Old Town (60 page)

The testimony the doctor wrote for Young Li finally passed the check-and-approval process. Now Baohua and her husband once again became the heaviest weight on his heart. “Big Zhang’s” special-case team was a long time in coming, and Baohua hadn’t been writing home. He wanted to go see her and couldn’t put it off one day more.

Early one morning, the doctor stood in front of his little mirror and got himself up as a worker. Second Sister knew where he was going and had already collected his cigarette carton and bottle of liquor, together with some clothes she made for Baohua, and packed all of this into a battered cloth bag. She also pressed on him a little money for contingencies. She went with him to the long-distance bus and ordered him to “arrive early and get back early.” West Gate was now holding “study sessions,” so, no matter what, he wasn’t to create difficulties for Ah Ming. The doctor nodded his head in agreement.

The doctor rode in a rattletrap of a bus with the wind blowing in on all sides. He thought of Baohua when she was little and how delicate and pretty she had looked. His memories of how moved he had felt when he held her in his arms those many years ago were still fresh today. It was the tenderness he felt for a fragile little life. He thought if only he could stay alive he would prop up a serene piece of sky for her and not let her suffer the least bit of injustice. But over the past ten years or so he had watched wide-eyed his daughter’s tempestuous setbacks without being able to do anything to help her. After Baohua’s remarriage she rarely returned home. He had heard that she had adopted a boy. It would soon be two years and he still hadn’t seen this adopted grandson. What kind of life did Baohua have now that Big Zhang had been detained?

When Baohua and her husband adopted their son, remote P Town had already begun its “Smash the Four Olds” campaign. Big Zhang had led the entire bureau’s cadres and police force onto the streets in support of the Red Guards’ revolutionary actions. He was an uncultured worker-peasant cadre who had always been prejudiced against intellectuals and was sincere in his support of this Revolution aimed at such people. This bureau chief with his police uniform and his red armband really strutted the limelight in little P Town. The only thing that marred this ideal situation for him was that he had no son playing at his feet. He was the son of a northern peasant and he took very seriously the matter of carrying on the family line. The reason he had divorced his first wife was that she couldn’t conceive. Only after he married for the second time did he discover he was the one who was sterile. So while he was busy stirring up revolution he entrusted someone with arranging the adoption of an eight-month-old boy called Maomao. Maomao was both intelligent and lovable. Within two months of coming to the Zhang home, he could say “Baba!” and “Mama!” Every day when Big Zhang returned home from work Maomao would hold out his little arms and cry “Baba!” Hearing this word over and over turned the Public Security Bureau chief’s heart to mush. He hired a “granny” for the house and nanny for the child. He also intended to adopt a girl child, for his salary was sufficient to raise a whole host of children.

At this time Baohua was already over thirty years old and it was only then that she knew the natural happiness of being a wife and having a family. Taking on the burdens with great gusto, she made an official’s wife that people could admire, and enjoyed all the perks and privileges that came along with that. While the hospital staff also made revolution and they split into this and that faction, Baohua took no interest in any of this. She wasn’t afraid of anyone saying she was ideologically backward. With the great tree of the Public Security Bureau chief behind her, who would dare provoke her? In this sweet and pleasant small-family life, her daughter and her West Gate family faded from memory.

Surprisingly, this intoxicating life amid the flames of the Revolution lasted a whole year. But the day that Big Zhang went to his office and didn’t come back home, the columns supporting this home’s cross beam came crashing down. Baohua’s standard approach to anything was to cry, and with their lot in life so suddenly changed, this she did endlessly. The rebel faction saw this woman weeping and sobbing and couldn’t get anywhere with her, so, as a punishment, they sent her to steam wheat flour buns in the mess hall. Every day, when she couldn’t get the stove started, she cried. When the buns were not cooked properly, she cried. Big Zhang’s salary had been suspended and Baohua’s own salary also reduced by half. She was unable to pay the nanny and she cried over this too. The nanny packed a bundle of belongings and just resigned. The granny couldn’t bear leaving the child and stuck it out for two more months. One day at the end of the month, she said that she ought to buy some rice, and Baohua got into such a panic at not having the money for this that tears flowed again. The old lady used her own savings and bought a few
jin
of rice. She told Baohua that from the look of things, Bureau Chief Zhang wouldn’t be coming home any time soon. “Such a pampered wife like you can’t manage a child, so I’ll take Maomao back to the village. Whenever things are peaceful again at your home, I’ll come back.” Baohua took the child from the granny’s arms and proceeded with a round of weeping and wailing. Then she took off her wristwatch and gave it to the other woman. In such a way did a lively and vibrant family come apart.

When the doctor arrived at the P Town hospital, it was just about time for the evening meal to be served in the mess hall. The stove where the buns were steamed had not yet been lighted, for it had rained heavily over the past few days and the firewood and the stove box were all sodden. When Baohua used alcohol to light the fire she scorched her eyebrows and hair but still the fire in the stove box was barely alive. She held the blowpipe and she cried as she blew onto the fire. Sometimes she would think of her mother. It was only now that she understood how capable her mother was and the difficulties she had been through. In those times her mother had raised three children all by herself as well as bearing the burden of the rest of the Guo family.
How come I can’t raise even just Maomao?

A ragged and skinny old fellow walked over to the stove. Whenever she couldn’t serve the meal, a mass of people, their bellies rumbling with hunger, would come crowding around the stove. When she was in distress Baohua could not rein in her Big Missy temper and she often blew up, crying and shouting and losing her temper at the people waiting to eat. She looked at the little alarm clock that had been placed beside her. It wasn’t yet time, but here was someone coming to make trouble. Depressed and resentful, she barked out, “Go away, go away! The steamers aren’t hot yet. You want to eat uncooked buns?” The skinny old guy stood there dumbly without moving. “Didn’t you hear me? If
you
don’t go away,
I
will!” Baohua raised her tear-and smoke-streaked face and was totally stunned. “Dad, what are you doing here?” His own eyes were filled with tears, and without saying a word, the doctor took the blow pipe from the woman’s hand and with total concentration got the fire in the stove going.

That evening, the father and daughter went to the cowshed to see Big Zhang. The special-case team was made up of his subordinates. That “double agent,” Old Wang, who had gone to the Lin home, had grown up with Big Zhang in the same village. Over these several months Baohua could go and see Big Zhang anytime she wanted to. But not today. Old Wang said that he had been transferred to the provincial government. It looked like a serious problem. When he was young, Big Zhang had followed a certain leading cadre. And that cadre had been marked by Jiang Qing
⁵⁶
as a secret agent.

Baohua cried the whole night long. Watching over his daughter, the doctor sighed the whole night long too. The walls were covered with photos of Maomao. Big Zhang was holding Maomao with an expression of love and happiness. So! This uncouth northerner
was
kindly and chivalrous. In an instant, a feeling of love which had never before existed sprung up in his mind toward this son-in-law whom he had only seen a few times before. The doctor decided to go bring Maomao back home. He wanted to stay in P Town and build a family for his daughter.

The next day, the doctor went to P Town’s rural area and found the granny’s home. When she heard that he had come for Maomao, she got very upset. She took off Baohua’s watch and pressed it on the doctor, saying obstinately, “I love this child. I’m not seeking anything from you. Short of Bureau Chief Zhang himself coming for Maomao, no one can take this child away. Even if his mother came, I wouldn’t let her take Maomao away. She can’t raise children and I won’t let Maomao suffer wrongs along with her.” The granny’s own children were running about wild, all in tatters and rags. But there in her arms Maomao looked in good condition. It was obvious that he received special love and care in this family. Although the world was in chaos, everywhere there were fine and good people. The doctor was so moved he wanted to cry. He said to the nanny, “Let me hold the child for a bit.” Secretly he stuffed the watch and a few banknotes under Maomao’s stomach bib and then said farewell.

Upon his return to P Town, the doctor went straight to the mess hall and became Baohua’s assistant. The days passed, and with her father’s help, Baohua learned how to light the stove and to steam fragrant and piping hot buns with ease. The workers in the mess hall all liked this taciturn, hardworking old fellow and nobody bothered to ask where he had come from. The doctor himself seemed to forget where he had come from. Looking at Baohua, tears no longer flowing down her face, and even occasionally laughing happily, he had been able to accompany this woman through a difficult period. For this he felt satisfaction and happiness.

4.

T
HE DOCTOR WAS
staying on in P Town and did not return. This really alarmed Ah Ming. The West Gate revolutionary committee was holding study sessions and it had long since been Dr. Lin’s turn to attend. Time and again, Ah Ming had handled this in a perfunctory way, and this gave rise to some comments. So he came to the Lin home and called in Baosheng and Baoqing to discuss how to get the doctor to return. The two brothers knew clearly that if Ah Ming’s involvement in this led to his downfall, West Gate would lose its protective umbrella. But who could succeed in calling their dad back home? Baosheng and Baoqing knew well from their own experience that if the doctor saw them, just pretending to be deaf and dumb would be considered being polite on his part. Only Ma could take the field in this matter. Second Sister shook her head. She had just received a letter from Ninth Brother. In it were his thoughts on keeping their daughter company in P Town and mobilizing Second Sister to bring me as well, to P Town.

The tense meeting at the Lin home had not yet concluded when the doctor himself, wearing beat-up old clothes, suddenly appeared. He put down the empty sack he carried and peered furtively all around. Turning back, he fastened the bar on the main gate then gestured to me to leave the main hall. Several pairs of eyes followed me as I left. Who knew what drama was being acted out? The doctor sat down and, lowering his voice, told of Big Zhang’s predicament. He only had to say that Big Zhang had been the bodyguard of that certain leading cadre, for Baosheng and Baoqing to know just how serious the problem was. That person had been convicted by Jiang Qing herself!

A blanket of silence descended upon them. After quite a while Baosheng said, “It’s lucky that Big Sister didn’t give birth again. Convince her to quickly break up her marriage with him.”

“You impudent animal!” The doctor’s eyes shot fire at Baosheng. “I’m going to find him and I’ll see his face if he’s alive, or his corpse if he’s dead!’

Having delivered these words, he turned around and tilting his head back, closed his eyes. Waving his hand, he said, “You all just go. This matter has nothing to do with you. Just pretend you never heard it at all.”

The two brothers brought Ah Ming to the gateway and asked him to order their father into the study session. Whatever else happened, he was not allowed to run loose like that again.

Second Sister brewed some hot tea for the doctor. She asked him who that leading cadre could have been. The doctor said without opening his eyes, “You don’t need to know too much.”

Big Zhang was convicted of being a member of a ring of public security secret agents. Yesterday, Old Wang went to the mess hall and called the doctor out for a confidential discussion. He had just gone to the provincial capital and heard that Big Zhang’s attitude was arrogant and aggressive to the extreme. Even if he were going to be beaten to death he wouldn’t admit his guilt. Old Wang just had to think of some way to persuade him to make this admission. If he could, Big Zhang’s punishment would be determined, and Old Wang would fix it so he could be jailed in P Town. Otherwise, his violent temper really would get him beaten to death.

Old Wang had an old comrade-in-arms who was a section head at the provincial-level Public Security office. At the meeting table, the two men pretended they did not know each other. Halfway through the meeting, Old Wang used a toilet break to report on Big Zhang’s situation. “Did you say that Big Zhang was a secret agent?” the doctor asked. Old Wang hawked up some phlegm and spit it onto the ground. “Pah! That’s fucking rubbish. Big Zhang got to be bureau chief by
catching
secret agents. Now he’s a secret agent himself—what a joke!” He didn’t tell the doctor that the meeting at the Public Security office was precisely about catching secret agents, for they had caught a real one from Taiwan, and he had said that Big Zhang might be useful for breaking the case. The section head immediately notified the detention people that Big Zhang had to be kept alive and under no circumstances could they beat him to death.

Old Wang told the doctor to think of a way to get Big Zhang to change his attitude and act obediently. There was no way he could discuss this matter with Baohua, the cadre said. “Your precious daughter’s useless for anything except crying,” he said, and laughed bitterly. He gave the doctor a photograph. It showed two young army men: Old Wang and the section head when they had come south to liberate Old Town. He also made the doctor memorize the section head’s home address. This photo gave the doctor an inspiration. He had found several photographs of Maomao at his daughter’s home. He believed that Big Zhang would surely swallow all these insults and go on living for Maomao.

This discussion itself was like secret agent activity, with the doctor the newly inducted member in a special unit group. Second Sister sensed that ever since his return from P Town he had changed into someone devious and surreptitious. This wasn’t the real Ninth Brother. She privately expressed her misgivings to her sons. “Does your father have any mental problems?”

All the people who went into the study sessions were honest and decent. Being the dregs of the old society, they couldn’t have been more grateful that they hadn’t been struggled or put into jail. The whole thing was nothing more than to again shake out the history of each person that had been shaken out a thousand times already. None of them dared slip out the main gate of the revolutionary committee. But every day the doctor slipped out and slipped back in. Ah Ming thought he was going home for the noon rest, so he just closed an eye to this. It was all right so long as the doctor appeared in the morning for instructions and in the evening to give his report. When Ah Ming also speculated to Shuiguan on Dr. Lin’s mental state, he got a real tongue-lashing from his father.

For several days, the doctor hurried to catch the noon break at the Public Security office where he sauntered about in the vicinity of its living quarters. Its main entrance was tightly guarded and you had to have a pass. Upon close observation, he discovered that a worker from the nearby coal shop brought coal to the living quarters daily at noon without having his papers checked at the guardhouse.

This day he asked Second Sister to try to get hold of a fifty-
jin
coal coupon. He went to the study session and after reporting in, slipped out again. On the road he borrowed some coal tools from someone he knew well and after buying the coal he blackened his face and swaggered into the Public Security Department dormitory. He couldn’t help being secretly very pleased with his remarkable talent as a secret agent.

The section head himself opened the door. The doctor took out with his dirty hands the photograph that Old Wang had given him and introduced himself as Big Zhang’s father-in-law. The two men then pretended to move coal into the cooking area. The section head said that he had lent Big Zhang to the department to assist in breaking a case, but there was a specially trained guard by Big Zhang’s side, so he couldn’t talk and didn’t dare talk. Big Zhang was obstinate by nature and would rather die than to admit to guilt. Tomorrow he was going to be sent back to the detention center. If they didn’t get a speedy sentencing, he was going to die in there. The doctor said, “I’d like to see him. Once I see him I’m sure I could get him to change his attitude.” The section head stood by a pile of coal and smoked two cigarettes in quick succession. Pointing to the little building way off by the side of the wall surrounding the compound, he said, “That’s where he is right now. The people guarding him are in the outer room and may be having their noon doze. There’s a small barred window in the back. Just go ahead and give it a try. If he’s asleep too there’s nothing you can do about this, so please don’t come looking for me again, all right?”

At this moment, Big Zhang was standing motionlessly up by the barred window, his mind in a daze. He couldn’t figure out why he had ended up in this cell. Nor could he figure out how his most revered leader could possibly be a secret agent. He himself was the son of a destitute peasant in a northern village, and ever since he was little had hired himself out long-term to the local landlords. In 1938, that cadre was leading the Eight Route Army when it liberated his village. Thus at only sixteen years of age Big Zhang became a soldier of the Eight Route Army. The party’s loving kindness to him had been higher than heaven and thicker than the earth, as they say. How could they make him admit that he was a secret agent plotting to overthrow the Communist regime?

A skinny old geezer bearing a shoulder pole with two empty baskets walked onto the patch of weeds outside the barred window. Big Zhang gazed idly at the scene in front of him, but in his mind he was thinking of the year when that leading cadre taught him to read. Hazily he recalled the vastness of the great plain where he came from and its stretch after stretch of tall, new crops.

The old fellow’s eyes were flecked with tears as he came up to the barred window. When their eyes connected, Big Zhang didn’t recognize his father-in-law. There was no way he would have expected Baohua’s father to appear at this place at this time. He didn’t have any good impression of Baohua’s family, especially that father-in-law with his holier-than-thou air about him who had done all he could to oppose Baohua’s marriage. Big Zhang had brooded over this and bore him a grudge. A few times Baohua had hopped a ride with Big Zhang back to Old Town and when the car stopped at the West Gate street crossing he hadn’t gotten out. Last year when the news of the doctor’s struggle session had reached P Town, his voice said to Baohua, “Bring your dad and ma to P Town,” but his heart couldn’t contain its pleasure at this other person’s misfortune.

The doctor got right next to the window and said in a low voice, “Big Zhang, you’ve had a rough time of it.”

Big Zhang was so astonished his scalp tingled, as if someone long dead was suddenly standing right there talking to him. He really couldn’t tell if it was a man or a ghost standing on the other side of the window. Then he saw Maomao’s picture. His son’s adorable face thoroughly demolished Big Zhang’s will. He lowered his head and, covering up his chin, his mouth, and his nose, wept with all his pent-up emotions.

The doctor unfolded a note that he had written beforehand and read, “For Baohua and for Maomao, you have to go on living. With a good attitude you can return to P Town to serve out your sentence. ‘As long as the hills stay green, don’t fear for a lack of firewood.’”

Big Zhang nodded, with tears in his eyes.

The doctor folded up the piece of paper and from inside his shirt took out the cigarettes, matches, and a small bottle of liquor and passed it in to Big Zhang. Then he hastily picked up his shoulder pole and walked off. Like some mischievous child, he had been in an exciting game and now, as he headed toward West Street, his unsettled nerves calmed down a bit. He pondered over Big Zhang. The tears of this tough and boorish northerner were daggers stabbing into his heart. As he walked along he wiped his own tears until half his face was black with coal dust. Passing West Street he forgot to return the shoulder pole and the empty baskets to their owner. He also forgot to return to the study session. Feeling quite light-headed, he walked to his own home.