by Yan Lianke
“Deputy Director Li, in the future, I will no longer petition for redress.
“Deputy Director Li, I have come to tell you and the town mayor that each time I come to petition for redress, the two of you ask me how is it that I’ve already managed to spend the money you gave me the previous time I came to petition, but the truth is that I myself don’t know how I managed to spend it so quickly. I clearly remember putting the money under my pillow, but after a few days the money would be gone and I would have no choice but to come petition for more. But tonight, as soon as I went to sleep, I had a dream. I dreamed that, because I was afraid of losing the money you had given me, I hid it in a hole in an old persimmon tree in back of my house. I therefore went out and looked in the hole, and found more than thirty thousand yuan. Then I looked in the hole of another tree, and found more than two thousand yuan. I looked in a crack in the wall behind my bed, and in the ridges between the bricks in the floor under my bed. In all, I estimate I found one hundred twenty-three thousand and eight hundred yuan.
“With one hundred twenty-three thousand and eight hundred yuan, I no longer need to petition. This is enough for me to live comfortably for the rest of my life. This is enough to support me in my old age, and to cover my funeral after I die. Deputy Director Li, I have come to tell you and the town mayor that I really won’t petition anymore. Even if someone were to try to kill me, I still wouldn’t petition.”
Talking and laughing, the old man proceeded up the steps. He walked up to Li Chuang and repeated three more times the phrase “one hundred twenty-three thousand and eight hundred yuan.” But as he tried to proceed further, Li Chuang blocked his way, and as Li Chuang was blocking his way, Father and I heard Li Chuang say:
“You really won’t petition anymore.
“You guarantee that you won’t petition anymore.”
Li Chuang pulled the old man toward him, and spoke to him softly and with a trace of coldness.
“If you stop petitioning, then what will I do, as the person in charge of handling petitioners? If you stop petitioning, the town will no longer receive its monthly allotment of several hundred yuan for resolving petition claims. If you stop petitioning, how will I become a great general responsible for resisting external aggression and maintaining internal peace? Listen to me—you must continue to petition every month. Every month and every year, you must go to the county and the city center to express your grievances. You know?”
As he said this, Li Chuang shook the old man’s shoulders, and the shaking appeared to wake him up. The old man stared in shock for a moment, and gasped. It appeared that he had really woken up. He stared at Li Chuang, as his voice grew louder and more urgent.
“Deputy Director Li, you are wearing a military-style opera costume and squinting. Are you dreamwalking? Earlier, I was half-awake and half-asleep, but I really did find the money that I hadn’t known was there. There was one hundred twenty-three thousand and eight hundred yuan. Now that I have all this money, I no longer want to petition. I really don’t want to petition anymore.”
Deputy Director Li didn’t say anything else, nor did General Li. Instead, he simply stared at the old man for a while. He then pushed the old man backward, rolled up the sleeves of his opera uniform, and pulled up the war robe, which was dragging on the ground.
“You still expect me to resist external aggression and maintain internal peace? In doing this, you are making it such that the town employee responsible for overseeing petitions will be left unemployed and have nothing to do. If you stop petitioning, this not only affects my and the mayor’s future prospects, it will also have an impact on the finances of the present dynasty. You know?” As he was speaking, he deftly removed his war robe and let it fall to the ground, then he stood in front of the old man. “I am no longer that nitwit deputy director of the department of armed forces, but rather the general of the present dynasty, in charge of the nation’s foreign engagements and internal affairs. I’ll kill anyone who doesn’t listen to me, and if you dare not listen to me, I’ll kill you, too.”
As he was saying this, he punched the old man in the chest, striking so hard that he staggered backward. As Li Chuang did so, the old man—who had been petitioning for eighteen years and now no longer wanted to petition anymore, but who still didn’t understand how the government worked, and simply didn’t understand questions of national stability—stood there frozen. “You must be dreamwalking. If you are, I won’t speak to you. Instead, I’ll go speak directly to the mayor. I really don’t want to continue petitioning. I really don’t want to continue petitioning.” As the old man said this, he edged toward the town government compound. Li Chuang jostled his way among the passersby who had assembled. He kept shoving and shoving, until finally he succeeded in pulling out a pole from somewhere. The pole was a foot long and as wide as a man’s wrist. He abruptly brought it down onto the old man’s head, and blood immediately gushed out. “Aiya . . . Aiya . . .” With these shouts, this lowly official who had been petitioning for eighteen years collapsed onto the town government steps.
The old man died on the town government steps.
Before dying, however, he gazed up at the sky and uttered one final cry: “I really won’t petition anymore! I really won’t!”
Blood followed the sound of his shout and flowed down the stairs. Father and I remained still at the bottom of the stairs. A sentry wearing a military uniform was a young man from the town government who was in his twenties and had secured his job because he and the town mayor shared relatives. He had been standing behind Deputy Director Li the entire time, and watched the commotion in front of him. When he saw the old man fall down the stairs, he ran back to the town government courtyard, shouting,
“Someone has died! Someone has really died!
“Someone has died. Someone has really died.”
His shouts sounded like a house collapsing—like the heavens falling and the earth cracking open.
Deputy Director Li didn’t move a muscle. He stood there motionless and stoic, like a high official. “I’ve been stationed on the frontier for three years now. The Xiongnu have already killed thousands upon thousands of people, and I’m afraid that one or more of you will create a disturbance.” He dropped his pole and picked up his opera costume from the floor. Then he cast his gaze onto me and Father, who were both standing below the stage. “The two of you must be the father and son who run the New World funerary shop on Town Street, selling wreaths. I’ve just given you some additional business.” He brushed the dirt from his costume. Actually, he wasn’t sure whether or not there was any dirt on it, but he still went through the motions.
“I’m telling you—this is not the town government, but rather the Forbidden City’s Throne Room. I am also not Deputy Director Li, but rather this dynasty’s general commander. If any of you dare trespass on the imperial palace, create a disturbance, or disobey instructions, you will all fucking have to leave.
“You will have to leave, just like that troublemaker, Deputy Director Li.”
While carefully patting his uniform, he turned around and headed into the town government’s palace. Taking one step at a time, he proceeded slowly and deliberately. Under the lamplight, his shadow entered that old-style courtyard. This was the town government’s courtyard. It was the majestic palace of that night of the great somnambulism.
Father and I watched this scene in shock. We felt chilled and our hands were trembling. The hand with which Father led me away was covered in cold sweat, and my own hand was covered in my father’s sweat, which was so cold it felt like ice water. My entire body was covered in an icy cold sweat.
BOOK SEVEN
Geng 5, Part One: The Chicks and Birds Fly Away
1. (3:01–3:10)
We couldn’t permit everyone to continue dreamwalking.
People died as easily as someone grinding his teeth while dreamwalking. They stole and looted as easily as someone mumbling something while dreamwalking. We walked back from the town gove
rnment compound, but Father didn’t have any idea how to stop everyone from dreamwalking. He asked Mother to take a gas stove and an aluminum pot out to the square, where he lit the stove, brought the water in the pot to a boil, and added several handfuls of tea leaves.
Then he went to the pharmacy and bought all of its realgar ice-crystal for dispelling sleepiness and refreshing oneself, and added that to the pot.
In the middle of the night, the town was pitch-black, but the fire in the square was burning bright. There were no dreamwalkers in the square, or else they had all escaped from their dreams. Instead, there were groups of awake people: three and five, or four and six, standing in the square drinking realgar brew and tea.
That night, my father became an extraordinary saint. He arranged for my mother and for the awake passersby to prepare more tea and realgar medicinal brew. He found a gong somewhere and began beating it while they walked up and down the town’s streets and alleys, each of them shouting:
“Hey . . . On this night of the somnambulism, everyone needs to guard against theft and looting.”
“Hey . . . The village chief and the members of the town government are all dreamwalking. My own family needs to guard against theft and looting.”
“Hey . . . Everyone who is unable to conquer sleepiness should go to the square and drink some tea. Go drink some realgar brew. Your drowsiness will immediately be dispelled and you’ll feel as though you just woke up.”
Following the sound of his gong, many front doors and windows opened. It seemed as though all of the dreamwalkers really were going to gather in the square, where it was loud and noisy. They drank the tea and the realgar ice-crystal brew. As they were drinking, they discussed the events of that somnambulistic night. “How could they . . . ? How could they . . . ? How could they have let our Gaotian Town experience this once-in-a-century or once-in-a-millennium somnambulistic hysteria? Even if you are skeptical, you’ll have no choice but to believe it.” Footsteps resonated up and down the streets and alleys, and it seemed as though the entire world was filled with footsteps. Everyone was headed toward the square, to drink tea and hear extraordinary stories about the night of the great somnambulism.
A large crowd gathered in the square—so many people that it appeared as though they were holding a convention. The area was filled with the smell of tea and realgar ice-crystal brew. People were drinking while standing and squatting, and my mother was as busy as if she were at the market. She ladled several bowls of tea and the realgar ice-crystal brew from the pot, and distributed them to the people gathered in the square. As for my father, as he was banging his gong and heading south, he encountered two things—two things that I have no choice but to tell you about, Spirits.
The first is that as Father was hollering and striking the gong, he encountered someone. This person was anxiously emerging from a narrow alley, and seemed to be carrying a heavy sack on his shoulder. He put down his sack and rested for a while, and it was at that point that my father happened to walk by, shouting and striking his gong. The two men were standing about three to five paces apart, separated by the night’s murky darkness. In struggling to discern who the other one was, each stared as though encountering a mortal enemy. “Who . . . ?” . . . “I . . . I’m Li Tianbao.” As Father said this, he walked toward the dark shadow in front of him. “Stop right there! If you take another step closer, I’ll stab you!” My father came to a stop about two steps from the other man. “Li Tianbao, things are now even between our two families. When my father died, you must have been the one who informed the higher-ups that he had been buried, and for more than ten years I’ve been looking for an opportunity to beat you and break your legs, leaving you crippled like your wife. Now you’ve caught me trying to steal things, but if you don’t report me, then we can call it even. In the future, neither of us will have any need to bear a grudge against the other.” As he said this, the man began to lift the sack back onto his shoulder, but kept running into difficulty. My father walked closer and gave the man a hand, at which point the man turned and expressed his gratitude.
“Li Tianbao, thank you. From now on, you and I will be brothers.”
My father finally recognized the man. His name was Zhao Huanhuan, and he lived on East Street. Father thought that it looked as though the man’s bag were full of something like stone heads. In town, there was a stonemason who specialized in carving statues of Buddhas and Buddha heads. A Buddha head could sell for a lot of money, and whoever purchased it would have to burn several sticks of incense in front of it. The home of that stonemason who specialized in Buddhas was located in the alley from which the man had just emerged. Father watched as Zhao Huanhuan proceeded down the road. He expressed his thanks to my father, and his heart appeared to be full of gratitude. Father, however, didn’t feel a trace of gratitude in his veins. “You’ve even stolen some Buddhas? How dare you steal spirits?” He watched as Zhao Huanhuan disappeared into the distance, and then he began heading back to the square. He wanted to beat his gong, but in the end he didn’t. He wanted to continue shouting, but he was too lazy.
At this point, the second thing occurred. In the main street, the doors of some stores were open, while those of others were closed. The doors that were closed were locked from the inside, and were blocked with tables and bars. As my father left the southern part of town, he again saw a shadowy figure emerge from the stonemason’s alley. This figure was carrying a leather bag and was pulling a suitcase. “Ershun, what do you have there? How is it that your hands are empty? Didn’t you manage to grab anything?” The man obviously mistook my father for someone called Ershun. “Who are you? I’m not Ershun, I’m Li Tianbao.” My father walked over and, as before, the two men stood facing each other in the dark. When they were a few paces apart, they finally recognized each other.
“Li Tianbao, I thought you were my brother, Ershun. Why are you carrying a gong? How much is a gong worth? It’s not even worth as much as you would get from selling half a wreath.”
“You are dreamwalking.” My father gazed at the man, whose name was Dashun. “You, too, should go to the square to drink a bowl of the tea my family has brewed. The police and members of the town government are also dreamwalking, and several of them have gone there to drink tea.”
“The fuck I’m sleeping!” Dashun laughed, then quickly became serious again. “So, it’s you and your wife who are boiling tea in the square?” Dashun approached to look at Father’s face. “Tianbao, you must want some tea leaves? This store specializes in selling suitcases and purses, but there is one counter full of tea leaves and other things. I don’t drink tea and there is no one else in my family who does, so I didn’t take a single box.”
My father looked at the door out of which Dashun had just emerged.
“Go on in. You would be doing this on behalf of everyone, so it wouldn’t count as stealing.”
My father went inside.
He quickly grabbed several boxes of red oolong and green tea. He didn’t know which kind of tea was best, nor which would be most effective in dispelling drowsiness. Instead, he simply picked the largest boxes. As he was emerging from the store with five or six boxes of tea, he discovered that Dashun had not left and was still standing outside the store waiting for him.
“You haven’t left yet.”
“I was standing guard for you.” Dashun lifted the purse he was holding and pulled the suitcase in front of him. “This way, Li Tianbao, you have stolen things and so have I, so now both of us are thieves. When the sun rises tomorrow and people wake up from their dreams, I won’t expose you, nor should you expose me. You and I are both thieves to equal extents, and neither of us is more innocent than the other.”
As he said this, he smiled proudly. He looked again at Father, and walked away.
He walked away.
My father stood there staring in astonishment. In the end, he returned to that Luggage World store and placed the five or six boxes of tea back where he had found them.
He left them where he found them.
2. (3:11–3:31)
Spirits . . . People’s spirits! I just told you about a minor matter, and now must tell you about a major one.
This was a very significant matter. Even the employees in the town government had begun dreamwalking. The townspeople had no choice but to look after themselves. A second gas stove appeared in the square, and the number of pots also increased. The two stoves produced a fire that pushed against the bottoms of the pots. However, these fires could heat up only a small pot, so someone had set up a large, clay stove. This brick and stone stove spat out flames from all sides. Pieces of dismantled doors and stools had been thrown into the stove, and the resulting fire lit up the entire street. There were small pots and large ones, aluminum ones and iron ones. The realgar ice-crystal brew was black and bitter, and no one was willing to drink it. Instead, everyone came to drink the tea, and take it away. There were three or four pots, or four or five, all being heated by a raging fire. The water came to a boil. In the light of the fire, they brewed the tea. The scent of bitter tea streamed freely through the night, extending to the mountains outside town. Soon, the entire world was pervaded by the fragrance of tea.
At this point, at this moment, some people brought over some coffee, which hardly anyone in the town had ever drunk before. It was dark brown and silky red, and when they opened the canister a red scent flowed out. They poured some boiling water, and added a spoonful of coffee grounds. In the water, the coffee looked like a piece of silk fabric in a fire. The townspeople with some worldly experience, who had drunk coffee before, began shouting.
