by Zhou Daxin
Nuannuan hugged Shallot and teared up: “Sorry I did not tell you this earlier.”
Shallot patted on her back softly: “I was surprised. But I’m still happy for you. You should do whatever you like! Now let’s go drink!”
Shallot was not a drinker, but that afternoon she got herself fully drunk. Her legs were shaky when she raised the last glass. She grabbed Kaitian’s shoulder and said: “Kaitian, as a woman, I know how difficult it was for Nuannuan to make this decision. There is no way that she would do this if not for the true feelings she has for you. You must be good to her! Tell you the truth, we are not related. But Nuannuan is more than a sister to me. If you treat her bad, I’ll show you!”
Kaitian raised his hand as he promised Shallot: “Rest assured. Nuannuan will be my precious for a life time …”
Unsurprisingly, no one came to visit the wedding chamber to celebrate later that night. Kaitian and Nuannuan were not surprised. They were more at ease without the crowd. Kaitian whispered comforts in Nuannuan’s ears so that she would not feel disappointed. Afterwards, he went to the wedding bed to get ready for the long-anticipated wedding night.
It was an enchanting moment for both of them. However, at that moment, a loud noise came in front of the window. The couple went stiff.
“Someone must be throwing the bricks.” Nuannuan patted on Kaitian’s shoulder. The couple rose to put on some clothes. Kaitian picked up a wood stick and walked out to check with the dog. It was all dark. The yard was silent. Kaitian found the brick next to the window and showed it to Nuannuan in his hands. Nuannuan drew a cold breath. Kaitian patted her hands and laughed quietly towards the yard wall: “Zhan Shiti, you can toss the bricks all you want. But that’s all you can do. Nuannuan is my wife now. Eat your heart out!”
Nuannuan sighed …
Chapter 7
Kaitian and Nuannuan went to the town office for their marriage registration half a month later. When they were walking out of the office, Kaitian raised the red certificate in his hand and shouted out: “Now that my marriage is guaranteed by law, I will not worry about anyone trying to take my wife away!”
Nuannuan patted his arm, pretending to be angry with a smile: “Crazy!”
Kaitian was smiling, too. He said: “Truth is, I was still worried about what the Leader may do to part us before getting this certificate. But now I am assured.”
The first thing Kaitian thought of later was a visit to his in-laws. He wanted to go a couple of times, but Nuannuan stopped him. Nuannuan told him: “They are still mad about us. Even if you go, they may not want to see you. Let’s wait till the registration’s done.”
With the marriage certificate in his pocket, Kaitian felt obligated to make the visit. He picked up several things on Juxiang Street with Nuannuan. In addition to the ordinary presents of pork, lamb legs, desserts and four-coloured cotton prints, they bought new clothes for Dad, Mom, Grandma and Hehe.
Around midday the next day, Kaitian walked towards his in-laws’ house with the presents. Nuannuan was walking behind him. The couple was quite nervous, not sure about how they would be treated. To their luck, the yard gate was open. Hehe, Nuannuan’s little sister, was washing some clothes in the yard. She rose and called out in excitement: “Mom! It’s Nuannuan and my brother-in-law!”
Mom came out of the kitchen with flour sticking in her hands. She looked at the couple first, then she glanced at the living room and said: “Come insi —”
Before Mom finished, Dad’s angry voice came from inside: “Go away!”
Kaitian gave Nuannuan a confused look. He did not know what to do. Nuannuan was calm. She took the presents from Kaitian, and put them in front of the kitchen door. She whispered to Mom: “We’ll leave now. Take care of yourselves, Dad and Grandma.”
Mom started crying. She nodded and answered: “Dad will come round …”
Nuannuan and Kaitian exited the yard. Unexpectedly, Dad rushed out and yelled at them: “Take your things with you! I don’t need those! I don’t have anything to do with you!”
They did not move. Seeing them, Dad picked the presents up and threw them out of the gate. Grandma came out to help. She walked out with her cane, and spoke to Dad in a deep voice: “Chang Shun, you are throwing away my granddaughter’s present to me. How dare you? Hehe, go bring them back.”
Then she waved her hand to Nuannuan and Kaitian, telling them to leave …
The couple was not upset about it. They foresaw things like that to come. Nuannuan comforted Kaitian: “It’s only natural that Dad needs more time to think this through. After all, we got married without telling him. We’ll wait and see.”
Kaitian answered: “One day he will see the good son-in-law in me.”
That made Nuannuan laugh: “You and your big talks.”
Their marriage was a bomb drop in the village, too. All the seniors disapproved; no one had ever seen anything like that! Some parents learnt the lesson and warned their children against Nuannuan and Kaitian. Mister Tianfu was in shock, too. He told people that this audacious deed was caused by Nuannuan’s time in Beijing. Unmarried girls, according to him, should not leave the village to work! Some young people in the village were quite sympathetic and praised the couple’s courage. A marriage should be made according to the couple’s wishes! During that time, everybody talked in the village. But that did not last as days passed by. The village gradually accepted the marriage and no rumor could be heard anymore. Kaitian and Nuannuan ignored all the talks and worked in the fields as normal every day. All they wanted was a better harvest so that their life could get better.
Chapter 8
Nuannuan got pregnant three months after the wedding. Since the acknowledgement of her pregnancy, she had been filled with joy and satisfaction. She had always felt relieved that she had resisted an arranged marriage. Otherwise, these happy days she had would not be hers. However, once in a while she thought of her life in Beijing, and the exciting life of people in the city. She felt a slight dissatisfaction. As a result, that night when Kaitian pulled her into his arms, she pressed his hands and said: “We need a goal!”
“What goal?” Kaitian was surprised.
“The two of us are stuck in Chu Wang Village in this life. But it can’t be the life of our children. If they spend their life planting crops by the Red Lake, knowing nothing about hairstyle, fashion and beauty, ignorant of cafés, theaters and parks, I will not rest in peace!”
“What do you want, then?”
“We have to send them to schools in the city, to live a city life!”
“Okay!” Kaitian shrugged. “Even I want to live a city life! I will not say no to our children’s bright future!”
“It’s not about saying yes or no. It’s a difficult goal. We need money first. I’ve seen it all in Beijing. With money, you can buy an apartment in the city for the children, and only by then can they truly have a city life.”
“Okay. I need to make money. Your dad did not want you to marry because I’m poor.” Kaitian did not sound happy.
“What is this about?” Nuannuan did not expect him to say that.
“Alright, alright. I understand!”
Kaitian was very happy to see Nuannuan’s belly getting bigger everyday. He did not allow her to do any work, and made sure that his mother made her good food. Nuannuan would protest with a happy smile: “You are making a lazy pig out of me!”
When the Dragon Boat Festival came, Nuannuan could hardly walk because of her big belly. Her mother-in-law did some calculation and predicted the birth to come in the next few days. She told her to be more careful. But Nuannuan could not simply sit and do nothing. She got up early and made Zongzi (a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice, wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves which is eaten during that Festival), steamed the garlics, and boiled the eggs, getting the festival feast ready. Yet when she was about to start eating, she felt the pain. Her mother-in-law saw her sweat in pain and told Kaitian to get Wheatleaf, the midwife in the village. Shallo
t also came over when she heard the news.
The Kuangs got a boy on the Dragon Boat Festival. Many neighbours came to the house to send their congratulations. Kaitian offered everyone a cigarette with a happy smile on his face. Spotty Laosi took a big smoke and laughed: “Your boy surely knows how to pick a good date. He will never lack food on his birthdays. Zongzi, eggs and steamed garlics, whatever he wants! What a good birthday!”
The next day Kaitian named their son Dangen, meaning the red root. Nuannuan thought about it for a while. Then she said: “Alright.”
The night before Dangen was one month old, Mom came over to see her grandson in secret. She brought noodles, eggs, red cottons and two sets of baby clothes. She said to her daughter and son-in-law: “I prepared these in secret. I cannot visit you. But when I saw Nuannuan’s figure from afar, I knew I need to get you these things.”
She kissed Dangen’s small face and cried in happiness. Nuannuan threw herself in Mom’s arms and sobbed. Mom tried to comfort her: “You can’t cry now, if you get sad in the first month after giving birth, you’ll get sick …”
Chapter 9
Since the birth of his son, Kaitian had felt more responsibility on his shoulders. He would always sigh in front of Nuannuan: “The income of a farmer is too petty. I just hope my luck would come and I can get a job in the government. I’d settle for the Leader’s position, then I can support both of you with the money.”
Nuannuan smiled: “Money won’t come just because you wished hard. You need to find other ways.”
After that, when he was not working in the fields, Kaitian began seeking opportunities to earn more money. One month after childbirth, Nuannuan had her mother-in-law take care of the baby, and resumed her farm work. One day the couple was working in their contracted farmland by the Red Lake. A motorcycle stopped in front of them. A young man of Kaitian’s age jumped off and called out: “Big brother! You want some weedkiller for your leafy crops? These are all imported from America. I’ve got 3 tons but now only 3 boxes are left. I don’t want to run around anymore. So if you want these, I’ll give you a discount. You can sell the extra to others and earn some pocket money!”
Kaitian looked at him in surprise. He knew that weed-killer is of good use: farmers in the village used them since last autumn on the green beans and saved much effort; green beans grew healthily and no one needed to worry about digging out weeds in the field anymore. He looked at Nuannuan, then turned to ask: “Imported from America?”
“I’m not lying to you!” The young man took a bag of weedkiller out of the case on his motorcycle: “Look at the trademark, it’s in English! Here, take my name card: Representative, China International Agriculture Limited, I’m in charge of Juxiang Street. Here’s my number. If you find anything wrong with it, just call me and I guarantee a full refund!”
“How much for a bag?”
Kaitian looked at Nuannuan again as she stepped up and took the bag.
“The market price in Nanfu and the provincial city is between 3.50 yuan and 4 yuan. But I’ll give you 1.5 yuan a bag. If you sell them to other people, you can make a profit of 2 to 2.50 yuan per bag, how good is that? I only give you this special offer because I see you as a friend. So many fields in the village, yet I chose yours to park my ride. Why? I trusted you at first sight!”
Kaitian nodded in satisfaction. One year ago he bought some weedkiller from a shop at 4 yuan a bag. This price was a lot better, and he could see a profit. “How many bags are there in three boxes?”
“30 bags a box, so it’s 90 bags in total. Put one bag in water and it’ll cover one acre. In total it kills weeds in 90 acres. As for the money, just give me 135 yuan.” The young man summed up quickly.
“Are we taking that?” Kaitian wanted to know what Nuannuan thought.
Only a fool would reject this special offer. Nuannuan said: “Take it. Even the richest earned his wealth penny by penny. Even a small profit is better than nothing.”
The young couple led the man to their house and Nuannuan entered to get the money. She passed the cash one by one. When the amount reached 130 yuan, the man waved his hand and said: “It’s fine, I’ll leave you the 5 yuan. Friends don’t dispute on small money.”
That made Nuannuan quite happy. She saw the man off with a smile.
Kaitian was humming a happy tune when he returned to the field that day. The road was winding and he was staggering. But it did not affect his humming. 2 yuan from every bag, and he had 90 bags. That foretold an effortless profit of more than 100 yuan in no time. Of course he was happy. Nuannuan, following his steps, said to him: “We’ll keep 2 bags for ourselves and sell the rest as soon as possible.”
Kaitian nodded. That day after working in the farm, he stood in front of the yard and shouted: “Weedkiller for leafy crops! Imported from America! Only 3.50 yuan a bag!”
People in the village, who benefited from weedkiller before, all came over for the imported product and its low price. Kaitian sold 86 bags in a short time. It was a clean sweep, except for the two bags Nuannuan saved for herself, and the other two bags for Shallot. In autumn, everyone used the weedkiller on there green beans. It was very effective: not even a sight of weed could be seen. However, the green beans were killed, too. The first to wither was the leaves on the sprouts; in the end, the farmers got nothing but the stems.
All the green beans ruined! 90 acres including Kaitian’s own fields, with no sprout left. Things like this never happened in Chu Wang Village. It was the biggest shock ever. Before people came over to complain, the couple hastened to the village committee office and called the number on the name card. The number did not exist. By then they finally realized that it was a scam. Losing a season’s harvest was more than serious. People who bought from Kaitian forced him to look at their ruined fields, and gathered outside his house to demand a solution. Kaitian had never been through anything like this. Nuannuan was stunned, too. She held her breath and hid behind the door. The crowd was overwhelmed by anger. Spotty Laosi called out: “Fuck your sister! Even a rabbit doesn’t foul his own hole, yet you are so rotten to trick your own people!”
Zhan Tongfang, the tofu maker in his fifties, stepped into the yard and cursed: “You bastard! You ruined all the fields in the village for some money! You don’t have a heart! You are killing us all!”
Zhan Datong, the pig-castrater, showed his fist and rolled up his sleeves, yelled in an agitating tone: “Boys, let’s go and beat that scum to death!”
The Kuangs had never made many friends in the village as immigrants to Chu Wang Village. Therefore, at that moment, no one would help them. Kaitian had to apologize, so he went out and spoke in a small voice: “I’m a victim, too! I trusted a stranger, it was all my fault! I’m the asshole!”
Yet the crowd would not be appeased. Finally Kaitian’s dad walked out with his cane and knelt down: “Neighbours! Friends! My stupid son Kaitian, he was tricked into this abomination! It’s my bad, I didn’t raise my son well! Here I kneel down and apologize to you all. I beg you, please, go find the liar and he must pay for what he did …”
The crowd slowly left upon his words. Shallot, who stood away and watched in silence, came close and said: “Nuannuan, you must go find that bad guy who sold you the weedkiller and make him pay.”
Nuannuan answered in guilt: “Sorry to make you a victim, too.”
Shallot shook her head: “I never believed that you wanted to hurt us.”
Kaitian rode the bike with Nuannuan to Juxiang Street, hoping to find the man. But where could they go? The information on the name card was fake, and no one had heard of the man before. They had no address or his motorcycle plate number, so they had to visit every shop and house in Juxiang Street. But they got nothing close to the Representative Person of China International Agriculture. Maybe he was not from here? At that thought, the couple went to two neighbouring villages and towns, but the search was a needle in the haystack; everything was in vain. At sunset three days later, Kaitian and Nuannuan, b
oth exhausted, had to go home. When they arrived in the village, Kaitian threw himself to the ground, too scared to face everyone he harmed. He covered his face with both hands and cried: “You fucking liar! Fuck you and your ancestors! What have I done to deserve this?! …”
Nuannuan was leaning against a tree, gazing emptily into the lake slowly falling into the dark night. It took her a while to speak out: “Let’s go. What happened had happened. There is no use hiding.”
Nuannuan held Kaitian’s hand and led him home. They told the parents about their useless efforts. Before dinner was served, people in the village knew about their return and made a crowd outside their house again. Kaitian was trapped inside. Cautiously, he offered everyone a seat, and stammered to tell his search in vain. People listened, looking grim. Spotty Laosi interrupted before Kaitian finished: “Cut your bullshit! I don’t care if you’ve found him, I need a solution. If you can’t make us happy, we won’t let you go tonight! …”
As the crowd shouted and cursed, some motorcycles made a loud noise outside the yard, and several policemen ran inside. They asked about Kaitian and quickly put a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. One policeman took out a paper and said: “You are under arrest! We suspect that you sold fake weedkiller and purposefully sabotaged agricultural production!”
They tried to push Kaitian out. Dangen and Kaitian’s parents started crying. Nuannuan, also in tears, wanted to stop the arrest. But she was pushed away by the police. Kaitian was scared, too. He walked and cried: “I didn’t mean to …”
But his cry faded away with the noise of the motorcycles.
“Go home everyone. The man is arrested. Money is not as important as him!” Shallot, who entered without acknowledging anyone, spoke out in front of the crowd. People stiffened at her words and started to leave in silence.
“Shallot —” Nuannuan threw herself into Shallot’s arms and started crying loudly.
