But before the team entered the village, I knocked on my father-in-law’s gate for the second time. This time he allowed me in.
You were in the army too, I said to him. There we do as we’re told. Disobeying an order is not an option.
He mulled over what I said as he smoked a cigarette. If you knew she couldn’t have another child, he said finally, then why let her get pregnant? How is she supposed to have an abortion so late in her pregnancy? What if she doesn’t get through it? She’s my daughter, the only one I have.
Don’t blame me for this.
Then who should I blame?
If you’re looking for someone to blame, look no further than that bastard Yuan Sai. He’s already under arrest.
I’m telling you now that if anything happens to my daughter, I’ll come looking for you and will put these old bones on the line.
My aunt says there’s no problem. She says they’ve even done it at seven months.
Your aunt isn’t a human being, she’s a demon! my mother-in-law jumped in. How many lives has she destroyed over the past few years? Her hands are covered in blood, and when she dies the King of Hell is going to chop her into pieces.
What good does saying things like that do? my father-in-law said. This is men’s business.
How can it be men’s business? she asked shrilly. They want to push our daughter down to the gates of Hell. How is that men’s business?
I’m not going to argue with you, Mother, I said. Tell Renmei to come out here. I need to talk to her.
Why are you looking for her here? She’s a member of your family now and that’s where she lives. What have you done to her? Give her back to me!
Hear that, Renmei? I said loudly. I had a talk with Gugu yesterday. I told her I planned to give up my Party membership and my commission and take up farming again so you can have the child. She told me I can’t do that. That business with Yuan Sai has shaken things up all the way up to the provincial government, and county authorities gave her an order that all illegal pregnancies in her area had to be terminated.
We won’t allow it! my mother-in-law shrieked as she flung a basin full of dirty water at me. What kind of society are we living in? Tell that slut of an aunt to come here and we’ll have it out once and for all! She can’t have babies, and seeing others have them makes her mad. She’s jealous.
I left the house, drenched in filthy water.
When the work team van stopped outside my in-laws’ house, every able-bodied villager showed up, including Xiao Shangchun, who’d suffered a stroke, and hobbled up, aided by a cane. Impassioned speech spewed from the loudspeaker: Family planning is a high priority, it impacts the nation’s future and that of the people… it is essential for a country capable of implementing the four modernisations to control and improve the quality of its population… those with illegal pregnancies must not trust to luck to slip through the net… the people’s eyes are bright. You can hide in caves or deep in a forest, but you will not get away… anyone who attacks family-planning personnel will be punished as counter-revolutionaries… anyone who subverts family planning by whatever means will be severely punished under Party and state law…
Gugu took the lead, followed by the deputy bureau chief, with Little Lion bringing up the rear. My father-in-law’s door was shut tight. A couplet pasted on the gate read: Our rivers and mountains have prospered for millennia/Eternal spring graces the fatherland. Gugu turned and said to the crowd behind her, Without family planning, the face of the nation will change, the fatherland will collapse. Then where will we find prosperity for the millennia? Where will we seek an eternal spring? Gugu rapped the metal knocker and shouted in her characteristically raspy voice, Wang Renmei, did you really think you could fool me by hiding in the potato cellar by the pigpen? The county Party committee and the army have been alerted to your case, and you have set a bad example. There are two paths you can take from here: you can come out of there on your own and go with me to the health centre to terminate your pregnancy. Since you are so far along, we will accompany you, and our most experienced doctor will perform the procedure. Or you can be defiant, in which case the tractor will pull down the houses of your parents’ neighbours on all sides, then pull down your parents’ house. Your father will have to cover all your neighbours’ losses. Even after that, we will still terminate your pregnancy. If it were someone else, I would treat her with kindness, but not you. Have you heard me, Wang Renmei? How about you, Wang Jinshan and Wu Xiuzhi? Gugu made a point of calling Renmei’s parents by name.
Nothing stirred on the other side of the gate for a long moment. Then a young rooster crowed. My mother-in-law’s voice was next: Wan Xin, you black-hearted, inhumane monster… a bad death awaits you… after you die, you’ll have to climb a mountain of knives and boil in hot oil, your skin will be peeled, your eyes will be gouged out, and you’ll burn from head to toe.
With a snicker, Gugu turned to the deputy militia chief. Go ahead, she said.
He had his men drag a long, thick cable up to the gate of the neighbour to the east and wrap it around an old scholar tree. With his hand on his cane, Xiao Shangchun bounded out of the crowd and jabbered at the top of his lungs: That’s our family’s tree! He tried to hit my aunt with his cane, but lost his balance in the attempt. So, this is your tree, Gugu said coldly. My apologies, but you seem to have chosen you neighbour poorly.
You’re all local bandits… a bunch of Guomindang operatives…
The Guomindang curses us as ‘Commie bandits’, Gugu said with a cruel smile. Calling us local bandits shows you’re not in the same league as the Guomindang.
I’m going to sue you people… my son works in the State Council.
Go ahead and sue, all the way to the top if you can manage.
Xiao Shangchun threw down his cane and wrapped his arms around the scholar tree. You can’t pull my tree down, he said tearfully. Yuan Sai said that this tree carries the lifeblood of my family; if it flourishes, so does my family…
Gugu laughed. I wonder if Yuan Sai calculated when he’d be arrested.
You’ll have to kill me first, Xiao bawled.
Xiao Shangchun, Gugu said sternly, what’s happened to the ferocity you displayed when you were beating and making life miserable for people during the Cultural Revolution? Look at you, crying and snivelling like an old woman.
You can’t fool me, I know you’re exploiting your public office for personal gain… plotting revenge against me… it’s your niece with the illegal pregnancy, so how can you pull down my tree…
Not just your tree, Gugu said. When it’s down, we’re going to pull down your gate arch, and then your house. Crying out here won’t do you any good. You should go see Wang Jinshan. Gugu took the bullhorn from Little Lion and directed it at the crowd. All you neighbours of Wang Jinshan, listen carefully. In accordance with special regulations issued by the commune family-planning committee, since Wang Jinshan is shielding his daughter, who is maintaining an illegal pregnancy in defiance of the government, and insulting authorised workers, we will now pull down the houses of his neighbours on all sides. You can go to Wang Jinshan to recoup your losses. If you do not want your houses to be destroyed, now is the time to persuade him to have his daughter come out.
My father-in-law’s neighbours erupted in a chorus of shouts.
Carry out the order, Gugu said to the deputy militia chief.
The caterpillar tractor roared into action, making the ground beneath our feet tremble.
The steel beast began to move, slowly picking up the slack in the cable, which sang out as it tautened. The leaves on the tree started to flutter.
Xiao Shangchun ran as fast as his limping leg would take him up to my father-in-law’s gate, where he pounded like a madman. Wang Jinshan, you and your fucking ancestors are the scourge of your neighbours. You will not die well!