois ideas who’s gone gaga over that pimply Little Lion. In other words, batty.

All right, everyone, forget Yuan Sai’s eyewash and come inside, I said. Come inside, all of you.

The feng shui of our commune is no good, either, Yuan Sai said. Since olden days, the yamen, the official residence, has always faced south. But the gate of our commune faces north, and is directly opposite the slaughterhouse, where knives go in clean and come out red all day long, with blood and guts everywhere, and a grisly atmosphere. When I went to complain they accused me of propagating feudal superstitions and barely fell short of locking me up. So what happened? The old Party Secretary Qin Shan suffered a paralytic stroke and his brother, Qin He, has been crazy for years. When Qin’s replacement, Secretary Qiu, took a dozen people down south on an inspection tour, there was a traffic accident that killed or injured every one of them. Feng shui is of vast importance. No matter how unyielding a fate you have, it’s never greater than that of the Emperor, and not even he is immune to the power of feng shui.

Take your seat, I said again as I gave Yuan Sai a tap on the shoulder. Feng shui is important, good master, but so are eating and drinking.

If they don’t do something about the commune main gate, more people will go batty, and more major incidents will occur. You can believe me or not, Yuan Sai said. It’s up to you.

5

Wang Gan’s one-sided infatuation with Little Lion led to many strange occurrences that were the talk of the village. He was a laughing-stock, but I never laughed at him, for he had both my sympathy and my respect. He was, in my view, a uniquely talented individual who had been born in the wrong time and place. A devoted lover, if chance had allowed, he could have composed a sentimental love poem that would be sung for millennia. During our childhood, when we were ignorant of what romantic love was all about, Wang Gan was in the first bloom of love for Little Lion. I recall how years before he had said: Little Lion is so pretty! By any standard, she was not a pretty girl, not even attractive. My aunt had once thought of introducing her to me, and I’d declined with the excuse that she was the girl of Wang Gan’s dreams. To be perfectly honest, her looks were a turn-off. But in his eyes, she was the most beautiful girl in the world. In elegant terms, it could be a case of a lover seeing in her the classical beauty Xi Shi; less elegantly, it could be seeing a green bean through the eyes of a turtle — the size and colour make a perfect match.

After posting his first love letter to Little Lion, Wang Gan was so excited he dragged me down to the riverbank to pour out his feelings. That was in the summer of 1970, soon after our graduation from the rural middle school. Grain stalks and dead critters were being swept along by raging waters over which a solitary gull flew quietly past. Wang Renmei’s father was sitting on the riverbank fishing in the calmer water close by. Li Shou, a schoolmate younger than us, was crouched down watching him.

Want to tell Li Shou?

He’s just a kid, he wouldn’t understand.

We climbed an old willow tree halfway down the riverbank and sat side by side on a branch that reached out over the water. The tip actually broke the surface, creating a series of ripples.

What do you want to tell me?

You have to promise not to tell anyone.

Okay, I promise. If I breathe a word of what Wang Gan tells me, let me fall into the river and drown.

Today I… I finally dropped a letter to her in the postbox…

Wang Gan had turned pale and his lips quivered as he spoke.

To who? The way you’re acting, it sounds like you wrote to Chairman Mao.

Why would you say that? What does Chairman Mao have to do with me? No, I wrote to her. Her.

Who is ‘her’? I started to tense up.

You promised to never tell anyone.

I promised.

She’s as far as the ends of the earth, yet right in front of your eyes.

The suspense is killing me!

Her, she… A strange look came into Wang Gan’s eyes. With a tone of longing, he said, She’s my Little Lion.

Why write to her? Want to marry her or something?

You and your practical view of things! Wang Gan said emotionally. Little Lion, my dearest Little Lion, the one I want to love with all my youth, with my very life… my love, my true love, please forgive me, for I have already kissed your name a hundred times…

Cold chills and goose bumps were my only reaction. Wang Gan was obviously reciting his letter as he wrapped his arms around the trunk, face pressed tightly against the bark of the tree, tears in his eyes.

… I fell under your spell the first day I saw you at Xiaopao’s house. From that moment till this very day, till the end of time, this heart of mine belongs to you only, and if you wished to eat it, I would unhesitatingly dig it out for you… I’ve fallen in love with your bright pink face, your lively nose, your soft lips, your fluffy hair, and your sparkling eyes; I’ve fallen in love with your voice, your smell, and your smile. Your laughter makes me dizzy, makes me want to fall to my knees, wrap my arms around your legs, and gaze up at your smiling face…

Fisherman Wang jerked his pole backward; beads of water dripped from the flashing brightness of his line, glistening like pearls in the sunlight. At the end of his hook a soft-shelled beige turtle the size of a tea bowl crashed to the ground, and was probably dizzy from the fall, lying on the ground looking skyward, its white underbelly exposed, four legs pawing the air, sad but awfully cute.

A turtle! Li Shou shouted gleefully.

Little Lion, my dearest, I am lowborn, the son of a farmer, while you are a doctor whose table is graced with top quality food. There’s a chasm between our social standings, and you may not care to even take notice of me. After you finish my letter, only laughter will emerge from your lovely mouth before you tear it to shreds. Or maybe when it reaches you, you will toss it into a wastepaper basket unread. Nevertheless, I want to say to you, my dear, my dearest one, if you will accept my love, like a tiger with wings or a fine steed with a carved saddle, I will acquire unprecedented power and, as if boosted by an injection of blood from a young rooster, my spirit will be invigorated. There will be bread and milk; with your encouragement, I will improve my social status to stand with you as someone who, like you, subsists on marketable grains…

Hey, what are you two doing up there, reciting passages from novels? Li Shou shouted when he spotted us up in the tree.

… If you won’t accept me, my dear, I’ll not retreat, not give up, but will quietly follow you, trail you wherever you go, going down on my knees to kiss your footprints, I will stand outside your window to gaze at the lamplight inside, from first light to last — I want to turn into a candle and burn for you until there is nothing left of me. My dear, if I spit up blood and expire, I will be content if you favour me by coming to my gravesite for a brief look. If you can shed a tear for me, I will die with no regrets — your tears, my dear, a magic elixir that will bring me back from the dead…

The goose bumps on my arms were gone, and I was starting to be moved by his recitation of infatuation. I’d never dreamed he could fall for Little Lion and fall that hard, or that he had the literary talent to write such a plaintive letter. At that moment I felt that the doorway to adolescence was rumbling open for me, and that Wang Gan was leading the way. I knew nothing about love, but its splendour would draw me dashing recklessly towards it, like a moth to the flame.

The way you love her, I said, she has to love you back.

Do you think so? He gripped my hand, his eyes blazing. Will she really love me?

She will, absolutely. I gripped his hand back. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll ask my aunt to act as matchmaker. Little Lion will do anything she says.

No, he said, no, no, no. I don’t want to rely on anyone else. A melon won’t be sweet if you yank it off the vine. I want to win her heart with my own effort.

Li Shou looked up. What goofy stuff are you guys up to? he asked.

Fisherman Wang grabbed a handful of mud and threw it at us. You’re scaring the fish with all that jabbering.

A motorised red and blue boat chugged towards us from downstream, the sound of its engine instilling in us a hard-to-describe sense of anxiety, panic even. The boat was straining against the rapid flow, its bow throwing up whitecaps and ploughing thin ridges right and left that filled back in little by little. A layer of blue mist floated atop the surface of the river, the smell of diesel fuel spread to our lips. A dozen seagulls glided along behind the boat.

The boat belonged to the commune’s family-planning group, that is, Gugu’s boat. Little Lion was aboard, of course. County officials had assigned the boat to Gugu to aid her in keeping residents from exceeding the family-planning quotas through illegal pregnancies and other unanticipated problems, and to keep the bright family-planning banner flying even when passage across the swamped stone bridge was interrupted during flood season. The small cabin had a pair of faux leather seats; a twelve-horsepower diesel motor was attached to the stern and loudspeakers were mounted on the bow to broadcast a lilting popular Hunan song, a paean to Chairman Mao that was soft on the ear. The bow turned towards our village and the music ended. A brief moment of silence intensified the motor noise. Then: The Great Chairman Mao has instructed us, Gugu announced hoarsely, that humanity must proceed with planned population growth…

Wang Gan went silent at the moment Gugu’s boat hove into view. I saw that he was shaking, that his mouth hung open, that his moist eyes were fixed on the boat. As it passed by us it listed to one side, drawing a cry of alarm from Wang Gan. He tensed, and it seemed to me he might jump into the river. Farther up in the slow current, the boat turned and sped lightly towards us, the sound of its motor settling into a rhythmic hum. Gugu had arrived. So had Little Lion.

The boat was piloted by a familiar figure — Qin He. In the latter days of the Cultural Revolution, his older brother had been restored to the post of commune Party secretary, while he had been reduced to begging in the marketplace; no matter how civilised his begging methods were, he was as an embarrassment to his brother. We’d heard that he had asked his brother to assign him to work in the obstetrics ward at the commune health centre — You’re a man, how can you work in an obstetrics ward? — There are lots of men in obstetrics wards — You have no medical skills — What do I need those for? — and so Qin He was made pilot of the family-planning boat. In the weeks and months that followed, he hardly ever left Gugu’s side. On days when a boat was required, he went out onto the river; on other days he sat idly in the cabin.

His hair was parted down the middle, like the young men in movies set in the May Fourth period, and even in the dog days of summer he wore his blue gabardine student uniform, still with two pens in the breast pocket: a fountain pen and a two-colour ballpoint pen. His face seemed darker than the last time I’d seen him. He manoeuvred the boat slowly towards the riverbank, up near the twisted old willow. The motor slowed, ramping up the loudspeaker volume, making our ears ring. The commune had built a temporary pier west of the willow tree for the exclusive use of the family-planning boat. Crossbars had been fixed with wire to four thick posts in the water and overlaid by planks. After securing the boat to the pier, Qin He stood at the prow. The motor shut down and the loudspeakers went silent, reintroducing us to the splash of the river and the cries of gulls.

Gugu was first out of the cabin. The boat rocked, so did she. Qin He reached out to give her a hand but she pushed it away. She jumped onto the pier; though now on the heavy side, she was nimble as always. A bandage on her forehead emitted a harsh light.

Little Lion was next. Short and squat to begin with, she was dwarfed by the oversized medicine kit on her back. Though much younger than Gugu, her movements were clumsier. It was she who caused Wang Gan to wrap his arms tightly around the branch, his face pale, his eyes filling with tears.

Huang Qiuya was the third person to emerge. In the years since I’d last seen her, she’d become noticeably stooped; her head was thrust forward, her legs were no longer straight, and her movements were laboured. She rocked with the motion of the boat, arms in rapid motion to keep from losing her balance. All that kept her from crossing to the pier were legs that seemed incapable of leaving the boat. Qin He watched her impassively. No helping hand was offered. So she leaned forward and reached out to embrace the structure with both hands, like an orangutan, but stopped when Gugu said gruffly, Old Huang, why don’t you stay aboard? Without even turning her head, she continued, Watch her carefully. Don’t let her run off.

Gugu’s order was directed at both Qin He and Huang Qiuya, since Qin immediately bent down to look inside the cabin. The sound of a woman’s sobs soon emerged.

Once ashore, Gugu strode quickly along the riverbank heading east, Little Lion trotting to keep up with her. Blood had stained the bandage on Gugu’s forehead. Her face was set, her gaze intense, her expression unrelentingly firm, almost menacing. Naturally, Wang Gan was not looking at Gugu; no, his gaze followed Little Lion. He was muttering something under his breath. I sort of felt sorry for him, but more than that I was moved. I could not understand how a man might lose his head over a woman.

We later learned that Gugu’s injury had come as a result of being clubbed by a man who’s wife was pregnant with their fourth child in Dongfeng Village, the birthplace of many bandits in the pre — Liberation era. The man, Zhang Quan, who had bovine eyes and a solid family background, was feared by all the men in the village. Every woman of child-bearing age in Dongfeng Village who had given birth twice had had their tubes tied off if one of them had been a son. If they’d had only girls, Gugu said she’d taken village customs into consideration, and chosen not to force the women to have their tubes tied; however, they were required to insert IUDs. After a third pregnancy, even if they were all girls, the tubes had to be tied. Zhang Quan’s wife was the only woman in any of the more than fifty commune villages who had neither had her tubes tied nor used an IUD, and she was pregnant again. Gugu’s boat had travelled to Dongfeng Village during a downpour expressly to get Zhang Quan’s wife to go to the health centre for an abortion. While Gugu was on her way, Party Secretary Qin Shan phoned the branch secretary of Dongfeng Village, Zhang Jinya, ordering him to take all steps and use any force necessary to deliver Zhang Quan’s wife to the health centre. When Gugu reached the village, Zhang Quan was standing guard at his gate with a spiked club; eyes red, he was shouting almost insanely. Zhang Jinya and a team of armed militiamen were watching from a distance, not daring to get close. Zhang’s three daughters were kneeling in the doorway, noses running, tears flowing, as they cried out in what seemed to be practised unison: Merciful elders and uncles, mothers and aunts, brothers and sisters, spare our mother… she has a rheumatic heart. If she has an abortion she will die for sure — if she dies, we will be orphans.

Gugu said that the effects of Zhang Quan’s sympathy-seeking ruse were excellent — many of the women watching were in tears. Of course, some were resentful. As women with two children and IUDs, or three without a son, had had their tubes tied, they had no sympathy for Zhang Quan’s wife. A bowl of water must be carried level, Gugu said, and if we let Zhang Quan’s wife have a fourth child, those women would skin me alive. If Zhang Quan prevailed, the red flag would be lowered, but that would be nothing compared to a halting in the progress of family planning. So I gave the signal, Gugu said, and walked up to Zhang Quan with Little Lion and Huang Qiuya. Smart, courageous, loyal Little Lion, moved in front of me in case Zhang used his club. I pulled her back behind me. The petty bourgeois intellectual, Huang Qiuya, was fine for a bit of technical help, but when push came to shove, she was so scared she nearly fell apart. Gugu strode straight up to Zhang. The language he used on me, she said, was worse than you could imagine, and if I repeated it, the words would dirty your ears and my mouth. But my heart was hard as steel then, and my personal safety was not a concern. Go ahead, Zhang Quan, call me any insulting thing you want — whore, bitch, murderous devil — I don’t care. But your wife is going with me. Going where? To the health centre.

With eyes fixed on Zhang’s savage face, she walked right up to him. His three daughters rushed up to her, cursing like their father, the two smaller ones holding on to Gugu’s legs, while their oldest sister rammed her head into Gugu’s midsection. All three were on her like leeches, and she tried to fight them off. A sharp pain in her knee, she knew, meant she’d been bitten. Another head to her midsection knocked her flat on her back. Little Lion grabbed the oldest girl by the neck and flung her to the side; but the girl came right back at her, driving her head into Little Lion’s midsection, where her belt buckle hit her on the nose, which started to bleed. Seeing the blood on the back of her hand a moment later produced a mixture of terror and dread. As Zhang rushed to club Little Lion like a raving maniac, Gugu ran up and put herself between them. The club hit her forehead. She fell again. Are you people dead? Little Lion screamed at the onlookers. Zhang Jinya and his militiamen ran up and wrestled Zhang Quan to the ground, pinning his arms behind him. His daughters looked like they wanted to come to his aid, but they too were wrestled to the ground by Party women. Little Lion and Huang Qiuya wrapped a bandage from the medicine kit around Gugu’s head; blood seeped through the wrapping almost at once. They wrapped it some more. Gugu’s head was spinning and her ears rang; she saw stars and everything took on the colour of blood; people’s faces were as red as a cockscomb, even the trees seemed to blaze like torches.

Hearing what was happening, Qin He came over from the river and froze when he saw Gugu’s injury. Then a howl burst from his lips, followed by a mouthful of blood. When people rushed up to help him, he pushed them away and staggered forward as if drunk, picking up the club, now stained with Gugu’s blood, and raised it over Zhang’s head. Put that down! Gugu shouted as she struggled to her feet. You’re supposed to be watching the boat. What are you doing here? Making things worse. With a sheepish look, Qin He dropped the club and walked slowly back to the riverbank.

Gugu pushed Little Lion away and walked up to Zhang Quan, while Qin He was still howling as he walked towards the riverbank — Gugu was too focused on glaring at Zhang Quan to look behind her. The man was still cursing, but there was fear in his eyes now. Let him go, she said to the militiamen who held him by the arms. When they hesitated, she repeated herself. Let him go!

Give him back his club! she demanded.

One of the militiamen dragged the club up and tossed it down in front of Zhang.

Pick it up! Gugu said with a sneer.

Zhang mumbled, I’ll fight anyone who tries to end the Zhang family line!

Fine! Gugu said. You’re a brave man. She pointed to her head. Hit me here, she said, right here! She took a couple of steps closer. Me, she shouted, Wan Xin, this is the day I put my life on the line! Back when a little Japanese soldier came at me with a bayonet, I wasn’t afraid, so why should I be afraid of you today?

Zhang Jinya came up and shoved Zhang Quan. Apologise to Chairwoman Wan!

I don’t need his apology, Gugu said. Family planning is national policy. If we don’t control our population, there won’t be enough to feed and clothe our people, and a failure in education will lower the quality of our population, keeping the country weak. Sacrificing my life for national family planning is a small price to pay!

Zhang Jinya, Little Lion said, get on the phone and send for the police.

Zhang Jinya kicked Zhang Quan. On your knees! he demanded, and ask Chairwoman Wan for forgiveness.

Forget it! Gugu said. Zhang Quan, you could get three years in prison for hitting me, but I won’t lower myself to your level, and I’m willing to let you go. There are two paths open to you now. You can have your wife go with me to the health centre for an abortion, where I will personally perform the procedure and guarantee that she comes through it safely. Or I can turn you over to the police for punishment; then, if your wife goes with me willingly, fine. If not — she pointed to Zhang Jinyan and the militiamen — they will take her there.

Zhang Quan was in a crouch, holding his head in his hands and sobbing. Three generations have had only one son each. Will I be forced to see that line ended? Open your eyes, Heaven…

Zhang Quan’s wife walked out of the yard; she was weeping, and had straw in her hair. Obviously, she’d been hiding in a haystack.

Chairwoman Wan, be kind, forgive him. I’ll go with you.

Gugu and Little Lion were heading east on the riverbank behind our village, probably to make a report at brigade headquarters. But as they entered the lane that would take them there, the woman on the boat — Zhang Quan’s wife — came out of the cabin and jumped into the river. Qin He dived in after her, but since he did not know how to swim, he sank to the bottom. He managed to come up for air, but sank again. Help! Huang Qiuya screamed. Save them!

From our perch in the tree, we watched as Gugu and Little Lion turned back and ran to the river.

Wang Gan jumped nimbly into the river. Growing up on the banks of the river, we learned how to swim at about the same time we learned how to walk. The willow tree might as well have been set there for us to practise diving. I hoped that Little Lion had witnessed Wang Gan’s beautiful dive. I followed him into the river. Li Shou dived in from the riverbank. We should have tried to save the pregnant woman first, but she was nowhere in sight. Poor Qin He was right there in front of us, thrashing in the water, like a fritter rolling in bubbling oil.

Grab his hair, Wang Gan’s father alerted us, and watch out for his arms!

Wang Gan swam up behind him, reached out and grabbed him by the hair. He had a great head of hair. Wang Gan later said it was like a horse’s mane.

Wang Gan was a better swimmer than any of us. He could ford the river holding his clothes over his head and reach the other bank without a drop of water on them. Being able to demonstrate his swimming skills in front of the woman of his dreams was a wonderful opportunity. Li Shou and I helped him, one on each side until Qin He was safely on the bank.

Gugu and Little Lion came running up.

You idiot, Gugu fumed. What were you trying to do?

Qin He was spread out on the ground, coughing up water.

Zhang Quan’s wife jumped into the river, Huang Qiuya sobbed. He tried to save her.

Gugu paled. She turned her eyes to the river. Where is she?

She hit the water and disappeared, Huang Qiuya said.

I told you to watch her, didn’t I? Gugu angrily jumped onto the boat. You might as well be dead, she said. This is on you! Start the boat, she ordered.

Little Lion was all thumbs as she tried to start the motor, but failed.

Qin He, Gugu shouted, get back here and start this thing!

Qin He got shakily to his feet, but bent over and threw up all the water inside him. He fell back to his knees.

Xiaopao, Wang Gan, try to save her, Gugu said. I’ll reward you handsomely.

We looked over at the river and scoured it with our eyes.

The surface, broad and murky, carried foam and loose grass. Li Shou pointed at a watermelon rind on top of the water. Look over there, he said.

The rind glided along, occasionally rising out of the water on soggy strands of hair atop a head and neck.

Gugu sat down heavily on the side of the boat and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she burst out laughing.

Before we could dive in to make the rescue, she shouted, No hurry!

Can you swim? she asked Little Lion.

Little Lion shook her head.

Apparently, serving as a family-planning worker not only required being hit with a club, but swimming as well. She laughed as she pointed to the watermelon rind. See what a good swimmer she is? She’s using the technique the guerrillas employed against the Japanese.

Qin He came on board, bent at the waist. He was soaked, his hair was a mess, his face was ghostly white, and his lips were blue.

Start the boat! Gugu ordered.

He turned the crank. Still woozy, he swayed and coughed a couple of times before spitting out a bubbly mouthful.

We let go of the ropes.

Climb aboard, Gugu said.

I could imagine what was going through Wang Gan’s mind as he sat on the side near Little Lion. His hands were on his knees, all ten fingers quivering. I could see his heart beating under the wet undershirt stuck to his chest, like a caged rabbit banging against the bars. His body was so tense not a hair moved. Chubby Little Lion was oblivious to what was beside her, for her eyes were glued to the floating melon rind.

Qin He turned the bow away from the pier and the boat slipped forward, hugging the bank, its motor purring. Li Shou stood beside him studying his movements like an apprentice.

Go slow, Gugu said. That’s right, now even slower.

When the bow was about five metres from the melon rind, the motor was slowed to just above the point of shutting down. Now we could all see the head of the pregnant woman under the melon rind.

She’s good, Gugu said. Five months pregnant and still swimming that well.

Gugu sent Little Lion into the cabin to use the loudspeaker. The girl got up and slipped into the cabin at a semi-crouch. A void seemed to open up next to Wang Gan; a look of agony and loss showed on his face. What was he thinking at that moment? Had Little Lion already received the letter that showcased his prodigious talent?

My thoughts were all over the place when the loudspeaker erupted, scaring me, even though I’d known it was coming: The Great Leader Chairman Mao tells us we must control our population…

The pregnant woman pushed the melon rind off and showed her head. Startled into turning to look behind her, she quickly dove back under the surface. With a smile, Gugu told Qin He to keep the speed down. I want to see, she said softly, just how good a swimmer this Dongfeng Villager is. Little Lion emerged from the cabin and went up to the bow to gaze anxiously, and heaven answered Wang Gan’s wish, as she moved close to him. I actually felt a tinge of jealousy. His skinny frame was right next to her. All that prominent solid flesh. I could imagine what he was feeling, sure that he could sense the warmth and softness of her body, that he could… With this thought my heart began to thump wildly, and I felt nothing but shame for having such dirty thoughts. I quickly looked away from them, thrust my hands in my pockets, and angrily pinched myself on the leg.

Her head! Little Lion shouted. There’s her head!

The woman broke the surface about fifty metres from the boat and looked back as she stretched out and began swimming fast along with the current.

Gugu gave a sign to Qin He, who increased speed and began catching up with the pregnant swimmer. Gugu took a flattened pack of cigarettes from her pocket, removed one and stuck it between her lips. Then she thumbed her cigarette lighter until it lit. With her eyes half closed, she blew out a mouthful of smoke. A wind blew across the river, raising a series of turbid waves. I knew that no one could swim faster than a boat with a twelve-horsepower motor. A Hunan folk song in praise of Chairman Mao spewed from the loudspeaker: The Liuyang River bends nine times for ninety li to the River Xiang…

Gugu flipped the cigarette butt into the river; it was almost immediately snapped up by a gull that flew away with it.

The loudspeaker died out; the record had finished. Little Lion looked at Gugu, who said there was no need for more.

Geng Xiulian, Gugu shouted, do you think you can swim all the way back to the East China Sea?

No answer from the woman, who kept churning her arms, though she had slowed down considerably.

I wish you could be a little understanding, Gugu said, and come aboard so we can take care of things.

Stubborn resistance will get you nowhere, Little Lion steamed. Even if you can swim to the East China Sea, we’ll be right behind you.

At that the woman began to cry, her arms still churning, her movements getting slower and slower.

Worn out? Little Lion laughed. Go ahead, swim if you’re up to it. Kingfishers dive, frogs leap…

The woman’s body was getting lower and lower in the water, and a stench of blood seemed to rise in the air with each breath she released. Gugu leaned down to get a good look. Uh-oh, she shouted. Hurry, get past her, Gugu ordered Qin He. Then she told us to dive in. Hold her up!

Wang Gan was first in the water, Li Shou and I were right behind him.

Qin He leaned the boat into the space beside her.

Wang Gan and I swam up to her. When I grabbed her left arm, she swung it over like an octopus tentacle and pushed my head under the water. I tried to shout and swallowed water. Wang Gan caught her by the hair and began towing her towards the bank. Li Shou grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up so I could come up for air. Everything was a blur as I was racked by violent coughs. The boat was just ahead of us. Qin He slowed down. My shoulder bumped against the hull; so did the woman’s body. Gugu and the others leaned over the side, either catching hold of her hair or her arms, while we pushed her up by her bottom and legs. Everyone was shouting, and together we managed to get her into the boat.

Her leg was bleeding.

You boys don’t need to come up. Just swim over to the bank. That said, Gugu spun around and said to Qin He, Quickly, turn this thing around and get moving. Fast!

In spite of the best medicines and finest treatment, Geng Xiulian died at the health centre.

6

The brigade leadership sent me an urgent telegram, informing me that Wang Renmei was pregnant again. I was told in no uncertain terms that as a Party member and a cadre, and with a certificate proving that my one child was a daughter, for which I received a monthly subsidy, my wife should not be pregnant with a second child. The news hit me like a bombshell. I was ordered to return home without delay and make sure the pregnancy was terminated.

My unanticipated appearance at home shocked everyone. My two-year-old daughter hid behind her grandmother and looked at me fearfully.

What are you doing here? Mother asked anxiously.

I’m on assignment and this was on the way.

Yanyan, this is your papa, Mother said as she pushed the girl towards me. Day in and day out you say you want your papa to come home, and now that he’s here, you’re afraid of him.

I reached out for her arm to hold her, but all that did was make her cry.

Mother sighed. We’ve been in constant fear, she said, and we tried to hide it. But the truth came out anyway.

How did it happen? I asked unhappily. Wasn’t she fitted with an IUD?

She didn’t tell me until she began to show, Mother said. When she knew you were coming home for a visit last time, she went to Yuan Sai and had him remove the device.

That bastard Yuan Sai! I cursed through clenched teeth. Doesn’t he know that’s against the law?

Don’t report him, Mother said. Renmei begged him over and over, and even sent Wang Dan to plead her case, before he’d do it.

What a chance she took! Yuan Sai castrates animals. How could he have the nerve to remove one of those? What if something had happened?

He does it for lots of women, Mother said, keeping her voice low. Your wife said he was very skillful, that he plucked it right out with a metal hook.

Shameless, that’s what it is!

Don’t be so sensitive, Mother said. Wang Dan went with her, and Yuan Sai wore a surgical mask, dark glasses, and rubber gloves. He sterilised the hook first in alcohol and then by a flame to make sure it was safe. Your wife said she didn’t even have to take off her pants. He just cut a little hole in the crotch, and that was it.

That’s not what I meant.

Xiaopao, Mother said sadly, your two older brothers both have sons. You’re the only one who doesn’t, and that worries me. Why not let her have the baby?

I’d be willing to let her go through with it, but what if it isn’t a boy?

It looks like a boy to me, Mother said. When I asked your daughter if her mother was carrying a little sister or a little brother, she said, A little brother! Words from a toddler are prophetic. Besides, even if it’s a girl, she could be a help to you after Yanyan grows up, and you’ll be protected if something should happen to her. I’m getting old, and once my eyes close for the last time, I won’t know a thing. I’m just thinking about you.

Mother, I said, there are rules in the army. If I have a second child, I’ll lose my Party membership and my army commission, and I’ll be sent home to tend fields. I struggled for years to leave the village, and having a second child isn’t worth giving all that up.

Are Party membership and a commission more precious than a child? It takes people to make a world. If you have no one to carry on the line, what good does it do to become a high official, even if you’re second only to Chairman Mao?

Chairman Mao has been dead for a long time, I said.

Do you think I don’t know he’s dead? I was just making a point.

The door opened with a bang. Ma, Yanyan shouted, my papa’s home!

I watched the girl totter on tiny legs up to her mother. Renmei was wearing the grey jacket I’d worn before going into the army. She was definitely showing. A red bundle, from which bits of coloured cloth peeked out, hung from the crook of her arm. She bent down and picked our daughter up. Well, now, Xiaopao, what are you doing home? she asked with an exaggerated smile.

Can’t I return to my own home? You’ve really done it this time, I said testily.

Her face, covered with dark ‘pregnancy spots’, paled, then immediately turned bright red. What have I done? she asked, raising her voice. I’m out in the field during the day and take care of our daughter at night. I haven’t done anything I shouldn’t have.

Don’t start splitting hairs. Why did you go see Yuan Sai behind my back? Why didn’t you say anything to me?

Traitor! Turncoat! Renmei put down the child and stormed into the bedroom, nearly tripping over a stool, which she sent flying with her foot. Who betrayed me by telling you?

Our daughter was wailing outside.

Mother was sitting by the stove weeping.

Stop bawling and cursing, and go with me to the health centre to take care of this, and that’ll be the end of it.

Don’t even think it! she yelled as she flung a hand mirror to the floor. It’s my child, in my belly, and I’ll hang myself from the door of anyone who tries to harm it.

Xiaopao, why not forget about Party membership and being an officer, and come home to work the field? There’s no more people’s commune, so we can work our own land and have more food than we can possibly eat. You’ll be free. I think you should come home…

No, absolutely not!

Renmei was tossing things around in the bedroom, making a racket.

This isn’t only about me, I said. Our unit’s reputation is at stake.

Renmei came out of the room with a large bundle. I stopped her. Where do you think you’re going?

None of your business!

I tugged on her bundle to keep her from leaving. She whipped out a pair of scissors and pointed them at her abdomen. Her eyes were red. Let go of that! she demanded shrilly.

Xiaopao! Mother yelled.

I knew what Renmei was capable of.

Go, then, I said. You might be able to get through today, but not tomorrow. One way or the other, that’s coming out.

Bundle in hand, she rushed out the door. Our daughter tried to follow her, arms spread out in front, but tripped and fell. Renmei ignored her.

I ran outside and picked the child up. She fought me and cried for her mother. With a welter of thoughts running through my mind, my tears began to fall.

Cane in hand, Mother hobbled out into the yard. Let her have the child, Son, she said. If you don’t, I don’t know how we’ll get through the days…

7

That night my daughter cried for her mother and nothing I did could pacify her. Check out Grandma’s house, Mother said, so I carried the girl over to my in-laws’ house and knocked on the door. Wan Xiaopao, my father-in-law said through a crack, my daughter became a member of your family when she married you. Who are you looking for here? If something has happened to my daughter, I’ll be your worst enemy.

I went to see Chen Bi. His gate was locked and the yard was pitch-black. Next I went to see Wang Gan, and pounded so long at the door the puppy on the other side set up a frenzy of barking. A light went on, and Wang Jiao came out to stand at the gate, his club dragging on the ground. Who are you looking for? He sounded angry.

It’s me, Uncle.

I know it’s you. Who are you looking for?

Where’s Wang Gan?

Dead! He slammed the door shut.

Wang Gan wasn’t dead, I knew that, but then I recalled that on my previous visit home, Mother mumbled something about Wang Jiao kicking his son out of the house, and that he was reduced to roaming the area, occasionally seen in the village, though no one knew where he was living.

My daughter cried herself out and fell asleep in my arms. I held her as I walked the streets, unable to dispel my glum feeling. Two years earlier the village had been electrified, and a streetlight had been installed alongside a pair of loudspeakers high atop a concrete pole behind the headquarters of the village committee. Several youngsters were standing around a pool table with a blue velvet surface under the light, noisily enjoying a game. A five- or six-year-old boy was sitting on a stool nearby, playing a basic keyboard. A glance at his face told me it was Yuan Sai’s son.

Not long before, a broad gate had been built in front of Yuan Sai’s house across the street. After some hesitation, I decided to go talk to him, but the thought of him removing Renmei’s IUD made me very uncomfortable. If he’d been a real doctor, I’d have had nothing to say. But… damn!

He was surprised to see me. Sitting alone on the edge of his kang, he was drinking and snacking on small plates of peanuts and dried anchovies, plus a large plate of fried eggs. Barefoot, he jumped to the floor and told me to sit by him, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He called to his wife for more food. Another classmate of ours, she had a face marked by light pocks, and we all called her Sesame Twist.

Not a bad living you’ve got here, I said as I sat down. Sesame Twist reached out to take my sleeping daughter and lay her down at the head of the kang. I demurred briefly before letting her take her.

His wife scrubbed the wok and lit a fire to fry a ribbonfish to go with the liquor. None for me, I said, but the oil was already crackling, filling the air with its fragrance.

Yuan Sai insisted that I take off my shoes and climb up onto the kang. I made the excuse that it would be too much trouble since I was only going to stay a minute. But he insisted, so I gave in.

What brings you here, my esteemed friend? he asked after pouring me a glass. What are you now? Battalion commander? Regiment commander?

Shit, I said. A crummy company commander. I picked up the glass and drained it. And I won’t be that for long. I’ll be back ploughing a field pretty soon.

What does that mean? He too drained his glass. You’re the classmate with the brightest future. Xiao Xiachun and Li Shou might be in college — that asshole Xiao Shangchun parades up and down the streets bragging about how his son has been given a job with the State Council — but neither one is your equal. Xiao Xiachun has broad cheeks and a narrow forehead and his ears are pointed, the spitting image of a yamen runner. Li Shou is good-looking, but good luck isn’t in the cards for him. But you, you’ve got long legs and powerful arms, and eyes like a phoenix or a dragon. If not for the mole beneath the right eye, you’d have the look of an emperor. Have that removed by laser, and though you might not make it to general or minister, you’ll go at least as high as a division commander.

That’s enough, I said. You can BS people in the marketplace if you want, but stop talking like that to me.

Those are prophetic signs, I’m telling you, knowledge that’s been passed down by our ancestors, Yuan Sai said.

Like I said, that’s enough bullshit. I’m here to get even for what you did to me.

What did I do? I’ve never done anything to you.

Who told you to remove Wang Renmei’s IUD without my knowledge? I forced myself to keep my voice down. Some busybody sent a telegram to my unit, which ordered me back home to take her in for an abortion. If I don’t, I’ll lose my commission and my Party membership. Now, Renmei has run away, so what do you recommend?

Who fed you that line? Yuan Sai rolled his eyes and spread his hands. When was I supposed to have removed Wang Renmei’s IUD? I’m a fortune-teller who calculates fortunes by numbers, yin and yang, good and evil, and feng shui. That’s what I do. Why would an ageing man like me get involved in removing IUDs? What you’re saying might not seem inauspicious to you, but it is.

No more games, I said. Everyone knows that Little Immortal is a man of many talents. Feng shui and fortune-telling may be ‘what you do’, but you have time left over to geld animals and remove IUDs. I’m not going to take you to court for what you did, but I’m not going to let you off the hook either. Before you removed Wang Renmei’s IUD, you should have checked with me.

I’m innocent, this is slander! Yuan Sai insisted. Bring Wang Renmei here to face me, and we’ll see what she says.

She ran off, and I don’t know where she’s gone. Besides, would she admit it? Would she rat you out?

Xiaopao, you son of a bitch, you’re not just anybody, you’re an army officer, and you have to stand by what you say. How dare you accuse me of removing your wife’s IUD. Got any proof? You’ve besmirched my reputation, and I’ll sue you if you make me mad enough.

All right, what it’s come down to is… I’m not blaming you. What I’d like from you is advice. The way things are now, what do you think I ought to do?

Yuan Sai shut his eyes, rubbed his fingers together, and began to mutter. Then his eyes snapped open. Worthy brother, he said, great joy!

How’s that?

Your wife’s pregnancy is the reincarnation of an important individual in the last dynasty. Since great secrets must not be divulged, I cannot tell you the individual’s name, but I can give you four lines you mustn’t forget: When the child is born, one, he’ll have a fine physique; two, he’ll accomplish great deeds; three, he’ll rise to unprecedented heights; and four, he’ll be invested with all the trappings of authority!

Weave your fairytales, I said, though what I heard filled me with a hard-to-describe happiness. Yes, indeed, if she could bear a son like that…

Yuan Sai had no trouble reading my mind. With what appeared to be a smile, he said, Heaven’s will cannot be transgressed.

I shook my head. But if Renmei has the baby, my days are over.

There’s an old saying: Heaven always leaves a door open.

So tell me.

You send a telegram to your unit saying she’s not pregnant, that it was a rumour begun by someone who has it in for you.

Is that what you consider a foolproof plan? I said with a sneer. Do you think you can carry paper in fire? Once the child is born, what about registering for residence? How about school?

Why think so far ahead, good brother? Just having the child is a victory. Policy enforcement is strict around here. Other counties are rife with ‘bootleg kids’. There’s no more collective and everyone has plenty to eat. Go ahead and raise the kid. We’re all citizens of the People’s Republic of China, and you can’t tell me that the country will declare him a non-citizen.

But if word gets out, won’t that be the end of my career?

Then there’s nothing I can do for you. Only one end of the sugar cane is sweet.

Damn that bitch, she needs a serious beating. I finished what was in my glass and got down off the kang. She’s the cause of all my rotten luck.

Don’t say that, good brother. I’ve looked at both your fortunes, and I tell you, Wang Renmei was born to help her husband achieve great things. Your successes will come from her.

Help her husband? Ruin her husband is more like it. I smiled coldly.

The worst that can happen is for Wang Renmei to have the child and you give up your career to come home and tend your field. What’s wrong with that? In twenty years, your son will rise high in the world, and you’ll live the enviable, comfortable life of a gentleman farmer. Isn’t that something to look forward to?

I wouldn’t be so upset if she’d told me beforehand, I said, but how am I supposed to swallow this sort of deceit?

No matter what you say, Xiaopao, the child in Wang Renmei’s belly is yours, and whether it lives or dies is up to you.

You’re right there, it is up to me, and I want to remind you that all walls have holes. You need to be careful.

I took the sleeping child from Yuan Sai’s wife and started walking out. As I was saying goodbye to her, she said softly, Let her have the baby, good brother. I’ll help you find a secret place to do it.

A Jeep was parked outside Yuan Sai’s gate. A pair of policemen got out and stormed through the gate. Sesame Twist tried to stop them, but they pushed her out of the way and swooped into the house. Smacking sounds and Yuan Sai’s screams emerged, followed a few minutes later by Yuan Sai himself, handcuffed and wearing his shoes with the backs stepped on, in the custody of the police.

Why are you arresting me? he protested, his head cocked to look at one of his escorts. What did I do?

Knock it off, the policeman ordered. Why are we arresting you? You know better than anybody.

Xiaopao, you have to get me out. I haven’t broken any laws!

A heavy-set woman stepped out of the car.

Gugu!

She removed her hospital mask and said coldly, Come see me at the health centre tomorrow.

8

Let her have the baby, Gugu, I said sadly. I no longer want my Party membership or my commission…

She banged the table with her hand, sending water splashing over the sides of the glass in front of me.

What a misfit you are, Xiaopao! This isn’t just about you. For three years the commune has not had a single case of exceeding the birth quota. Are you going to be the one to ruin our record?

But she’s tried to kill herself more than once, I said with difficulty. What if she goes through with it?

With a cold look, she said, You know local policy where that’s concerned? Don’t hide the bottle if they want to take poison, give them a rope if they want to hang themselves.

That’s cruel!

You think that’s what we want? You don’t need cruelty in the army, and you don’t need it in the cities; you especially don’t need it in foreign countries — all foreign women want is to enjoy themselves. They don’t have children in response to government encouragement, not even if they’re rewarded for having them. But this is rural China and we’re dealing with peasants. We can reason with them, we can talk about policy, we can wear out shoe leather and talk ourselves hoarse, and will they listen to us? No. So what do we do? We have no choice but to control population growth, carry out national policy, and meet our superiors’ goals. So what do we do? Those of us involved with family planning are reviled during the day and are the targets of missiles when we’re out walking at night — even five-year-old children jab our legs with awls. Gugu rolled up a pant leg to show me a large purple scab. See that? A cross-eyed little bastard in Dongfeng Village did that to me a few days ago. You haven’t forgotten what happened with Zhang Quan’s wife, have you? — I shook my head, recalling the incident in the surging river a decade or more before — she jumped into the river and we pulled her out, but Zhang Quan and his fellow villagers insisted that we pushed Geng Xiulian into the river, where she drowned. They wrote a letter, signing it in blood, that went all the way to the State Council, and in the end we were forced to sacrifice Huang Qiuya.

Gugu lit a cigarette and puffed so hard her sad features were swathed in a cloud of smoke. She’d gotten old, with deep wrinkles at the sides of her mouth, bags under her eyes, and a clouded look — we did everything humanly possible to save Zhang’s wife, including giving her some of my own blood, but she had a heart condition. In the end, we gave Zhang Quan a thousand yuan, which was a lot of money at the time. But even after taking the money he wouldn’t let us off the hook. He carried his wife’s body on a flatbed cart, followed by his three daughters in funeral hemp, to the offices of the county Party committee when the provincial head of the family-planning committee was in town on an inspection tour. The police sent a beat-up old Jeep to deliver Huang Qiuya, Little Lion and me to the county guesthouse. The police were surly and crude, and the way they manhandled us, you’d have thought we were criminals. The county officials wanted to talk to me, but I stiffened my neck and refused, saying I’d only talk to the provincial authority. So I walked unannounced into the visitors’ room, where he was reading a newspaper in an easychair. One look and I knew, it was Yang Lin! Now a fair-skinned deputy governor with a healthy complexion. I was furious, and the words came out like machine-gun fire — pow pow pow pow. You people up there send down your orders, and we down here run our legs off and talk till our lips split open. You want us to be civilised, talk policy, and work on the ideological state of the masses… while you stand there giving orders, suffering no back pain and, since you don’t bear children, you don’t know how a woman hurts! Why don’t you come down and see what’s happening, see how we work like dogs so we can be cursed, beaten black and blue, our heads bloodied, and then, if some little problem arises, instead of backing us up, you take sides with hooligans and shrews! You cast a chill over us — here pride crept into Gugu’s monologue — other people might shy from talking to high officials, but not me! When I see a high official I really start talking — it’s not that I’m a great talker, but that I’ve got a bellyful of bile. I was crying the whole time I talked to him, and I stopped to show him the scar on my head. Did Zhang Quan break the law when he hit me with his club? Did jumping into the river to save his wife and giving her my own blood count as doing everything called for by humanity and duty? By then, I was really bawling. Go ahead, send me to a re-education camp, throw me in jail, but I’m through! Tears were welling in Yang Lin’s eyes. He got up to pour me some water and went to the bathroom to get me a moist, hot towel. Work at the grassroots level is hard, he said. Chairman Mao said: Educating the peasant masses is critical. You have suffered, Comrade Wan. I know that, and so do the county officials. We have a high opinion of you. He came over and sat beside me. How would you like to come work for me in provincial headquarters, Comrade Wan? I knew exactly what he was getting at, but when I thought back to all those terrible things he’d said at the public denouncement rally, my heart cooled. No, I said firmly, that’s not for me. I’m needed here. In a somewhat rueful tone, he said, Then how about a move to the county health centre? No, I said, I’m staying put. Maybe I should have gone with him, Gugu said, just up and left. What you can’t see doesn’t bother you. If people want babies, let them go ahead and have them. Two billion, three billion, when the sky falls, the tall people can hold it up. Why should I worry about any of this? I’ve suffered all my life from being too compliant, too revolutionary, too loyal, and too serious about things.

It’s not too late to come to your senses, I said.

What the hell does that mean? she spat angrily. Come to my senses? I’ve just been venting to a member of my own family, a little private bitching. Your aunt is a steadfastly loyal Communist who did not waver when she was being brutalised during the Cultural Revolution, so why would she now? No, family planning is absolutely essential. If we let people have all the babies they want, that’s thirty million a year, three hundred million a decade. At that rate, in fifty years the Chinese population alone would flatten the earth. So we must lower the birth rate, no matter what it costs. That will be China’s greatest contribution to humanity.

I understand what you’re saying, Gugu, I said, but my immediate problem is, Renmei has run off…

She can run but she can’t hide. Where could she go? She’s hiding in your father-in-law’s house.

Renmei has a stubborn streak, and if she’s pushed too far, I’m afraid she might do something stupid…

You can stop worrying. I’ve come up with a plan. I’ve fought it out with women like her for decades, and I know exactly how they think. They’re all talk, and she won’t kill herself. She likes living too much. It’s the quiet ones who might hang themselves or take poison. In all my years working with family planning, the women who kill themselves do so for some other reason, so you have nothing to worry about.

Then what do I do? I said, still troubled. I can’t truss her up like a pig and drag her to the hospital.

We may have to get tough with her, Gugu said, especially since it’s your wife. Being my nephew is your bad luck, because if I let her go ahead, how am I going to deal with the masses? They’d be on me as soon as I opened my mouth.

I have no choice but to do as you say, I said. Should I bring members of my unit to help out?

I’ve already sent your unit a telegram.

Was it you who sent the first telegram?

Yes, it was me.

Since you knew early on that she was pregnant, why didn’t you take care of it then?

I didn’t know till I returned from attending two months of meetings in the county capital. That bastard Yuan Sai, she sputtered, all he ever gives me is trouble. Fortunately, someone reported him. That will save us trouble later on.

Will he be punished?

If I had my way, they’d shoot him! she said angrily.

I doubt that Renmei was the only one.

We have a handle on this. There’s your wife, the wife of Wang Qi at Wang Clan hamlet, the wife of Jin Niu in Sun Family Village, and Wang Dan, Chen Bi’s wife — she’s the farthest along. There are another dozen or so in other counties, but they’re not our concern. We’ll start with your wife, and then the rest, one after the other. No one will get away.

What if they leave the province?

Gugu sneered. Even the magical monkey Sun Wukong could not escape from the Buddha’s palm.

I’m in the army, Gugu, so Renmei should have the procedure. But Wang Dan and Chen Bi are farmers, and their first child was a girl. According to policy, they can have a second. She’s so tiny that getting pregnant is always hard…

Gugu cut me off with a taunt: You haven’t taken care of your own problem, so what are you doing speaking up for them? The policy is that they can have a second child, but only after the first child’s eighth birthday. How old is their daughter, Chen Er?

It’s only a matter of a few years, I said.

How glib that sounds, Gugu said sombrely. Just a few years early, but what if everyone was just a few years early? This would be a terrible precedent, it’d make a mess of things. Forget about other people. You’ve got problems of your own.

9

Gugu led a special family-planning team into our village. Her second-in-command was the deputy commander of the armed police bureau. In addition to Little Lion, the team consisted of half a dozen brawny militiamen. They arrived in a van equipped with a loudspeaker and a powerful caterpillar tractor.

But before the team entered the village, I knocked on my father-in-law’s gate for the second time. This time he allowed me in.

You were in the army too, I said to him. There we do as we’re told. Disobeying an order is not an option.

He mulled over what I said as he smoked a cigarette. If you knew she couldn’t have another child, he said finally, then why let her get pregnant? How is she supposed to have an abortion so late in her pregnancy? What if she doesn’t get through it? She’s my daughter, the only one I have.

Don’t blame me for this.

Then who should I blame?

If you’re looking for someone to blame, look no further than that bastard Yuan Sai. He’s already under arrest.

I’m telling you now that if anything happens to my daughter, I’ll come looking for you and will put these old bones on the line.

My aunt says there’s no problem. She says they’ve even done it at seven months.

Your aunt isn’t a human being, she’s a demon! my mother-in-law jumped in. How many lives has she destroyed over the past few years? Her hands are covered in blood, and when she dies the King of Hell is going to chop her into pieces.

What good does saying things like that do? my father-in-law said. This is men’s business.

How can it be men’s business? she asked shrilly. They want to push our daughter down to the gates of Hell. How is that men’s business?

I’m not going to argue with you, Mother, I said. Tell Renmei to come out here. I need to talk to her.

Why are you looking for her here? She’s a member of your family now and that’s where she lives. What have you done to her? Give her back to me!

Hear that, Renmei? I said loudly. I had a talk with Gugu yesterday. I told her I planned to give up my Party membership and my commission and take up farming again so you can have the child. She told me I can’t do that. That business with Yuan Sai has shaken things up all the way up to the provincial government, and county authorities gave her an order that all illegal pregnancies in her area had to be terminated.

We won’t allow it! my mother-in-law shrieked as she flung a basin full of dirty water at me. What kind of society are we living in? Tell that slut of an aunt to come here and we’ll have it out once and for all! She can’t have babies, and seeing others have them makes her mad. She’s jealous.

I left the house, drenched in filthy water.

When the work team van stopped outside my in-laws’ house, every able-bodied villager showed up, including Xiao Shangchun, who’d suffered a stroke, and hobbled up, aided by a cane. Impassioned speech spewed from the loudspeaker: Family planning is a high priority, it impacts the nation’s future and that of the people… it is essential for a country capable of implementing the four modernisations to control and improve the quality of its population… those with illegal pregnancies must not trust to luck to slip through the net… the people’s eyes are bright. You can hide in caves or deep in a forest, but you will not get away… anyone who attacks family-planning personnel will be punished as counter-revolutionaries… anyone who subverts family planning by whatever means will be severely punished under Party and state law…

Gugu took the lead, followed by the deputy bureau chief, with Little Lion bringing up the rear. My father-in-law’s door was shut tight. A couplet pasted on the gate read: Our rivers and mountains have prospered for millennia/Eternal spring graces the fatherland. Gugu turned and said to the crowd behind her, Without family planning, the face of the nation will change, the fatherland will collapse. Then where will we find prosperity for the millennia? Where will we seek an eternal spring? Gugu rapped the metal knocker and shouted in her characteristically raspy voice, Wang Renmei, did you really think you could fool me by hiding in the potato cellar by the pigpen? The county Party committee and the army have been alerted to your case, and you have set a bad example. There are two paths you can take from here: you can come out of there on your own and go with me to the health centre to terminate your pregnancy. Since you are so far along, we will accompany you, and our most experienced doctor will perform the procedure. Or you can be defiant, in which case the tractor will pull down the houses of your parents’ neighbours on all sides, then pull down your parents’ house. Your father will have to cover all your neighbours’ losses. Even after that, we will still terminate your pregnancy. If it were someone else, I would treat her with kindness, but not you. Have you heard me, Wang Renmei? How about you, Wang Jinshan and Wu Xiuzhi? Gugu made a point of calling Renmei’s parents by name.

Nothing stirred on the other side of the gate for a long moment. Then a young rooster crowed. My mother-in-law’s voice was next: Wan Xin, you black-hearted, inhumane monster… a bad death awaits you… after you die, you’ll have to climb a mountain of knives and boil in hot oil, your skin will be peeled, your eyes will be gouged out, and you’ll burn from head to toe.

With a snicker, Gugu turned to the deputy militia chief. Go ahead, she said.

He had his men drag a long, thick cable up to the gate of the neighbour to the east and wrap it around an old scholar tree. With his hand on his cane, Xiao Shangchun bounded out of the crowd and jabbered at the top of his lungs: That’s our family’s tree! He tried to hit my aunt with his cane, but lost his balance in the attempt. So, this is your tree, Gugu said coldly. My apologies, but you seem to have chosen you neighbour poorly.

You’re all local bandits… a bunch of Guomindang operatives…

The Guomindang curses us as ‘Commie bandits’, Gugu said with a cruel smile. Calling us local bandits shows you’re not in the same league as the Guomindang.

I’m going to sue you people… my son works in the State Council.

Go ahead and sue, all the way to the top if you can manage.

Xiao Shangchun threw down his cane and wrapped his arms around the scholar tree. You can’t pull my tree down, he said tearfully. Yuan Sai said that this tree carries the lifeblood of my family; if it flourishes, so does my family…

Gugu laughed. I wonder if Yuan Sai calculated when he’d be arrested.

You’ll have to kill me first, Xiao bawled.

Xiao Shangchun, Gugu said sternly, what’s happened to the ferocity you displayed when you were beating and making life miserable for people during the Cultural Revolution? Look at you, crying and snivelling like an old woman.

You can’t fool me, I know you’re exploiting your public office for personal gain… plotting revenge against me… it’s your niece with the illegal pregnancy, so how can you pull down my tree…

Not just your tree, Gugu said. When it’s down, we’re going to pull down your gate arch, and then your house. Crying out here won’t do you any good. You should go see Wang Jinshan. Gugu took the bullhorn from Little Lion and directed it at the crowd. All you neighbours of Wang Jinshan, listen carefully. In accordance with special regulations issued by the commune family-planning committee, since Wang Jinshan is shielding his daughter, who is maintaining an illegal pregnancy in defiance of the government, and insulting authorised workers, we will now pull down the houses of his neighbours on all sides. You can go to Wang Jinshan to recoup your losses. If you do not want your houses to be destroyed, now is the time to persuade him to have his daughter come out.

My father-in-law’s neighbours erupted in a chorus of shouts.

Carry out the order, Gugu said to the deputy militia chief.

The caterpillar tractor roared into action, making the ground beneath our feet tremble.

The steel beast began to move, slowly picking up the slack in the cable, which sang out as it tautened. The leaves on the tree started to flutter.

Xiao Shangchun ran as fast as his limping leg would take him up to my father-in-law’s gate, where he pounded like a madman. Wang Jinshan, you and your fucking ancestors are the scourge of your neighbours. You will not die well!

In his anxiety, his garbled speech inexplicably turned clear.

The only sounds on the other side of the gate were the heartbreaking howls of my mother-in-law.

Gugu raised her arm for the sake of the deputy militia chief and then made a chopping motion.

Step on it! the man shouted to the driver.

The roar of the tractor thudded against eardrums, the cable stretched taut enough to cut into the bark of the tree, from which sap oozed. Inch by inch the tractor moved ahead, sending blue smoke spurting into the sky from the vertical exhaust pipe up front. The driver, who was wearing blue canvas overalls, a white towel around his neck and a duckbill cap, kept looking back, biting his lip under a black moustache. He had the look of a model worker. The tree creaked as it began to list, such a sad sound. The cable had bitten deeply into the trunk, white wood showing as chunks of the bark broke off.

Get your arse out here, Wang Jinshan! Xiao Shangchun was pounding on the gate with his fists, hitting it with his knees, and butting it with his head. Now even my mother-in-law’s sobs had stopped.

The tree leaned, farther and farther, its canopy of leaves fluttering to the ground.

Xiao Shangchun staggered over to the tree. My tree… my family’s bloodline tree…

Roots were moving just below the surface.

Xiao Shangchun struggled back to my father-in-law’s gate. Wang Jinshan, you son of a bitch, we’ve been neighbours, good ones, for decades, almost becoming relatives, and now you want to destroy us.

The roots were now exposed, like light yellow pythons, moaning as they felt the air. Some snapped in two, others grew longer and longer, all those underground pythons… The leafy umbrella swept the ground like a gigantic broom, willowy branches splintered as they bent down and raised eddies of dirt. The bystanders sniffed the air, which carried the smells of fresh soil and tree sap.

Wang Jinshan, I’ll split my head open at your door, damn you! Xiao banged his head against the gate. We heard nothing, not because his head produced no sound, but because it was swallowed up by the roar of the tractor.

The tree was dragged a dozen metres away from Xiao Shangchun’s house, leaving a gaping hole with torn roots where it had once stood. Children were already digging to find young cicadas.

My aunt announced through the battery-operated bullhorn, Next we will pull down Xiao Shangchun’s gate arch.

People carried Xiao over to the side, where they pinched the spot beneath his nose and massaged his chest.

Neighbours of Wang Jinshan, take notice — Gugu spoke calmly — go to your homes to gather up your valuables. After we pull down Xiao Shangchun’s house, we’re coming for yours. I know this seems unreasonable, but lesser reason must give way to greater reason. And what is that? Family planning, controlling our population growth. I’m not afraid to be the villain, someone has to be. I know you all want me to die and go straight to Hell. Well, we Communists don’t believe in such places, and materialists have nothing to fear. And I wouldn’t be afraid even if there were such a place. Who would go to Hell if not me? Remove the cable from the tree and affix it to Xiao Shangchun’s gate arch!

All my father-in-law’s neighbours rushed in and began kicking and pounding on his gate. They threw bricks and tiles into his yard. Someone even brought over some dry corn stalks to stand up under the eaves. Wang Jinshan, he yelled, if you don’t come out, we’ll set your house on fire!

Finally the gate opened. Standing there was neither my father-in-law nor my mother-in-law; it was my wife. Her hair was a mess, she was covered in mud and dirt, and she had on only one shoe — the left. She’d obviously just crawled out of the cellar.

Gugu, she said as she walked up to my aunt, isn’t it enough that I go with you?

I always knew that my nephew’s wife had a profound understanding of right and wrong, Gugu said with a smile.

I have to give you credit, Renmei said. If you were a man, you could command an army.

Just like you, Gugu said. When you broke the marriage contract with the Xiao family back then, I knew you were an exceptional woman.

Renmei, I said, this has been hard on you.

Let me see your hand, Xiaopao, she said.

I reached out my hand, not knowing what she wanted with it.

She grabbed it and took a bite out of my wrist.

I didn’t pull my hand back.

Dark blood seeped from two rows of teeth marks on my wrist.

She spat on the ground. You’re making me bleed, she said spitefully, so I did the same to you.

I offered her my other hand.

She pushed it away. I don’t want it, you taste like a smelly dog!

Xiao Shangchun had come to and was pounding the ground and bawling like an old woman: Wang Renmei, Wan Xiaopao, you owe me a tree… you have to pay me!

I’ll pay you shit! my wife shot back. Your son rubbed his hands all over my breasts and kissed me on the mouth. That tree is payment for the theft of my innocence!

Ow! Ow! Ow! A bunch of half-grown youngsters shouted their approval of my wife’s comeback.

Renmei! I called out angrily.

What are you bellowing about? She climbed into Gugu’s car, stuck her head out the window, and said: He felt me through my clothes!

10

Chairwoman Yang of our unit’s family-planning committee arrived. She was the daughter of a high-ranking military officer, a division commander. Her name was familiar, but this was the first time I’d seen her.

The commune leadership held a banquet for her; she asked that Wang Renmei and I attend.

Gugu dug up a pair of leather shoes for Renmei.

The banquet was held in a private room in the commune’s dining hall.

I think I’ll stay home, Xiaopao, Renmei said. I’m afraid of meeting high-ranking officials. Besides, this has been nothing to be proud of, turning the world upside down and all.

Gugu smiled. What’s there to be afraid of? Even the highest official has only one nose and two eyes.

Chairwoman Yang invited Renmei and me to sit next to her at the table. Taking Renmei by the hand, she said cordially, Comrade Wang, I want to thank you on behalf of the army.

What I did was wrong, Madam Chairwoman, Renmei said, obviously moved. I caused you trouble.

I’d been afraid that Renmei would say something offensive, and was relieved to hear her speak with such civility.

My nephew’s wife is a woman of high consciousness who became pregnant by accident and asked me to have the pregnancy terminated, Gugu lied. Her frailty was the reason we waited so long to perform the procedure.

Young man, Chairwoman Yang said, it’s you I need to criticise. All you male comrades are careless, hoping to be lucky not to impregnate your wives.

I nodded in agreement.

The Party secretary stood up, glass in hand. Join me in thanking Chairwoman Yang for taking time out of her busy schedule to instruct us on our work, he said.

I’m familiar with this area, she said. My father fought a guerrilla war here during the Jiao River campaign. His command post was in this very village. That’s why I feel so comfortable here.

That pleases us a great deal, the Party secretary said. I hope the chairwoman will take a message back to our elderly leader, expressing our wish that he personally come to inspect our work one day.

Gugu stood up and held out her glass. Here’s to you, Chairwoman Yang.

Chairwoman Wan is the daughter of a martyr, the Party secretary said. She followed her father into the revolution when she was still very young.

Chairwoman Yang, Gugu said, there is a bond between you and me. My father, who headed the Eighth Route Army’s Xihai Hospital and was a student of Norman Bethune, treated Vice Commander Yang’s leg wound.

Really? Chairwoman Yang stood up excitedly. My father is writing a memoir, and in it he mentions a doctor Wan Liufu.

My father, Gugu said. After he died, my mother and I lived for two years in the Eastern Jiao liberated area, where I played with a girl named Yang Xin.

Chairwoman Yang grabbed Gugu’s hand as tears of excitement welled up in her eyes. Wan Xin, is that you?

Wan Xin, Yang Xin, two hearts. Isn’t that what Chairman Zhong said?

Yes, it was him, Yang said as she wiped away the tears. I dream of you often, but I never expected to actually see you here.

As soon as I saw you I thought you looked familiar, Gugu said.

Come, everyone, the Party secretary announced, join me in congratulating Chairwoman Yang and Chairwoman Wan on their exciting reunion.

Gugu flashed me a signal with her eyes, which I immediately understood. I took Renmei’s hand and went up to Yang. Chairwoman, I said, I owe you an apology for making it necessary for you to make a special trip here.

I’m so sorry, Chairwoman Yang, Renmei said with a bow. Don’t blame Xiaopao for this, it was all my fault. I poked a hole in a condom when he wasn’t looking.

Momentarily taken aback, Chairwoman Yang then laughed heartily.

My face was burning. That’s nonsense, I said as I nudged her.

Yang took Renmei’s hand and regarded her closely. Comrade Wang, she said, I like candid, open people. You’re a lot like your aunt.

How could I be anything like Gugu? Renmei said. She’s a loyal running dog of the Communist Party. She goes after anyone the Party sics her on.

That’s rubbish! I said.

What do you mean, rubbish? It couldn’t be more obvious. If the Party told her to climb a mountain of knives, that’s what she’d do. If the Party told her to jump into a sea of flames, she’d do it.

All right, that’s enough talk about me, Gugu said. There’s more work to be done, and I have to dig in and do it.

Comrade Wang, Chairwoman Yang said, what woman doesn’t love children? One, two, three, the more the better. The Party and the nation love children too. Take Chairman Mao, or Premier Zhou — aren’t their faces wreathed in smiles when they see children? That sort of love comes from the heart. What is the revolution for anyway? In the end, it’s for our children, so they can live rich, happy lives. Children are the nation’s future, its treasure. But there’s a problem. Without family planning, our children may not have enough to eat or clothes to wear or could be denied the chance to attend school. Family planning is about achieving great issues of humanity by denying minor ones. By putting up with a little pain and making a little sacrifice you are contributing to the nation at large.

I’ll do as you say, Chairwoman, Renmei said. I’ll do it tonight. She turned to Gugu. Gugu, she said, go ahead and cut out my womb while you’re at it!

Again Chairwoman Yang laughed after a momentary pause of surprise.

Everyone at the table laughed with her.

Wan Xiaopao, she said, pointing to me, I love this wife of yours. A very intriguing young woman. But there’ll be no cutting out of wombs. You have to take good care of that, isn’t that right, Chairwoman Wan?

My nephew’s wife is very competent, Gugu said. After the procedure, I’ll give her time to get back to normal before transferring her to the family-planning work group. Consider this a heads-up, Secretary Wu.

No problem, the Party secretary said. We want our best people working in the family-planning groups. Comrade Wang Renmei can achieve excellent results by citing her own experience.

Wan Xiaopao, what are your duties?

I’m in charge of sports and recreation.

How long have you been doing that?

Three and a half years.

Then you should be in line for promotion to deputy battalion commander, Yang said. That way Comrade Wang can move to Beijing as an army wife.

My daughter too? Renmei asked timidly.

Of course, the chairwoman replied.

But I’ve heard it’s hard for an army wife to move to Beijing, that there’s a quota.

Go home and work hard, Yang said, and leave everything to me.

I am so happy! Renmei said demonstratively. My daughter will be able to attend school in Beijing, she’ll become a Beijing resident!

Chairwoman Yang sized Renmei up a second time. Make sure you take all precautions with the procedure, she said to Gugu. It has to be completely safe.

Don’t worry about that, Gugu said.

11

Before she was wheeled into surgery, Renmei took my hand and looked down at the teeth marks.

I shouldn’t have bitten you, she said apologetically.

That’s all right.

Does it still hurt?

Hurt? No more than a mosquito bite.

You can bite me.

Please, I said. You’re acting like a little girl.

She gripped my hand. Where’s Yanyan?

At home with her grandparents.

Does she have plenty to eat?

Yes, I bought two bags of milk powder and two jin of butter cookies. I also bought some shredded pork and lotus meal. There’s nothing to worry about.

Yanyan takes after you. You’ve got single-fold eyelids, mine are double.

I know. She should take after you, you’re so much better-looking than me.

People say girls take after their father and boys take after their mothers.

Maybe so.

This one would have been a boy, I know that, I’m not joking.

The times have changed. Boy or girl, it makes no difference. I tried to sound casual. In a couple of years, you’ll follow me to Beijing, and we’ll find our daughter the best school there is. We’ll raise her to be someone of distinction. A good daughter is better than ten troublesome sons.

Xiaopao…

What?

I wasn’t naked when Xiao Xiachun touched me that time, really.

Don’t be silly, I said with a laugh. I’ve forgotten that.

I had on a heavy jacket, a sweater underneath, and a shirt under that, and a…

And your bra, right?

I washed my bra that day, so I wasn’t wearing it, but I was wearing an undershirt.

Okay, that’s enough goofy talk.

He caught me by surprise when he kissed me.

So what? It was just a kiss, and you were going to marry him.

But I made him pay. I kneed him, and he squatted with his hands down there.

Oh, poor Xiao Xiachun, I joked. Why didn’t you knee me when I kissed you?

He had bad breath, you don’t.

What you’re saying is we were fated to be married.

Xiaopao, I’m so grateful to you.

What for?

I’m not sure.

That’s enough sweet nothings for now. You can talk later. Gugu stuck her head out the operating room door and waved to Renmei. You can come in.

Renmei grabbed my hand. Xiaopao…

There’s nothing to be afraid of, I said. Gugu says it’s a minor procedure.

When I get home you have to stew a whole hen for me.

Sure. I’ll make it two.

She turned to look at me just before she walked into surgery. She was wearing my beat-up old grey jacket with the missing button. The thread hung loosely. The cuffs of her blue trousers were muddy. She had on the old leather shoes Gugu had given her.

My nose ached, my heart felt empty. From where I sat on the dust-covered corridor bench, I heard the clang of metal instruments inside and envisioned what they looked like, imagining the blinding rays of light; I could almost feel how cold they were. Children’s laughter erupted in the yard behind the health centre. I stood up and looked out the window, where a three- or four-year-old boy playing with a pair of blown-up condoms was being chased by two girls about the same age.

Gugu popped out of the surgery, looking anxious.

What’s your blood type?

Type A.

How about her?

Who?

Who do you think? Gugu’s anger showed. Your wife.

Type O, I think.

Shit!

What’s happened?

Gugu’s smock was coated with blood, her face was ghostly white. My mind went blank

She went back inside and shut the door behind her. I tried looking through a crack in the doorway, but could see nothing. I didn’t hear Renmei’s voice, but I did hear Little Lion shouting into a telephone, ordering an ambulance from the county hospital.

I pushed open the door and immediately saw Renmei… saw Gugu with her sleeve rolled up and Little Lion drawing blood from her arm through a thick needle… Renmei’s face was the colour of paper… Renmei… hang in there… a nurse pushed me back out of the room. Let me in there, I said, goddamn it, I want to be in there. People in white smocks came running down the corridor… a middle-aged doctor who smelled like cigarette smoke and disinfectant sat me down on the bench and handed me a cigarette. He lit it for me. Don’t worry, he said, the county ambulance is on its way. Your aunt gave her 600 ccs of her own blood… everything’s going to be fine…

The ambulance shrieks bored into me like snakes. A man in a white smock with a medical kit. A bespectacled man in a white smock with a stethoscope around his neck. Men in white smocks. Women in white smocks. Men in white smocks carrying a collapsible gurney. Some went into the surgery, others stood in the corridor. Their actions were brisk, but their faces looked calm. No one paid me any attention, no one even looked my way. The sour taste of blood filled my mouth.

The people in white smocks emerged listlessly from the surgery and stepped back into the ambulance, one at a time. The gurney went in last.

I burst through the surgery door and saw Renmei, hidden from me by a white sheet. Covered with blood, Gugu slumped in a folding chair looking crestfallen. Little Lion and the others stood around like wooden statues. The silence in my ears was broken by what sounded like buzzing bees.

Gugu, I said, didn’t you say there’d be no problem?

She looked up, wrinkled her nose, her face ugly and frightening, and sneezed violently.

12

Sister-in-law, Elder Brother, Gugu said numbly in the yard, I’m here to apologise.

An urn with Wang Renmei’s ashes stood on a table in the centre of the main room. There was also a white bowl filled with wheat seeds to support three sticks of incense. Smoke curled towards the ceiling. In my uniform, with a black armband, I sat beside the table holding my daughter, who had on mourning garb and frequently looked up at me to ask a question.

What’s in the box, Papa?

I couldn’t say anything as tears wetted the stubble on my face.

How about my mother, Papa, where is she?

Your mother has gone to Beijing, I said. We’ll go see her in a few days.

Will Grandpa and Grandma go with us?

Yes, we’ll all go.

Father and Mother were out in the yard sawing a willow plank in half. The plank was tied at an angle to a bench. Father was standing, Mother was seated. Up and down, back and forth the saw went — shwa shwa — with sawdust floating in the sunlight.

I knew they were sawing the plank in half to make a coffin for Renmei. Even though cremation had supplanted burial in our area, the state had yet to set aside a place to store funerary containers, and so the locals chose to bury them under a grave mound. If a family could afford it, a coffin was made for the ashes, and the container smashed. Poor families simply buried the container.

I saw Gugu standing out there with her head down. I saw the grief on my parents’ faces and the mechanical repetition of their movements. I saw the commune Party secretary, who had come with Gugu, along with Little Lion and three commune cadres. They had brought fancy boxes of pastries and sweets, which they placed alongside the well opening. Beside the boxes was a damp cattail bag that gave off a strong odour. I knew the bag contained salted fish.

No one could have anticipated such a turn of events, the Party secretary was saying. Experts from the county hospital have determined that Chairwoman Wan followed all the appropriate protocols to the letter, and lifesaving attempts were carried out properly. Dr Wan even gave the patient 600 ccs of her own blood. We are deeply saddened and wish that more could have been done.

Are you blind? Father scolded Mother angrily. Can’t you see that black line? The saw is a half inch off, and you should have seen that. Can’t you do anything right?

Mother got to her feet, began to wail, and went inside.

Father threw down the saw and, with a bent back, walked to the water vat. He picked up the gourd ladle, tipped his head back, and drank, some of the water spilling down his chin to his chest, where it merged with the sawdust. He returned to the plank, picked up the saw, and recommenced sawing with a vengeance.

The Party secretary and cadres went into the house, where they bowed three times to Renmei’s ashes. One of the cadres placed a manila envelope on the stove counter.

Comrade Wan Zu, the Party secretary said, we know that no amount of money can make up for the terrible loss this unfortunate incident has caused you and your family, and this five thousand yuan is merely a token of our respect.

Someone — apparently a clerk — said, Three thousand of this is public money. The additional two thousand was donated by Secretary Wu and several leading cadres.

Take it with you, I said. Please take it back. We don’t need it.

I understand how you feel, the secretary said sadly, it won’t bring her back, but the living have to continue on the revolutionary path. Chairwoman Yang telephoned from Beijing to express her sadness over Comrade Wang’s death, to pass on her condolences to the bereaved family, and to inform you that your leave has been extended two weeks to give you time to take care of the funeral and matters at home before reporting back to work.

Thank you, I said. You may leave now.

The Party secretary and his retinue bowed once more to the funerary container and then walked out, still bent at the waist.

I gazed at their legs and at their backsides, some fleshy, some bony, and my tears flowed again.

A woman’s wails and a man’s profanities emerged from the lane, and I knew that my in-laws were coming.

My father-in-law was carrying a pitchfork. You bastards, he cursed, give me back my daughter!

My mother-in-law was making all sorts of wild gestures and bouncing on her bound feet, looking as if she was about to pounce on my aunt. But she fell before she could get there. She sat there beating the ground with both hands and howling. My poor daughter, why have you left us like that… how are we going to live without you…

The Party secretary stepped forward. We were on our way to your house, he said to my in-laws. What a tragic affair. This has saddened us deeply.

My father-in-law pounded the ground with his pitchfork handle. Come out here, Wan Xiaopao, you son of a bitch, he growled.

I walked up to him with my daughter, whose arms were wrapped around my neck, her face tucked up against my cheek.

Father, I said when I was right in front of him, you can take it out on me.

He raised his pitchfork, but his hands froze above his head. Teardrops dotted the grey stubble on his chin. His legs crumpled and suddenly he was kneeling.

But she was alive… He tossed the pitchfork aside and wept openly. As he knelt in the dirt, he said, She was so alive, but you people had to go and kill her… you evil people, aren’t you afraid of heavenly retribution?

Gugu walked over and stood in front of my father-in-law, where she hung her head and said, Wang family parents, it’s not Xiaopao’s fault. You can blame me. Blame me for not being responsible enough, for not checking carefully to see that women of child-bearing age were properly fitted with intra-uterine devices, for not considering the possibility that the no-good Yuan Sai had the skill to remove an intra-uterine device, and for not sending Renmei to the hospital for the procedure. Now — she looked over at the Party secretary — I am prepared to accept punishment from my superiors.

What’s done is done, the Party secretary said as he turned to my in-laws. We’ll go back to decide the compensation you two deserve. But Dr Wan did nothing wrong. It just happened, a result of your daughter’s unique physical constitution. Even going to the hospital would not have changed the outcome. In addition — the secretary raised his voice for the benefit of the people crowding into the yard and emerging from the lane — family planning is a national policy that cannot be changed because of an unfortunate accident. Women with illegal pregnancies should volunteer to have the pregnancies terminated. Anyone who is considering an illegal pregnancy or planning to circumvent family-planning policy will be severely punished.

It’s your turn! my mother-in-law shrieked as she took a pair of scissors from her pocket and stabbed my aunt in the thigh.

Gugu pressed her hand against the wound to staunch the blood that seeped out between her fingers.

Commune cadres rushed up, pinned my mother-in-law to the ground, and wrenched the scissors out of her hand.

Little Lion crouched down beside Gugu, opened her medical kit and took out a bandage, which she wrapped around Gugu’s leg.

Get on the phone, the Party secretary shouted, and send for an ambulance.

There’s no need for that, Gugu said. Renmei’s mother, I gave your daughter 600 ccs of my blood. Now our blood debt is paid in full.

Gugu’s movements caused the blood to flow more freely than ever.

How could you, old woman! the enraged Party secretary said. You’ll pay for it if anything happens to Chairwoman Wan.

The sight of all that blood must have frightened my mother-in-law. Once again she beat the ground and howled.

This is nothing to worry about, Renmei’s mother, Gugu said. Even if I get tetanus and die, you’re not responsible. I want to thank you for stabbing me. I can now cast off my burden and strengthen my beliefs — she turned to face the people drawn to the commotion and announced — Please pass the word to Chen Bi and Wang Dan to come to the health centre and ask for me. If they don’t — she waved her bloodstained hand in the air — even if she hid in an underground tomb, I’ll go dig her up!