by Zhou Daxin
“What?” Kaitian asked eagerly, his eyes wide open.
“We could use sorghum stalks to build shacks, wouldn’t it take no time to put up a few dozen by the lakeside? In the past there were some town folk that used this idea when preparing for a wedding, and the weather won’t be cold so I think it could be done.”
“Yes, now this is an idea.” Kaitian happily clapped his hands together: I will go and get this done then. Two groups were quickly hired, one group pulled a flatbed cart to Juxiang Street to buy bedding, the other went into the town with cash to collect sorghum stalks. Afterwards, 17 simple shacks were constructed on empty land by the lakeside, with every shack able to sleep two to three, a reed mat and wheat grass spread over the floor of each one, and bedding on top of that. At only 50 yuan per night, each shack opened out onto the lake, a true taste of the mountains and fields. After seeing the Great Wall of Chu, the tourists all liked this accommodation, and before dinner was ready, every shack had already been taken.
On this day, Nuannuan and Kaitian earned a huge sum. The money from the Great Wall of Chu mountain road entry tickets alone was 1,970 yuan. Hehe had carried out her elder sister’s request to sell the tickets, and on returning before dinner to give her the cash, Kaitian laughed, fully unable to conceal his happiness. During dinnertime, Shallot and Jiuding’s wife, as well as a few other female neighbours, now temporary employees, were in constant motion, making noodles and steaming buns, and even at the price of one bowl of noodles for 6 yuan, one steamed bun for 1 yuan, the demand exceeded supply. Adding the income from the guesthouse accommodation and the tour guide fee for Lingyan temple, as well as the enchanted area boat tickets, Kaitian earned almost 10,000 yuan on that day. Oh my God! When will we earn this much money again in a day? That night before bedtime, Kaitian sat on the bed and, after having finished counting the total income, let out a sigh for the day and excitedly tapped a tune on the pillow in his lap.
Nuannuan laughed: “I see someone is excited.”
“Labour Day is fucking great, if only it continued on!” Kaitian said, rubbing his hands together.
“As far as I see, earning so much in a day isn’t necessarily a good thing.”
“What do you mean?”
Kaitian stared at Nuannuan, looking unhappy. “Be careful, someone’s eyes are going green with envy …”.
Chapter 26
There was cause for Nuannuan’s concern. Just as the May 1st holiday had passed, and the tourists had just departed, people from the town taxation office arrived, asking for Kaitian to hand over tax from the business. The last time a group visited Kaitian like this was when he was beaten, and as soon as he saw the official service caps, he grew afraid. Naturally, he was unable to pluck up the courage to oppose them, and simply handed over the tax. This was closely followed by Zhan Shideng, sending Zhan Datong to call out for Kaitian to come out. It was just dusk, and Kaitian and Nuannuan were piling up the bedding used by the tourists, when they heard the sound of Datong at the door. Kaitian asked: “Why does he want me to go over for?”
“He said he just wants to discuss something with you.”
“Do you know what he wants to duscuss?” Kaitian passed a cigarette to Datong, then poured a cup of alcohol and put it in his hands. Datong, the alcohol glutton, was not polite, and threw his head back, draining the cup into his belly at once. Once the alcohol had arrived to his stomach, Datong said in a low voice: “From the sound of it, it seems he is not happy about the shacks you put up and the entry tickets you are selling, and says you are getting too greedy for your own good.”
“You’d better take some money.” Nuannuan said quietly.
After seeing Datong out to a distance, Kaitian spat with contempt, and cursed under his breath: “Some leader! And still pressing for money!” Kaitian put 500 yuan into his pocket and said to Nuannuan: “I am off to his place.” Nuannuan sighed: “That 500 yuan won’t be enough for him.” “How much do you say?” “1,000.” Nuannuan said. “1,000?” Kaitian opened his eyes wide in torment, “Without lifting a finger he walks away with 1,500?” Seeing Nuannuan nodding, Kaitian was forced to put 1,000 into his other pocket.
Zhan Shideng was standing by his big front door, and upon seeing Kaitian, asked with an irritated look: “If I did not send someone to call for you, you wouldn’t have come to see me, would you?”
“Of course I would.” Kaitian stepped into the yard with a smile, “I was thinking yesterday to do so, as soon as seeing the tourists off, I would hurry to tell you about the proceedings of the day, and when convenient, I would pass you the money.” Whilst speaking, Kaitian took out 500 yuan from one of his pockets to put into Zhan Shideng’s hand. Zhan Shideng shot a glance at the stack of notes in Kaitian’s opened hand and said: “I’m not a beggar, and you are not coming here to simply pay me off, today I have called you here formally to talk about two issues as the village leader. The first issue is that visitors are paying for tickets to go up the northern hill and see the stone walls. This is something for the village to manage, and a single person, you, cannot take all of the money into your own pockets. That hill is public property, and those stone walls were not built by the Kuang family. You understand me? The other issue is about where you put up the sorghum stalk shacks. That area also belongs to the public, and has created a fire hazard, so must be immediately torn down!”
As soon as Kaitian heard this, he immediately knew that the money he had offered was too small, and quickly producing the 1,000 yuan from his other pocket, said: “You see now, I should be clear about myself, today I bought along two payments, this 500 yuan is half of the income from ticket passes of those going up the mountain to see the stone wall; and this 1,000 yuan is half the income of accommodation, food and tours. I have given myself a rule, that no matter how much I earn, I keep half for myself and the other half is to give to the leader, as the leader has given me the capability to earn money. Anyone that would forget this hasn’t conscience, and is not even a human being!” Whilst speaking, Kaitian stuffed both payments into Zhan Shideng’s pocket. Zhan Shideng’s expression warmed slightly, and he did not refuse the money by taking it out, instead, pointing to a seat in his yard and saying to Kaitian: “Take a seat. Now I just spoke with you about both of these issues because the village folk have already reported you, so I have to talk with you about it … well, let’s just ignore them, and even if you do wish to carry on and continue, I will watch with one eye closed and one open, and pretend I didn’t see anything.” Kaitian was quick to express his gratitude, thanking whilst tormented over the 1,500 yuan. My god, not even lifting a finger and walking away with 1,500 yuan. He walks away with your money, and you thank him, not something you see every day. Resigned to it all, Kaitian raised one request: “Leader, I’m worried that if afterwards more tourists arrive, we haven’t currently got anywhere for them to stay. If we were to build more rooms in the vacant lot in front, would you be okay with it?” “Do what you like, build more if you want.” Zhan Shideng waved his arms, as if sending out a guest.
In the following days, Kaitian again ran about buying bricks, tiles and cement, whilst Nuannuan and Shallot dealt with a small number of tourists. One afternoon, Nuannuan and Shallot were tidying up the guesthouse when they met with some city people entering the yard. She thought they were here to see the Great Wall of Chu, and called them into the house, telling them to stay the night, and climb up the mountain tomorrow. They listened as though confused, and said: “Why go up the mountain? We won’t climb up the mountain; we are here to look at the lake.” Nuannuan then assumed they wanted to see the mist of the enchanted triangle area, and quickly said: “It’s too late to see the enchanted area. By the time you take a boat to the center of the lake it would be just about dark.” Again, they were confused, asking: “What is this enchanted area? We aren’t here for that.” Nuannuan did not expect this, and asked: “So what are you here for?” One of them answered: “We are here especially to look at the lake water.” Nuannuan was surprised: “
What is the use in looking at the water? Didn’t you go along the water when you arrived by boat from the eastern bank? What, you didn’t see it then?” The person laughed, saying: “We have already seen the lake water with our eyes. In fact out mission is not only to see the lake with our eyes, but also to use some equipment to test water in the lake from different areas.” Nuannuan finally understood, as amongst their luggage she had seen some large boxes. Nuannuan was more surprised, but did not ask them why they were testing the water, only if she could help them with anything. The leader amongst them said: “we heard on the east bank that your Chu guesthouse is the closest to the west bank, the cleanest and the tidiest. We plan to stay here in the guesthouse for ten days, to use as our dorm and office area, and will pay the standard rate. If possible, we will hire a boat, and every day head to the lake for some tests.” Nuannuan heard this as good news, and quickly nodded her head, saying: “Sure, sure …”
Kaitian returned at dusk, and when Nuannuan told him about the situation with the new guests, he was quite surprised, saying: “Especially here to test the lake water? Can it be that there is some sickness coming from the water of the Red Lake?” Kaitian decided to find out what it was all about, and on the next day after breakfast, agreed on a price to rent a boat, heading out on the refitted boat — his father-in-law’s tourist boat, and took the group with him into the lake.
They opened up a map, and Kaitain saw immediately at the top was written “Map of Red Lake”. People pointed and planned, and then explained to Kaitian the route to take: firstly a circuit around the lake, then five discrete territories split between north, south, east and west. Kaitian was surprised but pleased. Surprised that they chose a trip around the lake banks, which was not easy to circle, and would take a few days to do so. What would they be doing? Pleased that they would be renting a boat for a longer period of time, and that he would be earning more money. In the following few days, Kaitian steered the boat according to their requests, and when arriving to each area, everybody was busy taking up water, then using machines on racks to check it. Kaitian thought it was very funny: what was worth looking at in this water? This went on, stopping and starting, for over a week. After a week, the boat finally arrived back to Chu Wang Village. Kaitian had already grown well-acquainted with them, and chose a youngster in the group to ask about the trip to the Red Lake, and why the research was needed. The youngster replied: “We are here to test the water quality. If it qualifies, a water irrigation project could be started here.” “Oh?” Kaitian’s eyes were wide. When he was young he had heard that water from the big lakes here was often sent north, but had never seen any activity, and thought it as merely grown-ups exaggerating. Maybe it really does happen? “So after you test the water, do you think it will qualify?” The person smiled: “The last data just came through, this water doesn’t just qualify, it is actually the quality of high-grade mineral water, without any purification, and can be directly consumed, especially the area in the center with the mist, which is of even higher quality water than mineral water. You and your people that live along the lakeside are truly gifted, and probably live for so long because you drink the water!” Kaitian laughed along: “The folk and cattle here have always directly drunk this water, and just as you say, many of us have lived past the age of 90. There is an old grandma Liu who, at 120 years of age, can still eat stir-fried yellow beans with her teeth! The youngster laughed out loud, and said: “After today, the water from the Red Lake will be moved to the North, and I want to drink it every day so that I can eat stir-fried yellow beans at 120 years too! Kaitian, after the water irrigation plan opens, your village on the lakeside may become much more active, you know.”
“Active? What do you mean by active?” Kaitian didn’t understand.
“Many people will probably come to look at the water of this lake”.
“Really?” Kaitian’s heart skipped a beat. If that is the case, there will be many more opportunities for earning money.
“Yes really, Northerners drinking Red Lake water will naturally have the thought to come and see the source of their water, and when that time is here, even if they only come from the two cities of Tianjin and Beijing, well, many more people will arrive …”
In bed that night, Kaitian told Nuannuan about all of his experiences of the last few days, and Nuannuan lay there in shock. She said: “It looks like another opportunity for us to increase our tourism operations. Don’t you have to construct more houses? This seems like the perfect opportunity to bring in more people from the bigger cities.” Kaitian nodded his head, saying: “Right, we could install glass windows, expand the capacity of the houses to that of a shop, and after covering the roof and ceilings with wallpaper, we can invite the best carpenters to build the finest tables, chairs and beds. Guests that enter these rooms will never want to leave them!”
Chapter 27
The expansion of Chu Di Ju was different from the last two times; everyone in the village knew that Kaitian and Nuannuan were now rich, so the construction went quite smoothly as everyone was happy to help. A couple of young men took their trolley and went with Kaitian to buy bricks and tiles; timbers came to their doorstep with their tools. Jiuding and some other young men even went straight to them and said: “Big brother Kaitian, my sister Nuannuan, just name anything and we’ll make it work for you!”
Nuannuan and Kaitian were surprised by their enthusiasm. Before, they would have to beg for help from people in the village; yet now people would come to them and offer their help. That assured Nuannuan’s determination to get richer: if we could earn more money, our life will be easier and easier. Zhan Shideng, one day you will not dare to cross us!
It was the fourth construction of the Kuang’s, including the renovation of the house where the couple lived. Kaitian had not made up his mind about the expected size of Chu Di Ju. Nuannuan said to him: “Since there will be construction anyway, let’s make it a big one.”
The couple made the decision that they will put thirteen new guest rooms in Chu Di Ju: five rooms as the main body of the construction with the one in the center connected to the original Chu Di Ju; two rooms in the east wing and two others in the west wing; two more on each side of the gate. The four main rooms except for the one used as a connecting hall, combined with the two wings, would be guest rooms; the two rooms on the right side of the gate would be kitchens; the two left would be used as dining halls.
Thanks to the materials they had prepared, the input of good handymen and good prevailing weather, the blocks were constructed well, and after only 10 days, over a dozen new blocks were standing. Uniform green bricks and white walls, a true sight to behold. There was nothing else like the two big compounds of Chu Di Ju in all of Chu Wang Village. The day the extensions were completed, many of the villagers ran over to see. On that day, Zhan Shideng had business to attend to in the city of Nanfu, on the eastern lakeside, and on returning to see the Kaitian’s Chu Di Ju, he stared at it for a long time with nothing else to say. He had permitted Kaitian to extend the compound after all, but did not expect so many new blocks, each of which was not only larger than his own house, but also thoroughly more impressive. It looks like this little prick has been earning some big money! He was quietly shocked at it all, and for the first time he felt that his position is being threatened. After the Kuang’s had finished the renovation, Nuannuan told Kaitian: “Such a large compound is awaiting tourists, but the two of us alone couldn’t manage to tidy it all up, so let’s hire three women from the village specifically for this, otherwise it may spoil the visit for tourists.” Kaitian asked: “How much should we pay these workers?” Nuanuan was silent for a moment: “Food included, 200 yuan.”
The people of Chu Wang Village were now able to see the actual vigor the Kuang’s Chu Di Ju, and having heard that Nuannuan and Kaitian were hiring three girls to work there, 200 yuan a month including food, more than ten families brought forth their own daughters, asking Nuannuan and Kaitian for their children to stay as e
mployees. Nuannuan and Kaitian never believed it would be so difficult to hire the girls, and never expected that this would occur. Nuannuan was very moved by it all, as it was the first time since her marriage into the Kuang’s that people had come by her request. She laughed with the parents and daughters: “You come to ask for help from the Kuang’s, and you think highly of us. Although I only need three people, you may record your names, and when I need more people, even if you do not stay on today I will certainly come and find you later”. That day she picked out three girls to stay on, with the rest leaving full of hope.
Not long after Chu Di Ju’s extensions were completed and the beds, tables and chairs inside the new compounds were just finished off, and before the chance to buy bedding, a group of guests arrived to see the North-South Water project. That afternoon, Nuannuan and Kaitian were in their room discussing what bedding to buy, when suddenly a great noise came from outside, and when they went outside to see what it was, they saw an elderly tour group of at least 50 people, each person wearing a red plastic badge on his or her chest. The tour leader was a young chap, and walked over to Nuannuan and Kaitian, asking: “Are 52 people able to stay in Chu Di Ju? If so, we will stay here on the west bank for one night, and if not, we can simply tour the west bank for a while, then take a boat back.” “Yes, of course you can stay!” Nuannuan quickly replied. She calculated in her mind for a second, Chu Di Ju has 21 rooms in total, those prepared for cooking and dining and also take beds, and with 10 rooms each holding three beds, and the other 12 holding two each, everybody should fit. “How do we calculate the price of a room then?” the person asked again. “100 yuan for accommodation and meals in a room with three beds, and 110 yuan for accommodation and meals in a room with two beds”. “Okay, we will stay here.” The person then waved a little flag determinedly. “Do you all want to have a drink and rest in your rooms now, or wait until evening?” As Nuanuan asked, feeling as though a drum was beating in her chest: none of the rooms had bedding yet, how could anybody relax in the rooms now? Fortunately, the tour guide shook his head, saying: “We won’t go in yet, the group will firstly head to the lakeside for a look at the water. Did you know, our tour group is a group of Beijing retired cadres, and have come here to comprehend whether or not this water is clean for transfer to the North, and have especially taken this opportunity as a holiday to come and investigate …”