by Zhou Daxin
“You should bear with it!” said Grandma with a sigh. “All those kings and emperors in the old time, they all had a lot many women, didn’t they? That performance in Shang Xin Yuan, the King of Chu also had a group of women following him, right? His queen bore with it, didn’t she? Do you think she liked it?”
“But I don’t want to bear with it! I can’t simply bear with it!”
Dad was still angry: “Now that you are divorced, how can I face anyone in Chu Wang Village?”
Nuannuan talked back at him: “Divorce is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Bullshit!” shouted Chu Changshun as he jerked up. “It may not be a shame on you, but it’s certainly a shame on me! Are you proud of being a divorced woman? Get out! Get out now!” He pointed at the courtyard gate.
Dangen was scared and burst into a loud cry. Nuannuan understood that it would not be easy for the older people to accept her divorce, so she stood up and walked towards the gate with Dangen in her hand …
Chapter 49
Nuannuan’s peaceful divorce with Kaitian was not only a shock to her parents, but also to the people in Chu Wang Village. Almost everyone thought that Nuannuan had made a silly decision. Like their wedding, the divorce of Nuannuan and Kaitian had been the topic of the village for a long time. However, as time went by, the gossip dispersed in the air.
Nuannuan’s life went back to normal. She stayed in Chu Di Ju and every day her work would be arranging the accommodation and sightseeing of her guests. In order to improve its surrounding, she led Shallot and several staffs to work in front of Chu Di Ju. They dug open a pit, which in the past was used to contain fertilizers, and borrowed a pump to put water into it. There they made a pond. They planted some lotus flowers in the pond and put down some stools and tables around it so that their busy guests could sit there and relax after dinner.
Though Chu Di Ju was in front of Kaitian’s house, Nuannuan never stepped inside his courtyard again. She knew that everything inside of that house would bring her memories back. She was afraid of the sorrow. Dangen had learnt about his parents’ divorce from the adults, but he could not understand what divorce meant. He would go to his grandparents’ as usual and Nuannuan would not stop him. Every time he ran out of the Kuang’s courtyard with snacks from his grandma in his hand, Nuannuan would quietly sigh. One afternoon, Kaitian’s mother made some dumplings. She came over to invite Nuannuan to join them after feeding Dangen. Nuannuan refused to go. But the old woman brought a bowl full of dumplings to her. Nuannuan had to accept it and ate it sitting down in Chu Di Ju. Kaitian’s mother said to her: “Dangen’s mother, in the eyes of us two old people, you are still our daughter-in-law.”
Tears dropped down Nuannuan’s face as she heard those words.
Nuannuan had not talked to Kaitian since their divorce and she had avoided any opportunity to meet him. She would only stand from a distance and look at him hosting the village’s meeting with his arms waving in the air as he spoke; she would see him riding his motorcycle to the meetings in the town office with a cigarette in his mouth, looking relaxed and proud; she would look at him talking with Xue Chuanxin in front of Shang Xin Yuan, the two of them laughed so hard that he couldn’t stand straight; she would look at him wearing the clothes of King Zi and playing his role in Farewell with all the seriousness. She had heard from Shallot that Kaitian had been keenly intimate with one of the women who had recently married into Chu Wang Village. Nuannuan smiled: they could be as intimate as they like; it had nothing to do with her anymore.
One evening after dinner, Nuannuan was talking to a guest in front of Chu Di Ju when she saw Luoluo walking from the pier, supported by her mother. She remembered what happened to her and ran towards them to ask in a quiet voice: “All solved?”
Luoluo’s mother sighed and whispered: “It is solved indeed. But Luoluo had to go through all that danger. She almost did not make it. Just look how skinny she is.”
Nuannuan looked at Luoluo in the dim daylight. The girl had gotten very slim, her face looking pale blue. She was leaning on her mother and she looked as if she was about to faint at anytime. Nuannuan’s heart ached. She said: “What happened to her?”
Luoluo’s mother answered slowly: “We found a doctor through some connection. He was not very skillful and Luoluo bled too much. She almost died. It is all Shang Xin Yuan’s fault.”
Nuannuan listened to her and thought about how everything started since Xue Chuanxin brought back those massage girls. As she thought, she grew unbearably angry. After sending Luoluo and her mother off, she walked to Shang Xin Yuan. She went straight into Xue Chaunxin’s office. Xue Chuanxin was watching TV. Seeing Nuannuan standing outside with an angry face, he smiled and spoke politely: “Hi, Nuannuan, what a rare guest! Come on in!”
Nuannuan went inside and said: “You almost killed a girl, do you know?”
Xue Chuanxin’s smile vanished: “What are you talking about?”
Nuannuan told him what happened to Luoluo. Xue Chuanxin put up a jeering face and said: “Nuannuan, you cannot simply put the responsibility of this silly business on Shang Xin Yuan. First of all, we don’t even know that she had worked here and offered services to the clients; second, we don’t think that she got pregnant in Shang Xin Yuan! You know there are many ways that a girl can get knocked up and she cannot blame Shang Xin Yuan for that.”
Nuannuan’s eyes widened: “You think she’s lying? Do you want me to find a testimonial?”
“What testimonial?” Xue Chuanxin laughed. “Just tell me what you want from me.”
“You must stop all the hideous business and return to work on tourism.”
“You and your silly insistence! Shang Xin Yuan is earning good money at the moment. What if we lose money because we changed what is working?” Xue Chuanxin picked up the phone and dialed. He spoke into the phone: “Come over for a moment.”
Nuannuan thought he was calling his employees to talk about the suspense of “massage services”. However, it was Kuang Kaitian who showed up at the door. Nuannuan’s face turned rigid. Kaitian did not expect to see Nuannuan in Xue Chuanxin’s office, either. He stood there in surprise.
“I don’t think I need to introduce you two, right?” Xue Chuanxin was still smiling. “Leader Kuang, Nuannuan just told me that this Luoluo girl had had an accident in our Shang Xin Yuan. She asked me to change the business mode.”
“What happened?” Kaitian had recovered from the surprise. He stepped aside to sit in the sofa in a relaxed style and lit up a cigarette.
“She got pregnant,” said Xue Chuanxin in Nuannuan’s stead. “But I believe a girl can get pregnant in all occasions. How can she prove that she got pregnant by working in Shang Xin Yuan? She could get knocked up in the fields, or on the hillside.”
Kaitian turned to Nuannuan and said: “Exactly. You shouldn’t be meddling with this!”
Nuannuan did not look at Kaitian. She stared at Xue Chuanxin and said: “I think I need to have a say on this.”
“How’s this — I have some other business to attend to, so please talk about it with Leader Kuang. He is the Leader in Chu Wang Village as well as our vice president. He has every right to settle any problems in Shang Xin Yuan.” Xue Chuanxin left.
“Hey! You!” Nuannuan tried to stop Xue Chuanxin, but he had already left.
Kaitian spoke again: “Don’t meddle with these small things. Go take care of Chu Di Ju.”
“Kuang Kaitian, I will solve this with you!” Nuannuan was angered by his attitude.
“How do you solve this? Who will listen to you?” said Kaitian as he smirked. “Who do you think you are? Just go take care of your own business.”
“Do you think no one can tell you what to do because you are the Leader?” Nuannuan gave him a cold laughter, too. “Don’t you forget that you were elected by people in the village. If people can vote you to this position, they can vote to drag you down! Count your days, the election is not far away.”
“Don’t threaten me with t
he election. I am not Zhan Shideng and you can’t drive me away like you did with him. To tell you the truth, since I have had my taste of power as the Leader, I will not stop being the Leader! If you want to stay in Chu Wang Village and run your business here, you should not cross me! Or I will make you pay!”
“Kuang Kaitian, since when have you learnt to threaten people? You have surely learnt fast!” Nuannuan laughed with irony.
“I am not threatening you. I am notifying you, in Chu Wang Village, everyone must speak with me in respect and caution. You are the only one that dares talk to me like this. I allowed you to do this because you are the mother of my son. But don’t test my patience and cross me!”
“Good. Thank you for noticing me. I really want to know what you are going to do with me if I do cross you! Are you going to send your royal guards to arrest me? Or kill me? Or do you want to throw me, one of your disfavoured concubines into the cold palace and to poison me?”
“We will see!”
“Yes, we will see!” Nuannuan turned and angrily walked out.
Chapter 50
Nuannuan had learnt a lot from her previous encounter with Kaitian. Without taking power away from Leader Kuang Kaitian, it would be very difficult to change the business model in Shang Xin Yuan and stop them from driving Shallot and the others away from their farmland and homes. Xue Chuanxin was only unafraid of doing anything because Kuang Kaitian, the Leader, was supporting him. It was not now that Nuannuan began to feel regret. She should not have made Kuang Kaitian the Leader, otherwise her life would not be turning out so bad. She must have been cursed, she thought to herself. That night, Nuannuan made up her mind: she was going to bring Kuang Kaitian down.
Nuannuan knew that many women in the village were not happy about the massage girls in Shang Xin Yuan. Many parents were also angry, worrying that their daughters may be seduced because of them. She was certain that those people would not vote for Kuang Kaitian in the next election. Yet she was concerned who they would vote for? Without a competing candidate, Kuang Kaitian might still end up with most votes. Therefore, one month before the election, Nuannuan secretly went to persuade Jiuding to run for the position. She told him that the only way to stop Shang Xin Yuan was by becoming the Leader himself. Jiuding did not agree at first, feeling frightened of the possibility of Kaitian’s revenge. Nuannuan had to talk sense into him by stating the motivation and reasons for it, as well as her certainty of his victory. Eventually, she convinced him to agree to run for the position. She then taught him to visit each house in the village and explain to people his reasons for running.
A few days before the election, Nuannuan sent Shallot off to persuade several families in the village to vote for Jiuding. She also had Jiuding write down his “election pledges” on some red paper, and put it up on the wall next to the village committee, just like how she told Kaitian last time. One of the pledges was most eye-catching: “I will restore the innocence and dignity of Chu Wang Village and I will not allow anyone to put shame on us.”
Nuannuan knew that people would understand what it meant.
On the morning of the Election Day, Nuannuan, Shallot and Jiuding gathered together and estimated the result. The three calculated Jiuding’s possible winning votes and were convinced of Kaitian’s upcoming defeat. As she walked towards the election venue, Nuannuan could even anticipte Kaitian’s upset face on hearing the result. Kuang Kaitian, accept it, you should have come down a long time ago, you should resume your place as a farmer in the village and I sincerely wish that you will not get a serious disease like Zhan Shideng did …
Nevertheless, the result shocked Nuannuan, Jiuding and Shallot: Kuang Kaitian had earned close to 95% of the votes.
Kuang Kaitian was re-elected as the Leader. Applause rose after the official from the town office announced the result. Yet Nuannuan could not hide her stunned face. How is this possible?
“How did that go? You didn’t expect it, did you?” Kuang Kaitian looked satisfied as he walked over and asked Nuannuan, who was standing up to leave.
Nuannuan turned and glared at him. She did not answer.
“You lost, and you must accept it. Don’t look upset like this. Do you know the reason for your failure? Let me tell you. You lost because you underestimated my power is entangled with money. You and I only beat Zhan Shideng three years ago because he had only power, no money. This time you lost to me because I have the Five Continents Group, with all the money it holds, standing right behind me! Do you get it? As long as I have the Five Continents, you will not win, even after three years. Understand?”
Nuannuan was too angry to eat her lunch and dinner that day. After sunset, she was sitting alone in disappointment when she heard sharp cries coming from Shang Xin Yuan, followed by the sound of people running. Just as the village had just fallen quiet after a busy day, the noises set it back to life: pigs, dogs and donkeys were all bawling out while people shouted. Nuannuan walked out in surprise and asked Shallot, who had not gone home from work: “What happened?”
Shallot was not quite sure herself. She said: “I don’t know. A lot of people are running to Shang Xin Yuan. Something must have happened. Do you smell it? There is some bad smell coming from there.”
Nuannuan sniffed. It was indeed a very bad smell. She asked: “What odour is this?”
A sudden shout rose from Shang Xin Yuan: “Call the police!”
“Let’s go and see!”
Nuannuan and Shallot walked quickly towards Shang Xin Yuan. The closer they got, the worse the smell was. They were curious, but they could not see clearly until they reached the wall of Shang Xin Yuan’s courtyard. Someone had dumped manure around the walls of Shang Xin Yuan. Many people in the village were standing around looking with their hands covering their noses. Xue Chuanxin was covering his nose too, as he instructed the security guards to get rid of the manure with spades. Kuang Kaitian was cursing: “Which son of a bitch is this? How dare he pollute my place?! The police will be here in any minute, and we shall see where the little prick can run to!”
Just as everyone was busy talking about the situation, three motorcycles arrived. On them were several police officers and one patrol dog. The police officers jumped off the motorcycles and taped off the area with police tape to stop people from going into the site of the dump. Shallot pulled Nuannuan by her hand and said: “Let’s go home.”
The next morning, Nuannuan heard a woman’s wailing voice before she got out of bed. Strange, she thought: who would start a family fight this early in the morning? She got out of bed and went out to see what had happened. Two police officers had put handcuffs on Wei Liang, the young mason in the village, as well as two other young men. They were forcing them onto the motorcycles. Wei Liang’s mother followed the police officers and cried: “My boy! Have pity! Mercy on my boy!”
Nuannuan was surprised. She asked her neighbour, the wife of Spotty Laosi: “What are they taking the young mason for?”
The wife of Spotty Laosi walked over and whispered: “Didn’t the police bring a watch dog with them last night? The thing has a good nose alright!”
“You mean the patrol dog.” Nuannuan corrected her.
“Ah yes, the patrol dog,” said the wife of Spotty Laosi in a lower voice. “I heard that that thing can smell everything on a man. It took one sniff and then another, and then it went straight to the mason’s house, all the way into his courtyard. The police took him, but he did not confess at first. Then the police found the basket that shipped the manure to the site. Then he admitted what he did and told them about his helpers. My goodness, who would have thought such a bad thing could be done by these honest young men?”
“What for? Why did they do it?” asked Nuannuan. She remembered Wei Liang the mason as a good boy with a nice temper, and he had never fought with anyone for anything.
The wife of Spotty Laosi spoke again with an even lower voice: “Neither of the three said anything. The police did all the interrogations and in the end, Wei Liang s
aid one thing: ‘It was for the three wronged girls.’”
“Oh yes?” said Nuannuan as her heart skipped a beat. “The three wronged girls?”
“You know Luoluo, Black Bean’s daughter, right? I only heard this from other people: the mason has been seeing her for some time. Maybe he did it for her. But I don’t know what Shang Xin Yuan had done to wrong her, and I don’t know which other two girls the two boys were dating with.”
Nuannuan suddenly understood. She was no longer listening to the wife of Spotty Laosi. Instead, she turned to look at the mason and the other two young men. They were cuffed to the motorcycles with their heads held up in an unyielding look. Nuannuan tried to comfort the mason’s mother, who was crying desperately, with: “The police will only be detaining him for a couple of days to educate him. They are not going to punish him. Don’t you worry.”
As she was speaking, Shallot hastened over and said: “Nuannuan, I don’t know what to do! Kaitian is making trouble with Jiuding. He forbids him from rowing the boat for the visitors in the lake because his boat has security issues; he drove him out of the cast of the Farewell, saying his attitude was bad. Now Jiuding has lost both incomes!”
Nuannuan’s eyes flashed with despise. Her face turned cold as she said: “Tell Jiuding that visitors staying in Chu Di Ju will still take his boat to the lake.”
“There is more. Mr. Han the accountant in Shang Xin Yuan went to our house and told us to move by the end of next month, or he will forcibly deconstruct our houses. He also said we cannot work in the farmlands after the autumn harvest because they are going to expand Shang Xin Yuan very soon.”
Nuannuan clenched her teeth. She answered: “I am going to call the town office and report what they are doing.”
She went back to her room in Chu Di Ju and picked up the telephone. She dialed for the reception in the town government and asked for the guard. Then she dialed the number of the Chief’s office that she got from the guard. When the call was picked up, she said: “Mr. Chief, I am Chu Nuannuan, from Chu Wang Village …”
