Broad Bean's wife giggled. Picking up the mosquito coil, she walked over and set it down on the windowsill, then leaned her head back to sniff the air. "What a stink! If fucking doesn't kill me, the stink will."
Broad Bean also leaned his head back, then gagged and turned to run outside; before he got there, he puked all over the floor.
"You're supposed to do that in the pigpen," his wife said. "Who do you expect to eat it in the house? Your father?".
"Fuck you! I'll feed it to your mother if I feel like it! What if somebody heard you?" Broad Bean wiped his mouth. "I think I'm going to do it again."
His wife went outside and returned with the family pig in tow to clean up Broad Bean's yellow mess, but the animal turned its nose up at it.
"Fuck you, you old sow!" Broad Bean kicked the pig. "You're more pampered than Wheatie Liu!"
"That Wheatie Liu is no one to fool with," Broad Bean's wife said from the side. "I guess everyone's scared to make a phone call to the district office."
"Not so loud. Why don't you go?" Broad Bean said. "Take a look outside, make sure there's nobody around."
Telephone
Fritter Hollow had a telephone, but hardly anyone ever used it. Countryfolk don't need such things; if they have something to say, that's what fences are for. If the district office called, it was always to talk to someone in charge about tying off tubes or wearing diaphragms or fertilizer costs or planting trees or water conservation. So there isn't much to say about telephones. The only reason they ever came into the lives of the citizens of Fritter Hollow was because of the episode when Talented Wu cut Wheatie Liu seventeen times, an incident that resulted in the loss of one of Maple Leaf's eyes. Big Eye Liu at the district clinic later had this to say: "You didn't think of making a phone call? If you'd called the clinic, would she be blind in one eye today?" Now that caused a real stir among the people.
In the final analysis, residents of Fritter Hollow thought about many things in their day-to-day lives: plows, hoes, axes, spades, picks, baskets, hampers, creels, carrying poles, wicker ornaments, pickle vats, manure sacks, rats, insects, dogs, pigs, donkeys, cows, cats, mules, goats, sheep, peppers, aniseed, salt, vinegar, children, women, eating, sex, and more; but they never thought about telephones. Until August 2, 1992, that is. That was five days after the death of Talented Wu, and Greater Principle Zhou's younger brother, Lesser Principle, suddenly thought about the telephone. "Why doesn't somebody call the epidemic-prevention station?"
Greater Principle Zhou spread himself across the counter and said to Scarface, "Let the epidemic-prevention people come over and collect the body of that fucker Talented Wu."
"Who will make the call?" Scarface asked as he handed over the telephone. "You?"
Greater Principle Zhou clammed up at that and rolled his eyes. "You want me to offend Wheatie Liu?" He spat in disgust.
No one else advocated telephoning the district office either, even though the stench from the ripening corpse was getting to them all, and they were dabbing wine on their upper lips to counteract it. Whose idea that was no one knows, but soon everyone was doing it; even the notoriously henpecked Kiddie Wu managed to talk his wife into giving him some wine, which he then guzzled down, having suffered a long dry spell.
How Do I Wrap This Up?
Comrade New Day Tian once said that telling a story is a bit like weaving a basket: hard to start and hard to wrap up. But my stories seem to start out all right; it's wrapping them up that I have trouble with. This story about Fritter Hollow is a case in point; I have no idea how to end it. But I'll give it a try:
Neither Broad Bean Tian nor Scarface went straight home that day, since Wheatie Liu seemed to be softening his position a bit. They talked and they cajoled until Wheatie Liu decided to go with the current; he gave the OK to bury Talented Wu and put his own vengeance to rest. Broad Bean Tian and Scarface wasted no time getting on with the preparations, heading immediately for Talented Wu's home, where they were greeted with the revolting sight of a steady stream of maggots crawling out the door…
Sorry, I can't do it. That ending simply doesn't work since in point of fact, it was Wheatie Liu who summoned Broad Bean Tian, and not as I have given it above. This, then, is how the tale is supposed to end:
Without warning, Wheatie Liu summoned Broad Bean to his home. Seated all nice and proper, he smiled and said, "Call the fucking epidemic-prevention station, and have them dispose of that murderer!"
Broad Bean could hardly believe his ears. "You want me to call the district?" he asked with staring eyes.
"That's right."
It was another scorcher that day, and Broad Bean's shirt was soaked through by the time he reached the country store, where several men were drinking. They were quickly let in on the news that Wheatie Liu had told Broad Bean to phone the district.
Lime
Before I take up the matter of lime, I need to deal with the aftermath of Broad Bean's telephone call to the district. The very next day, two very ordinary individuals-one tall, the other short, but enough of that-came to the village; when they strode into Talented Wu's courtyard, they drew the attention of Fritter Hollow villagers, who followed behind them-at some distance-to see what they would do inside the house of Talented Wu, the murderer. Everyone had pretty much stayed clear of the place over the past six days, but now a few people rested against the compound wall just in time to see the two district personnel come charging out of the house, ashen faced, and run straight to the medium-sized tree outside his yard, where they emptied the contents of their stomachs.
"What are those chickens doing in the yard?" someone asked.
"Eating maggots!" one of the district personnel replied. He had been vomiting so energetically that tears clouded his eyes.
Repulsion quickly showed on the villagers' faces.
"We have to spread some lime," the man said, "and put something under our noses."
Just before dark, Fritter Hollow villagers saw the two men from the district epidemic-prevention station enter Talented Wu's house and spread lime all over the floor; it showed up very white in the fading light of dusk but was quickly marked up by chicken tracks.
That evening, villagers repeatedly chased chickens out of the yard, sending the squawking birds flying over the wall in the direction of the tree.
How about that, enough of an ending for you?
No? Then, how about this (briefly):
The day after the epidemic-prevention personnel spread lime in and around the house was yet another scorcher. The villagers, having learned that Wheatie Liu had said it was OK to put Talented Wu into the ground, rushed over to watch, turning it into a festive occasion and raising clouds of dust. There they saw Wheatie Liu, in his straw hat, walk over to the shade of the tree in the company of the two district personnel; people at the rear of the crowd were too far away to hear what was being said but not too far away to see the strangers put on rubber gloves and spread a sheet of plastic on the ground, then dip their gauze masks in strong wine.
"Hell, I'll go inside and take a look," Wheatie Liu announced out of the blue. Everyone close enough to hear him stared as he lit a cigarette, took several casual puffs followed by several deep, violent ones. He then walked in the direction of Talented Wu's house, scattering the hungry chickens as he passed through the yard; one particular rooster knocked a bedpan off the wall and onto the head of a child on the ground. The startled victim screeched in pain as blood trickled down his scalp.
Like everyone else, Broad Bean watched Wheatie Liu enter Talented Wu's house; but instead of just standing there, he felt compelled to go inside and take a look for himself. Picking up a nearby bottle, he dabbed some wine on his upper lip, then stormed into Talented Wu's yard. He had a fit of sneezing, which made him feel, if anything, worse.
Talented Wu's room was too dark for the men to see anything. So Broad Bean closed his eyes to accustom them to the dim light; when he opened them, he was in for a shock. Wheatie Liu, who had lit the lamp, was looking down into the face of the murderer Talented Wu and stabbing him over and over with a pointed stick- always where the eyes had been.
"Scooping out maggots," Wheatie Liu said as he looked up at Broad Bean. "Those damned things go straight for the eyes," he added without a pause in his violent stabbing.
Broad Bean heard a snapping sound, not particularly loud but loud enough to scare the hell out of him. Wheatie Liu was holding half a stick in his hand; the other half was buried in one of Talented Wu's eye sockets!
The True and Final Ending
Truth be told, I really don't have anything to add to the above; force me, and I'll say the obvious, that presently they went ahead and buried Talented Wu. Closely related to this event was a trip to the county seat by Wheatie Liu and his daughter, where she was fitted for a glass eye. Not much to that either, but since the thing had to be taken out and washed on a regular basis, the following was bound to happen: one night, Maple Leaf removed the eye and placed it in a drinking glass before going to bed, and Wheatie Liu came home from drinking with some friends from the district office; feeling particularly thirsty, he picked up his daughter's glass and gulped down every last drop. You can guess the rest.
Sometime later, Wheatie Liu's stomach started acting up, and he couldn't move his bowels no matter what. He went to see the district doctors, who put him through a rigorous examination of his digestive tract. When New China Fan, a renowned internist, looked through his anoscope, he nearly keeled over. After regaining his composure, he turned to the others and said something so funny they nearly died laughing: "I've looked up a lot of assholes in my life, but this is the first time I've had one look back at me!"
* * *
And that, dear reader, is the end of my tale, except to say that Maple Leaf got another glass eye, and Wheatie Liu regretted not gouging out one of Talented Wu's eyes when he was alive, and so on and so forth…
Translated By Howard Goldblatt
About the Authors
AI BEI ("Green Earth Mother"), born in Shanghai in 1957, has been a doctor and an army writer. She now resides in the United States.
BI FEIYU ("The Ancestor") was born in Jiangsu province in 1964. He graduated from college in 1987 and is currently a reporter for the
Nanjing Daily
.
CAN XUE ("The Summons") was born in Hunan province in 1953; there she finished primary school only. She has been a "barefoot doctor," a laborer, and a tailor; she is now a professional writer.
CAO NAIQIAN ("When I Think of You Late at Night, There's Nothing I Can Do") was born in 1949 in Shanxi province. He was once a miner and now works in the Public Security Bureau of Datong City. He started writing fiction in 1986.
CHEN CUN ("Footsteps on the Roof") was born in Shanghai in 1954. Having worked as a peasant, a laborer, and a teacher, he is now a professional writer.
CHEN RAN ("Sunshine Between the Lips") was born in 1962 in Beijing and studied music in her childhood. She turned to literature when she was eighteen and published her first works when she was twenty. She is now an editor for the Writers Publishing House.
CHI LI ("Willow Waist"), born in Hubei province in 1957, was sent to the countryside in her teens. Afterward she worked as a primary school teacher, a doctor, and an editor. She is now a professional writer.
DUO DUO ("The Day I Got to Xi'an "), born in 1951, is known for both his stories and his poetry. He was a journalist before leaving China for the West, where he now resides.
GE FEI ("Remembering Mr. Wu You"), born in 1964 in Jiangsu province, studied Chinese literature at East China Normal University in Shanghai and taught there after graduation. The story included here, his first work, was published in 1986.
HONG YING ("The Field") was born in 1962 in Chongqing. She began writing poetry in 1981 and fiction in 1988. She now lives in London.
KONG JIESHENG ("The Sleeping Lion"), born in Guangzhou in 1952, worked in a steel mill for two years before being sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. He was one of the earliest writers to emerge in the post-Mao period.
LI RUI ("Sham Marriage") was born in 1950 in Beijing. Sent to a village in Shanxi province, where he spent several years, he later worked in a steel mill and began publishing fiction in the 1970s. He has been an editor for
Shanxi Literature
since 1977.
LI XIAO ("Grass on the Rooftop"), the son of Ba Jin, the celebrated novelist of the 1930s, was born in 1950 and now works in a government office in Shanghai.
MO YAN ("The Cure"), born in 1956 in Shangdong province into a peasant family, joined the army in 1976 and later taught in a cultural unit of the People's Liberation Army in Beijing. In 1981 he started his career as a writer; he is the author of
Red Sorghum
.
SHI TIESHENG ("First Person") was born in Beijing in 1951. Crippled during the Cultural Revolution, he began publishing in 1979, frequently writing about the lives of handicapped people in China.
SU TONG ("The Brothers Shu"), a native of Jiangsu province, was born in 1963. He studied Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University and was an editor for
Zhongshan
, a literary magazine. The author of
Raise the Red Lantern
, he is currently a professional writer.
WANG MENG ("A String of Choices"), was born in Beijing in 1934. A member of the Communist Party, he served as Minister of Culture but was dismissed after the June Fourth Movement in 1989. He began writing in his twenties.
WANG XIANGFU ("Fritter Hollow Chronicles") was born in 1958 in Shanxi province. After graduating from college, he worked as a photographer for six years and a teacher for nearly ten.