Kai fell asleep soon afterwards, but Lanlan couldn’t stop tossing and turning in bed. She worried about what was going to happen the next day. Are they going to send me to jail? she asked herself. For sure they will. I killed an important man. Tears streamed down her cheeks again. What should 1 do about Kai if I go to jail? Oh, I’m such an unfortunate woman. Today I buried my husband and tomorrow I’ll squat in a dark cell. Whose fault is this? I was defending myself and that man was going to kill me, but they won’t believe me. Oh, what a life, so miserable, one misfortune after another.
It serves you right, she cursed herself. The moment your husband was buried, you began thinking how soon you would get married again, thinking of another man. It serves you right. Now you have a man and you can’t get rid of him. Shameless, you can’t live without a man.
The self-scathing words seemed to make her feel a little better. With her stomach gurgling from time to time, she wept continually until she fell asleep.
Early next morning Aunt Wang accompanied Lanlan back to her house. On the ground, in the outer room, there were a few large patches of dried blood. With a coal shovel Aunt Wang scraped them off; she brought in some fresh earth with a basket and covered the spots with it. They stamped about to tamp down the earth. Then they used water and towels to wipe off the blood on the bed. Because the bed’s surface was made of oilpaper, it wasn’t hard for them to get rid of the blotches and stains. After the cleaning Aunt Wang left. Still, the house smelled fishy, so Lanlan opened all the windows.
Having tied one end of a rope to the window frame and the other end around Kai’s waist to prevent him from falling off the bed, Lanlan began to bake corn cakes and make glue. She kept telling herself she had to eat—it would be a long day. Oddly enough, though she knew she might be sentenced to prison, somehow in her heart she felt the whole thing wouldn’t turn out that ugly. Hard as she tried to take the matter seriously, she seemed quite certain they would let her return home in the evening. She went out to feed the chickens, ducks, and piglets. At the sight of the food—chopped radish greens mixed with corn flour—the poultry made so much noise that Widower Bao, Aunt Wang’s brother-in-law, who happened to be passing by, stopped at the front gate to watch and whistle. Lanlan dared not raise her eyes to look at the man, who had a wry mouth.
The moment she put down her bowl on the dining table, two young men came to take her to the brigade’s office. They said that the police would arrive at any time and that she must go with them without delay. She left Kai with Aunt Wang and went with the men. Unable to keep herself from imagining the interrogation, she began to retch and had to stop at the roadside. She sat down on her haunches and vomited several minutes. Standing up, walking another few steps, she had a cramp in her right leg again. The two militiamen had to pull her along like dragging a counterrevolutionary to a public denunciation. She was moaning all the way.
When they reached the entrance to the office two policemen were already in there. A stalwart middle-aged man—the director of town police, Zu Ming—came out to meet her. Surprisingly, he smiled at her and held out his large hand. “Congratulations,” he said in a clear voice.
Lanlan was bewildered and dared not stretch out her hand. All the brigade leaders were standing behind the policemen and smiling at her without any trace of ill feeling. She was gawking at them.
“Congratulations, Comrade Lanlan,” Zu said again, coming closer. She gave him her hand. He shook it and said, “We heard from the County Police this morning that a prison escapee had entered our area. He raped a woman in Sand County two days ago. The man you killed yesterday is the very criminal on the loose. Thank you, comrade. You helped us get rid of a class enemy. You must’ve had a terrible fright. Please forgive us for coming so late.”
Without a word, Lanlan collapsed to the ground. She cried at the brigade leaders, “I told you it’s not my fault, but you didn’t believe me.” She gasped for breath, kicking her feet and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Everybody blamed me for his death. You all bully me, a poor woman who just lost her husband. Oh where, where can 1 find justice!”
With a red face Secretary Chian went up to her and said, “Lanlan, don’t be so upset. It’s over now. The man isn’t the lunatic, and we made a mistake. You did a good thing. We’re all proud of you.”
Director Zhang meanwhile told a young man to bring over a strong bicycle, a Big Golden Deer, to carry her home.
Though the case was resolved, Lanlan didn’t seem to feel better. In one week two men had died in her house. What else could she be but a jinx to men? Who would dare to come close to her? She knew that the villagers thought her this way and that she would have to remain a widow for a long time. Looking in a mirror, she found herself resembling her aged mother more than before: her round eyes had grown broader, two dark curves appeared beneath the lower eyelids, her mouth was sunken a little, her lips took the shape of a heart, only her nose was still delicate and pretty. A gray hair stuck out on her forehead; she got hold of it and pulled it off. It was a long one and she threw it to the ground. She remembered the saying: “One smile makes you look ten years younger, while one worry turns your hair white.”
That evening Aunt Wang came. She sat on the edge of the brick bed and put Kai on her lap. The boy gave out laughter as the old woman stuck her head again and again in his belly, tickling him. Lanlan poured a cup of boiled water for Aunt Wang and sat down at the other end of the bed.
Then the old woman said what was on her mind; she wanted Lanlan to consider marrying Widower Bao.
Though Aunt Wang said they were a natural couple, Lanlan couldn’t help knitting her brows. That man is almost fifty, she thought. He’s too old for me. She’s making fun of me. He could be my father.
Aunt Wang seemed to read her thoughts and said, “Lanlan, don’t think he’s old. Look at the way he walks, and the strength he shows when working in the fields, and his big hands and thick shoulders. Don’t tell me that man is old. Oh, my goodness, what an appetite he has. He eats a basin of noodles at one—” She held her tongue and regretted mentioning his appetite, since no woman liked a big eater. She added, “An older man is more considerate, you know.”
“Aunt Wang, I’ll think about it,” Lanlan said.
“All right, take your time. We’ll wait for your answer.”
After the old woman left, Lanlan felt tired and decided not to go to her mother’s so soon. She would stay home for a few days to recover from the exhaustion.
The next evening Aunt Wang came again. From then on she came almost every day, playing with Kai and helping Lanlan with housework. Lanlan didn’t like it, and by and by she was annoyed by the old woman’s presence in the house. For sure she was grateful to her, for sure she would do something in return, but not marrying her brother-in-law in such a hurry. Of course, she knew that since the villagers thought of her as a jinx, there would be few men who were interested in her, but why couldn’t she wait? She was not so cheap that she would make do with any man, even an old scarecrow like Widower Bao. She was not so weak that she couldn’t live without a man in her house. Someday she might marry a man who was even better than her late husband. Things would change as long as she waited patiently. Who knows, the spring breeze may blow again, she kept saying to herself.
A week later a middle-aged reporter arrived at Sea Nest Village. His task was to write about Lanlan’s brave deed. At the interview in her house, he had her describing the event from the beginning to the end. The brigade leaders accompanied the reporter, and Secretary Chian kept saying she was the best young wife in the village.