demanded, “What were you doing in here-committing adultery?” “How dare you!” she replied indignandy. “I borrowed a donkey to turn the millstone, since we’re out of flour, as you very well know.” “An obedient animal?” he asked. “No, it took forever to hitch it up to the millstone,” she said with a pout. “That’s why it took me so long to answer the door.” She continued: “And for that I get accused of committing adultery!” “Wait here,” Winter-born’s father said, “while I go give that bastard of a donkey a good beating. That should make you feel better.” The teacher, nearly filling his shorts and peeing his pants, turned the millstone with renewed vigor. “Hear that?” Winter-born’s mother said. “The donkey heard you and started pulling even harder.” “Warm me a pot of wine,” Winter-born’s father said, after which the teacher overheard the couple drink and whisper and giggle on the kang. How to describe the feeling that flooded his heart-sweet, sour, bitter, spicy? He couldn’t say for sure, but as he pondered these thoughts, his movements slowed. “You borrowed a lazy donkey,” Winter-born’s father said. “I’m going in there to give the bastard a good beating!” That got the teacher moving again-he nearly flew around that millstone. “No need,” Winter-born’s mother said. “It speeds up every time it hears your voice.” The sweaty-faced teacher turned the mill for all he was worth. “Teapot Lid, since the boy isn’t home, let’s have some fun,” Winter- born’s father said. “Why, you greedy thing!” she said. “What if the donkey hears us?” “I’ll go stop up its ears,” Winter-born’s father said. The rattled teacher nearly flew around that millstone. “No need for that,” Winter-born’s mother said. “All it cares about is turning the millstone. It’s not interested in what we do.” So the teacher listened to them have their fun, getting a taste of how the mute feels when he eats bitter herbs and can tell no one. Their frolicking ended, Winter-born’s father said, “I have to go till the field on the southern slope.” “Go ahead,” Winter- born’s mother said. And he did, shutting the door behind him. The teacher crumpled into the rut around the millstone as Winter-born’s mother rushed into the room. “Teacher, get out of here, fast, while Winter-born’s father is out in the field!” And he did. Several days later, Winter-born said to the teacher, “Master, my mother says she’s been thinking about you again.” The teacher grabbed the boy’s hand and smacked it with his pointer. “You littie bastard!” he cursed. “Have you run out of flour again?”
Gao Ma laughed loud and long. “Now there’s a teacher who knows what it means to suffer!”
“There’s truth to the saying that warmth and comfort give rise to lurid desires, but hunger and cold produce thoughts of larceny,” Old Man Wang said. “Thieves and robbers ran wild a few years back, but there aren’t as many now as there once were. Adultery cases, on the other hand, are way up. If you’d been good and hungry, my boy, Jinju wouldn’t have a big belly today.”
An embarrassed Gao Ma said, “Grandpa Three, with us it’s love. Sooner or later we’ll get married.”
The old-timer shook his head. “My boy, there’s a dark cloud over your head. Blood will be spilled within a hundred days. Be careful, and stay indoors whenever possible.”
I don’t believe in that mumbo-jumbo,” Gao Ma said.
“You must believe,” Old Man Wang said cryptically. “Two suns appeared in the sky this spring. A bad sign. Over New Year’s I watched some TV at Gao Zhileng’s, and the man-or maybe it was a woman-on the screen sang a song that went, A great fire, a great fire, a great fire burns a corner of the Northeast.’ That was a bad sign, too.”
Gao Ma rolled over. Everything the old man said has come true, Gao Ma reflected. I got into trouble, and there was a forest fire in the Northeast. With someone sick at home, it’s easy to become a believer. There’s more to Old Man Wang than i thought.
“Well, back to the crops,” Old Man Wang said. “We can talk some more the next time the well dries up.”
I was happy back then, Gao Ma recalled, and when he thought about the teacher turning the millstone, he nearly laughed all over again. There was half a meter of water at the bottom of the well. I scooped it up for my garlic crop. The young shoots were green under the full moon, which seemed smaller and brighter. The air was fresh and clean, the garlic shoots sparkled like quicksilver, and silvery water slithered down the irrigation troughs. I had confidence back then. I placed my hopes on the crop. To me that garlic was everything. Now it’s all gone. I have nothing.
“That dog whelp at the weights and measures office took my scale.”
“No cursing allowed,” the policeman demanded.
“He said my scale wasn’t accurate, and when I opened my mouth to protest, he crushed the thing under his heel. Then he fined me ten yuan. All I could think was, the price of garlic dropped from sixty fen a pound to twenty, and finally all the way down to three. The agreements we signed with other counties to purchase our garlic were canceled, and when buyers came, they were turned back by the supply and marketing co-op. All to make things hard on garlic farmers. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, and that’s when I jumped up on the wagon and started shouting slogans. The first was ‘Down with corrupt officials!’ and the other was ‘Down with bureaucrats!’ Find me guilty of whatever you want. It’s up to you. I’m all alone, so it doesn’t matter one way or the other. Cut off my head or put a bullet in it, even bury me alive if you want. It’s all the same to me. I hate you dog- bastard officials! All you know how to do is trample the people! I hate you!”
“Time for a smoke break, Grandpa Three,” Gao Ma said.
Old Man Wang edged the pail up alongside the well with his foot and squatted down.
The moon was so bright and clear the whole world seemed lighted up.
“Got your garhc crop fertilized, Grandpa Three?”
“Not this time. To hell with it,” Old Man Wang said blundy. “I don’t trust those money grubbers at the supply and marketing co-op. How do I know what they put in their fertilizer?”
“You re being too cautious. They can’t adulterate chemical fertilizers.”
“Like they say, there’s never been an honest merchant. You don’t think they get rich by being legitimate, do you?” Old Man Wang said spitefully. “It’s an imperial edict.”
“Just because it’s an imperial edict doesn’t mean it has to be that way forever, does it?”
“Forever and ever,” Old Man Wang said. “The frogs at Zhang Family Bay still don’t croak.”
“Was that an imperial edict, too? Which Emperor?”
“Let me pick up where I left off last time.”
Gao Ma drew his shoulders in. He felt a chill.
When the teacher slipped out of the classroom, Zhang Nine-five went up to the teacher’s desk, sat down, and took charge of the class, ordering all the little mischief makers to form two teams and fight it out. When that was done, he dispensed honors and punishments, just like an emperor. After several days of this, the teacher happened to observe Nine-five’s little game from his vantage point outside the door. He coughed to announce his presence before entering the room, where the students had quickly returned to their seats and were noisily reciting their lessons. Quickly bringing the class to order, the teacher asked, “Have you prepared your lesson, Nine-five?” Zhang Nine-five rose to his feet, leafed through his book, and replied, “Yes. I have.” “You little bastard,” the teacher muttered under his breath, “you call that preparing?… All right,” he said aloud, “let’s hear it.” Snapping his book shut, Zhang Nine-five looked up.
