by Liu Zhenyun
The national leader heaved a sigh.
“My secretary is a good man, at least he was today. He happened to walk by when the security personnel arrested the woman as a potential terrorist, so he asked them what was going on, and made them let her go. I was told she had left a three-month-old baby in the care of someone else back home, and so my secretary performed a remarkable kindness. This is not an issue of properly treating an ordinary countrywoman alone, but all the people. We are engaged in a People’s Congress, aren’t we? Who do we represent? And whom do we arrest as potential terrorists? Who dispenses terror? Not a laboring woman, that’s for sure. It’s the corrupt, degenerate people who become officials to oppress the common people and refuse to lift a hand for their benefit!”
The leader’s growing anger was interrupted by the entrance of a worker who quick-stepped up and whispered something in his ear. “Oh, I see,” he muttered as he regained his poise and said mildly:
“Of course I was speaking of extreme cases and might be wrong. I just offer this for your consideration.”
He stood, smiled. “I’m told a foreign VIP is waiting for me, so I’ll stop here for today.”
With a wave to the delegates, he walked out, leaving Governor Chu in a perplexed void. The delegates exchanged looks of incomprehension, suddenly aware that they had forgotten to applaud when the leader finished his wrap-up. And Governor Chu realized that he’d forgotten to make a statement in response. Of course, even if he’d wanted to make his thoughts known, the leader would not have had time to hear them anyway.
Governor Chu could not sleep that night. At 4:30 he summoned his secretary to his room, where he found Chu pacing, which he knew was the governor’s habit. He dealt with major problems by pacing, back and forth, back and forth, a habit he shared with Lin Biao, but in this case minus a military map. Chu Qinglian was a man of few words, and such people are given to deep thought. When drafting a document or making an important policy decision, he could pace the floor for hours, blurting out a phrase every so often and leaving people who did not know him far behind as he leaped from thought to thought. He would not explain what his thoughts meant; that was the responsibility of the listener. No one had trouble understanding him when he read a prepared talk, but one on one, as he paced the floor, releasing a single utterance from time to time, the listener was often left in a fog, as if sailing through clouds. Fortunately, this secretary had been with him for more than a decade and had no trouble following the rhythm of his leapfrogging thoughts. Normally, a few hours of pacing was the limit for Chu, but this time he kept it up from evening till early in the morning—a first for the secretary, who did not have to be told that something big was up. Chu had not said a word or taken a break in his pacing when his secretary first walked in. A quarter of an hour later, he stopped in front of the window, gazed into the darkness, and said:
“What happened yesterday afternoon presents some thorny issues.”
His secretary knew he was referring to the discussion session.
Chu resumed his pacing and glanced at his secretary.
“He came prepared.”
The secretary knew he was referring to the national leader’s illustration of the woman who had managed to get into the Great Hall with her protest.
More pacing, then a pause.
“He came looking to find fault with us.”
The secretary broke out in a cold sweat, for he knew exactly what Chu was getting at. While it may have seemed as if the national leader were making casual remarks about the woman from the countryside, they were in truth anything but casual. He had not been scheduled to attend this discussion session, and though his arrival may have appeared unscripted, a sudden impulse to “greet the delegates,” he had actually come with an ulterior motive. The secretary’s thoughts turned to Governor Chu, whose prospects for promotion had, in recent days, reached a critical stage, with word that he was to be transferred to another province as the new provincial Party Secretary; rumor had it that there were varying opinions regarding his case at the Central Government level. From that to what they now faced left the secretary speechless.
Chu Qinglian paced some more and stopped again at the window, where early light was beginning to show in the Beijing sky.
“Suggest to the provincial Party committee that they sack the lot of them,” he said.
The secretary’s first layer of cold sweat had not dried before it was joined by a second. He knew that his boss was referring to the individuals who had mishandled the woman’s complaint, which had led to her bringing it into the Great Hall of the People, the ones the national leader had referred to by position, men who had turned a sesame seed into a watermelon, an ant into an elephant; that is the mayor, the county chief, and the chief justice.
“Governor Chu,” the secretary stammered, “do you think one woman’s divorce is a valid reason to sack all those cadres?”
Back to the window Chu Qinglian paced.
“I had someone look into the matter. Although one or two of the details differ, what the national leader said was accurate.”
He turned and paced his way over to his secretary, anger filling his eyes.
“The way those people mishandled the case is a black mark for the whole province.”
He ground his teeth.
“Our leader was right on target yesterday. Who are these people? They’re not Communists and they’re not public servants. They are people who suck the blood of the laboring masses, tyrants who ride roughshod over the laboring masses, and they must be punished for their sins. They are the criminal Pan Jinlians!”
15
Seven days later, the following directive was issued from the provincial office:
Cai Fubang is hereby relieved of duties as mayor of such-and-such City. Members of the Municipal Standing Committee of the People’s Congress are advised to affirm this at their next meeting.
Shi Weimin is hereby relieved of his duties as chief of such-and-such County. Members of the County Standing Committee of the People’s Congress are advised to affirm this at their next meeting.
Xun Zhengyi is hereby relieved of his duties as chief justice of such-and-such County. Members of the County Standing Committee of the People’s Congress are advised to affirm this at their next meeting.
Dong Xianfa is hereby relieved of his duties as Member of the Judicial Committee. Members of the County Standing Committee of the People’s Congress are advised to affirm this at their next meeting.
The County Court is advised to record a major demerit for Justice Wang Gongdao.
Mayor Cai Fubang was at a loss when he received the directive, and did not know what had caused this startling development. He soon discovered that a single comment, passed on during the recent Cultured City campaign, had turned out to be a huge mistake, for it had resulted in the incarceration of a local woman for staging a sit-in in front of the government building. The path from the woman’s protest to his official sacking had been tortuous, and the results both saddened and rattled him. As mayor, he knew there was more to this than met the eye, but there was nothing he could do to change the outcome. Anything he attempted now would be wasted effort. Provincial decisions were always the last word. He could only sigh and exclaim:
“Where malpractice is concerned, this is the most egregious example.”
Another sigh.
“Who’s the ‘Little Cabbage’? That would be me.”
County Chief Shi Weimin and Chief Justice Xun Zhengyi both protested an “injustice.” County Chief Shi, experiencing a stomachache, fulminated:
“Where’s the logic in that damned directive? Tomorrow I’m lodging my own complaint!”
Chief Justice Xun Zhengyi lamented tearfully:
“If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have gone out drinking that day.”
He was referring to the day he’d encountered Li Xuelian. Well on his way to being drunk, he had scolded her as a “troublemaker” and angrily sent her on her way. Sober, he�
�d have handled it differently.
Justice Wang Gongdao had escaped with the lightest punishment, largely because he had no duties from which he could be relieved. And yet a demerit was more than he could stomach.
“Are we or are we not expected to follow the law here?” he thundered. “You demand that of us, but not of yourselves, apparently!”
The only one among them who neither raised an uproar nor bemoaned his fate was Member of the Judicial Committee Dong Xianfa, who walked out after hearing what the directive had to say.
“Screw you,” he said. “I’ve wanted to quit for a long time. I’m going to the market to sell livestock.”
16
On her way home from Beijing, Li Xuelian stopped first at the home of Meng Lanzhi to pick up her child. She then went to the Mt. Jietai Temple, where she bought a ticket, lit incense, and knelt before the Bodhisattva.
“Great Merciful Bodhisattva,” she said as she touched her head to the floor, “you get things done with your ruthless hand. Thanks to you, many greedy, corrupt officials were removed from office, to them a fate worse than death, and I was allowed to vent my anger.”
That done, she rose, burned another incense stick and knelt a second time, once again touching her head to the floor.
“While attending to important affairs, Bodhisattva, you cannot ignore trivial ones. You have punished the greedy and the corrupt, but that bastard Qin Yuhe remains blissfully free of the law. You have yet to comment on the matter of whether or not I am Pan Jinlian.”
Appendix
As a result of one woman’s public protest in a certain county, several individuals, from a municipal mayor and county chief to officials in the county courthouse, were removed from their jobs, news of which appeared in Domestic Trends. A representative of the Central Committee who had attended the discussion meeting of NPC delegates from that province saw the news one morning and summoned his secretary.
“What’s this all about?” he asked.
This document secretary had also seen the news.
“Delegates from that province must have gone into action right after you voiced your displeasure over the incident at the discussion meeting during the Congress.”
“What idiots!” he snapped as he smacked the publication down on his desk. “I was just critical of what the incident represented and never meant they should fire all those cadres. They’ve overreacted.”
“Shall I phone them so you can put things back the way they were?”
The man thought for a moment.
“Then I’d be overreacting if I did that,” he said with a wave of his hand.
He sighed.
“There’s nothing easier than adopting organization measures. So why do people always take shortcuts? Why can’t they stop to figure out what makes something important and judge the whole of it by its parts?”
He paused.
“If I’d known this was going to happen, I’d never have attended that discussion meeting. You recall that I was scheduled to meet a foreign VIP at four that afternoon, but that he had some sort of stomach incident on the way over and was taken to the hospital, which opened up that time slot. When I heard about that woman I only used her as an example.”
He began pacing the floor. After several trips back and forth, he stopped and said:
“That Chu Qinglian is too calculating.”
Now that he’d gotten that off his chest, he sat down and turned his attention to other matters.
The man in charge of the province, Governor Chu Qinglian, had been scheduled for reassignment as Provincial Party Secretary of another province. But a month later an inside candidate from Li Xuelian’s province was chosen, and Chu remained in his position as governor. Three years later he was appointed Chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference. Five years after that he retired from public life.
Chapter Two
Prologue: Twenty Years Later
1
Wang Gongdao pounded on Li Xuelian’s gate for fifteen minutes. No one in the compound responded.
“It’s me, Cousin, Wang Gongdao,” shouted as he continued pounding.
Still no response from inside.
“Open the gate,” he shouted. “I can see a light in the window.”
No response.
“It’s pitch black out here, and I haven’t had dinner. I’ve brought a ham hock. We have to cook it soon.”
And still no response.
Early the next morning, Li Xuelian came out to open the gate. Wang Gongdao was standing there in the company of several courthouse employees. She could not believe her eyes.
“Did you people stand out here all night?”
“Of course,” Wang said, pointing to his head. “See the frost here?”
Li Xuelian examined his head. Not a thing. Wang Gongdao chuckled.
“Do you think I’m stupid? I pounded on the gate last night, but you pretended you didn’t hear me. So I went home and got up early this morning. I was determined to catch you at home.”
Li Xuelian could only invite the contingent inside. Wang Gongdao, a youngster twenty years earlier, was now a rather bloated middle-aged man; the thin brows he’d sported back then were gone without a trace. No hair sprouted on his chin, which could have hidden the skin tags on his face. And the fair-skinned young man of twenty years earlier was now dark and had rough skin. But he wasn’t the only one who had changed. Twenty years earlier, Li Xuelian had been a young woman; she was now forty-nine and middle-aged. A head of lush black hair was now graying. Back then she had been favored with delicate features, a full bust, and a thin waist; twenty years had not only introduced wrinkles onto her face, but had thickened her bust and her waist. She and Wang Gongdao sat in the yard.
“Cousin,” Wang said, “I just dropped by to see if there’s anything I can do for you. Nothing special.”
One of the members of the party laid a ham hock down on a stone bench beneath the jujube tree.
“If that’s what you came for, then you’re free to go, since everything’s fine here. And take that with you. I’m a Buddhist and a vegetarian.”
She stood up and put her broom to work. Wang Gongdao jumped off his bench and scurried out of the way. He grabbed the broom to help sweep.
“I’m glad to hear that, Cousin, but as family, can’t I drop by to say hello?”
“Please stop calling me ‘cousin.’ It unsettles me to hear that from a chief justice.”
Wang stopped the movement of the broom.
“Well, let’s see about that. Big Face Ma from Ma Family Village, who died a couple of years ago, was my uncle. Did you know that?”
“Why ask me?” Xuelian said. “Go ask your mother.”
“The younger sister of Ma’s wife married someone in Hu Family Bend, while a cousin in your aunt’s family married the nephew of her mother-in-law’s uncle. Which makes you and me only slightly distant cousins.”
“Justice Wang, if there’s nothing on your mind, there’s no need for us to jaw back and forth. I have to go see my daughter. Their cow calved last night.”
Wang let go of the broom handle and sat down again.
“Since you and I are family, I’ll give it to you straight. You know, Cousin, that another National People’s Congress begins in ten days, and I’d like to know when you plan to stage your protest.”
“So that’s why you’re here. Well, you’ll be pleased to know I’m not going to do it this year.”
Wang’s initial look of surprise was quickly supplanted by a smile.
“I said I’d give it to you straight, Cousin, so why won’t you do the same? You’ve lodged your protest every year for the past twenty. Now you say not this year. I find that hard to believe.”
“Things are different this year,” she said.
“How’s that?” Wang said. “I can’t wait to hear.”
“I always held out hope in the past, but no more.”
“I’m not convinced, Cousin. I know how you’ve suffered these t
wenty years, but you have to understand that it’s no longer only about you. What began as a matter no bigger than a sesame seed has now grown to the size of a watermelon. What was once an ant has wound up as an elephant. A simple divorce led to the removal of a mayor, a county chief, a chief justice, and a member of the Judicial Committee. Nothing like that has happened since the fall of the Qing Dynasty. But tell me in all good conscience, could the mayor or the county chief have decided whether or not your divorce from Qin Yuhe was legitimate or whether or not you could remarry and then re-divorce him? Was it their fault you were denied that permission? You claim injustice for yourself. Well, everyone else could make the same claim. The principal in your case is Qin Yuhe, not the mayor, not the county chief, not the chief justice, and not the courtroom judge. If that prick Qin Yuhe had lived in the Qing Dynasty, I’d have had him shot. Too bad we have laws against that these days. I tell you, he’s a bad person. Getting a divorce and remarrying caused enough trouble, but he made things worse by calling you a modern-day Pan Jinlian, and together those acts drove you into a blind alley. Officials at every level of government can understand why you’ve staged a protest every year for the past twenty. Leading officials in the previous government and the courts worked on Qin Yuhe as much as they could, but nothing could make that stubborn ass change his mind. His refusal to be reasonable has been the cause of all this trouble, don’t you agree? We share the same view, so can’t we talk this out and convince you not to do it this year? We’ll focus on the real cause of the problem, and I’ll keep working on Qin Yuhe. Time can be unforgiving, but it can also be all forgiving. The son you had with Qin Yuhe is not quite thirty this year and he already has a son who’s in the third grade. Twenty years have passed, and Qin Yuhe isn’t made of iron. Even if he were a stone, if you held him against you he’d warm up. I’ve mapped out a strategy. When we work on Qin this year, instead of tackling him straight on, why not go about it through your son or through his wife? Let them work on Qin. Blood is thicker than water, after all. And don’t forget your grandchild. As a third-grader he knows a thing or two, and we can get him to talk some sense into his granddad. Who knows, something he says might hit Qin smack in the heart. Then there’s your daughter, who’s not a little girl any more. Whether for your sake or for her own, she should try to talk some sense into her dad. Her parents wrangling over remarrying and re-divorcing for twenty years can’t make her the proudest person alive. With people coming at him from all sides, something will get through, and he’ll divorce his present wife. Then you two can remarry and all that Pan Jinlian nonsense will collapse on its own …”