Ocean of Words (21 page)

I don’t know why I didn’t tell him to go away, to get out of my face. I hated him. He had been engaged to my elder sister for three years and then jilted her because he had been promoted to officer’s rank in the army. Certainly girls in Beijing
were more attractive, with whiter faces and softer bodies, certainly he was no longer the country boy he had been, but it was immoral for him to throw away his fiancée simply because his status had improved. My sister wept for days, saying she could not go out and face others. I remembered that I had wanted to go to Chu Village, which is six
li
from ours, and ask his parents to give a good reason for his breach, but my mother stopped me, saying there was no use. The Chus were too powerful for us to quarrel with.

I hated his guts! But what should I do now? In the presence of my men, I could not be rude to him, especially after the sentry, the medic, the orderly, and the scribe had all seen the sick boy. Though reluctant to treat him as a fellow townsman, I told the mess squad to prepare a guest dinner for two. In the soldiers’ eyes, it would be shameful to let your fellow townsman eat an ordinary meal. It seemed he wouldn’t leave in hours, and I had to pay out of my own pocket for the dinner. Of course I didn’t mind feeding him, but only with horse droppings.

How had he come to be living the life of a vagrant? What a dandy he had been six years before, when he returned home for the Spring Festival from Beijing, where he served as a doctor in the army’s Central Hospital. Both his wife, a pharmacist, and he wore shiny leather shoes and brand-new green overcoats. When they walked on the street, children would follow them, whistling and shouting, “Big officers. Turn back. Big officers.” At that time, I was merely a squad leader, and he didn’t bother to nod his head when we passed each other in our town. Now look at him — even the dogs in his home village would growl at such a tramp.

Company Commander Yee was away with the Third Platoon in the Southern Mountains helping the peasants with their harvest, so I didn’t invite anybody to dinner and sat alone with Chu in my room. The boy, still sleeping, was better,
his temperature three degrees lower. Chu kept glancing at the pork ribs and the fried tofu on the table.

“Help yourself.” I filled my own bowl with rice. I didn’t share a cup of liquor with him. A good meal was more than enough.

He swallowed a large piece of tofu and took a mouthful of rice. “Oh, thank you, Brother Chen. I haven’t had such food for five weeks.”

Shut up! Who’s your brother?

“Brother Chen.” He started again, showing his big yellow teeth. “I’ll never forget this. Oh, so delicious!” His lips were oily.

I didn’t say a word, just ate. He sensed my resentment and kept quiet.

After two bowls, I asked him casually, “What’s happened to you?”

He gave out a sigh, still chewing on a rib. “It’s hard to explain in a few words.”

“Tell me about it.”

As I was making tea, he began his story. “Two months ago, at a cadre meeting, the commissar of our hospital asked us to make criticisms. Everybody was supposed to say something. When it was my turn, I stood up and spoke on behalf of the Senior Officer Ward, because I was the acting director.”

“What did you say?” I put a mug of tea before him.

“Thanks. I said, ‘Seven nurses in my ward complained to me that a few senior leaders had made a pass at them. One general ripped Nurse Wen’s skirt last week. I don’t want to mention his name here. This sort of thing happens again and again in our ward. Those senior officers are older revolutionaries, who should be a model for us of the younger generation. On top of that, they all have grandchildren. It’s a shame for them to behave like that.” ’ He picked a tea leaf from the mug and took a sip.

I wanted to laugh. What a blockhead. But I asked, “Then what happened?”

“At the meeting, the commissar said he would look into this matter. Everything seemed all right. But a week later, all of a sudden, the walls at the front of the hospital were covered with big-character posters, calling me names and accusing me of spreading counterrevolutionary views. I was scared. This was a matter of life and death. I had seen with my own eyes Marshal Chen Yi being roughed up by the Red Guards. I was nobody; if I fell into the hands of the revolutionary masses in our hospital, it would be my end. Two days later, when we were eating lunch, our neighbor Mrs. Liu hurried in and said, ‘Young Chu, run, quick! They’re coming for you.’ Then we heard footsteps thumping in the stairwell. It was impossible to escape through the door now. My wife is a coolheaded woman. She said. ‘Take our child with you; they won’t leave him alone.’ So I carried this boy on my back and climbed across to the Lius’ balcony. I heard them yelling at my wife in our home, and I sneaked out through the Lius’ apartment. I went to the railroad station directly and took a train, which happened to come to the Northeast. That’s why we’re here now.”

“You are lucky.” I didn’t know why I said that. “Do you have any relatives here?”

“No, I don’t know anybody but you. We just roam around, sometimes taking a train and sometimes walking. In Changchun City I saw a notice with my picture on it. It said I was a counterrevolutionary criminal and must be brought to justice. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to get you involved —”

Orderly Meng Hai came in and set about clearing the table. I gave Chu a Glory cigarette, which he lit and drew at as if sucking his mother’s breast. The child woke up. I told Meng to leave a bowl of food. Seeing meat and rice, the boy seemed to forget his illness and started bolting the food
down. “Daddy, zo goot,” he mumbled with his mouth full. I noticed that, unlike his father, the boy had the round eyes which were typical among the Chus.

“Eat slowly, Dundun.” Chu touched his son’s forehead, then said to me, “He’s much better. The medicine works.”

As soon as the orderly went out, Chu resumed, “I really don’t want to get you into trouble, but we can’t go to a hospital, you know. We won’t stay long. I’m grateful, Chen Jun.”

“You can’t stay here for long. This is not a safe place either. Fortunately, the company commander is not home tonight.”

“I understand. We’ll leave tomorrow morning. Could you do me a favor, my good brother?”

“What?”

“Please give me a syringe and some penicillin.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Nothing could be easy between him and me. Now he was in my hands, and I would not give him a pleasant time. My mother hadn’t been able to raise her head before the villagers when he broke the engagement. My sister could have eaten him alive.

That night I told the medic to wrap up the medicine and a syringe, but this didn’t mean I would let Chu go as he pleased. In fact, lying in the company commander’s bed, I was thinking if I should report Chu to the Divisional Political Department. Who knew whether what he had told me was true or not? He might have been a true reactionary. This was an opportunity to show my loyalty to the Party and also get even with the Chus. Two weeks before, I had heard that the Political Department was considering promoting me to vice chief of the Divisional Officer Section. A company political instructor about to be promoted directly to a rank equal to a battalion commander’s, do you think I would just sit waiting for the big pie to fall into my mouth? No, I had to
do something. What was more appropriate than turning in a counterrevolutionary?

How about the child? I wouldn’t care a damn. The boy was a seed of the Chus and should share his father’s fate. I wouldn’t mind if they were both captured. Tomorrow the first thing I was going to do was call the Divisional Political Department.

I went to sleep with the plan in my head.

But the next morning I began to change my mind. One thing I had not taken into account was that, if they came to arrest Chu, they might not be able to take the child with them, because Chu would surely ask me to take care of the little monster. Probably he’d beg me to have the boy sent back to our hometown, to Chu Village. How could I refuse my fellow townsman in the presence of the officers and soldiers? The child could be anything but a reactionary. I had to figure out a proper way to handle this.

After breakfast they were ready to leave. I had no time to think out an adequate solution, which could please the higher-ups and at the same time keep myself free from blame for Chu’s arrest. It seemed there was no chance of making the job clean. I went on scratching my scalp but could not come up with an idea.

Finally, when I followed them out with the medical package under my arm, I said to myself, All right, let the rascal slip through your fingers just this once. There will be another time.

At the entrance of our building, I gave him the medicine. His eyes turned watery when he saw it. “My good Brother Chen, you are our benefactor. We will never forget you. Come down, Dundun, kowtow to Uncle Chen.” He put the dirty boy on the ground.

“No, it’s not necessary.” I picked the small monkey up and handed him back to his father. I didn’t want him to
make a show in front of Orderly Meng and Scribe Hsu. Then, Heaven knows what muddled my brain at that moment, I took two ten-
yuan
bills out of my wallet and handed them to Chu.

He accepted the money and said with tears in his eyes: “Our savior, as long as we live, we’ll remember this!” He turned around and walked away with the child on his back. The chilly breeze was lifting their rumpled hair from behind, while dried leaves were scuttling about ahead of them.

I am not sure why I did that. Perhaps I wanted to show my men that I was generous, or perhaps I wanted that scoundrel to remain grateful.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw that the photo sent over by the Regimental Political Department was Liu Fu’s. How clumsy he looked in it: a submachine gun slanted before his chest; above his army fur hat, in the right corner, stretched a line of Chinese characters,
DEFEND MY MOTHERLAND
; his smile was still a country boy’s, lacking the sternness of a soldier’s face. He had been in my platoon for only about ten months. How could he, a new soldier, become a secret customer of Little White Fairy in Hutou Town so soon?

Our political instructor, the Party secretary of our company, interrupted my thought. “I’ve talked with him, and he admitted he had gone to that woman six times this year.”

“Six times?” Again I was surprised. “He is new. How could he get to know her so quick?”

“I asked the same question.” Instructor Chang tapped his cigarette lightly over an ashtray and raised his head, looking across the small room in which we were sitting. He wanted to make sure that the orderly was not in the next room. “I think there must have been a pimp, but Liu Fu insisted he got to know the Fairy by himself when he had his hair cut in her barbershop. Obviously he is a novice in this business. No old hand would leave his picture with that weasel.”

“You’re right.” I remembered last year a bulletin issued by the Regimental Political Department had carried a report on this young woman. After being caught in bed with an officer, Little White Fairy was brought to the Regimental Headquarters, where she confessed many soldiers and officers had visited her. Once she had received six army men in a single night, but she didn’t know any of their names. Each man gave her a two-
yuan
bill and then went to bed with her. That was all. Regimental Commissar Feng swore to have those men found out, for they must have belonged to our Fifth Regiment, the only army unit in Hutou. But those were old dogs who had never left any trace.

“You should talk to him.” Secretary Chang exhaled a small cloud. “Comrade Wang Hu, your platoon has done everything well this year except this Liu Fu matter. Don’t get lost in the training. Mind modeling is more important. You see whenever we slack a little in ideological education, problems will appear among our men.”

“Secretary Chang, I’ll talk to him immediately. From now on I will pay more attention to ideological education.”

“Good.”

It seemed he didn’t want to talk more, so I stood up and took my leave. Outside, the snow had stopped and the north wind turned colder. On my way back to my platoon, I felt bad, wondering how to handle the case. I was upset by Liu Fu. What a shame. I had always considered him as a candidate for an important job. His squad leader, Li Yaoping, was going to be demobilized the next year, and I had planned to have Liu Fu take over the squad. To be fair, Liu was in every way an excellent soldier. He surpassed all of my men in hand-grenade throwing. He could throw a grenade seventy-two meters. In our last practice with live ammunition, he scored eighty-four points with nine shots, which was higher than everybody except me. I got eighty-six. If we had a contest
with the other three platoons, I would surely place him as our first man.

Needless to say, I liked him, not only for his ability and skills but also for his personality. He was a big fellow, over a hundred and eighty centimeters tall and a little heavily built but very nimble. His wide eyes reminded me of a small pony in my home village. In a way, his square mouth and bushy brows made him resemble those ancient generals in Spring Festival pictures. All the other soldiers liked him a lot too, and he had quite a few friends in our Ninth Company.

I can never forget how he became a figure of poetry. In the spring, when we sowed soybeans, I assigned the Third Squad to pull a plow, since we didn’t have enough horses and oxen. On the first day the men were soaked with sweat and complained that it was animals’ work. Though they sang some revolutionary songs and even pretended to be Japanese soldiers marching into a village, still there was no way of making the labor lighter. But the next day was different. Liu Fu and two other boys in the Third Squad appeared with bald heads. They said a bald head would make the sweating more endurable and the washing easier after the work. The atmosphere in the field came alive. The three shining round heads were wavering about like balloons at the front of the team. Everybody wanted to get some fun out of it. Because Liu Fu was taller and had a bigger head, he became the main target. In a few hours a poem was made in his honor, and the soldiers in the field chanted: