Wild Fruit
Page 10
From this incident, Yihua’s reputation spread back to their hometown via the other six nymphs. The story was that she’d been sleeping with two men, and one had smashed the shopfront of the other.
At the end of the post-delivery confinement month traditionally observed by Chinese mothers, Shui Qin worked her sewing machine madly. The rushing stitches sounded like a machine gun being fired. The continual stitch lines led toward the future, and she was dauntless in her belief that her feet could make anything a reality.
When Xianxian was six months old, and my father could not bear to be parted from her. He carried her into the fields to inspect the crops, to the shop to buy cigarettes, and as he stood by the tables watching people play cards. Later he taught her what different things were, and was very patient. Even my mother was surprised by his behaviour. Everyone said, ‘Old Li doesn’t love his daughters, but dotes on his granddaughter. So odd!’
In 1999, when Xianxian turned five, Shui Qin started making plans to move to the city. She even went into town to look for a house they could rent, hoping to first set up a tailor’s shop.
My father was not happy. He told her to just go to the city and earn money, but to leave Xianxian behind. Shui Qin simply smiled at her father-in-law’s childish talk. She reasoned with him until she was tired of it. The whole point of going into the city was so that Xianxian could study there. My father intentionally forgot this, then finally played the trump card and refused to help them take care of the crops. Able to defend against any move my father made, Shui Qin simply turned around and contracted the field out to others. This hurt my father. He truly loved the land, and those people who chose to work in the city and contracted their lands out could only get a bundle of grass as harvest, so they would just let the fields go barren, overgrown with weeds and wild flowers. My father had griped about this many times. Now the Li fields were going to become a wilderness too. Was this not a crime? He was angry, and his hot temper built up a good deal of phlegm in his system. He spat as he cursed, but not in front of Shui Qin. He always vented his anger at my mother, who resorted to her old tactics, fanning the flame and whispering in my father’s ear as she went along with his way of thinking. This helped my father release his anger as quickly as possible. For my father, it was not suitable to employ the systematic guidance method. That was like forcing a powerful bull to drink; it would rise up and struggle, and you might even find yourself gored on its horns. After so many decades of marriage, my mother’s one real achievement was that she developed a good understanding of my father’s temper.
A flower arrangement with flowing ribbons stood at the door, and Shui Qin’s Beautiful Tailor Shop opened for business with a crackling of firecrackers. She wore a blouse she had made herself. Business came in very quickly. Women stood all around the shop, asking all sorts of questions. They wanted advice on how large women should dress, or whether a short woman should wear skirts or trousers. Soon, all sorts of fabrics were piled up on the desk. Shui Qin’s scissors snipped, and her sewing machine whirred. Day and night she made row upon row of clothes, hanging them and placing the customer’s number neatly on the cuff. It looked like business was booming. She got to know some clients with powerful connections, and she deliberately slashed prices for them, sometimes even offering a small gift to them. They liked the tailor’s polite, generous attitude. They did not know that Shui Qin’s secret motive for doing this was to pave the way for Xianxian’s education. Six months down the road, the way forward was clear to her. She knew which primary school was good, and who would provide the most effective assistance in getting her there.
One plump woman, Ms Qian, was the wife of the Director of the Education Bureau. Shui Qin put special effort in dressing her top to bottom in clothing that had been exquisitely designed, inside and out. When Ms Qian was dressed beautifully on the outside, her inward array became lovely too. Listening to Shui Qin’s concerns, she patted her own full chest, indicating that she would do her best to help. She was very dedicated and got quick results. She said that the school did not accept students from outside the city, which included the children of the city’s migrant workers whose residence permits were registered in the countryside, but she exerted her considerable influence and finally got the principal to give her the nod. However, Shui Qin had to pay 20 000 yuan in admission fees. Even though Shui Qin had prepared herself mentally, 20 000 was more than the baseline, so she became greatly perturbed.
At night, Shui Qin discussed these matters with my brother. Since going into the city, he was a little lost. There were people and tall buildings everywhere, with no space for wandering. He grew moody and mumbled when he talked. Shui Qin said, ‘You can’t think of taking Xianxian back to the village to study. No matter what, we can’t try to save money that way. Things will be quite tough, and I won’t be able to earn enough money alone. You should try to find a suitable job. You can’t carry heavy stuff with your bad leg, and carrying sediment at construction sites is not worth the wages anyway. I think security is your best option.’
‘Dogs watch doors,’ my brother growled.
Shui Qin said, ‘You’ve got to make some money.’
My brother said, ‘I only know how to catch frogs. I’ll go home and catch frogs.’
Shui Qin said, ‘What will you do when they’re hibernating?’
He replied, ‘There’s no way I can keep them from hibernating.’
Shui Qin started crying. She said, ‘Why don’t you find a way to keep them from hibernating?’
My brother said, ‘I’m not one of them.’
Shui Qin wouldn’t let up. ‘You either keep the frogs from hibernating, or you go into security.’
My brother cursed those selfish frogs, completely disregarding his needs like that and going to sleep for such a long stretch. Finally, he decided to go back to the village for a while and take advantage of the period when the frogs were not asleep. When they started their hibernation, he would think of another way.
So in the end, my brother went back to the village, where he caught frogs all night and slept half the day, then got up and spent the rest of the day fishing and catching the occasional snake. He saved his money, and went into town once a week to pass it to Shui Qin.
*
By the time the rush-harvesting and rush-planting was over, it was August, time for Xianxian to start school. The frogs were not only still awake, but very active, so my brother’s business was even better than Shui Qin’s, sometimes equalling her week’s income in a single evening.
When summer ended, my brother once again looked like he had when he was first released, dark and thin, and overworked to the point of being sleep-deprived. Wrinkles crawled all over his face. Shui Qin busied herself counting their money, giggling after she finished counting. She said the frogs really were stupid. When struck by the torchlight’s beam, they didn’t run, but just sat waiting to be caught. She took no notice at all of my brother’s haggard face and bloodshot eyes.
As a show of appreciation, Shui Qin made a fine wool coat for Ms Qian, delivering it together with fine wine and cigarettes. She spent nearly 2000 yuan on it all; Ms Qian smiled in satisfaction. The entire month’s worth of frogs my brother had caught was thus spent. Only when he saw Xianxian skipping about in her clean, pretty school uniform did he feel some comfort.
Shui Qin took Xianxian back to the village for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Happily, my father tried to pick Xianxian up. She had grown, and my father nearly broke his back.
Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. Shui Qin got some orders from several of the villagers, giving them a bit of a discount on the clearly marked prices. She wanted to go back to the city after lunch and get right back to work. My father urged her to leave Xianxian behind, promising to bring her back to the city himself the next day, so Shui Qin made her way back to the city in advance. She had not even been there a year, yet she had already become alienated from village life. Her focus had shifted to the city, and if she stayed in
the village even for a while, she felt uncomfortable. Each step lost on her sewing machine’s pedal made her feel her life had been diminished. To be fair, my sister-in-law was a diligent woman. She always had a clear notion of where she was, and of what she wanted.
*
During the hot autumn period, the temperature was always thirty-five or thirty-six degrees. The hot, muggy weather made the frogs active at night. My brother swooped them into his bamboo basket, feeling as pleased as if it was money he was swooping up. It put him in an especially happy mood.
My brother hated to deal with people. He liked this sort of profession that allowed him freedom. Standing between heaven and earth, in the natural world, shrouded in night’s darkness, there was nothing there but some small docile animals, all waiting to be caught up in his net.
He swept the crops with the beam of his torchlight, surrounded by the fragrance of mud. This world was familiar to him. During his years of labour reform, there was not a single day that he did not step in this same mud. Then, it was as if he had forgotten he had had a work unit, that he had a decent job to go to, and that he had had a wonderful girl called Luo Yan who loved him. He only knew that he belonged to the land, and that the city was just another prison. His wife and child were locked in it, and he had to go visit them.
On the last day of the hot autumn period, he gathered his money and went into the city. He made his way straight to the shop, where Shui Qin was measuring a customer. He did not go in, but went back to their rented flat instead. This one-bedroom, one-living room suite had been tidied up and made warm by Shui Qin. She had also brought in some plants and flowers, and Xianxian’s pictures were on the walls and countertops. The bedroom was cramped, with a line hung high up, displaying newly-made clothes. My brother pulled on each one, as if calculating the price of labour for each. He stroked the fabric and tried to imagine if the owner was going to be fat or thin, poor or rich. He then set about checking the house, hoping to find something faulty that he could repair. Unfortunately, everything was in good order, so he turned all his energy to chasing a few flies, grinding them to a pulp, then throwing them away. After that, he fell asleep on the sofa. Then, when the time was right, got up and went to fetch Xianxian. Xianxian wore a bow, a floral dress, and pink sandals. She was pale and clean, like all the other girls in the city. She was not at all happy to see her father. As soon as she spoke, her words made him turn cold. She said, ‘From now on, you don’t need to pick me up; I’ll go back on my own.’ Then she glumly abandoned him.
When he got home, Shui Qin was cooking. The ingredients had all been brought over by my brother from the village, including vegetables and eggs, along with fish reared by my father and pickles made by my mother. Things bought in the city were full of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, or had been fed growth hormones. My father had opened half an acre of barren land for growing vegetables and had dug a fish pond. He had kept very busy. He might not have time to go into the city, but he also had no time to mess around. Shui Qin always boasted about how competent her in-laws were, making the other women envy her, especially the rural women who had gone into the city to make their living, just like a herd. But Shui Qin did not hang out with them; they did not give her any business, so there was really no benefit to her in dealing with them.
As Shui Qin fried the vegetables, the large, greasy black exhaust fan overhead roared, and the choking smell of chilli spread throughout the house. The three of them had to speak loudly until the hood was switched off. In the sudden silence, they laid out the dishes, coughing a little amid the lingering smoke, and started to eat. Before long, it was time for Shui Qin to describe their family ambitions. Usually, it was a monthly plan, an annual target, a five-year plan, and a ten-year goal. Xianxian was at the heart of it all; it always ended with sending Xianxian overseas for university. Shui Qin had already calculated the costs. She had to work overtime at night, and she had plans to expand the storefront within three years. She would also expand the scope of business, offering training and apprenticeships. She did not read anymore, except for her passbook. She could memorise every line of figures, each expenditure, making sure it was accurate to the smallest fraction of a yuan. She knew what each transaction was, whether it was an ATM withdrawal, a transfer, a cash deposit, or anything else. My brother could only look on from the side. When she finished inspecting it, she locked it up and did not let him even touch it. Fortunately, it was not something my brother wanted to touch, no more than he wanted to touch Shui Qin. His mind was full of frogs, contemplating where to go that night, and the next night. This was because there were many people catching frogs now, and the frog families were declining, trending towards extinction. Sometimes he had to cycle ten kilometres, going to some fresh site just so he could have a successful night.
Shui Qin again raised the question of him moving to the city to work. She had recently met the sister of the director who was in charge of personnel at a betelnut factory. She had agreed to make arrangements for my brother to work in the factory. The salary was not high, but not low, and it was an eight-hour workday. There was extra pay for overtime.
My brother asked, ‘What would I do in the factory?’
Shui Qin said, ‘Mostly move the betel nut shells and push carts of the product. It won’t be a breeze, but it won’t be that difficult either. The money doesn’t come in as quickly as it does from frog-catching, but it is more dependable. Anyway, if you go on too long with this upside down schedule, getting day and night mixed up, it will do no good for your health.’
Shui Qin thought it was just a matter of time before my brother went into the city to work. She had once even encouraged him to go and look for the work unit to which he had originally been assigned, to see whether he could be reinstated. Even if they wouldn’t reinstate him, it would be enough to do some temporary work.
My brother absolutely refused to go. Later, Shui Qin secretly sought out the leader of the work unit, not telling my brother. But after that, she seemed to have given up, and did not mention it any more.
Xianxian said. ‘They’re preparing programs for the celebration of the school anniversary, and I was chosen to dance, but the teacher said we have to come up with the cost of the costumes ourselves.’
Shui Qin said the school was always coming up with many useless expenses. This was most unreasonable, but she had to go along with it, since this was her only child. When she finished saying this, a sudden thought flashed into her mind. If she designed and sewed the costumes, couldn’t she earn a bit of money from that?
She mentioned this thought. My brother thought it an excellent idea, but they needed to deal with the fat Ms Qian again. He said Ms Qian was practically a parasite. Shui Qin did not agree with this assessment, since parasites had their own positive parasitic uses. If Ms Qian did not serve as their bridge in the middle, they might not even have anybody to give gifts to. In fact, she would pay Ms Qian a visit as soon as they finished their dinner, hoping to clinch this business deal. She grew quite excited as she rubbed her palms together.
My brother had a gentle temperament and was quite content. He stood up and started to pick up the bowls and chopsticks, then suddenly fell to the ground.
Shui Qin was frightened half to death. She struggled to get him to the hospital’s emergency ward. A checkup revealed that he had bilharzia, or ‘snail fever’. It was already too late.
Everything went downhill after this. Shunqiu had to fight with the blood-sucking worms infesting him. He took praziquantel, furapromide, nithiocyamine, and Mida, all the while enduring dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and alternating between drowsiness and insomnia. He could not work, certainly earning no money. His diseased body needed looking after; he had to return to the village to recover. When the poor have a rich man’s disease, it is a thing to be despised. An unblessed person enjoying a ‘blessed’ life meant he was a waste. But even so, no matter what happened, he would not be despised more than he already was as a reformed prisoner.
Whether her fortune was good or not, only my sister knew. She didn’t bother with the gossip – she just wanted to play cards. She had become completely hooked on cards in recent years. She was so caught up in card-playing that she often forgot to eat, and even when she did eat, she didn’t leave the card table. She sometimes played overnight. In the village, we called this sort of local card game ‘running the beard’ or ‘simmering the beard.’ It consisted of eighty long strips of cards marked with numerals in capitals and in lower case, in red or black. The situation changed constantly, with layers of mystery, and Chuntian’s genius was opened up fully in the game of cards. I could easily understand the joy she found when she threw herself in the game. With cards in hand, she was in command; she was the mastermind, the field commander who had the final say. Everything she could not do in real life, at the card table, she could.
Of course, my understanding might have been off. An alternative explanation was that, perhaps now that Yihua and Yicao had grown up, they could take care of their own affairs. It was alright if the pots and stove were cold when they came home from school. They could just prepare some egg fried rice for themselves. That means they were basically at an age at which they could be self-reliant, so my sister had nothing to busy herself with at home, leaving her quite bored. At the end of the day, no matter how much a girl studied, in the end she would hit that ‘oh no’ point and just get married. My sister felt that she had gotten ahead a little now, and she could find her own entertainment. But this was just my own blind analysis. I did not truly know my sister’s mind, and she never told me what appeal gambling held for her. What I did know was that when she did not work during the day, it was boring as hell. As the sun sank over the mountains, it was so quiet it made one’s scalp crawl with goosebumps. Her nearest neighbour might yell as loud as they could, and still might not get a response. They had to walk a bit of a distance and turn a corner before they could see the light from the neighbour’s window. In the past, as soon as it got dark out, my sister would lock the doors and sleep. Later she couldn’t sleep at all, and she waited through the long night for the day to come. She listened to Yihua talk in her sleep, Yicao grind her teeth, and Zhima snore. She listened to the night bugs chirp in the dark, along with the leaves rustling. The moon was hidden, the wind was strong, and she could not see her hand in front of her face. She was bored to tears.