All of the cadres had baffled expressions, and only Secretary Shi had a knowing grin. Chief Liu wiped away his tears and walked over to them.
“Let’s convene a meeting,” he said softly to Secretary Shi. Then he added by way of explanation to the confused-looking deputy county chief’s secretary, “Have the standing committee members come to the meeting room. We are going to convene a standing committee meeting.”
Having said this, he looked back at the thousands of people in the street. He saw that these Shuanghuai residents, after having kowtowed three times, were all still kneeling there and had not yet gotten to their feet. It was like when, in the past, they did not dare stand up until the emperor had spoken.
Chief Liu took a step toward the door. He stood in the meter-high flower bed at the entrance, but because it was winter the basin didn’t have any flowers, and the soil inside had been trampled flat by children who climbed it to play. Standing on the edge of that flower bed, Chief Liu gazed ahead along the rows of heads in front of him, and saw that behind the crowd there were thousands of peasants who had come in from all the villages and towns surrounding the county seat. They were all carrying rolled-up portraits of Chief Liu, like so many bundles of incense sticks. Because there were too many people, they could not come closer to Chief Liu, and instead they started kneeling down there in the street, one after another. It was as if they were lined up to the end of the earth.
Chief Liu knew that the reason everyone was kneeling before him was that they were afraid of blocking the view of the people behind them, which is why they knelt for so long, so as to allow the people who had arrived late to catch a glimpse of Chief Liu. After the latter had seen him, they too would kneel down and kowtow three times.
As these crowds of people surged into the county from the surrounding countryside, and to the street in front of the government building, they stood a li or half a li away, gazing up at Chief Liu. Then, they too knelt down and began kowtowing.
By midday, as the sun began moving west, there was already a sea of people gathered in front of the building, appearing to fill the entire city — and even the entire world — with their kneeling bodies. At this point, Chief Liu smiled silently, as tears of livening streamed down his face and onto the ground.
Further Reading:
1) Fondness. DIAL. Preference, or excessive love.
CHAPTER 7: EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT AGREE TO LET LIVEN WITHDRAW FROM SOCIETY, PLEASE RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND
The people gathered outside the main courtyard were still kneeling when Chief Liu proceeded to the office of the county committee to convene his final standing committee meeting as county chief.
He said, “Regardless of what you may say, I’ve already decided to move to Liven. From this point on, I will be a resident of Liven. Of course, there is a condition for settling down in Liven, which is that you can’t be an able-bodied wholer. If you are a wholer, you can’t become a resident of Liven.”
Chief Liu said, “Now, please agree to permit Liven to withdraw from society — so that from this point forward the village will no longer fall under the jurisdiction of either Shuanghuai county or Boshuzi township. Everyone who agrees, please raise your hand.”
There was a long silence in the room. Apart from Chief Liu, no one raised a hand.
Seeing that no one other than himself was raising a hand, Chief Liu put his own hand down and then said, “How about this — how about everyone who doesn’t agree to let Liven withdraw from society please raise your hand in my presence.”
There was another long silence, and still no one raised a hand.
“If no one raises their hand, this means that all the votes go to permitting the village of Liven to withdraw from society.” Chief Liu said to the recording secretary sitting beside him. “The vote is unanimous. After you have recorded this decision, please go implement it.” Then he added, “Have the driver immediately bring the car over.”
Finally, Chief Liu turned back to the members of the standing committee, and asked, “None of you want to relocate to Liven?” He added, “If not, then the meeting is adjourned.” After announcing the meeting’s adjournment, Chief Liu was the first person to step out of the conference room. Everyone thought he was going to greet the thousands of people kneeling outside the courtyard of the government building, so who could have expected that as soon as he walked out of the building, there would be a bloody scream,
“Come quickly, there’s been a horrible accident. The county chief has been run over by a car.. .”
“Come quick, the county chief’s own car has shattered both of his legs.. .”
Those shouts rained down from the sky like blood, splattering the government building courtyard, and the entire world.
BOOK 15: SEEDS
CHAPTER 1: AS FOR WHAT COMES LATER, IT WILL COME LATER
Grandma Mao Zhi departed.1
By that point the new lunar year had arrived, and the weather had gotten somewhat warmer. The willows, poplars, and wild grass were all green and budding. Spring had indeed come early, in the first lunar month, and in the Balou mountain range, there was the fragrantly foul smell of grass everywhere. In this transition from winter to spring, someone showed up from Boshuzi township. He was on his way to a relative’s house deep in the Balou mountains, and when he passed Liven, he stood in front of the village and began shouting,
“Hey. . people of Liven. . people of Liven. .
“Do you hear me?. . This is a letter for your village.. . It is a document.. .”
Although it was warm on this day, the winter chill had not yet fully gone away. The villagers were all sunning themselves around the old honey locust tree in the center of the village. Grandma Mao Zhi had aged so much she didn’t have a single black hair left, and instead her entire head had turned as gray and brittle as a patch of dried grass. When she returned from Spirit Mountain after having led the villagers on their performance tour, she didn’t remove her burial clothes. In fact, she wore them all day to cook, eat, and even sunbathe, and at night she wore them to bed.
She rarely spoke anymore, her lips being so tightly sealed that it seemed as though she were already dead. But when she did open her mouth, she always repeated the same thing:
“I’m about to depart for a cause. If I’m going to die, so be it. When you die, your body becomes stiff. When I was alive I wasn’t able to help the villagers withdraw from society, and I let down the entire village. When it comes time to dress me in my burial clothes after I die, they will take the opportunity to tear me apart limb by limb.”
She added, “That is why I won’t remove my burial clothes, and neither will I give the villagers an opportunity to tear me apart limb by limb.”
Therefore, she wore her burial clothes all day long — and regardless of whether she was resting at home or walking through the village, she always had those sixteen or seventeen blind, crippled, or half-paralyzed dogs following her around.