The Explosion Chronicles (26 page)

“… I’m his office manager and handle all of his business. If you should need anything, let me know.”

After putting the phone down, Zhu Ying rushed over to the county government building, as though blown there by a tornado. When the sentry in front of the building tried to stop her, she screamed, “Don’t you know who I am? I am Zhu Ying, the mayor’s wife!” When she reached the elevator, she roared at the elevator monitor, “Don’t you know? I am Zhu Ying, the mayor’s wife!” When she reached the floor of the mayor’s office, all of the workers came to the doorway and bowed to her. Only Cheng Qing was left standing in the hallway, like a tree full of branches and leaves blocking her way. Cheng Qing wasn’t as tall as Zhu Ying, but today she was wearing milky-blue high heels and the sort of small-collared jacket that female cadres liked to wear. She was also wearing a snow-white shirt and appeared very dignified, bearing little resemblance to the former owner of Peach Blossom Spring. Standing there like a national cadre Ying, Cheng Qing laughed and said quietly,

“Sister-in-law, how are you?”

Zhu Ying slapped her face.

Cheng Qing stopped smiling but continued in a quiet voice, “Do you dare slap me again?”

Zhu Ying snorted and proceeded to slap her again.

Cheng Qing swayed back and forth, and struggled to remain upright. In a trembling voice, she asked, “Will you dare assure your son that his father is definitely the county mayor? Won’t you be concerned that when your son grows up, he may end up resembling someone else?” As Cheng Qing said this, the smile returned to her face, like a flower blooming again in the middle of a field. She took another step closer to Zhu Ying, holding her inflamed cheek as though trying to prevent blood from spurting out, and added in an even lower voice,

“Ms. Zhu, you should leave. If you treat me well, I promise I won’t tell the mayor anything.

“… Ms. Zhu, you mustn’t come back here. This is my territory, and you have your own house. If you treat me well, I’ll let you keep your title of first lady.

“… Ms. Zhu, go back and try to come up with a way to make sure your son grows up to resemble Mayor Kong, and not anyone else.”

Zhu Ying stood in the hallway in front of Cheng Qing, beads of sweat gradually appearing on her forehead. On that day, the sunlight streaming in through the window twisted and turned in midair. A gorgeous oriole flew over and alighted on the windowsill. It peered in at Zhu Ying and flew away, but as it did so all of its yellow and red feathers fell out, drifted through the air, then disappeared. The featherless oriole, meanwhile, became a bald house sparrow. After chirping a few times, it flew toward the other sparrows. Zhu Ying was so dizzy she felt as though the window, the hallway, and everyone’s face were spinning around. Afraid she was about to fall over, she
glanced at Cheng Qing. When she noticed that Cheng Qing didn’t have even a trace of wrinkles around her eyes, Zhu Ying felt a rush of confusion and quickly leaned against the wall. Just as she was about to collapse, she heard her two-week-old son in her house, wide-eyed and kicking, as he screamed,

“Ma … Ma …”

This scream was long and robust, and had the effect of supporting Zhu Ying and preventing her from collapsing. As she was saying good-bye to Cheng Qing, Zhu Ying stood in the hallway and screamed, “Kong Mingliang will remain my husband for as long as I live! Explosion will continue to belong to our Kong family for as long as I live!” Then, as Cheng Qing and the others watched, Zhu Ying turned around and headed back in the direction from which she had come.

When she arrived home, she found that the two nannies had already left. From that point on, no one was left in the compound but her and her son, together with an air of bleakness following the loss of prosperity.

1. A HERO’S STORY

I.

After returning from Explosion to his barracks, Kong Mingyao asked his commander,

“Are military commendations for sale? Can I purchase one?

“… Commander, just name a price. I really want to buy a third-class commendation.

“… Despite having been in the army for so many years, I’ve never managed to earn a commendation. Therefore, I want to purchase both a third-class and a second-class commendation, to give to someone back home. Money is no object.”

At that point, the barracks were shrouded in a post-dinner dusk, as each regiment had been marching in formation in the field, like a city wall moving back and forth. The trees along the edge of the field were all chanting
One, Two, Three, Four
into the wind. The soldiers
were holding rifles and handguns that they had a chance to hold only during training exercises, and like an engaged but unmarried couple, they were sweating with anticipation. It was at this moment that Kong Mingyao, carrying his travel bag, returned to the barracks. He was so happy he felt he was about to explode, and delight flowed from his heart like a river, enough to float a ferry. He never imagined that one day he would have this much money, nor that a tall, slender woman would come up to him just as he was about to return to the barracks. She smiled at him, whereupon a green vine began growing from the ground beneath his feet. As he was staring at the vine, the tall, slender woman walked over. Standing there with a calm expression, she said quietly, “You look just like my brother. My brother looks just like you.” He had stared at her in confusion and saw that her eyebrows were black and radiant, and as a long as a finger. Shaped like a pair of crescent moons, they hovered over her seductive eyes. Her smile was like a ray of morning sunshine. He had never before stood this close to a girl, nor had he ever smelled a woman’s scent while he was stationed in the barracks. Her scent was so fragrant that it seemed to be perfume, though it was clearly emanating from her breasts. She was smiling as she spoke to him; her face was like a summer flower exploding into bloom.

“Can you walk with me through the streets of Explosion?

“… If you really want to become a soldier, then you should take me out to eat.

“… You could take me to get a room in the hotel up ahead, so that we can chat for a while.”

Up until he returned to the barracks, Mingyao couldn’t bring himself to believe what had occurred that day before dusk. He couldn’t believe he had really done what he did. Sweat had poured down from his head and face, as the vine at his feet burst into bloom and an array of red, yellow, and purple blossoms appeared on every branch. The
flowers’ scent was so strong that his entire body went limp and his legs turned to rubber, and he almost fell onto that blooming vine. Then he followed the girl, leaving behind the flower-covered vine, but when they reached the street corner, a millstone that had been there since he entered the army suddenly sprouted camellia blossoms. When they reached a restaurant, the stone lion in the entranceway was suddenly transformed into a pair of welcome bouquets positioned on either side of the door. The bouquets included roses, chrysanthemums, hibiscus, and bright red poincianas, and the effect was as if there were a couple of torches burning on either side of the entranceway. Eventually they arrived at a hotel that initially appeared particularly luxurious, but when he was about to unlock the door he saw that it was painted yellow, and through the cracks in the paint curled-up strips of wood were visible. The instant the key entered the keyhole, however, the door was suddenly covered with fresh red paint, and the smell mingled with the scent of her body. This odor swept over him like a wave, nearly drowning him. He couldn’t remember the number of the hotel room where they were staying, nor could he remember how the room was decorated. Instead, all that he could recall was that the moment he opened the door, he was confronted with an enormous, snow-white bed adorned with colorful silk blossoms, and when he lay on the bed he would either sink into the soft mattress or slide off the silk blossoms.

They did it on that flower-covered bed.

She taught him how to do it.

After they finished, the silk blossoms were stuck to his body, which was drenched in sweat. When he covered his body with the sheet while trying to remove the silk blossoms, she was already out of bed and getting dressed. As he was thinking that he wanted to do it again, she took out a wallet-size photograph of herself and placed it in his hand, saying, “You look like my brother, and ever since I
was young I’ve wanted to give myself to him. But since I couldn’t do so, I can now give myself to you instead.”

Then she added, “Do you want to marry me? If you do, then you’ll have to leave the army. Remember that I’m called Fragrance, and to tell the truth, none of the girls in Explosion or even in the entire world—no girl you will ever encounter in this lifetime—has skin or a body as good as mine. If you want to marry me, though, you must leave the army. I’ve been waiting for you for years—because you look like my brother, and ever since I was a child I’ve wanted to marry my brother.”

After this, she disappeared from that blossom-filled room, explaining that she had an urgent matter to which she needed to attend and couldn’t stay to keep him company. She told him that if he missed her, he could look at the photograph, and if he still missed her, he should immediately leave the army. Without waiting for him to get dressed, she disappeared from that hotel room, like a beautiful cloud blown away by the wind. For a moment, he didn’t know what had just happened, as the love that had fallen from heaven was like a soap bubble in his palm, and in an instant it burst, leaving behind a layer of water. Only after he watched her walk away and then close the door did he inspect the photograph in his hand. He immediately recoiled, as though the photograph had burned him. He dropped it onto the bed and looked at it again, and saw that the photo was of her naked body. She was sitting on the edge of a bed, with an enormous red rose between her legs.

The next day, he headed back to the army.

He arrived back at the barracks just before dusk, and a surge of excitement swept over him, as though he were surrounded by spirits. When he remembered the feeling she had given him, he found himself bursting with desire. Moreover, when he remembered that he already had a million yuan, he wanted nothing more than to piss
all over someone’s face so that he could then use his hundred-yuan bills to wipe it clean.

As he was about to enter the barracks, he stood in the entranceway looking around and couldn’t help smiling. In order to confirm that the previous days’ events had really happened, he reached into his pocket to stroke that photograph printed on immaculately white paper. Then he picked up his luggage and, his chest thrust out, proceeded inside. The door was flanked by two sentries, who saluted him when he passed through. He not only returned their salute, he even slipped into their pockets a fistful of candy into which he had inserted a hundred-yuan bill. When one of the sentries reached into his pocket to get the candy, he noticed the money and looked at Mingyao in astonishment. Mingyao asked him, “If I told you I’m a millionaire, would you believe me? You can take this hundred yuan to buy a good meal.” As Mingyao was saying this, he hurried off, afraid that the sentry would try to give him back the money. Throughout the barracks, he distributed hundred-yuan bills in this manner, but each time he gave the candy and money to a fellow soldier, Mingyao would quickly leave, afraid that the soldier would discover the money inside the candy and try to return it to him. Occasionally, one soldier would in fact find the money and say, “Commander, here is some cash that got mixed up in the candy you gave me.” Mingyao would then push the man’s hand away and ask, “Are you looking down on me? If I told you I’m a millionaire, would you believe me?” If the soldier stared, then laughed and took the money and walked off, then they would both be happy. If, on the other hand, the soldier insisted on trying to return the money, Mingyao would take it and immediately rip it up, shouting, “Did you think that I was trying to bribe you? Do you really think you’re worth that? How many years have you been a soldier, and how many years have
I
been a soldier? Others have been calling me Boss for
a long time, yet you dare call me Uncle when you happen to run into me in the street!”

He would continue reprimanding the soldier in this way, while at the same time reaching into his pocket to caress that photograph. It was as if as long as the photograph was there he could speak in this way, but without it he wouldn’t have the courage. At dusk, all of the soldiers in the division who did not have evening training—including cooks, janitors, herdsman, and sentries who had just finished their shift—came to his dormitory to pay their respects. They called him Squad Leader, and sat around his cot asking him how his family was doing and whether his father’s funeral had proceeded smoothly. They asked what his father had died from, noting that a funeral for a seventy-year-old counts as a celebratory funeral, even though nowadays it is not unusual for people to live to be eighty or ninety.

Then, the sun set and the soldiers doing evening training returned to the barracks. The sound of their military chants mixed with that of the whistle summoning everyone for a squad meeting, like a chorus of guns and bullets. Everyone left Mingyao’s room. By this point the entire regiment knew that their former squad leader, who had also served as acting platoon leader, had gone home to see his family and then came back with so much money that it seemed as though the bills were growing on trees. Everyone was shocked by this development, and those who believed it exclaimed, “Fuck!” while those who didn’t pondered for a long time as they shook their heads and asked, “How can this be? How in the world can this be?”

After the lights had been turned off in the barracks, the company commander sent someone to summon Kong Mingyao. Previously, Kong Mingyao would voluntarily go to the commander’s office whenever the commander needed anything, but this time he waited until the commander had summoned him three times before going to see him. The commander’s room was on the eastern side of the
regiment’s building, and inside there was only a cot, a table, a chair, a face-washing basin, a washbasin stand, a plastic bucket, and a rifle hanging on the wall over the bed, while on the opposite wall there were maps of China and of the world. Before he entered, Kong Mingyao stood in the doorway and shouted, “Reporting for duty!” and then saluted the commander.

The commander said, “Upon returning from leave, you should first report to me.”

Mingyao smiled.

The commander said, “Are you not interested in advancing? How do you dare break the rules?”

Mingyao smiled.

The commander said, “Remember, the promotion announcement is still in my hands. I still haven’t submitted it to the authorities.”

Kong Mingyao continued smiling. He sat in the commander’s chair, while the commander sat on his own bed. Then Mingyao said three things:

“Commander, can military commendations be bought? Can I purchase one?

“… Commander, please name your price. I’d really like to buy a third-class commendation.

“… After working so hard as a soldier for so many years, I’ve never received a commendation. No matter what it might cost, I’d like to buy a third-class commendation, as well as a second-class one. I’d like to give them to someone back home.”

As he was saying this, Kong Mingyao gripped the photograph in his hand. It was as if he were holding a ball of flame, as sweat poured out of his palm. He was afraid he might get the photo wet, so when the commander wasn’t paying attention, Mingyao returned the photograph to his pocket. Then, when he left the company commander’s office, he walked very deliberately, like a hammer striking an
anvil. As the commander opened the door to see him out, he paused and wondered whether he should have an army physician examine this soldier. After all, how could it be that Mingyao had gone home to take care of his father’s funeral arrangements, and upon returning acted as though he had gone mad?

It was then that Kong Mingyao suddenly resolved to withdraw from the army.

It was on a very ordinary night that he decided not to continue in the army. As he was lying in bed with ejaculate between his thighs and unable to sleep, he took that fragrant photograph and looked at it for a while, then abruptly sat up and, without giving the matter a second thought, resolved to withdraw from the army.

II.

After Mingyao decided to withdraw from the army by the end of the year, a series of odd events took place in the regiment. Every week the regiment elected a model soldier, and that week Kong Mingyao was elected unanimously. Every month the regiment elected a model soldier, and that month Kong Mingyao was again elected nearly unanimously. During a marksmanship competition, everyone fired ten bullets, and while the maximum number of points was technically a hundred, Kong Mingyao’s target nevertheless ended up with twenty-five bullet holes for two hundred and forty points. Every day, the local post office delivered countless letters praising Kong Mingyao, saying that when he wasn’t helping people buy what they needed he was at the hospital helping patients cover their hospital fees—either because they had forgotten to bring the money or because they simply didn’t have enough. The families of soldiers from poor mountainous regions received remittances from their sons, although the soldiers themselves claimed they hadn’t sent anything—and therefore realized that this must be money Kong Mingyao had sent of his own accord.
To thank him, they bought pig’s heads, peanut rice, beer, and
baijiu
liquor, and on weekends the soldiers invited Mingyao and more than a dozen others from the same hometown region to go into the small forest behind the barracks, where they placed some newspapers on the ground and proceeded to eat and drink. The soldiers drank until they were tipsy, then raised their glasses to Kong Mingyao and said,