The Zenith (29 page)

In the past, cases of sons falling in love with their fathers’ new brides were not rare. In such instances, usually the woman had been condemned for being “loose” or a whore—“those immoral ones who seduce both father and son.” Insulting the woman is so very easy; it satisfies the public mind, even when a majority are themselves women. And yet, in Quynh’s case, the villagers dared not fault “an immoral city whore who wants to sleep with both father and son.” First, because, even if Miss Ngan were “loose,” she had been in the community for only half a day with no time to practice her trade of seduction. Second, and this consideration was more important, Mr. Quang stood militantly by her side. Whether the thought was ever spoken or unspoken, everybody knew that this canny old man never feared anyone.

That is why when the chairman put it about all over the village that his youngest brother, Quynh, was in love with Miss Ngan, the story took effect only with a handful of people who needed the hamlet seal on their official résumés or certificates of birth, marriage, and death. And even with these people, they dared to suck up only in order to get their way; afterward they avoided Quy.

“Don’t poke your nose in other people’s business! Messing around will get your head broken.”

The people in Woodcutters’ Hamlet told one another to sew up their lips with thread. But in life, everything that they “tell each other” or “keep to themselves” doesn’t really avoid or remove the reality. Like children who are afraid of ghosts but love to hear ghost stories or people who appear indifferent but actually burn inside with curiosity and resentment. Their self-restraint lasts no more than twenty-four hours. Then they would blurt out to each other precisely how many times the chairman had come to look for his youngest brother. They told one another everything, how in the end the oldest
brother branded his youngest brother as “stupid, a lowlife, someone who would not eat rice, but only shit…”

People said the youngest son was rather of a sweet and playful disposition, fearful of his father and ashamed at falling for his stepmother. Therefore when his oldest brother urged him on to do this or that, he only shook his head:

“I will not do it. Heaven will kill me if I do that!”

Therefore Quy’s stratagem to make an alliance completely failed. From then on, this existential struggle had only himself on the front lines.

At that time, the old year drew to its last days; every household was preparing to celebrate a new year. This year, the Tet festivities would probably be lavish because the previous year had been so cold and devoid of any joyful feeling of celebration. Everybody was waiting for heaven’s reparations so that they could have an occasion to gather and be merry. The open ground at the tip of the upper section was cleaned up, holes were dug for poles in preparation for the flag contest. Next to the holes, people prepared for games of cock fighting and releasing doves. This year, the hamlet had a registration for buffalo fighting. Many people from the mountains would come down to attend. Even though Chairman Quy was burning from anger, he still had to go and get the opera group to perform on New Year’s Eve, because providing such spiritual refreshment was one of the important criteria that people used to evaluate the ability of hamlet officials. Two days before the New Year, early in the morning, the chairman asked Miss Vui to go to the district town with him to help organize the evening celebration. When there, he assigned the secretary to “investigate the background of that slut Ngan; everything else I’ll handle myself.”

Thus, according to the formula that one stone can kill two birds, this expedition down the mountain was to take care of official business, as well as to settle a personal vendetta; it was indeed a well-perfected scheme.

From the secretary’s viewpoint, she was complying with an order from her superiors, the hamlet chairman and the assistant chairman, as well as satisfying her curiosity as a spinster, which she had to conceal very tightly, in the elaborate manner that people use to put a top on a brine jar that has started to ferment. In such an excited mind-set, she did not hesitate to display all her skills, which she constantly used in the role of host. If one says “strong and daring due to wealth,” then she was indeed a more daring authority than many other women. Therefore, after bidding farewell to the chairman, she ran straight to the district public works compound, where Mr.
Quang was one of the three most reputable supervisors of the cement workers and carpenters and where he had met Miss Ngan. Miss Vui believed that there all relevant connections could be uncovered.

She was not wrong; in just half a day she had collected the whole romantic saga of the couple so far apart in age. At noon, she slipped some money into the pocket of a public works driver:

“Comrade, may I get a ride to Ha Tay? I need to resolve an urgent family matter.”

The driver reluctantly replied: “In principle, we are not allowed to let others ride in official vehicles.”

After stating the official position, he slowly put his hand inside his pocket, his mouth puckered up to whistle. He carefully felt the envelope Miss Vui had slipped into the oversized pocket of his laborer’s shirt, to make sure. When the music stopped, he signaled to the assistant:

“Get in the back, little twerp.”

Immediately the little twerp ran toward the truck’s cargo platform. There he sat between stacks of cement bags and curing forms. It was not jinxing him to note that if there were a swerve or an accident, he would definitely be squashed like a roach under those gigantic wooden forms.

When the assistant driver relaxed, he tied down a cloth cover, turned the truck around, and said to Miss Vui:

“OK; if you have a family emergency, Comrade…get in.”

Miss Vui climbed up into the front seat and sat comfortably next to the driver, a deeply dark-skinned fellow as skinny as a frog. With that kind of true bravado, she went all the way to Khoai Hamlet, in Hung My village, Ha Tay province, to discover once and for all the nest of dragonflies.

That night Chairman Quy returned to the village, while Miss Vui spent the night as a faraway guest in order to complete the mission that the chairman had assigned to her. She returned home in the early evening of the twenty-ninth day of the last month of the year that was about to end, her face beaming like a flower, on her shoulder a sack full of New Year’s toys and treats. Chairman Quy stood to welcome her at the entrance to the middle section:

“So?”

“In good time. Take it easy.”

“Aren’t you cocky today.”

“Not cocky, but the money for transportation and the inn is worth a ton of rice, dear friend.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Never in my life have I taken any reimbursement,” she replied with the tight tone of someone who always has a full purse. Quy wanted to help her carry the sack of New Year’s goodies into the house, but suddenly realized that it would be silly; if someone saw him, they would laugh in his face. Therefore he quietly followed the woman. Clearly detecting the excitement on Quy’s face, Vui cried out:

“Go home. We can keep the story for a couple of days without spoiling it. It’s almost New Year’s Eve. I have to clean and straighten up my house; get the altar ready for the offering. Besides, I have to boil some water to bathe, too. Two days on the road, living in inns; I am dirty and itch like crazy, with black dust in my nostrils. My hair feels full of sawdust.”

“OK. I am leaving, then. Are you going to the opera performance tomorrow?”

“Of course. It happens only once a year. Who would be dumb enough to miss it?”

Quy hurriedly left recalling that this spinster worshipped even her bathing. People often said that if Vui needed to take a bath and anyone tried to interrupt her, she would go crazy and chase after them. Her bathwater was infused with pomelo leaves and peelings, lemon grass, jasmine flowers, and other herbs. They were mixed according to a fixed formula and boiled in a copper pot. When the water started to boil, the fragrance wafted around the neighborhood. Additionally, each time she bathed and shampooed her hair, she lit sandalwood incense so that the mysterious fragrance would penetrate her hair and skin; her bathing brought back to life the habits of royal women in olden times. Yet those palace women took such care of their bodies and their beauty in order to entice love from the king; what suitor was there for Miss Vui that she might pine for in secret? Either time or the demons would tell, not before.

The chairman walked away but could not suppress his discontent: “This old maid respects no one.”

He walked and fumed quietly, his face hot despite the cold air. He wanted to forget it, but couldn’t; he kept thinking about the curt way he had been dismissed, cowardly chased out of an “Old Maid’s” house like any neighbor who came to her door asking for some favor. The veins on Quy’s temples pulsated wildly.

“She eats a mullet from the head, and thinks of shit as food. She is really irreverent. She forgets that it was I who first suggested to the subcommittee that she be made its chair. She’s the kind who forgets a favor. You can’t blame heaven for not finding her a husband!”

He walked once all around the middle hamlet, greeting others by mechanically nodding his head without really knowing who it was he was greeting. His restlessness was burning inside him. At this hour, all his official responsibilities were done and all the rest of the New Year’s chores and family offerings were tasks for his wife. Quy’s mind was transfixed on only one image, one name, one green blouse, one shy smile, and they all belonged to a whore named Ngan!

“A whore named Ngan, a whore named Ngan, a whore named Ngan!”

He quietly cursed.

Then, while so cursing to himself, he realized that he was cursing someone without having any proof. So, now the main thing for him remained how to prove that the whore named Ngan was “indeed a whore, one hundred percent a whore.”

But, sad to say, to prove this point, he needed Vui’s help—that old maid who was unpredictable and irreverent. She was the one who could provide the proof. Just as a hungry cat must find a way to scratch the throat of a well-fed cat, so too with women. Forcing this old maid to scramble for clues about this well-bosomed whore would be the best plan. But even the best plans have flaws: Vui deserved her reputation for being capable but she was more conceited and disagreeable than anyone else. These thoughts took Quy to the familiar path returning to the upper section. Suddenly he realized that he was getting close to home. The cold wind during his walk had cooled his rage. At the end, he consoled himself:

“Even if I am enraged to the point of bursting inside, I can’t do anything. Vui knows all the ins and outs of the story, not me. And this old maid will not listen. Well, if earth won’t give in to heaven, then heaven will have to give in to earth. I have to be flexible with her.”

He crossed the entrance just as his two daughters carried the kumquat plant from the garden to the inside patio. Back in the kitchen, a pot of rice cakes boiled briskly, the appetizing smell spreading through the air. Here and there, the sounds of small firecrackers were heard around the hamlet. The feeling of the New Year approaching was starting to spread. Quy went inside the house, threw his leather jacket on the table, and lay down on the settee, stretching his legs. He closed his eyes and visualized what would happen tomorrow night: New Year’s Eve, the last night of this unfortunate year. The district opera troupe will arrive here to perform
Thi Mau Will
Go to the Temple
. For sure, Mr. Quang and the whore Ngan would stay home and not attend. Their absence would be the best excuse for the villagers to gossip, and, at that moment, Vui would do her thing. Her trip must bring
success to him. Tomorrow night would be the night of victory. He stroked his belly, inhaled deeply, and screamed:

“Someone boil me a pot of cilantro water. I have not bathed for the whole week!”

The district Public Works Committee always had three work teams on duty, under the supervision of three general contractors, usually known by the cute name of Managing Cadre Outside the District Organization. Mr. Quang was in charge of the masons and carpenters for the city. The second gentleman had a contingent from Ha Tay province. The third was in charge of the team from Phu Tho. Except for Mr. Quang’s team, the two others included many women and girls. These were adventuresome proletarians who had to seek food for themselves far away from their parents.