by Jinkang Wang
Mei Yin said, “They’re trying to delay as long as they possibly can, to worsen the infection. At this point, they’re still holding a couple dozen children hostages, poor things.”
“That Zia Baj is an evil genius. The way he’s organized this is absolutely flawless.” Jingshuan let out a string of curse words. “That bastard! He’s surely hiding in some cave in Afghanistan, laughing at us all.”
“Yes, that’s what Dickerson thinks too. He excels at using innocent pawns to put his plans into action, and manipulating white people’s guilt toward the Native Americans. After the tour of remembrance started, people let their guard down, so he was able to merrily scatter smallpox along the way. They’re estimating that at least a hundred thousand have been infected.”
“Fortunately they caught it early. We’re lucky that you and that agent alerted the authorities. America has three hundred million doses of the vaccine. I believe it can still be brought under control.”
“It should be. We’ll also have to see if governments in other countries are able to cut off transmission vectors in time. Now that flights in and out have been stopped, they ought to be able to limit it.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Jingshuan opened the browser again and brought up an English article. “Speaking of Zia Baj being an evil genius, this piece says the same thing.”
Mei Yin skimmed through it.
“. . . Zia Baj is both talented and demented, yes, but the success of this attack wasn’t his, but rather belongs to a sinister god. The Lord hates perfection. He does not allow any species complete dominion over earth. And so, in his unfathomable wisdom, he left humanity with an Achilles’ heel. Even the most advanced fire-fighting methods can’t eliminate the forest fires at Yellowstone Park. The most sophisticated security software can’t completely wipe out computer viruses. And the strongest anti-terror measures can’t rid us of terrorism. The rules laid down by God dictate that terrorism (or forest fires, or computer viruses) might theoretically be eradicated, but the costs would be too high, and the system wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
“And so highly civilized and prosperous societies will never be free of low-cost terrorism. Our various protective measures must always take this pragmatic calculus into consideration. Which is to say, the historical elimination of smallpox might well have been wasted effort. The disappearance of smallpox from the world created a dangerous vacuum, one that could be filled with only a little effort, creating disproportionately greater damage. Zia Baj discovered and exploited this point. The hard work that medical and health professionals around the world once expended in the fight against smallpox only provided fertile soil for low-cost terrorism. Zia Baj must be grateful to them. Wiping out smallpox, or other viruses and bacteria, can only be a waste of man power and resources, creating a medical Maginot Line, Bar Lev Line, or Great Wall of China: showy but ultimately useless barriers.
“The Chinese say: Good fortune is the crutch of disaster, catastrophe is the foundation of luck. Taking the long view, Zia Baj’s smallpox attack has breached this viral vacuum, and that can be counted as a good thing.”
The essay was signed with a pseudonym. Jingshuan said, “It’s insightful, but the conclusion is a bit callous.”
Mei Yin had guessed right away that her adoptive father was the author, but said nothing. Instead, she said levelly, “It is a little cruel, but truth knows no tenderness.”
Jingshuan shut down the computer. “Go have a shower, then head to bed. You must be exhausted. Why don’t you sleep in this room? I’ll get you clean sheets. I can take the sofa. The other bedrooms haven’t been used for so long, they’re cold and damp.”
“No need for that. We can both sleep here. I’ve made my decision, and I’m not going to waste a single day. That’ll make your granny happy! And who knows what will happen tomorrow.”
Jingshuan hugged her tight. Mei Yin thought of something and pushed him aside, rifling through her bag for the eleven crucifixes. Picking out the one with his name on it, she hung it round his neck. “Maybe I was wrong to bring you into the Society. If you stick with me, you’ll know no real peace in this life. Remember that Russian folktale? I’m the unlucky lizard.”
Jingshuan held the cross up and studied it intently. “You did the right thing. I don’t regret it either. I’d marry you even if you were a lizard! Let’s not talk about that. Go shower. I can’t wait.”
Mei Yin had a quick shower, then burrowed naked into her lover’s arms. Since saying good-bye to Stebushkin, she hadn’t been with a man, and so was a little awkward to start, but with Jingshuan’s kind caresses she gradually slipped into the right zone, and roused the passions that had lain dormant so many years. Afterward, Mei Yin lay in the bend of her fiancé’s arm, neither of them the least bit sleepy, talking about this and that, listening to the dawn chorus among the pine trees. Mei Yin suddenly thought of something, and lifted her head to tell Jingshuan. “In the morning, go see your granny as soon as you’re up, tell her we’ve got our marriage certificate already. You know I don’t care about these proprieties, but she can be very particular.”
“That’s fine, it’ll keep her happy. We can go to the registry tomorrow morning. Or, I guess, this morning.”
“Tomorrow night—no, tonight—I’ll need to be at the orphanage, to make up for that birthday party I missed . . .”
Jingshuan turned to stare at her. “Is it really starting?”
Mei Yin nodded.
“. . . all right, so it’s starting.”
For a long time, neither of them said a word. They’d been preparing for this day for more than ten years now, but with the actual event close at hand, they were a little fearful. After all, there were so many uncertainties about the outcome, so many ideological and emotional contradictions.
Eventually, Mei Yin finished her previous sentence. “. . . and you should come too, so this birthday party can also be our wedding celebration. I want to keep it low-key.”
“All right, we’ll do as you say.”
“Will Granny be all right with this arrangement?”
“She won’t be happy about it, but I’ll find a way to explain it to her. Besides, she likes you. She’ll be so happy to have such a beautiful and sensible granddaughter-in-law, the respected Director Mei, that she’ll loosen the old regulations around marriage.”
Mei Yin chuckled, then suddenly jumped out of bed. “Come on, let’s go to our lab.”
“Now?” He stared at the clock. “It’s four-forty. But fine, let’s go, I won’t get to sleep anyway.”
They got dressed and slipped out the door, walking down the weed-choked road out of the pine forest to the facility gate. The night guard hurried to welcome the chairperson and general manager, but Jingshuan stopped him with a raised finger. They used their keycards to get through both sets of doors, then opened up the lab, and went into the empty space. The room was fitted with negative-pressure workstations, three small bioreactors, and a dozen or so other machines. This was where Mei Yin had taught Jingshuan to cultivate the smallpox virus, where he’d successfully created the RYM and RNM cell lines, initially designed as hosts for the smallpox. Nineteen years ago, Stebushkin had given her three small vials of the virus, containing the West African, Asian, and South American varieties. They’d bred many generations of them, hundreds of pounds’ worth. The viruses slumbered quietly in their baths of liquid nitrogen. The three small biological reactors were always working away, each containing a smallpox variant, endlessly reproducing, keeping the virus active. To ensure secrecy, most of the work was done by Jingshuan and Mei Yin themselves, with a few lab assistants to deal with manual labor. When Mei Yin wasn’t in Xinye, it was hard on Jingshuan, who had to carry out this work on top of his duties as general manager.
They gazed in silence at the liquid nitrogen tanks and biological reactors. Mei Yin said, “The last few years have been hard on you.”
“Not at all. I’m happy to work hard for my lizard goddess.” He smiled. “I’m in goo
d health, it won’t hurt me to burn the midnight oil now and then.”
“The smallpox demon is reborn in America, and we won’t be able to keep our secret much longer. Remember what we decided: if anything goes wrong, insist that this was all my handiwork.”
“I’ll keep my word.”
“If this gets out, it could even put Jin’s position in danger. He’s a good official, business minded, steadfast, and honest. I’d feel bad if he was affected.”
“We’ll keep this as far from him as we can.”
“And also, this young fellow, Xue Yu, isn’t bad. He’s down-to-earth, fairly mature, knows when to keep his mouth shut, and he’s quite sharp on the technological side too. I want to bring him on board, to take over your work in this lab. You’re too busy with all your other duties. Oh, by the way, I met his uncle in America. The old man was so pedantic, it was ridiculous. He even tried to teach Zia Baj a lesson.”
“That’s fine. I have a good impression of Xue Yu too.”
Mei Yin smiled. “I’m in an odd frame of mind today; it feels like I’m preparing for my own death. Maybe everything will go smoothly, and we won’t need any of this.”
“Let’s hope so.”
She waved the unhappy mood away. “Enough. Starting today, we’re on our honeymoon!”
That morning, they told Granny Sun that they were going to buy some things for the wedding, but first had to go to the register at the local government office. The official there didn’t recognize them, but seeing their names, exclaimed, “Mei Yin! Sun Jingshuan! You’re celebrities in Xinye!”
Jingshuan laughed. “My wife hates being famous, so we’re trying to keep our wedding as quiet as possible. Please don’t make a fuss.”
Mei Yin phoned the Sacred Heart to let Mother Liu know that she was back in the country, and that she’d be at the orphanage before dinner to celebrate the group birthday she’d missed, so could Mother Liu please buy a cake. Mother Liu crowed, “That’s wonderful! The children have been missing you so much they’re almost mad, especially Xiaoxue!” She abruptly changed the subject. “Director Mei, the American children have all been rescued! It was just on the news.”
“Really? That’s excellent. How were they saved?”
“They used a powerful tranquilizer to knock out everyone in the room. When they were snoring, police in protective gear sneaked in, cut the wires on the terrorists’ bombs, put them in handcuffs, and took them away. Then they were able to rescue the children. Director Mei, do you think those poor children will be left scarred?”
Mei Yin hesitated. It had been three days since the children first came into contact with a highly concentrated dose of smallpox. They would now receive the very best treatment, but that was only a dose of vaccine, probably too late to be effective. Most of the children would succumb to the sickness and be left pockmarked, or even die. The people who’d been infected earlier on, such as those on the Lakota reservation, were probably already ill. She said to Mother Liu, simply, “I imagine the children will be very sick.”
“What black-hearted terrorists, making children sick. The Lord won’t forgive them!”
Mei Yin told her that she had married Sun Jingshuan from Heavenly Corp. in Xinye, but given the ongoing tragedy, she wanted no great festivities or formal ceremony. At that evening’s birthday celebration with the children, they’d give out some wedding candy too, and that would be enough to mark the occasion. Mother Liu was delighted, although she felt the arrangements weren’t fair to Mei Yin. But when the director insisted, she agreed.
Next, Mei Yin called Xue Yu in Wuhan to let him know she was back in the country, though she wouldn’t be coming in to the research center for a while because she was on her honeymoon. She told him to pass all that on to the center. “So you finally married General Manager Sun?” Xue Yu asked, the pleasure evident in his voice. “I’ll arrive as soon as I can; I wouldn’t miss it.”
“All right, come, then. Just bring some flowers, no need for a proper gift.”
Xue Yu laughed. “Don’t you worry about that.”
After she hung up, Jingshuan asked, “Have you decided not to tell County Chief Jin—or I should say, Deputy Mayor Jin? He’ll be offended if he finds out.”
“No, we ought to keep our distance from him. He’ll understand why, in the end.”
After lunch, the orphans heard that Mommy Mei was coming to visit, and a wave of cheers rose from around the table. Mother Liu had another piece of good news: Mommy Mei was married, and the groom was General Manager Sun from Heavenly Corp. in Xinye. The children were even happier at this—only Mei Xiaoxue felt something a little more complex. She was happy for Mommy Mei, of course, but also a little—melancholy. Xiaoxue had always felt that she was the favorite, that she held a special place in Mommy Mei’s heart. At times she’d even daydream that she might be Mommy Mei’s real daughter, and that her daddy was a very good man, it was just fate that kept him from being together with Mommy Mei. Unable to part from her, but obliged to keep the true nature of their relationship secret, Mommy Mei had set up this orphanage. Perhaps, one day, Mommy Mei would take Xiaoxue away from here. But now Mommy Mei was getting married, and General Manager Sun was definitely not her real father (he was far too young), so when Mommy Mei did decide to bring her home, would General Manager Sun be unhappy about that?
She knew she was just daydreaming, but a dream repeated over years can come to seem real.
That afternoon, she practically flew home after school, and was thrilled to see Mommy Mei’s black car in the courtyard. Mommy Mei embraced her and touched her cheek, saying, “Xiaoxue, this is Uncle Sun.”
Xiaoxue studied the man standing next to Mommy, and relaxed. He was smiling broadly, with an open gaze, and was clearly a warmhearted, good person—not that Mommy Mei would ever have married a bad one. Playfully, she said, “Not Uncle Sun, it’s Daddy Sun. Hello, Daddy Sun!”
Standing to one side, Mother Liu and Mother Chen laughed too—Xiaoxue could be very sweet! Jingshuan hugged her and kissed her cheek. Then a rental car drove into the courtyard, honking its horn, and Xue Yu leaped out, bearing a bouquet of flowers and a wrapped gift. Hurrying over, he said, “It was quite a dash, but at least I made it in time for the evening celebration. Ms. Mei, Manager Sun, this is for you. Ah, but I don’t know what to call you now. Ms. Mei was my teacher, maybe I ought to call you Mr. Mei?”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Xue Yu asked about the situation in the States, adding, “After this terrorist attack, I’m thinking you were right in what you said before, that leaving a vacuum where viruses should be is like hanging the sword of Damocles over humanity. It wouldn’t cost the terrorists much to cut the hair holding up the sword.”
“I met your uncle in America. He’d made a special trip to attend an independent forum.”
Xue Yu laughed. “Did the old busybody say anything bigoted? I know he’s heavily into scientism. He believes that scientists will be able to use mathematical formulas to design human thought, and that it will eventually be possible to mass produce human beings in factories.”
Mei Yin chuckled, but didn’t express an opinion.
Half an hour later, at the communal dining table, Mother Liu led the children in saying grace, then put the lights out. Mother Chen appeared from the kitchen with an enormous cake, thirty-two little candles around its rim, one for each of the orphans, and two larger ones in the center, representing the newlyweds. The thirty-four candles emitted a warm, golden-yellow glow. When it was placed on the table, they could see the cake was covered in brightly colored buttercream icing, with the words Happy Birthday and Joyful Marriage across it.
Xue Yu had appointed himself emcee for the evening, and now laughingly proclaimed, “This is the wedding day of Mr. Sun Jingshuan and Ms. Mei Yin, as well as the collective birthday of their thirty-two children. I daresay this is the first time someone has gone into a marriage with thirty-two children in tow; it ought to be in the Guinness Book of Records. And now, woul
d you please shut your eyes and make a wish?”
Everyone closed their eyes and thought seriously about their wish, including Mei Yin and Jingshuan. Then thirty-seven mouths blew out the candles together, and Xue Yu wielded the knife.
As he passed slices of cake to Mothers Liu and Chen, and the thirty-two children, he kept an eye on Mei Xiaoxue, with a catch in his heart. She was an especially sensitive girl, and the whole evening she hadn’t taken her eyes off Mommy Mei, her gaze full of love, almost besotted. During the party, Mei Yin announced that before setting off on their honeymoon, she’d stay in Nanyang for a few days, spending her days at the Sun family home in Xinye, sitting with Granny Sun, and her nights—as far as possible—at the orphanage. “This is a rare opportunity, so I want to spend as much time with you as possible. It’s been a busy few years, and I haven’t been around as much as I would have liked.” The children cheered, of course, particularly Xiaoxue.
The party went on till ten at night, then everyone saw the newlyweds to their simple bedroom. Mother Liu hadn’t allowed Xue Yu to book a hotel room, insisting that she and Mother Chen could share for the night, and he could have her room. The bedrooms didn’t have attached bathrooms, so after Xue Yu made his bed, he went to the courtyard bathroom. Passing by the newlyweds’ room, he noticed the lights were already out. A little silhouette huddled by the entrance, behind the Lifan car. It was Xiaoxue. Curious, Xue Yu went over and quietly asked, “What are you doing here, Xue?”