by Zhou Daxin
“Of course I did not spend our own money! I am the leader, and I am working for the welfare of the village. Why can’t I ride a motorcycle like other leaders do?”
Nuannuan did not speak for a short while. Then she said: “The money of the village committee holds funds from each household in the village. Everyone is watching where it goes. How can you spend it like that? Aren’t you afraid of people talking behind your back? If you truly want a motorcycle, we can buy one with our own money. It’s not like we cannot afford it.”
“Come on, you nag at everything I do!” said Kaitian as he glared at Nuannuan. “Who is the leader of the village? You or me? Who knows how to make a decision? You or me? Do you think you are better than me?”
Nuannuan was stunned by his questions. After some time, she finally spoke and sighed to herself: “It seems that my words do not matter anymore in this house …”
Chapter 43
The situational performance of Chu had enjoyed a wider reputation and attracted more and more visitors into Chu Wang Village. Due to the growth of tourism, merchants from Juxiang Street and the neighbouring villages all went to Chu Wang Village, too. Some even came all the way from the city of Nanfu. They either put up a small stand near the entrance to the village, the pier, Shang Xin Yuan and Chu Di Ju to sell goods, or rented local houses to open a shop. At first most of the merchants were grocery vendors of water chestnuts, dried lake shrimps, wild mushrooms, black fungus, reed roots, day-lilies, fiddleheads, fried bean jellies, pepper and chill soup, and steamed buns; followed were merchants with playthings and other daily products: jade toys from the Du Mountain, silk tapestries from Zhenping, silverware from Xichuan, Six-Flavour Dihuang bolus, rare rocks, bandages, wicker baskets, dried wild flowers, paintings and calligraphies, traditional Chinese viagra under the name of “the never falling gold spear”, etc. The last to arrive were entertainers: traditional He’nan Zhuizi storytellers, Yu Opera singers, monkey trainers, acrobatics, Suona horn musicians, and fiddlers …
Chu Wang Village had suddenly transformed into a busy village, with an enormous number of people. Xue Chuanxin said to Nuannuan proudly: “What do you say, have I or have I not stopped the decline of Chu Wang Village and saved you all?”
Nuannuan was more than pleased to see the village in its busy state. She laughed and answered: “Yes, yes. You are the saviour of Chu Wang Village.”
“It will not take long for Chu Wang Village to develop into a small town. Maybe in the future, there will be a new micro city of Chu Wang Village.” Xue Chuanxin spoke as he waved his arms.
Nuannuan said to him: “Mr. Xue, I have another idea: when we have earned all the investment back, maybe we can invest in the construction of several shops in the style of Chu by the side of the main road heading from south to north in the village. We can ask experts in the history of Chu such as Uncle Tan to participate in the design so that we can perfectly reproduce lifestyle in the State of Chu; we can also encourage the village people to participate and gradually transform the road into a Chu street. When that is done, visitors could stay in Shang Xin Yuan and Chu Di Ju, visit the Great Wall of Chu, Lingyan Temple and the mysterious triangle in the lake, experience farm work in the fields to pick up crops and vegetables, watch Farewell, all of which will enhance their enjoyment in Chu Wang Village and extend their stay; moreover, in the Chu street, we will need more people to dress up like Chu people and take care of the shops. More people in the village can participate in the tourism business and earn extra income outside of farm work. This will be something I can do for the village.”
“You do care for your village,” said Xue Chuanxin as he burst into laughter. “Even if we have enough money in the future, your idea is not realistic, since it brings a lot of trouble and not enough revenue. If you want to expand the business, I will build a dozen European style guest houses, with a courtyard attached to each so that guests will have their own space for activities. They will be VIP houses especially designed for higher officials and celebrities; we shall charge more than 2,000 yuan per day each.”
“Oh yes?”
“Of course! The houses must look elegant so we better hire famous architectures from Europe. They must attract everyone’s attention at first sight.”
“But where do you find the land to build them on?” said Nuannuan in shock. “The village had used up all land ownerships and there is nothing left but crop lands. You can’t build houses in the sky!”
“Things will work out when they should. You and I should not worry about that now. We must do our work at present …”
One day at sunset, Nuannuan was picking up a group of visitors by the side of the lake as Jiuding rode the boat to the pier. He had been hired by Shang Xin Yuan to take guests to see the mysterious triangle in the lake. He cried out: “Big sister, I have something to report to you.”
Nuannuan smiled and said: “What is this? You seem serious.”
“I want to open a fish restaurant and hire people to help me out. The Red Lake is famous for its fish and the visitors love them. So I just want a small restaurant that sells fish dishes. I don’t even need a chef, my wife Huiyu can cook the fish well enough. Do you think it can work?”
Nuannuan nodded and happily responded: “That is good. You are utilizing the advantages of our lake. You can find all kinds of fish in the Red Lake! And we village people can find all kinds of good ways to cook them! It is indeed an idea worth of good money. You should do it, and I will help you. What can I do?”
Jiuding smiled and said: “I don’t really need you to help in the restaurant. But can you go talk to the leader and get his permission? Of course, I will not abandon this boat. Huiyu will take care of the restaurant and her little brother will work as a busboy.”
“Sure! I will talk to Kaitian. But remember, now you don’t need the leader’s permission to open a business. Start your work and I will congratulate you upon the opening!”
Jiuding’s small ‘Fish Feast’ saw good business after its opening. Visitors would go to taste the dishes in groups and filled up all four tables. Nuannuan went over several times and each time she saw Huiyu and her brother covered in sweat, busy at work. Whenever there was no need for boats to Shang Xin Yuan, and no farm work in the fields, Jiuding would work in the restaurant. Spotty Laosi laughed at Jiuding’s ambition of “Fish Feast” when it first opened. However, when he saw the visitors constantly walking in and out of the restaurant, as well as Jiuding and his wife’s busy hands taking in the cash, he became jealous and went to Nuannuan himself. He said to her: “I’d like to open a fish restaurant for my wife, too. Is that OK?”
Nuannuan laughed at his words: “There are so many different ways to make money. Why do you want to take the same road that others took? If you do open another fish restaurant, it is impossible to avoid arguments with Jiuding because you will need to fight for customers. If you ask me, you should open a dessert shop for her to sell sweet soup with lotus seeds. The Red Lake is famous for its lotus. She could buy some local white fungus and cook the soup with crystal sugar and powder of lotus seeds. If you sell one bowl at two yuan, I am sure that the visitors will fight for a taste. They travel a lot and they need some dessert to reduce internal heat. Your soup will sell well.”
Spotty Laosi listened and nodded: “Makes sense, good sense! Nuannuan, you are so smart. This is worth a try.”
Shortly after their conversation, the dessert shop of Spotty Laosi opened in the house opposite to his. Spotty Laosi’s wife made the soup and his niece served them to the customers. There was no table in the shop; instead, there were a dozen stools in front of the door. Spotty Laosi continued his tour guide job in South Water Landscape during the day. In the evening, he would return to help his wife out. Exactly as Nuannuan had expected, before they went to have dinner in Chu Di Ju and Shang Xin Yuan, many visitors loved the taste of a soothing lotus seed soup after a day of sightseeing. On a good day, Spotty Laosi’s wife could sell more than 50 bowls of soup and earn a net profit of more than 30 yuan.
The income had kept a smile on the couple’s faces.
Uncle Black Bean had never earned much from picking and selling herbal medicine and, seeing how quickly Jiuding and Spotty Laosi were able to earn a buck, he too grew determined to earn some. He found Nuannuan and asked: “Hey Nuannuan, now that everyone is making money, can you think of a way for old uncle to make some too? How about if I open a shop to earn some cash?” Nuannuan laughed: “I’m afraid running a shop wouldn’t work to your advantage. In fact I do have an idea for you to make money, but I don’t know if you would be interested or not?” “What is it?” Uncle Black Bean asked hurriedly. “If you were to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, string beans, eggplant, gourds and other vegetables that can be harvested, along with those that you normally plant; red sage, magnolia, papaya, knotweed and other herbal medicines all in your own plot of land, you could turn it into a plant-picking garden. All you need to do is manage the growing of the garden itself, and then I can guarantee to bring tourists in. A sure way to make money!”
The next day, a dozen or so tourists arrived at Shang Xin Yuan. These guests were not introduced to Shang Xin Yuan by the marketing team of Five Continents Company, instead they had arranged the trip themselves, arriving as walkins. Although they were few in number, it was quite a task to arrange everything for them; some only wanted to see the Great Wall of Chu, some only to see the lake, others only for the Farewell performance and others just the Lingyan temple, and in order to accommodate everybody, Nuannuan exerted all of her energy, ultimately arranging the details of every tour. As she arrived home before dinnertime, Dangen raced towards her, laughing. Kaitian arrived next, but his face was darkened with anger. Believing it to be trouble from the village meeting, Nuannuan still laughing with Dangen, said to him: “Look at your dad, with dark clouds over his face. Quickly go and wipe them away!”
Dangen rushed over to his dad’s leg, saying: “Dad —” “Fuck off!” Kaitian shoved his son away violently, and little Dangen, unable to react in time, fell flat on his bottoms and began crying loudly.
Peng!
Kaitian was now in the bedroom, and struck out again breaking something else. Maybe Dangen’s drinking cup. Kaitian’s mum heard the commotion, and came in to stare at her daughter-in-law in shock, uttering to herself: “What the hell is up with him?” Nuannuan didn’t say a word, but stood up and walked slowly into the bedroom.
“Don’t you want to ask me what the fuck is up?” Kaitian asked quietly, his hands gripping at the chair armrest with such anger that blue veins were protruding out. Nuannuan said nothing; she stood silently and stared at Kaitian, waiting for him to speak again.
Kaitian turned about, and threw a crumpled-up notepaper at her. Nuannuan slowly opened it and read what was written on it: Kuang Kaitian, I know you enjoy being the leader, so let me tell you something else to enjoy: I slept with your wife, and she stripped before me with pleasure! You can go and ask her yourself how it felt! Zhan Shideng’s name was signed at the bottom.
Stars appeared before Nuannuan’s eyes, and she swayed on the spot.
“Is this true?” Kaitian turned to face her; eyes wide open in fury, biting his teeth together.
“What do you think?” Nuannuan said angrily as Kaitian glared at her with a stabbing gaze.
“Just tell me if you did it! Be straight with me!”
“I did.” Nuannuan broke the silence.
Pa!
Kaitian whipped his palm across her face, snarling out: “You slut! I knew it was true, otherwise how could Zhan Shideng be so brave as to sign his name!” Nuannuan staggered back from the vicious attack, but quickly righted herself. She felt blood running down from the side of her mouth as her eyes fixed on Kaitian who was now sneering with rage.
She did not resist or fight back as Kaitian struck her again and again.
Kaitian’s mum, cuddling Dangen to calm him down, had heard the noises, and ran into the bedroom, holding Dangen as she yelled out in shock: “What the fuck is this! Have you gone mad!?”, then rushing to protect her daughter-in-law. Only then did Kaitian stop his attack.
Nuannuan’s face was now covered with blood. Held up by the wall, she did not cry or respond, and forced herself to stand upright, with eyes open wide in bitter shock, teeth clenched tight.
Kaitian’s mum stepped in front of Nuannuan, consoling her with “Nuannuan, little Dangen, do not lower yourselves to the level of this brainless animal! Mum knows he is wrong. But please vent your anger out on me!”, whilst trying to wipe the blood off Nuannuan’s face. Nuannuan still said nothing and, pushing her mother-in-law’s hand away, she walked to the bed and clutched some clothes to her chest before turning to walk out of the house.
“Nuannuan, where are you going?” Kaitian’s mum flustered out, grasping at her daughter-in-law’s clothes. Nuannuan silently pushed her hands away, and without looking back she walked towards the front door. She glanced at Dangen, still crying in the yard, and then walked out. That night she slept in one of the rooms of Chu Di Ju. Barricading the door, she lay quietly in the bed, listening to Kaitian’s mum as she called out, and listening as Dangen continued to cry. She lay completely still, totally oblivious to it all, feeling the pain in her face, reliving the painful images of Kaitian beating her. This was the first time she had been physically abused. She would have never imagined her abuser to be Kuang Kaitian …
The next morning before it was light, Nuannuan had already set off to Shang Xin Yuan. The on-duty security guard did not expect her arrival: “Ms. Nuannuan, an early start?” Nuannuan nodded, saying vaguely: “Something urgent”. Xue Chuanxin had given Nuannuan an office room to use, and she rarely used it except for short meetings. Now she entered it to clean herself up, so as to present herself as normal. She joined the staff as they ate breakfast. They did not expect her, and glanced at her periodically. Eventually Xue Chuanxin asked: “Not eating at home today?” Nuannuan forced a smile, saying: “The food at home is too oily, just here for a new flavour.”
Later in the morning of that day, a new group of tourists arrived, and just before lunchtime, when Nuannuan was busy receiving them, Kaitian’s mum arrived with Dangen. The security guard let the grandma and her grandson into Nuannuan’s office, and as soon as the old lady saw Nuannuan, she said: “I have already cursed that fucker Kaitian till I was blue in the face, and really let him have it for you. You need not lower yourself to his level, but come home and have some lunch.” Nuannuan simply said: “Mum, take Dangen home, I have things to do and will eat lunch here.” Kaitian’s mum heard the calmness in Nuannuan’s voice, and believed that Nuannuan had already let everything go. But at dinnertime, Nuannuan again sat for dinner with the on duty-staff, eating very little, her anger held in her chest: “Kuang Kaitian, how can you attack me? Attack your wife? Why did you not ask me why I had to do it? Why not ask me?” After darkness fell, she asked a room-hygiene worker to go and find Shallot in Chu Di Ju, and also to carry back some bedding. Nuannuan decided that she would sleep in the office that night. Nuannuan did not return home to stay or eat for a number of days. Shallot and Jiuding’s wife Huiyu did not know why Kaitian and Nuannuan were angry, and tried to persuade Nuannuan to return home to sleep and eat, but she did not respond to their urgings. At this point in time, Nuannuan began to think that in fact she did hold some responsibility in the matter. If she had forced herself to tell Kaitian at the time what was happening with Zhan Shideng, maybe he would not have lost his temper like he has now. To have heard it from Zhan Shideng must have been a stab right into Kaitian’s heart. As a man he has every right to loose his temper at such a thing. With these thoughts, the burning anger in her chest slowly smoldered out, and she wished to return home.
At noon on that day, Nuannuan made an excuse to find Shallot so that she could think things over with her. Returning to Chu Di Ju, she thought that no matter who she bumped into, once they urged her to return home she could simply give in, and head home without causing any more trouble.
Only a few steps from
entering Chu Di Ju, Nuannuan did not expect to hear Kaitian’s happy voice, drifting in from the courtyard: “Haha! Little Youyou, you do flatter me!” On hearing this, Nuannuan froze on the spot. What is Youyou doing here? She knew the young girl Youyou was a right lazy glutton, and was often on the hunt for men to fool around and flirt with. It was said that before she was married into Chu Wang Village she had already had two abortions. When the Director initially cast Youyou as the Chu King’s queen in Farewell, Nuannuan felt a bit uncomfortable, but the performance was just a show for the guests, and Nuannuan didn’t think much of it. Now hearing her laughing together with Kaitian, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of a shock.
“How was I flattering? I am being serious!” Youyou was obviously pandering up now: “Ever since you became the leader of Chu Wang Village, the sky is more blue and the water more clear, and money rattles loudly in the pockets of every family. Even the dogs bark with more gusto! Everybody says that without you, there would be no bright future for Chu Wang Village!”
“Alright, alright, that’ll do, what can I help you with?” Kaitian’s voice was full of pleasure.
“We want to build another three-room house …” Nuannuan could not listen any longer, and just as she turned to leave, Shallot appeared and, seeing Nuannuan, she hurriedly grasped her by the arm, saying: “Oh, good sister, you are back. Now wouldn’t it be best to hurry back home to see Dangen? Every time I see your little baby I hear him crying for you.” On saying this, she turned and shouted: “Kuang Kaitian, come and take Nuannuan home!” The laughter in the courtyard stopped. Nuannuan’s eyes swept over Kaitian as she looked into the courtyard and, half dragged behind Shallot she headed back to her house. On entering the courtyard, Dangen rushed forward, and tears welled from her eyes …
And with this the trouble settled down. From the outside, the Kuang household had returned to its daily routine. But Nuannuan knew that things had changed, and the past and the present were no longer the same. As Kaitian did not admit what he had done, Nuannuan constantly felt a knot in her chest. Kaitian stopped speaking to Nuannuan, and his temper continued to shorten. At an instant he would break into a rage, sometimes at other villagers, sometimes at the actors in Farewell, sometimes at little Dangen. Nuannuan ignored it, and spent most of her time at Shang Xin Yuan, or helping Shallot manage Chu Di Ju. When things needed doing at home and in the fields, Nuannuan and Kaitian would return one at a time, Nuannuan would return to manage things by herself, whereas Kaitian would call peasants over to help out, whilst spending his time inspecting other fields.