4.
It was the fourth time that morning that the parakeets in the East Lane compound of Gao Zhileng had raised a din. Fourth Aunt nudged Fourth Uncle with the tip of her foot. “Hey, old man, it’s time to get up. This is the fourth time I’ve heard the parakeets this morning.”
He sat up, threw a jacket over his shoulders, and filled his pipe. Then he sat on the kang smoking as he listened to the nightmarishly shrill cries of the parakeets. “Go out and take a look at the stars,” he said. “You can’t rely on a bunch of pet birds. Only roosters know when it’s dawn.”
“Everybody says parakeets are smart,” she said, her eyes flashing in the darkness. “Have you ever looked at Gao Zhileng’s birds? They’re so colorful-green, yellow, red-and they tuck their hooked beaks into their wing feathers, so only their bright little eyes show. Everybody says they’ve got the devil in them, which means Gao Zhileng is on the devil’s payroll. I never did trust him.”
Fourth Uncle puffed on his pipe until the bowl glowed red, but didn’t say a word. The parakeets’ squawks cut through the darkness, loud one second, soft the next, and Fourth Aunt could envision the colorful birds cocking their heads and eying her.
She pulled the covers up over her legs, growing more fearful by the minute and wishing that her cellmate would hurry back. Guards shouted in the corridor, where she heard frequent footsteps.
Out in the yard Fourth Aunt felt chilled. A sleek cat streaked across the top of the wall and was gone. She shivered and scrunched her head down between her shoulders as she gazed into the sky, where stars twinkled brighdy. The Milky Way seemed denser than last year. She sought out her three familiar stars. There they were, in the southeastern sky, beside the brilliant half-moon. It was still the middle of the night. She headed over to the new catde shed at the foot of the eastern wall and, by groping in the dark, added some straw to the trough. Their spotted cow, bought the previous spring, lay on the ground chewing her cud, green lights emerging from her eyes. But when she heard the activity near her trough she got up and ambled over, bumping Fourth Aunt’s head with her short, curved horns. “Ouch!” Fourth Aunt exclaimed as she rubbed her head. “Are you trying to kill me, you stupid animal?”
The cow was already busily munching straw, so Fourth Aunt moved up and felt her belly. Another three months and it would be time to calf.
“Well?” Fourth Uncle asked her when she returned to the kang.
“It’s still the middle of the night,” she replied. “Get some more sleep. I fed the cow while I was up.”
“I’m awake now,” he said, “so I might as well get on the road. Yesterday was a wasted trip, so I want to get there early today. It’s fifteen miles to town, and the way that cow plods along, it’ll be light out by the time we get there.”
“Are there really that many people selling garlic?”
“Believe me, there are. The streets are jammed with farmers, trucks, oxcarts, horsecarts, tractors, bicycles, even motorbikes. The line runs from the cold-storage warehouse all the way to the railroad tracks. Garlic, nothing but garlic. They say the warehouse will be full in another day or two.”
“These are bad times. It’s getting harder to sell anything.”
“Wake the boys and have them load the wagon and hitch up the cow,” Fourth Uncle said. “I’m in no mood to do it. That tramp Jinju has me so upset the slightest thing gets my heart acting up.”
“Do you know that your sons are talking about dividing up the family property and going their own way?”
Tm not blind. Number Two’s afraid his brother will ruin his own marriage prospects. Number One sees how determined Jinju is to be with Gao Ma, and with the marriage contract now a worthless piece of paper, he figures hell take what he can get and live a bachelor’s life. Damned ingrates, that’s what they are!” Fourth Uncle was beside himself. “Once I sell this garlic crop we can add on three rooms, then divide everything up.”
“Will Jinju stay with us?”
“She can get her ass out!”
“Where’s Gao Ma going to get the ten thousand yuan we demanded?”
“He homesteaded four acres of land this year along with the two he already had, and planted it all with garlic. I passed his field the other day, and I can tell you he’s going to have a bumper crop, six thousand pounds at least, which he’ll sell for five thousand yuan. I’ll take that and tell him he can give me the other half next year. The little tramp’s getting off cheap, but I won’t let her raise some bastard kid here at home.”
“After she’s gone and We have Gao Ma’s money, she’ll really suffer.”
“Are you starting to feel sorry for her?” He tapped his pipe on the kang. “I don’t care if the little slut starves.”
He turned and went out to the cow shed, where Fourth Aunt heard him tap on the west-wing window. “Number One, Number Two-time to get up, load the garlic.” She got down off the kang, lit the lamp, and hung it beside the door, then poured a ladleful of water from the vat into the pot.
“What’s that for?” Fourth Uncle asked her when he returned.
“To make some broth,” she replied. “You’ll be walking half the night.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he snapped back. “I’m not going to walk. I’ll ride the whole way. Go water the cow if you want to make yourself useful.”
The brothers emerged from their room and stood in the middle of the yard, shivering in the cold night air and not saying a word.
Meanwhile Fourth Aunt dumped three ladlefuls of water into a basin, spread a layer of bran husks over the top, and stirred it with a poker. Then she carried it outside and laid it on the path as Fourth Uncle led the cow out of the shed. But it just stood there smacking its lips stupidly without taking a sip.
“Drink, drink,” she urged the animal. “Drink some water.”
The cow stood there without moving, a heated stench rising from its hide. The parakeets were at it again, their squawks rising like shifting clouds. The half-moon, a bit higher in the sky now, flooded the yard with golden rays. The stars had lost some of their glitter.
“Throw in some more bran husks,” Fourth Uncle said.
Fourth Aunt did as she was told.
“Come on, girl,” he said, patting the cow gently. “Drink up.”
The cow lowered her head, snorted into the basin, then began lapping up the water.
“What are you standing around for?” Fourth Uncle snapped at his sons. “Hitch up the wagon and load the garlic!”
After fetching the wagon bed, they rolled out the wheels and axles and assembled the vehicle. There were too many thieves in the village to leave it outside the gate. All the garlic had been stacked in bundles by the southern wall, under sheets of plastic.
“Sprinkle some water on it to keep it from drying out,” Fourth Uncle said. His eldest son did as he was told.
“Why not take Number Two along?” his wife asked him.
“No,” he said curtly.
“Stubborn ass,” she groused. “At least get something decent to eat in town, since I don’t have anything to send with you.”
“I thought there was still half a grainy flatcake,” Fourth Uncle said.
“That’s all you’ve eaten for days.”
“Get it for me.” He led the cow out the gate and hitched it to the wagon. Then he walked back into the yard, threw a tattered coat over his shoulders, stuffed the cold flatcake down the front of his shirt, picked up a switch, and headed out the gate.
“The older you are, the more mule-headed you get,” she complained. “I don’t know what else to call someone who won’t let his own son help him sell his harvest.”
“He’s afraid I’ll skim off all the profits,” Number Two said sarcastically.
