All of us, we’re Gaomi folk
Every one of us a living Lei Feng
You gave us a wad of RMB
A good deed without even leaving your name
Kaifang pulled the brim of his hat down low, turned on his heel, and pushed his way through the crowd without saying a word.
57
A Painful Cut
Dear reader, as a policeman, Lan Kaifang had the authority to drive Ximen Huan, Pang Fenghuang, and their monkey out of the train station square, but he didn’t.
Since his father, Jiefang, and I were like brothers, he might be considered my nephew, while in truth I barely knew him; he and I had exchanged no more than a few words. I suspected that he was prejudiced against me, since I’d been the one who’d introduced his father to Pang Chunmiao, and that had led to a number of disastrous consequences. I tell you, Nephew Kaifang, if not Pang Chunmiao, some other woman would have come into your father’s life. That was something I’d wanted to say to you for the longest time, but the opportunity never presented itself, and now never would.
Since I lacked any real contact with Kaifang, anything I say about what was on his mind is pure conjecture.
I imagine that when he pulled the brim of his hat down and pushed his way through the crowd, he was beset by powerful mixed emotions. Not long before that, Pang Fenghuang had been Gaomi County’s supreme princess and Ximen Huan the supreme prince. The mother of one had been the most powerful official in the county, the father of the other the richest. They were carefree and willful, spending money as if they had it to burn, and enjoying a large circle of acquaintances. The golden boy and jade girl were the envy of a great many people, but it did not take long for both powerful figures to pass from the scene, their glory and riches turned to foul dirt, and their favored offspring were reduced to making a living through the antics of a trained monkey.
I imagine that Lan Kaifang’s love for Fenghuang had not faded. Given the disparity between a onetime princess who had fallen to the role of street entertainer and the deputy commander of a police substation, he could not suppress his feelings of inadequacy. And even though he’d charitably placed a month’s salary plus overtime in the monkey’s platter, the sarcasm with which they had accepted the gift showed that they still felt superior, that this ugly policeman was beneath their dignity. It also served to erase any thoughts he may have had of stealing Fenghuang away from Ximen Huan and removed what remained of the belief and courage that he could rescue her from her demeaned circumstances. He lowered his brim to cover his face as he fled the scene; it was all he could do.
Word that the daughter of Pang Kangmei and the son of Ximen Jinlong were working with a trained monkey in front of the train station quickly spread throughout the city and into neighboring villages. People converged on the square for reasons that would have been clear if they’d been able to identify them. Neither of the local darlings, Fenghuang and Ximen Huan, felt the least bit of shame; they seemed to have cut themselves off from their past. For them the train station square might as well have been a foreign country, where they were among crowds of strangers. They worked hard and collected their rewards earnestly. Some of the people watching the monkey’s antics shouted out the couple’s names, and others screamed epithets at their parents, all of which they ignored and none of which had any effect on their radiant smiles. But, should anyone speak immodestly or act inappropriately toward Fenghuang, the monkey would be all over the offender, biting and scratching.
One of the notorious Four Little Hoods waved a pair of two-hundred-yuan notes in Fenghuang’s direction and shouted, “Hey, girl, I see you’ve got a ring in your nose. What about down below? Drop your pants and let me see for myself, and these are yours.” His buddies whooped and hollered, but she ignored the raunchy comment and, chain in one hand and whip in the other, sent the monkey out for donations.
All you kind people
It doesn’t matter if you have money or you don’t
If you’ve got it, part with a little
If you haven’t a few shouts will help
Bong bong bong!
Ximen Huan was smiling too as he beat a rhythmic tattoo on his gong. “Ximen Huan, you little bastard, what happened to the intimidating fellow we used to know? Go on, tell your girlfriend to drop her pants. If you don’t-” The monkey hobbled up to the man and – some people said they saw Fenghuang tug on the chain, others said she did nothing of the sort – tossed his platter behind him, leaped up onto the man’s shoulder, and began biting and scratching wildly. The monkey’s screeches and the man’s screams merged as the crowd fled, with the little hood’s buddies out in front. Fenghuang pulled the monkey back and continued her little song:
Riches are not ordained by heaven
People all get their comeuppance sooner or later -
The bully, his face a mass of blood, was rolling on the ground and screaming in pain, which attracted a squad of policemen, who wanted to arrest Ximen Huan and Fenghuang. When the monkey bared his fangs and screeched, one of them drew his gun; Fenghuang cradled him in her arms like a mother with a baby boy. The crowd formed around them again to voice their support for Fenghuang, Ximen Huan, and their monkey. They pointed to the screaming man on the ground. “He’s the one you should arrest!” Dear reader, mob psychology is mind-numbingly strange! When Pang Kangmei and Ximen Jinlong held sway in the county, Fenghuang and Ximen Huan were objects of the people’s loathing, and their downfall was both predicted and longed for. But when that actually happened, they became underdogs, and everyone was now in their corner. The police knew all about these two and were aware of the special relationship they had with their deputy commander. So in the face of the crowd’s militancy they simply shrugged their shoulders and said nothing. One of them grabbed the bully by the neck. “Let’s go,” he said angrily. “You can knock off the phony victim act!”
The incident alarmed members of the county Party Committee. Out of kindness, Party Secretary Sha Wujing sent his office manager and a clerk to the basement of the train station hotel to talk to Fenghuang and Ximen Huan. The monkey bared his teeth at the two men when they passed on the Party secretary’s request, which was to send the monkey over to the new Phoenix Zoo in the western suburbs, after which he would find jobs for the two of them. For most of us, that would have been exciting news. But Fenghuang held the monkey in her arms and said with an angry glare, “Anyone who so much as touches my monkey will have to answer to me!” Ximen Huan merely smiled mischievously and said, “Thank Secretary Sha for his thoughtfulness, but we’re doing fine, and his time would be better spent taking care of government workers who have lost their jobs.”
From here my story takes a cruel and unhappy turn. Don’t think I’m happy about that, dear reader. The characters’ fates have made it inevitable.
The story continues that Pang Fenghuang, Ximen Huan, and their monkey were sitting at a food stall on the southern edge of the train station square eating dinner when the bully they’d dealt with that day, his face covered with gauze, crept up. The monkey screeched and sprang at him, but wound up doing a somersault, thanks to the chain around his neck. Ximen Huan jumped to his feet, turned around, and was immediately face-to-face with the sinister bully. Before he could say a word, the man stabbed him in the chest. Quite possibly, the killer may have wanted to kill Fenghuang while he was at it, but the screeching, jumping monkey frightened him off before he could even pull the knife out of Ximen Huan’s chest. Fenghuang threw herself on Ximen Huan and wailed. The monkey stayed put, glowering at anyone who tried to come close. When Kaifang and several of his men ran up, they were stopped by the monkey’s fearful screeches and threatening gestures. One of them drew his gun and pointed it at the monkey; Kaifang grabbed him by the wrist.