by Yan Lianke
One day, when Zhu Ying was home alone with her father-in-law, he had beseeched her,
“Please, arrange for the maid to return.”
Zhu Ying knew that the time was ripe for her to proceed with her plan. She therefore brought Little Cui from Otherworldly Delights and told her to wear the sort of homespun clothes usually worn by people from the mountains. Little Cui scrubbed her face so there wasn’t a trace of makeup left. She stood in front of the Kong home and greeted the family elders, then rolled up her sleeves and began sweeping the floor and scrubbing the tables, from time to time kneeling on the ground to look for things Kong Dongde had dropped. In general, she acted as though she had just returned to her own home and behaved as though she were waiting on her own parents, without any sense of restraint or separation. Kong Dongde wanted Zhu Ying to bring back the middle-aged maid she had originally hired for him, but Zhu Ying declined. She said the other maid had already gone home and wouldn’t return for any price, and therefore Zhu Ying had no alternative but to bring in a younger one. She said that perhaps Little Cui didn’t cook as well as the other maid, and perhaps she didn’t wash clothes as quickly, but she was nevertheless diligent and respectful.
So, Little Cui stayed on in the Kong household.
Three months later, Kong Mingguang decided to divorce his wife and marry Little Cui. He made this announcement one afternoon after lunch, as the sluggish sun’s rays flowed muddily through the Kong family courtyard and the sparrows in the trees sang like pigeons. The steps of people walking by outside were as soft as leaves fluttering down. Following Explosion’s explosive expansion, there were people in the village who built houses facing the road along the river. After they finished these new houses, they used them for business or rented them as street-front stores. As soon as new buildings and tile-roofed houses appeared on the hillside, everyone immediately moved away and everything suddenly grew quiet, and even the sound of footsteps faded away. Mingliang was often busy working in the town government complex and didn’t have time to return home. He ate and slept in his office—and it almost seemed as though he were prepared to die there. Minghui, who hadn’t passed his university entrance exams, had gotten a job in town, and specifically was in charge of overseeing the town’s birthrate and its new households. He said that signing the daily reports on Explosion’s population growth was so exhausting that his wrist was constantly in pain. Therefore, he would return home only for meals and would leave as soon as he was finished. The eldest brother, Mingguang, meanwhile, was often at home, claiming that classes at his school had been canceled owing to some emergency or that the entire school had closed for several days. As a result, on this muddy-sunlit day Kong Dongde was sitting in his chair and, as Little Cui was idly giving him a shoulder massage, Mingguang happened to walk out of his room. He had a book in his hand and a box of chalk in the crook of his arm. He was headed back to school to teach a class, but he first went to the courtyard to look around. Little Cui said, “Teacher Kong, are you going to class?” He nodded first to her and then to his father, and then proceeded to leave as usual. After he left, the sparrows flew away as they usually did, and the magpies perched on the roof of the house and sang as they usually did. Everything was as usual, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But only a few minutes later, Mingguang returned. His face was pale with fury, and he slammed the outer gate shut, stood in the middle of the courtyard, his back as straight as a board, and stared at his father and Little Cui, whose alarmed faces were turning red and white.
“Father … there is something I want to tell you,” he blurted out.
Kong Dongde stared back at his son.
“I want to get divorced,” he announced to his father, “and then I want to marry Little Cui. I can’t wait to marry her!”
Kong Dongde turned pale. He sat up in his chair and turned to look at Little Cui, who had stopped her massage and was standing there with her hands suspended in midair. Her face was like a cloud that had suddenly been struck by a gust of cold air. Her mouth was half open and her eyes were wide, as though she had no knowledge of what was happening and had no idea what to do. At this point, Kong Dongde heard the sparrows in the courtyard start cooing like doves, and heard the magpies in the trees and on the roof start squawking like crows. He didn’t know what kind of relationship his eldest son had with Little Cui, nor did he know why his son’s wife, who had gone to visit her parents for a few days, still had not returned after more than two weeks. He asked Mingguang,
“When will Qinfang return from her mother’s house?”
Mingguang replied, “If she returns, I’ll kill her!”
Kong Dongde’s pale face was covered in sweat. He looked at his son’s contorted expression and, in a trembling voice, said, “You’re committing a sin, do you know that?”
“I’ll kill whoever tries to interfere with my marriage to Little Cui!” Mingguang shouted, as though he really was capable of killing someone at the drop of a hat. With bloodshot eyes, he glared at his father, then added, “After Little Cui and I get married, we’ll move out of this house. We’ll live alone. Even if you don’t give me a cent when we leave the household, I still want to live alone with Little Cui. I want to spend the rest of my life with her!”
Then he left.
His footsteps echoed loudly as he stormed out and slammed the gate behind him. The sparrows on the wall and the magpies in the trees also flew away, as the sparrows cooed like doves and the magpies squawked like crows. After watching Mingguang leave, Kong Dongde spun around and grabbed Little Cui’s arm and asked,
“Is this true? Is this true? Is this really true?”
II.
A few days later, Mingguang’s wife, Qinfang, came back from her mother’s house.
After she returned, she and Mingguang locked themselves in their room and began arguing, and there was a thunderous sound of things being smashed. The sky was overcast, and that morning it was full of dark storm clouds that galloped across it like horses. Mingguang’s wife hurled the washbasin into the courtyard, threw their water bottle to the ground, then struck her husband’s face until it bled. She used his chalk to draw countless turtles and tortoises on the walls, to symbolize adultery, then used kindling to burn all of her husband’s textbooks and his students’ assignments. In the light of the fire, she glared at her husband and asked,
“Are you an adulterous turtle?”
“Let’s be civilized about this.”
“Are you a cheating tortoise?”
“Be civilized!”
His wife grabbed an electric water kettle and threw it at her husband’s head, and Kong Mingguang ran out into the yard. At this point, he noticed his father was standing in the middle of the courtyard facing their house. He peered into his father’s eyes, then spat at his feet and said, “I know it was you who summoned Qinfang from her mother’s house… . You should be careful!” With this, he ran outside, closing the double gates behind him—wedging them closed so that his wife wouldn’t be able to follow him. His wife, hair disheveled, still ran out to the entranceway, where she furiously shook the gates. Then, like a madwoman, she rushed back into the courtyard and stared at her father-in-law, who was still standing there. She cursed, “Your son is a pig, a dog, a tortoise!”
Her father-in-law said, “You must not divorce him!”
She cursed, “He is even lower than a pig, a dog, or a tortoise.”
Her father-in-law said, “You must hold on to him and not divorce him. If you need anything at all, I can provide it.”
Like Mingguang, Qinfang spat on the ground in front of her father-in-law, then went inside to get her clothes, in order to return again to her mother’s house. She planned to leave the Kong household forever. The floor of her room was covered with things, and she kicked them all out of the way. She even leaned down to pick up a teacup and hurled it against the wall. Then she proceeded into the inner room, took a travel bag out of the cabinet, and began packing her clothes. When she was only half finish
ed, someone’s shadow passed in front of the house, and she turned to see her father-in-law enter the room. He stood in front of her, with a beseeching look on his face.
“If you leave, you’ll just be following your beastly desires.”
She listened.
“You shouldn’t leave. You shouldn’t divorce him.”
She listened.
“Do you know that sooner or later Explosion will become a county seat, and even a major metropolis? Do you know that your brother Mingliang sooner or later will become county mayor, and even city mayor? If you remain in the Kong household, you will become the county’s or the city’s first lady. But once you get divorced and return to your mother’s house, you will no longer be a resident of Explosion. After that, you will no longer be regarded as an urban resident, and instead you will remain a peasant and a mountain resident for the rest of your life.”
Her hands, with which she was packing her bags, slowed down. The bed in front of her was as messy as an overturned flowerpot. It remained overcast outside, and the air was full of a mugginess that precedes a rainfall. Under the light of the lamp, the air resembled a piece of illuminated silk. She stood in front of the bed for a while, then looked at her father-in-law’s pale, yet still somewhat rosy face. She looked at his hair, which was graying but still thick. She looked at his hands with their dark liver spots and throbbing veins, and bit her tongue as she waited for her father-in-law to finish.
He said, “If you don’t leave the Kong household, I’ll make sure you’re treated very well.”
He said, “If you treat Mingguang well and give the Kong household a son, he will surely have a change of heart, and you’ll have an exalted position within the Kong family.”
He said, “After you become the county’s or city’s first lady, you will be treated like an emperor’s wife. I can’t even imagine what kind of life you will be able to lead then.”
Kong Dongde’s wife walked in. She had been waiting right outside ever since her son and daughter-in-law started fighting. She had been standing anxiously in the entranceway, like an invalid unable to walk, but now she quietly came in and, without saying a word, she began picking up everything that was scattered on the ground. She used a dustpan to sweep up the broken glass and porcelain, and dumped it all at the base of the courtyard wall. Then she returned and, as she was cleaning the debris, her daughter-in-law Qinfang walked over from beside the bed, brushed past Kong Dongde, and said, “I’ll do as you say.” She then proceeded to help her mother-in-law tidy the room.
III.
After borrowing a house outside the village from Second Dog, Mingguang and Little Cui moved out of the Kong household and proceeded to lead a peaceful domestic life. Kong Dongde went to look for Kong Mingliang, and asked why he was focusing only on his responsibilities as town mayor and ignoring the needs of his own family, while his cuckolding brother had his head buried in his pants. So Mingliang went to see his elder brother Mingguang and found him in the street in front of the middle school—by this point Mingguang had already been reassigned from primary school to middle school. The two brothers engaged in some idle small talk, then each went to attend to his business.
Mingguang’s school was located on a flat area on the mountainside. Mingliang slowly walked over, seeing several rows of new buildings and a surrounding wall, together with scaffolding for some new construction. There were also a lot of lively students, who ran to wherever they needed to go. That was Explosion’s middle school. The two brothers stood at a corner of the wall surrounding the grounds. The sun shone down on them, casting a mottled patchwork of dark yellow and light black shadows on their faces and bodies.
“I never expected you would end up being such a good-for-nothing.” Mingliang looked at his eldest brother, and said in a soft voice, “There are so many girls at Otherworldly Delights, but instead you have an affair with your maid.”
Mingguang blushed and replied in an equally soft voice, “When I’m with Little Cui, I understand what true love is.”
Mingliang pursed his lips and said, “If you break up with Little Cui, then first thing tomorrow I will dismiss the school principal and announce that you will replace him.”
Mingguang smiled and said, “I don’t want to be principal, because now I know what love is.”
Mingliang said, “Fuck love. Love is a pile of shit. You should stay with Qinfang, and after you have finished your term as school principal you can serve as deputy town mayor or county mayor.”
Mingguang said, “Love is like a chrysanthemum blossom blooming on a peony stem. No one but the peony and chrysanthemum can understand it.”
“One day, the middle school will become a college, and if you don’t maintain your reputation, will you be able to serve as college president?”
“I couldn’t care less whether it is a high school or a college,” Mingguang said. “Now I know what love is. You’re my brother, so you should help me secure a divorce from your sister-in-law. She is an obstacle standing in the way of love.”
The two brothers then separated. A car from the town was going to take the mayor to the county seat for a meeting. When Mingliang got into the car, he shouted back to Mingguang, “Brother, please think this over carefully!”
Mingguang replied, “I’ve found love—and now realize that up till now my life has been pointless!”
Mingguang and Little Cui moved in together, to enjoy a springlike love life. Their new house had previously belonged to Second Dog, and came with furniture, beds, and pots and pans. After Second Dog stepped down as the warehouse guard, he resumed his former career as a thief and, in addition to stealing from trains, he also stole from the forests and workshops, or from neighboring villages. In this way, he, like everyone else, became increasingly wealthy, and along the town’s main street he built several houses that he could either live in or rent out, meaning that his own former house was left empty. After Mingguang and Little Cui moved in, the house suddenly became very animated, but Second Dog told Mingguang three things:
First, he said, “You are the mayor’s elder brother. You can live here as long as you like.”
Second, he said, “Will you ever become an official? If you do, I’ll simply give you the house.”
Third, he said, “There is one thing you have to agree to, which is that you convince the mayor to call me Brother, as he used to.”
Mingguang and his wife therefore moved in and proceeded to sweep, clean, and wipe everything down. They also posted red double happiness characters on the walls, like newlyweds. In the large courtyard, several apple and pear trees were slowly growing. On the apple tree there were pear blossoms, and in summer the pear tree was full of red apples. When the outer gate was closed, they felt as though they were in a fruit orchard. In the middle was the apple tree with its pink and white flowers, while walnut-size green pears hung from its branches. Mingguang cooked food and took it over to Little Cui. The dining table was under the fruit trees and was surrounded by the fragrant smell of flowers and fruits. Previously, it had always been Little Cui who would cook for the Kong household, but now love changed the color of the sky and Mingguang cooked for her. Little Cui was pampered like a princess. When it was time for Mingguang to go to school, he would wait until the last moment before leaving, and in the afternoon he would return home before school was even over. When he returned, he would bring either vegetables or grain or rice. Little Cui didn’t go anywhere, and at most, after Mingguang left for work, she would walk to Otherworldly Delights to see her sisters and exchange a few words with Zhu Ying, but then she would immediately return home. When she returned, she would bring either some meat or a fresh fish, as though she had gone out grocery shopping for Mingguang.
Once, Mingguang was returning from school with a bag of fresh vegetables and Little Cui was returning from the market with two jin of beef. They ran into each other in what had formerly been the Explosion village square. They both saw the graves there, and laughed. Mingguang said, “The weather is qu
ite good. I hear that the town has discovered another sizable copper deposit.”
Little Cui said, “Really? I hear that over in the mountains, they have discovered a deposit of gold ore. In the future, when the people of Explosion buy fish and meat, they will simply pay for it in gold.”
They laughed, gazed at each other for a while, then kissed in the middle of the square. Seeing that the street was completely empty and as peaceful as though it were the middle of the night, and that everyone was at work either in town, in the factories, or in the mines, they placed their bags of vegetables and meat on one of the tombstones and proceeded to engage in a raucous bout of sex. After they were finished, they got up, put their clothes back on, and brushed off the dust, then noticed that a dog was standing there watching them in surprise. They threw several rocks at the dog and returned to their house in back of the village. They held hands as they walked, and their fingertips tingled with love, like a dog running up and down the street unable to find its way home. When they got to Second Dog’s house, they shut the gate and looked at the bees and butterflies flying around the fruit trees. Little Cui said to Mingguang, “I’m going to cook some food. I’m the maid, and you’re the bookworm.”
He replied, “Books are dog shit. You are the empress and the dictionary of all of the world’s intellectuals.” He then took the vegetables, beef, and washbasin from her and proceeded to wash the vegetables while watching her remove her shirt. By this point she had already taken off the rest of her clothes and hung them on a branch of the fruit tree. Her red dress and purple underwear fluttered in the wind like a couple of flags. Her thin yellow sweater resembled a wild chrysanthemum blossom. Every time he completed a certain task, she would remove a different article of clothing and either hang it from a tree branch or drape it over a chair. By the time she removed all of her clothing, he had already cleaned and cut up the meat and vegetables. One of them stood inside the kitchen, while the other stood outside, as the early summer humidity washed through the courtyard like a sauna. The redbrick courtyard wall surrounded her like a wall of fire, and the sound of machinery could be heard coming from the distant factories, while at the base of the mountain the roads running along both banks of the river were loud and grating. They proceeded to embrace each other passionately, as though there were nothing left in the world but sex. Mingguang smelled her body’s sweet fragrance and once again saw her naked body in the sunlight produce a glow like a soft thorn. Her body’s aura resembled sunlight shining through a cloud. She had a peach-like smile, like a shining lamp immersed in water.
