The Explosion Chronicles

by Yan Lianke

  Up until he returned to the barracks, Mingyao couldn’t bring himself to believe what had occurred that day before dusk. He couldn’t believe he had really done what he did. Sweat had poured down from his head and face, as the vine at his feet burst into bloom and an array of red, yellow, and purple blossoms appeared on every branch. The flowers’ scent was so strong that his entire body went limp and his legs turned to rubber, and he almost fell onto that blooming vine. Then he followed the girl, leaving behind the flower-covered vine, but when they reached the street corner, a millstone that had been there since he entered the army suddenly sprouted camellia blossoms. When they reached a restaurant, the stone lion in the entranceway was suddenly transformed into a pair of welcome bouquets positioned on either side of the door. The bouquets included roses, chrysanthemums, hibiscus, and bright red poincianas, and the effect was as if there were a couple of torches burning on either side of the entranceway. Eventually they arrived at a hotel that initially appeared particularly luxurious, but when he was about to unlock the door he saw that it was painted yellow, and through the cracks in the paint curled-up strips of wood were visible. The instant the key entered the keyhole, however, the door was suddenly covered with fresh red paint, and the smell mingled with the scent of her body. This odor swept over him like a wave, nearly drowning him. He couldn’t remember the number of the hotel room where they were staying, nor could he remember how the room was decorated. Instead, all that he could recall was that the moment he opened the door, he was confronted with an enormous, snow-white bed adorned with colorful silk blossoms, and when he lay on the bed he would either sink into the soft mattress or slide off the silk blossoms.

  They did it on that flower-covered bed.

  She taught him how to do it.

  After they finished, the silk blossoms were stuck to his body, which was drenched in sweat. When he covered his body with the sheet while trying to remove the silk blossoms, she was already out of bed and getting dressed. As he was thinking that he wanted to do it again, she took out a wallet-size photograph of herself and placed it in his hand, saying, “You look like my brother, and ever since I was young I’ve wanted to give myself to him. But since I couldn’t do so, I can now give myself to you instead.”

  Then she added, “Do you want to marry me? If you do, then you’ll have to leave the army. Remember that I’m called Fragrance, and to tell the truth, none of the girls in Explosion or even in the entire world—no girl you will ever encounter in this lifetime—has skin or a body as good as mine. If you want to marry me, though, you must leave the army. I’ve been waiting for you for years—because you look like my brother, and ever since I was a child I’ve wanted to marry my brother.”

  After this, she disappeared from that blossom-filled room, explaining that she had an urgent matter to which she needed to attend and couldn’t stay to keep him company. She told him that if he missed her, he could look at the photograph, and if he still missed her, he should immediately leave the army. Without waiting for him to get dressed, she disappeared from that hotel room, like a beautiful cloud blown away by the wind. For a moment, he didn’t know what had just happened, as the love that had fallen from heaven was like a soap bubble in his palm, and in an instant it burst, leaving behind a layer of water. Only after he watched her walk away and then close the door did he inspect the photograph in his hand. He immediately recoiled, as though the photograph had burned him. He dropped it onto the bed and looked at it again, and saw that the photo was of her naked body. She was sitting on the edge of a bed, with an enormous red rose between her legs.

  The next day, he headed back to the army.

  He arrived back at the barracks just before dusk, and a surge of excitement swept over him, as though he were surrounded by spirits. When he remembered the feeling she had given him, he found himself bursting with desire. Moreover, when he remembered that he already had a million yuan, he wanted nothing more than to piss all over someone’s face so that he could then use his hundred-yuan bills to wipe it clean.

  As he was about to enter the barracks, he stood in the entranceway looking around and couldn’t help smiling. In order to confirm that the previous days’ events had really happened, he reached into his pocket to stroke that photograph printed on immaculately white paper. Then he picked up his luggage and, his chest thrust out, proceeded inside. The door was flanked by two sentries, who saluted him when he passed through. He not only returned their salute, he even slipped into their pockets a fistful of candy into which he had inserted a hundred-yuan bill. When one of the sentries reached into his pocket to get the candy, he noticed the money and looked at Mingyao in astonishment. Mingyao asked him, “If I told you I’m a millionaire, would you believe me? You can take this hundred yuan to buy a good meal.” As Mingyao was saying this, he hurried off, afraid that the sentry would try to give him back the money. Throughout the barracks, he distributed hundred-yuan bills in this manner, but each time he gave the candy and money to a fellow soldier, Mingyao would quickly leave, afraid that the soldier would discover the money inside the candy and try to return it to him. Occasionally, one soldier would in fact find the money and say, “Commander, here is some cash that got mixed up in the candy you gave me.” Mingyao would then push the man’s hand away and ask, “Are you looking down on me? If I told you I’m a millionaire, would you believe me?” If the soldier stared, then laughed and took the money and walked off, then they would both be happy. If, on the other hand, the soldier insisted on trying to return the money, Mingyao would take it and immediately rip it up, shouting, “Did you think that I was trying to bribe you? Do you really think you’re worth that? How many years have you been a soldier, and how many years have I been a soldier? Others have been calling me Boss for a long time, yet you dare call me Uncle when you happen to run into me in the street!”

  He would continue reprimanding the soldier in this way, while at the same time reaching into his pocket to caress that photograph. It was as if as long as the photograph was there he could speak in this way, but without it he wouldn’t have the courage. At dusk, all of the soldiers in the division who did not have evening training—including cooks, janitors, herdsman, and sentries who had just finished their shift—came to his dormitory to pay their respects. They called him Squad Leader, and sat around his cot asking him how his family was doing and whether his father’s funeral had proceeded smoothly. They asked what his father had died from, noting that a funeral for a seventy-year-old counts as a celebratory funeral, even though nowadays it is not unusual for people to live to be eighty or ninety.

  Then, the sun set and the soldiers doing evening training returned to the barracks. The sound of their military chants mixed with that of the whistle summoning everyone for a squad meeting, like a chorus of guns and bullets. Everyone left Mingyao’s room. By this point the entire regiment knew that their former squad leader, who had also served as acting platoon leader, had gone home to see his family and then came back with so much money that it seemed as though the bills were growing on trees. Everyone was shocked by this development, and those who believed it exclaimed, “Fuck!” while those who didn’t pondered for a long time as they shook their heads and asked, “How can this be? How in the world can this be?”

  After the lights had been turned off in the barracks, the company commander sent someone to summon Kong Mingyao. Previously, Kong Mingyao would voluntarily go to the commander’s office whenever the commander needed anything, but this time he waited until the commander had summoned him three times before going to see him. The commander’s room was on the eastern side of the regiment’s building, and inside there was only a cot, a table, a chair, a face-washing basin, a washbasin stand, a plastic bucket, and a rifle hanging on the wall over the bed, while on the opposite wall there were maps of China and of the world. Before he entered, Kong Mingyao stood in the doorway and shouted, “Reporting for duty!” and then saluted the commander.

  The commander said, “Upon returning from leave, you
should first report to me.”

  Mingyao smiled.

  The commander said, “Are you not interested in advancing? How do you dare break the rules?”

  Mingyao smiled.

  The commander said, “Remember, the promotion announcement is still in my hands. I still haven’t submitted it to the authorities.”

  Kong Mingyao continued smiling. He sat in the commander’s chair, while the commander sat on his own bed. Then Mingyao said three things:

  “Commander, can military commendations be bought? Can I purchase one?

  “… Commander, please name your price. I’d really like to buy a third-class commendation.

  “… After working so hard as a soldier for so many years, I’ve never received a commendation. No matter what it might cost, I’d like to buy a third-class commendation, as well as a second-class one. I’d like to give them to someone back home.”

  As he was saying this, Kong Mingyao gripped the photograph in his hand. It was as if he were holding a ball of flame, as sweat poured out of his palm. He was afraid he might get the photo wet, so when the commander wasn’t paying attention, Mingyao returned the photograph to his pocket. Then, when he left the company commander’s office, he walked very deliberately, like a hammer striking an anvil. As the commander opened the door to see him out, he paused and wondered whether he should have an army physician examine this soldier. After all, how could it be that Mingyao had gone home to take care of his father’s funeral arrangements, and upon returning acted as though he had gone mad?

  It was then that Kong Mingyao suddenly resolved to withdraw from the army.

  It was on a very ordinary night that he decided not to continue in the army. As he was lying in bed with ejaculate between his thighs and unable to sleep, he took that fragrant photograph and looked at it for a while, then abruptly sat up and, without giving the matter a second thought, resolved to withdraw from the army.

  II.

  After Mingyao decided to withdraw from the army by the end of the year, a series of odd events took place in the regiment. Every week the regiment elected a model soldier, and that week Kong Mingyao was elected unanimously. Every month the regiment elected a model soldier, and that month Kong Mingyao was again elected nearly unanimously. During a marksmanship competition, everyone fired ten bullets, and while the maximum number of points was technically a hundred, Kong Mingyao’s target nevertheless ended up with twenty-five bullet holes for two hundred and forty points. Every day, the local post office delivered countless letters praising Kong Mingyao, saying that when he wasn’t helping people buy what they needed he was at the hospital helping patients cover their hospital fees—either because they had forgotten to bring the money or because they simply didn’t have enough. The families of soldiers from poor mountainous regions received remittances from their sons, although the soldiers themselves claimed they hadn’t sent anything—and therefore realized that this must be money Kong Mingyao had sent of his own accord. To thank him, they bought pig’s heads, peanut rice, beer, and baijiu liquor, and on weekends the soldiers invited Mingyao and more than a dozen others from the same hometown region to go into the small forest behind the barracks, where they placed some newspapers on the ground and proceeded to eat and drink. The soldiers drank until they were tipsy, then raised their glasses to Kong Mingyao and said,

  “Squad Leader, there is no need to say anything … Toast!”

  Several bottles of wine knocked together in midair, as the wine disappeared.

  The soldiers drank again until they were even tipsier, and again several bottles knocked against one another. Holding the bottles in midair as if they were holding grenades to swear an oath, they said, “Commander, what do you need for us to do? Just say the word.” Kong Mingyao replied that there wasn’t anything he needed, and instead told them all to go back to their rooms and collect their medals of merit and certificates of commendation. He then told them to hang these certificates and medals on his chest, so that he could have some pictures taken. They therefore all went back to collect them. Shortly afterward, Kong Mingyao’s chest was adorned with ten third-level gold badges and four second-level ones, while in his hand he had a pile of red certificates as thick as a book. Standing on the military review platform, he took countless photographs. His fellow soldiers asked him what he wanted to do, to which he replied that half of the soldiers would be a red army and the other half would be a blue army, and they would both follow his instructions and undertake a practice battle.

  Everyone drank another half bottle of baijiu. Then the soldiers deposited their beer and baijiu bottles in the forest, and when they reemerged they stood on either side of the sentry post, with Kong Mingyao in the middle holding different colored flags. When Mingyao raised the red flag, the red forces would advance and the blue ones would retreat, and when he raised the blue flag, the blue forces would advance and the red ones would retreat. When he raised the yellow flag, soldiers from both sides would crawl forward on their arms and knees and hide in the grass. When he held the red and blue flags in front of his chest, the two armies would face off and begin fighting—punching and kicking one other. Those who fell gritted their teeth and continued crawling forward, while those who were injured grabbed clumps of earth and placed them on their wounds, and then resumed the fight. They continued fighting until Mingyao finally lifted the yellow flag. At this point, both armies finally called off the fighting and all the soldiers returned to the pile of bottles in the middle of the forest, wiping the blood from their faces and shaking the dirt from their bodies. One said, “Squad Leader, your commands are even more professional than the captain’s.” Another said, “Squad Leader, if you never become a hero or a general in this lifetime, it will truly be a pity and a waste of your talent.” After they praised him and drank the remaining wine, the call to assemble sounded. As they were about to hurry back to base, they saw that Kong Mingliang was still sitting under a tree as though he had not heard the call.

  Everyone paused and looked at him.

  “Squad Leader, we will do as you say. If you tell us to go back, we will go; but if you tell us to stay here, we will stay.”

  “And if you are reprimanded because you don’t return to the base?” Mingyao asked.

  “That is fine,” they replied.

  “And if they give you demerits?”

  “That is fine too,” they replied.

  “And if they kick you out of the army?”

  “That is fine as well!” they replied.

  Kong Mingyao broke off some tree branches and used them to cover up that pile of empty bottles. Then he quickly organized more than a dozen soldiers by height, and after they formed a line he shouted, “Attention! … At ease! … Turn left! … Run! …” Then, he and the entire squadron ran in the opposite direction from the base.

  They headed toward an isolated point on the moat surrounding the local market town, to a bridge from which people would frequently jump to their deaths.

  III.

  On that particular day, Mingyao and his squadron, all covered in sweat, ran from their barracks to the moat’s northern bridge. There, the railing on the old bridge had broken and part of the town wall had collapsed, with the remainder resembling a mouth missing half of its teeth. After a few days of rain, the grass growing from the crevices in the town wall would cover the entire wall. The river was several meters deep and was so full of plants that it resembled the smoke emerging from the town’s chimneys. People from the town rarely came here, and consequently this was the best place in the entire province to commit suicide. Also, since no one erected any office buildings or residential buildings here, this became the best place to either commit suicide or rescue someone attempting to do so.

  At around two in the afternoon—after Mingyao brought his squadron over, but before his soldiers had time to stop and wipe the sweat from their brows—they saw a young woman with disheveled hair standing on the bridge. She had a distressed expression, as though trying to decide whether
to live or to die. Just as Mingyao and the others arrived, the woman jumped into the water. The soldiers shouted, “Squad Leader, come quick! Squad Leader, come quick!” Mingyao immediately began unbuttoning his clothes and taking off his shoes. The soldiers exclaimed, “There isn’t enough time… . If you get undressed, you’ll be too late!” Therefore, Kong Mingyao simply kicked off his shoes as he ran, then leaped in the same direction as the woman had jumped. With a beautiful swan dive, he entered the river cleanly, like a fish.

  Several other soldiers quickly followed him into the water.

  In short order, the woman was rescued.

  It turned out that the woman had tried to kill herself over a broken heart. As the crowd of onlookers grew, the woman’s parents and boyfriend rushed over and thanked Kong Mingyao and his squad. The soldiers politely excused themselves and departed without even leaving their names.

  When the weather turned colder, the army began the process of helping older soldiers retire. Thousands of people traveled from the provincial seat into the army barracks. They were beating drums and waving flags, and each of them was carrying a letter of recognition or commendation. When they arrived at the entrance to the barracks, they raised their fists and shouted, “Let’s learn from Comrade Kong Mingyao! … Let’s learn from Comrade Kong Mingyao!” It turned out that over a period of several months, Kong Mingyao had anonymously rescued a total of seventeen people—an average of four people every month, though there was one month when he rescued no fewer than seven people from the stone bridge of the old river. Some of the people he rescued were trying to commit suicide on account of a broken heart, while others had gone bankrupt and wanted to use their death to repay their debts. There was even a mother who had taken her child to play on the bridge, but then accidentally pushed the child into the water—but no sooner had she called for help than Kong Mingyao dived into the water to rescue the child. There were also three people who wanted to kill themselves by lying across train tracks, but just as the train was approaching Kong Mingyao happened to be passing by and, heedless of his own safety, proceeded to rescue them. Not only were those young people granted a new life, the train was able to arrive on time at its destination, thereby allowing it to meet its Reform Construction goals.