The Explosion Chronicles (19 page)

The bridge was full of people trying to do business. There was shop after shop selling watches and sunglasses. Opera lovers also went to the bridge to sing, expressing their delight through their music. When the mayor and his brother ran into Qinfang on the bridge, the vegetables in her basket were still dripping wet. Vegetables sellers were chasing after her, trying to stuff even more into her basket. They said, “If you take more of our vegetables, it will be as though we are expressing our appreciation to the mayor… . So please, take some of our vegetables!” The mayor and his brother reached the bridge, where countless people crowded around and listened quietly as the mayor said,

“Sister-in-law, you should get divorced. For the sake of the Kong family, you should get divorced.

“… What is so extraordinary about getting divorced? You should approach it as a business transaction. Is forty thousand yuan enough to buy a divorce?

“… How about eighty thousand?

“… How about a hundred thousand? Would that be enough for this divorce?”

Qinfang didn’t answer. She stared blankly at the mayor, her forehead flushed and covered in sweat. By this point it was already past lunchtime, and the afternoon sun shone down on her face like a fiery red cloth, piercing her eyes. When the people who had crowded around—including those who had just been trying to stuff her basket with more vegetables—realized what the mayor was saying, they began shouting, “A hundred thousand, a hundred thousand! It’s really
a hundred thousand!” After they recovered from their initial shock, they all began entreating Qinfang on the mayor’s behalf, saying, “It would definitely be worth it. Definitely worth it… . You would make more from this one transaction than a girl from Otherworldly Delights could make from selling herself for her entire life.” They enviously urged her on. Hearing their encouragement, Cai Qinfang gradually calmed down and looked intently at the mayor without saying a word. The mayor became increasingly anxious and took ten blank sheets of paper out of his pocket. Then he squatted down, placed the papers on his knees, and proceeded to sign them, then handed them to his sister-in-law, saying, “This should do it. If in the future you or your family should need anything, just write what you need on one of these sheets of paper. Since the sheets of paper all carry my signature, their instructions will be carried out.”

Cai Qinfang accepted the stack of signed pages and looked at them. She carefully rolled them up, then said,

“There is something else.”

The mayor said, “Go ahead.”

“After the divorce, I want you to continue calling me Sister. Even after you become county mayor, I want you to continue calling me Sister. When I go out, I want to be able to tell people—my brother Mingliang is the town mayor, county mayor, or city mayor.”

The mayor agreed.

During this entire discussion, Kong Mingguang was standing to the side behind the crowd that had gathered on the bridge. Not until everyone had dispersed and his wife was walking away did he finally come forward and exchange a final look with Cai Qinfang, then he spat on the ground in front of her as he had just done to his brother. At this point Kong Mingliang said, “You should go get divorced. Even though you are the mayor’s brother, you still need to follow the appropriate procedures. Now take your divorce agreement directly
to the civil administration board.” He then took out another sheet of paper and, while squatting down and leaning it against his knees, wrote two lines and then signed, “Town Mayor: Kong Mingliang.” After handing the sheet of paper to his brother, he hurried back to the auditorium to continue hosting the oath ceremony.

By the time Kong Mingguang finally had the divorce certificate in hand, it was already late afternoon. This document—which was printed on stiff red paper that was as large as a man’s palm and was stamped with the seal of the town hall office—formally released him and his wife from their matrimonial bonds. He then wanted to marry Little Cui. People were walking into and out of the town hall in a continuous stream, and every office was busy with meetings and telephone calls. People were walking up and down the streets, buying and selling goods, coming and going, friends and strangers, like red and yellow leaves in autumn. Many people nodded or spoke to him, or stopped to chat, but he pretended he didn’t see or hear them. Instead, he rushed to his house in back of the town. Little Cui was still lying naked under the tree, and he was afraid that after the shadows moved the sun would shine directly on her body. Perhaps she would get tired of waiting for him, and would remove the dishes from her body and get dressed. Or perhaps she would still be lying naked under the tree, and when he brought the divorce certificate she would let him continue eating the banquet from her naked body, and after eating they could have earthshaking sex right there in the courtyard. After that, he could take her back to the civil administration board to register the marriage, so that they could then spend the rest of their lives together, spending the rest of their days madly in love.

The town was the same as before. But aside from Mingguang himself, no one knew that in that courtyard there was a girl with skin like white jade lying completely naked on a new tatami mat, with
eight dishes and two bowls of soup carefully arranged on her chest, abdomen, and thighs. She had prepared those dishes for him while completely naked, and the courtyard was filled with the delicious steam from the food combined with the sweat fragrance from her body. Like an idiot, the rest of the world wasn’t aware of a thing. Only the two of them knew about this, and between them they enjoyed many secrets and pleasures.

Only Mingguang knew that the pleasure Little Cui was able to give him was one that most men would never have a chance to hear about, much less experience.

Once Mingguang arrived in the village behind the town, where the streets were almost empty, he practically ran home. He pushed open the gate and, waving his divorce certificate, shouted, “We can now get married!” But then he suddenly froze in the entranceway and stood there motionless for the longest time.

Little Cui was not lying naked beneath the tree, nor was she dressed and waiting for him in the courtyard.

The tree’s shadow had retreated to the side of the mat, and the sun was shining down brightly on it. The dishes that had previously been arranged on her body were now scattered all over the ground, and a large number of crows, sparrows, turtledoves, and orioles were busy pecking at the food. There were more than a dozen different kinds of birds, including black, gray, yellow, and red ones, and of each kind there were more than a dozen individual birds. They were all busy eating the vegetables and soup. There were also a couple of wild chickens and peacocks, which no one had seen for many years. It was as if an avian convention were being held right there in the courtyard. The birds that had already eaten their fill were chirping and hopping around, or else were perched on the wall or the tree branches, while the rest were still pecking for food. When the birds heard the gate open, some of them looked at him in surprise, while
others ignored him and continued going from one overturned dish to another.

With a sense of foreboding, Mingguang shouted, “Little Cui! Little Cui!” as he made his way through the flock of birds toward the house. When he went inside, he discovered that Little Cui had already left, and her clothing and traveling bag were also missing.

For the next several years, he never succeeded in finding her. It was as if she had never existed, as if they had never been together.

2. TREES

After Little Cui and Mingguang moved out, Kong Dongde rarely spoke. He acted as though he were completely exhausted, and at mealtime he couldn’t even extract any flavor from his fish and meat. The only time he managed to have any energy was when he got angry. His wife brought him every meal and entreated him, “Can’t you eat just one bite?” When she left, she complained to her eldest daughter-in-law, “Why can’t he die? If he died, at least we would be at peace.”

When Little Cui had still been living with them, she was most solicitous of Kong Dongde’s needs. When he wanted dumplings she would make him ingot-like dumplings, and when he wanted fish balls she would make him jade-like fish balls. Once she stuffed some dough with meat filling, carefully fashioned it into the shape of an official seal, then boiled it and served it to him. Another time, she cut the dough into the shape of hundred-yuan bills, then painted them to make them look like actual money. On another occasion, she labored in the kitchen for the longest time, trying to roll some dough into the shape of an official seal, but the dough was too soft and consequently after she boiled it, it came out looking more like a woman’s breast.

When she brought out that bowl of pasta resembling a cross between an official seal and a woman’s breast, he kept staring up at
her chest. Little Cui stood there and let him look at her, and only after he had finished did she take the bowl and walk away.

Eventually, Little Cui and Mingguang had become intimate.

They then moved out of the house together, and Kong Dongde never saw Little Cui again, spending the rest of his days fuming and refusing to eat. On that particular day, he suddenly said to his daughter-in-law Qinfang, “I want to eat dough in the shape of an official seal, but leave the dough on the soft side. Also, cook me several dishes of tender vegetables, so fresh that they are still dripping water.” Qinfang went to the kitchen to knead the dough, and went to the market to buy fresh vegetables. But the moment she left the house, a boy from the village came running in and handed something to Kong Dongde before running back out again. At that point, Kong Dongde was sunning himself in the courtyard and had just dozed off. He took a look at what the boy had handed him and immediately woke up. He became so emotional that he couldn’t speak, and his blood surged to his head. He abruptly stood up, then went inside to take off his old clothing and put on a set of neatly pressed new clothes. Then he walked outside.

His wife was there rinsing grain and asked, “Where did you go?”

He snapped back, “I went to die!”

His wife stared in shock and asked, “Where did you go to die?”

Without turning around, he said, “My sickness is cured. No one needs to worry about me.”

Holding the object the child had given him, he headed out. His legs felt as strong as they had when he was younger, and when he stepped over the threshold he didn’t need to lean on the door frame but rather hopped across like a child. His wife was astounded. She watched him until he disappeared from sight, then said, “It would be good if he just died.” Then she returned to rinsing the grain.

Kong Dongde proceeded to a small wooded area to the east of the town. The area was located on a hillside about half a
li
away and
was not far from where Hu Dajun—who at the time had been town mayor but by this point was already county mayor—had erected that enormous stele for Zhu Ying, while also erecting a number of other crooked steles along the edge of the woods. Little Cui was standing next to the stele waiting for him. It was early autumn and the trees were still green, while the thick dark leaves were covered with a layer of dirt. On the tree branches there were some plastic bags that had been blown over by the wind, making it look as though they were covered with the white paper blossoms used in the Qingming grave-sweeping festival. There were also some northern birds flying overhead, and when they were tired they would perch on Zhu Ying’s stele. Little Cui was wearing her old clothing—straight-leg pants, a tight-fitting top, and a shirt with a small collar—which was quite different from what the Balou Mountain residents typically wore. She was standing there waiting for Kong Dongde and had a large travel bag, which was sitting on the stele’s platform. She was like a girl waiting for a man of her grandfather’s generation to come over, but at the same time she also resembled a young woman waiting for the lover she hadn’t seen for many years. She watched as Kong Dongde approached, then stepped forward and stood in the middle of the road. She looked around and saw that the village was like a magnificent painting spread out on the ground. On the other side of the mountain, Liu Gully and Zhang Peak were connected to the town, and a forest of buildings grew between them. The mountain road, which by now had already been paved, was full of trucks rumbling down from the mines. After waiting for the trucks to pass, Kong Dongde stood in front of her. His face was pale, but beneath his pallor his pulse was racing. His eyes were glazed, but beneath the glaze there was a glittering warmth.

She smiled at him and said, “So you’ve come?”

He looked at her travel bag, and asked, “Where are you going?”

“Come over here.”

After cautiously looking around, Kong Dongde followed her toward the forest. He watched her carry that travel bag while waving her empty hand, like a peacock carrying something in its mouth while spreading its wings to fly. He hesitated for a moment but then continued to follow her into the forest. This had previously been farmland, but after the village developed into a bustling town everyone started earning money to stop farming the land. After a few years, the farmland became covered with weeds and trees. The area had once been planted with pagoda trees, paulownia trees, chinaberry trees, and elms, together with apricot and persimmon trees that grew from the seeds carried over by birds and the wind—they had all grown to the point that each trunk was as wide as a plate. There was a persimmon tree that had been full of oranges and tangerines as fiery red as autumn persimmons. As a result of the combined influence of the wind, insects, and village children, however, the oranges and tangerines had long since disappeared, leaving behind only a single bare branch, as if the tree were holding up an orange-colored red lantern. The ground beneath their feet, once a rich carpet of asparagus, was now covered with wormwood-like weeds and a variety of multicolored flowers reaching for the sky. The old man and the young woman proceeded into the wooded area, while the stele and the road behind them stood like centuries-old artifacts that had been left in place. The sound of cars driving by was ear-piercingly loud, though it also seemed as though it were coming from another world. When they reached the persimmon tree in the middle of the forest, Little Cui placed her bag on top of some underbrush, then turned around and smiled at Kong Dongde.