Hard Like Water

by Yan Lianke

  After dinner had concluded, and the moon was about to come up, we all felt rather awkward sitting in Degui’s house. At that time, Hongmei was teaching the new bride how to knit a sweater out of coarse yarn. (My wise Hongmei—my heart, my flesh, my ideal revolutionary companion!) I took out two one-yuan bills and placed them in Old Man Degui’s hand, explaining that this was to cover the food he had prepared for us, adding that it was room-and-board money that we soc-ed cadres were obligated to give to poor and lower-middle peasants when we went down to the countryside.

  Old Man Degui angrily returned the money, saying, “In your lifetime, how many other chances will you have to come to the Balou Mountains?”

  I handed the money back to him, saying, “Even if we only come once, we still have to pay. These are the Party organization’s traditions and regulations.”

  Old Man Degui retorted, “What kind of rule is this? You are Party members, and therefore when you eat the food of poor and lower-middle peasants, you are eating your own family’s food. Who ever heard of having to pay when eating your own family’s food?”

  Then Hongmei weighed in (my soul and my flesh, she plays such a good accompaniment!), saying, “Uncle Jiao, please just accept this. If you don’t, then when we return to the county, we’ll have to perform a self-criticism at the Party group meeting.”

  I quickly added (this resembled a well-rehearsed performance), “These are the ‘Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points of Attention’—this is all specified, these are all rules sent down by Chairman Mao.”

  Finally, and with considerable embarrassment, Old Man Degui accepted the money.

  Li Lin was having a post-meal smoke, and at that point he knocked the bowl of his pipe against his shoe and announced, “How about this? Each of you can contribute twenty cents. That way Degui receives forty cents, which will count as receiving the food allotment for two cadres, and we won’t be breaking any rules. I hear from Zhenhai that when he goes down to the countryside, he too has to pay his hosts food money.”

  He mentioned Wang Zhenhai. He finally mentioned Wang Zhenhai! Hongmei stopped teaching the bride how to knit, and asked, “Who is this Zhenhai?”

  Li Lin replied, “It is Mayor Wang—Chenggang’s Mayor Wang.”

  Feigning surprise, I asked, “Is Mayor Wang from here?”

  Li Lin and Degui proudly replied in unison, “His house is the third one behind ours.”

  Hongmei and I both acted as though we had unexpectedly encountered an old friend. We repeatedly emphasized how well we knew Mayor Wang and how much we admired and respected him. I explained how on this trip we were doing work on behalf of the county’s organizational bureau, after which we would submit documentation to the county head and the county Party committee secretary and draft an announcement for a meeting. I went on to say that Hongmei was a correspondent in the county committee’s propaganda bureau, who wrote reports directly for the district-level and provincial-level newspapers. She effectively worked as a journalist, as if she were a reporter for a provincial-level newspaper living in the county. I said that her article praising a commune Party secretary had been published in the People’s Daily and that this commune Party secretary was already the youngest Party secretary in the entire county committee. At this point, the eyes of Brigade Leader Li Lin, Old Man Degui, and that pair of newlyweds all grew wide under the light of the oil lamp, as they stared in astonishment, as though a pair of deities had suddenly landed in Wangjiayu Village.

  Brigade Leader Li Lin said, “Heavens, you mean that you’re close to the county head? You should be sure to tell him more good things about our Zhenhai, because Zhenhai is constantly racking his brains on behalf of the common people.”

  (This all bore a distinct resemblance to dialogue in a play!)

  Hongmei said, “I went to interview Mayor Wang—but this simply consisted of our sitting down to chat. Mayor Wang is not the kind of person who likes people to compliment him, and when you interview him, you feel like you should say good things only about others and not say a single good thing about him.”

  Brigade Leader Li Lin slapped his thigh and said, “That’s right, I understand him all too well. From the time we were children, we grew up together in the same piss-soaked mud pile, but later he joined the army, became an important figure, and then he returned and was appointed mayor. I know that from the time he was young, whenever he happened to have some kind of advantage, he would always try to give it to others.”

  I said, “So, he is the kind of person who never acts on his own behalf but rather is always trying to help others? The county committee has long wanted to establish this sort of model for all the county’s cadres to learn from, but they weren’t able to find a good example.”

  Li Lin lit another pipe and said, “You can suggest to your county head that they might use Zhenhai for this purpose. Although he isn’t very cultured, he is always thinking of the People.”

  Hongmei immediately stopped beating around the bush and took out a pen and notebook (my heart, my love, my flesh and soul!), and said, “What are his achievements? Please be specific.”

  Li Lin’s pipe paused at the edge of his mouth, as though he wanted to say something, but then he swallowed his words. As he continued looking at Degui and his family, there was a long silence.

  I said, “If there is something that isn’t convenient for you to say, then you shouldn’t mention it. The current situation is extremely complicated. However, if you are able to use Mayor Wang’s good deeds to provide a model for the poor and lower-middle peasants, then as long as he was really acting on behalf of the common people, the masses, and the Party, even if he did something bad, we’ll keep our silence. And as long as the county head and the Party secretary know about it, then not only will we not criticize him, we’ll even praise him.”

  I looked at Brigade Leader Li Lin, then continued, in a somewhat mysterious tone, “Do you know the primary reason Zhao Qing was recently promoted to his current position as deputy secretary of the county Party committee? He was originally the Party secretary of the Damiao commune, and it’s said that last year he gave land to every family in the commune, with the result being that the village’s per-mu grain-production rate reached four hundred and fifty jin.”

  (In the movie Tunnel Warfare, when the secret agent disguised as the director of an armed working team entered Gaojia Village, he used the same method to try to entice the masses to work harder and produce more, but he ultimately failed and was arrested. He was an enemy, and he was unprincipled, while we are revolutionaries and represent principles and progress.)

  Hongmei said, “What do you mean, four hundred and fifty jin? Actually it was four hundred seventeen and a half jin.”

  I said, “It was in fact four hundred and fifty jin. His village had the highest grain-production rate in the entire county.”

  Hongmei said, “It’s not a question of a high rate of production but rather of his audacity in daring to secretly distribute land to everyone.”

  I said, “That is true.”

  Brigade Leader Li Lin’s eyes flickered, and his lips trembled. Old Man Degui kept looking at him as though urging him to quickly say something.

  Finally, Brigade Leader Li Lin asked, “Did they really distribute land to every family?”

  Hongmei replied, “The county head and the county committee secretary both knew about it but helped keep it a secret.”

  Brigade Leader Li Lin said, “They didn’t make the commune Party secretary go to jail? They didn’t make him step down?”

  I said, “He did it for the People, which is why they promoted him to county Party committee secretary.”

  Brigade Leader Li Lin was indignant on behalf of Wang Zhenhai, saying, “I see that the two of you are not the kind of people who are inclined to persecute others [What a joke!], nor are you revolutionaries [Another joke!]. I’ll tell you the truth: our village’s land was redistributed to the villagers five years ago, on Zhenhai’s orders. Five years a
go several people in the village starved to death, so when Zhenhai was appointed mayor, he told Secretary Zhao to distribute land to every family in the village, and now our average annual grain-production rate is several dozen jin more than that of the village you just mentioned.”

  Over the next several days, we enjoyed considerable success in exploring the enemy’s position, and through this careful examination, we deliberated over our plans for war:

  Those threatening Tiger Mountain rely on enemy bunkers

  And it appears they want to use stratagem to get the upper hand

  We pick experts to pose as bandits and infiltrate the enemy’s heart and mind

  And in this way we can collaborate with outsiders

  From a position within the bandit’s lair

  But who will we send to carry out this extraordinarily important task?

  Both Gao Aijun and Xia Hongmei have the ability to carry this out

  They are both from poor peasant backgrounds and both are of good quality

  And from the time they were young they endured endless suffering on behalf of their ideals

  And with a bellyful of resentment they sought out proof of the enemy’s crimes

  And swore that they would eradicate the enemies

  In the revolution they participated in countless battles

  And though countless families were destroyed and countless lives were lost

  They nevertheless achieved many successes

  I believe that their hearts are as red as fire

  Their will is as strong as steel

  And they’ll definitely be able to achieve victory over the bandit chief Zuo Shandiao.

  This was another sincere family, and several ears of corn from the previous year’s fall harvest were hanging under the eaves of their house. Brigade Leader Li Lin asked us to note the inexhaustible storehouse of grain under the house’s eaves; then he led us to a small room to see the man’s collection of cans of wheat and soybeans. As we entered the room, we were almost smothered by the smell of rotting grain.

  I asked, “Do they have enough grain?”

  The man replied, “Even if our life depended on it, we still wouldn’t be able to consume all this grain.”

  Hongmei asked, “Do you think it is best to distribute land to each other, or to sow it collectively?”

  The man looked at Li Lin.

  Brigade Leader Li Lin said, “You can answer. They are all good people. You can say whatever you want to.”

  The man said, “We are grateful to Mayor Wang. Of course, it’s better when the land is distributed to everyone.”

  I said, “For Mayor Wang, would you be willing to write up a description of the land-allocation arrangement that we could take back with us?”

  The man replied, “I would, but I don’t know how to write.”

  Brigade Leader Li Lin looked at Hongmei and said, “Why don’t you write it for him, and then let him add his handprint?”

  So Hongmei wrote out the man’s testimony.

  We visited several more families and obtained additional evidentiary documents. Finally, when we were returning to Old Man Degui’s house, the night sky was already full of stars, and the ground looked as though it were covered in frost. We hadn’t realized that the nights in the Balou Mountains could be so quiet that our footsteps would seem as loud as shattering bamboo stalks. I saw that on the mountain ridge across from Wangjiayu Village there was another village hovering over the hillside, and from there the light green sound of dogs barking traversed the intervening ridges and ravines and dissipated over our heads. Hongmei asked, “What village is that?” The brigade leader replied, “It is Zhaojiawa, which is the village of Secretary Zhao’s family.” We were suddenly reminded of the affair between Zhao Xiuyu and Mayor Wang. We had originally come to find evidence of their affair, but the revolutionary situation is ever-changing, and just as one can find simplicity within complexity, one can similarly find complexity within simplicity.

  I said, “Brigade Leader Li Lin, if Zhao Xiuyu was the person who actually implemented the policy of redistributing land to local families, and if Mayor Wang was merely a supporter, wasn’t Mayor Wang concerned that Zhao Xiuyu might one day sell him out?”

  Li Lin said, “How could she possibly do that? Not only is Xiuyu a Party branch secretary, she is also the eldest daughter of Wang Zhenhai’s aunt. How could she sell out her own cousin?”

  The moon looked like a moist sheet of white paper stuck to the sky, and the shadows of the trees rustled as they swept back and forth in front of the entrance to the village. In this uncannily quiet mountain night, we could hear the wheat sprouts climbing out of the ground in the plots of land that had been distributed to the village’s families, and in the brigade leader’s breathing we could hear surprise at our lack of familiarity with the simplicity of this mountain community’s social relations.

  Li Lin said, “People in the mountains are very concerned with questions of character, and Zhenhai decided to distribute land to everyone in an attempt to guarantee that the several thousand people living in Wangjiayu Village would have food and clothing. Who would betray their conscience to report him?”

  (So, that’s the way things were! It was only after entering and then leaving the masses that we finally came to understand this. The masses are the true heroes and the force that creates history.)

  We returned to Old Man Degui’s home. No one in his family had yet gone to sleep; they were all waiting for us. As soon as we entered the courtyard, Old Man Degui, holding an oil lamp, came out to greet us. He said, “You and my son can sleep in the front western room, which also has a new set of bedding. Meanwhile, she and my daughter-in-law can sleep in the new house, because they are young.”

  Hongmei and I both stared at him in shock. We desperately needed to sleep together naked in the same bed, so that we could kiss and embrace each other, touch and caress each other, and crazily celebrate our victory! We desperately needed to hug each other and share the same dreams as we plotted our next revolutionary action! I looked at Hongmei and saw that her bright eyes were sparkling in the moonlight. At that moment, my eyes were illuminated by hers. We each glanced at the other and instantly reached a mutual understanding, and as our pulses synchronized with one another (such was love—great revolutionary love!), I said to Old Man Degui, “Any arrangement is fine with us. After all, we aren’t yet an old couple, though it’s true that we’ve already been married for several years.”

  Both Li Lin and Old Man Degui stared at us with astonishment. “You are married?”

  Hongmei blushed, “We haven’t been married for all that long.”

  Li Lin said, “Then why didn’t you say so sooner?” He turned to Degui and said, “Why don’t you have your son and daughter-in-law sleep in the front room, and let these two cadres sleep in the nuptial chamber?”

  Accordingly, everything was successfully arranged. Not only did our expedition—our excursion into enemy territory—allow us to master the enemy’s inside information and gather evidence, Hongmei and I were also able, for the first time in our lives, to spend the night together in a real newlywed bed.

  That was an extraordinary night.

  4. Going behind Enemy Lines (IV)

  We went behind enemy lines

  And exterminated the devils

  With our worker and peasant brothers

  We are a single family.

  We all came from the same roots

  And have all experienced hardship

  The house we built

  The grain we sowed

  Landlords, compradors, and blackhearts

  Have completely exploited us.

  We went behind enemy lines

  And exterminated the devils

  Following the Communist Party.

  We now take up our knives and guns

  The day for a war of resistance has come

  In front of us is the light of the dawn

  The blade falls down on the devil’s head
<
br />   We seek liberation

  We killed one and took another captive,

  Then we went to collect their American arms.

  Chapter 11

  The Winds Suddenly Shift

  1. The Tragedy of Pagoda Tree Village

  Sometimes, when the revolution arrives early, it can leave us with a kind of paralyzed consciousness—such that we may come to believe that all the twists and turns in the road to revolution are merely contingent, while success is as necessary and inevitable as the sun emerging from behind the clouds or dawn bringing new light. This is a flawed way of thinking and will bring us countless losses and bloody lessons as we struggle to establish a revolutionary foundation and a mass red base. We must remember that the reason revolutionary success may sometimes arrive early is because we correctly implement the Party’s policies, directives, and paths, and because we mobilize, rely on, and immerse ourselves in the masses. If, on account of our success, we forget this point, it would be as though we had forgotten the enemy’s existence and transformed our success into our own grave digger. Remember this—you absolutely must remember this. Otherwise an even greater failure may appear before you.

  Unfortunately, in the end, I did indeed forget this point. Hongmei and I were left befuddled by our sudden and unexpected success, and we completely forgot that it is necessary to remain calm when enjoying victory. We forgot that, when faced with accolades and fresh flowers, you must be wary of complacency and guard against conceit and impetuosity, and as a result we guaranteed that failure would follow on the heels of success. Moreover, while our success ended up being several times greater than we had originally expected, the resulting failure ended up being several thousand times more momentous than we could possibly have anticipated.

  The comedy made us laugh, but the resulting tragedy left us so grief-stricken that we wanted to die. The comedy of success spelled the end to my and Hongmei’s young lives and set the stage for the ensuing tragedy while simultaneously giving us our own elegy. Just as we were personally collecting the oral testimonies (personal evidence) and the buried wooden stakes (material evidence) that proved that Wang Zhenhai had redistributed land to local families, I once again sent the prefectural Party committee another letter of disclosure, to earn more serious consideration from the higher-ups. In these letters, I called Mayor Wang’s activities a covert attempt to overthrow socialism. (I was astonished by how much I resembled a great prophet.) As it turned out, the earth-shattering event I described ended up coming to pass.