Tangled Vines (8 page)

Linnea wrinkled her brow in confusion.

“Colleagues? You must have the wrong man. My Ye Ye’s father was a professor in Shanghai. A very respected one, too.” Linnea didn’t know a lot about her Ye Ye’s family, but she did know that much. She’d assumed, as old as her Ye Ye was, that his own father would be dead by now, but since Lau was still living, she suddenly realized he could be, too.

Lau waved his hand in the air dismissively.

“Yes, I know he was a professor. So was his wife, Feiyan, though she was at a lower tier than we were, more like a grammar teacher. We all taught at the school in Shanghai before the Red Guards blazed through there and demolished everything. I got out just in time but I didn’t stick around to see what happened to the Zhengs. But I heard they made it, too.”

Linnea remained confused and incredulous that she’d met someone who knew her Ye Ye’s parents. She was still skeptical, too. “You were a professor? Sky didn’t tell me that.”

Sky pulled up a stool next to them. “You never asked and I didn’t think it was of importance. Grandfather is long retired and he doesn’t like to talk about the past. I can’t believe you got him to say as much as he has.”

Sky reached over and patted his grandfather on the leg.

“You doing okay? You do remember that they rebuilt that school, right? And now Shanghai has at least a few dozen more just like it—some even have foreign teachers. There aren’t any more Red Guards.” He reached over and tilted a bowl on the table to look inside at a pile of dried-out rice. “Did you get enough to eat or you want me to bring you another bowl of fresh rice? The cooker is still hot. Or I can bring you some tea?”

“I’m fine. Don’t coddle me, boy. I might be close to ninety years old but I’m not senile. Of course I know the Red Guards are long gone. They should’ve never been allowed to band together anyway. Just a group of folks your age who were given a bit of power and then ran away with it, calling themselves
Mao’s personal army
.”

“They
were
his personal army, Lao Lau. Even if they were young, they took the same liberties that seasoned soldiers did. The people were terrified to see them coming,” Linnea said quietly, trying not to sound disrespectful.

“You think you know so much about it but I bet you didn’t know they were only allowed to run amok for two years before Mao stepped in and stopped them. But their reeducation efforts restored calmness and unity to the country, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Sky grinned and patted the old man’s leg again. “Some might beg to differ with you on that. I don’t think you’ll find too many fans of the Red Guard around here these days.”

Lau’s face clouded over and he pointed at the door. “I wasn’t saying I’m a fan of the Red Guards. Anyway, you’d better go find that crazy mother of yours and bring her in for the day. She gets so caught up in all that silly dancing she won’t even come home to eat.”

Linnea watched them interact and could see a measure of affection between them. As they bantered back and forth, her thoughts went to the book her Nai Nai kept of their family records, and the entry she wasn’t supposed to have read about Ye Ye and Nai Nai’s daughter. Just knowing that they had a child who had been taken from them was a secret that for the last year had lain heavily on her heart. But if old Lau knew the family at that time, could he also know something about the girl? Or if he could help her find Ye Ye’s father, maybe she could get information about the mysterious baby girl named Dahlia.

She’d bide her time and earn his trust; then if Zheng Ju
was
still alive, she’d get Lau to arrange a meeting. At least he knew where the family home was and that was a start. She needed only a few details and she could search for Dahlia herself if she had to. She knew from reading her Nai Nai’s notes in their family book that there was a long-standing chasm between Benfu and his father, but the thought of finding their daughter filled Linnea with hope. If she was successful, it would be her gift to thank Ye Ye and Nai Nai for the love-filled life they had given her when no one else would.

C
alli filled the pot with water and set it on the stove top to boil. Widow Zu had brought over a dozen eggs and the girls were looking forward to hard-boiled treats later. She looked at Poppy still asleep on their bed, then the clock on the wall, and determined she had just enough time to sit in her chair and rest a bit before beginning preparations for dinner. Linnea was at work but had promised to be home at a decent hour so they could eat together as a family.

Benfu wouldn’t be home until right before dark. These days he was finally getting to see what other men his age did in their retirement years. With the increased financial support from the government for each child in their care, her husband no longer combed the streets for trash. Calli was relieved he was feeling better. He’d been through so much over the years; it was good to see him content and able to enjoy life more. She’d never forget those early days when he’d struggled to show her parents he could be an asset to her family and not just a liability. That was how he’d gotten started collecting. Since he was actually hiding from the officials back then, he didn’t have a work permit and had begun combing the streets to search for items to sell. He’d gotten good at it and his contributions to the household soon made a huge difference, especially when her father got sick and began failing. And her parents hadn’t been blind to the young love blooming right under their noses. They were reserved but finally had allowed it to happen, and soon Benfu had asked for her hand. Oh, the trials they’d been through in their long life together.

She smiled to herself because who would have thought that now Benfu was quickly becoming the neighborhood cards champion. As it was Saturday, he would probably play even later into the day. She would fuss at him but they both knew she really didn’t mind.

She glanced at the window. The girls were outside, enjoying the balmy day. They’d all finished their chores in record time so they could get out there. Spring was coming fast and they were all anxious for it to arrive so they could put their outside clothes away for a season.

Even Maggi had wheeled herself out before anyone could help her. She was getting so independent with her new chair and, now that she could do it on her own, liked to go outside often. The other girls teased her about the muscles she had sprouted in her upper arms. They told her they were going to enter her in Beijing’s annual arm-wrestling competitions. Calli didn’t know if there were any such thing but she went along as it made Maggi beam with joy to hear it.

Every once in a while Calli heard their giggles escalate. Peony, though only ten years old, could be heard over everyone, because she was the loudest. Since she had started school, her personality had become even more outgoing. Even though she was prone to getting into trouble with her classmates, she was a smart one and bragged that her teacher called on her often to answer questions the others couldn’t. She was always coming home with entertaining stories of her lessons. Calli felt sure she’d probably be a writer or even an actress one day, she was so spirited.

Calli went to her chair and leaned back, sighing her relief to get off her swollen ankles. She picked up her knitting basket, thinking she might as well get a bit more done on the scarf she was knitting. Jet had brought over the bright red yarn and left it for her.
He didn’t expect it but the scarf would be his gift at the next Chinese New Year. If Linnea still kept him around, that was.

She dug around in the basket. She knew she’d left the scarf right on top but it wasn’t there. Her knitting needles were there, but the scarf and the ball of yarn it was attached to were nowhere to be found. She decided that Maggi might have picked it up. She rose and went to the door. She hoped she could get to her before she had to do too much rework. She wanted the stitches in the scarf to be consistent and knew that her daughter hadn’t learned that particular style yet.

She rose and opened the door, poking her head out to call her daughter.

“Mag—”

The scene before her cut off her thoughts of the scarf. She put her hand to her mouth and looked around.

In the middle of the courtyard Lily knelt in the grass, staring straight ahead with a resigned look on her face. In front of her were lines of jagged rocks and around her neck was a piece of paper tied to red yarn. The paper read
I’m the daughter of a counter-revolutionary, an enemy of China.

Calli looked for and saw Lily’s violin sitting to the side of the tree, far from reach. Calli also saw where her red scarf had gone. One of them had unraveled it and the yarn was everywhere. It was used to hold the sign around Lily, wrapped around Peony’s arm as a red band, and even used as a noose around little Jasmine’s neck as she stood under the tree with the end of her yarn looped over the lowest branch.

“You left Viola on the ground? And what is all this?” Calli felt her cheeks fill with heat when she saw Benfu’s extra belt dangling from Peony’s hand.

The girls all jumped. Calli was glad they were startled. She knew exactly what they were doing and didn’t like it one bit. She put her hands on her hips and readied herself to do some serious scolding, something the girls weren’t used to from her.

Peony stepped forward and nervously answered. She hid the belt behind her back.

“Nai Nai, I’m learning about the Red Guards at school. This is a struggle meeting. I’m teaching my sisters about it.” She smiled proudly. “Ivy and I are the Red Guards.”

Calli remembered struggle sessions well and she was disappointed that the teachers focused so much on the trauma of the past, instead of China’s efforts to improve. During the revolution, struggle sessions were used to force normal citizens to confess anything in their lives or family background that might show them to be against Mao’s new China. But it was persecution, plain and simple, by bullies who abused people until some of them even made up transgressions just to get it over with.

Calli saw Maggi parked out of the way in her chair, calmly knitting. She didn’t appear to be involved. But Peony saw Calli looking that way and corrected her first thought.

“Maggi’s knitting socks for Chairman Mao.”

Calli sighed. “Socks for a dead man’s feet? Hmmm. Yes, I suppose they might be getting pretty cold by now. And what’s Jasmine doing with that string around her neck?”

With that question Peony misunderstood and thought everything was going to be okay. She began rambling with her explanation of her well-thought-out drama.

“Jasmine was found guilty of bourgeois ways. She was caught listening to foreign radio shows. Instead of punishment through hard labor, she has chosen to end her life—a common choice during the Cultural Revolution.”

Jasmine stood silently under the tree, smiling in her usual serene way, happy to be included in the girls’ activities. Calli shook her head. The poor child had no idea what suicide even meant. She just wanted to be a part of anything her big sisters were doing.

Peony pointed at Lily.

“And Lily has chosen to take her punishment. The rocks are supposed to be glass and she must crawl across it one hundred times at each struggle meeting. If she complains or shows pain, I will beat her.” She brought the belt around and proudly held it up.

“Peony! You wouldn’t dare!” Calli was astonished.

Ivy sat up straight and got off her perch on the low courtyard wall. So far she hadn’t said a word but Calli noticed she also wore the red yarn wrapped around her arm. In her hand she held a piece of paper folded in fourths to look like a booklet. Calli assumed it was meant to be Mao’s
Little Red Book
of quotations—an item that once no Chinese would be caught without.

“No, Nai Nai. She wouldn’t really hit her and we weren’t going to make her crawl across the rocks. This is all pretend. I wouldn’t have let it go that far.”

Calli waved her hand in front of her face, trying to stir up some air. She felt a bit light-headed, but she knew it was from the stress of her girls reenacting a frightening time in her past. It wasn’t only the educated who were persecuted, but also landowners. Her own parents had worked hard to hide the secrets of their family from the ruthless Red Guards. And she didn’t even like to think about the pain her own husband had endured during those tumultuous times.

“I should hope not, girls. This is not appropriate; do you realize that the Red Guards actually hurt people? They were a real blemish on the history of China, not something to be taken lightly. Ivy, you are the oldest here—I can’t believe you let this go on.”

The girls didn’t answer. Ivy hung her head. Peony started unraveling the string from around her arm.

Calli pointed at Jasmine. “One of you get that string off Jasmine’s neck right now before she really does get hurt.”

Calli knew the subject of the Red Guards was becoming more popular again in the current news. So many people who had lived through the atrocities were now coming forward with their stories, whereas for years they were too terrified to speak of it. She’d been a teen when the Red Guards had taken control, and she could easily remember how frightened her parents were that the group would find out they were distantly related to a cousin who owned land. Like artists and teachers, landowners were considered counter-revolutionaries and the Red Guards hunted them down like dogs to punish them. Many nights the local faction had marched up their
hutong
lane as Calli and her parents held their breath, waiting for the knock on their door. They’d really taken a big chance by hiding Benfu, and she’d owe her parents’ memory for that gesture until her dying day. The hole they’d dug in the floor was still there; the trapdoor hidden by a colorful rug on the floor. Benfu had squeezed his too-tall body into it too many times to count, spending hours hiding just to be cautious.

But each time it had been another neighbor and not they who’d been pulled out and interrogated, their houses ransacked. And now the latest generation was becoming very curious about the Cultural Revolution and all it entailed. Calli didn’t think they saw it for what it really was. But how could they? They’d not seen the horror and devastation with their own eyes.

Calli had a feeling this was going to come up more and more in her own household and she needed to learn how to handle it gently. She was relieved that at least the girls weren’t pretending to shave one another’s heads in the old Ying-Yang punishing style of shaving only one side. She’d have to watch and make sure Benfu’s razor never left the sink.

Lily slowly stood up and removed the sign from around her neck. She shuffled forward until she was directly in front of Calli, then reached out and hugged her.

“Nai Nai, are you sad? We’re sorry. We just wanted Peony to teach us what she’s learning in school.”

Calli hugged her back. Lily was such a sensitive soul. She could always pick up on someone’s emotions, without even seeing their face. But Calli supposed it was evident in the sound of her shaky voice as well.

Ironically, even though she was the blind one, Lily led Calli to the bench outside the door and they both sat down. The other girls gathered around, waiting for her to declare their punishment—for real this time. Maggi slowly wheeled herself over until she was part of the circle. Calli took a deep breath.

“Yes, girls, it does make me sad. But I understand it is a part of China’s history that is being taught in schools. I just want you all to understand the severity of it. And your Ye Ye would be very upset to see this.”

“But why, Nai Nai?” Maggi asked.

“Because the Red Guards were hard on anyone with an education, especially teachers and professors. They thought those who had knowledge could one day revolt against their precious Mao if not suppressed.”