8
an uproar in the yard startled shangguan lu awake. she was crestfallen when she saw thather belly was as swollen as ever, even now that half the kang was stained with her blood. thefresh dirt her mother-in-law had spread over the kang had turned into sticky, blood-soakedmud, and what had been only a vague feeling suddenly turned crystal-clear. she watched as abat with pink wing membranes flew down from the rafters, and a purple face materialized onthe black wall across from her; it was the face of a dead baby boy. a gut- wrenching,heartrending pain became a dull ache. then her curiosity was piqued by the sight of a tinyfoot with bright toenails poking out from between her legs. it’s all over, she thought, my lifeis all over. the thought of death brought feelings of deep sadness, and she saw herself beingplaced in a cheap coffin, with her mother-in-law looking on with an angry frown and herhusband standing nearby, gloomy but silent. the only ones wailing were her seven daughters,who stood in a circle around the coffin …
her mother-in-law’s stentorian voice overwhelmed the girl’s wails. she opened her eyes,and the hallucination vanished. the window was suffused with daylight; the heavy fragranceof locust blossoms gusted in. a bee banged into the paper window covering. “fan three,don’t worry about washing your hands,” she heard her mother-in-law say. “that preciousdaughter-in-law of mine still hasn’t had her baby. the best she can do is one leg. can youcome help out?”
“elder sister-in-law, don’t be foolish. just think what you’re saying. i’m a horse doctor, ican’t deliver a human baby.”
“people and animals aren’t that different.”
“that’s nonsense, elder sister-in-law. now get me some water so i can wash up. i sayforget the expense and go get aunty sun.”
her mother-in-law’s voice exploded like a clap of thunder: “stop pretending you don’tknow i can’t stand that old witch! last year she stole one of my little hens.”
“that’s up to you,” fan three said. “it’s your daughter-in-law who’s in labor, after all, notmy wife. all right, i’ll do it, but don’t forget the liquor and the pig’s head, because i’ll besaving two lives for your family!”
her mother-in-law changed her tone of voice from anger to melancholy: “fan three, showsome kindness. besides, with all that fighting out there, if you went out and ran into japanese…”
“that’s enough!” fan said. “in all the years we’ve been friends and neighbors, this is thefirst time i’ve done anything like this. but let’s get something straight first. people andanimals may not be that different, but a human life matters more …”
the clatter of footsteps, mixed with the sound of someone blowing his nose, came towardher. don’t tell me that my father-in-law and husband and that slick character fan three arecoming in while i’m lying here naked. the thought of it angered and shamed her. puffy whiteclouds floated before her eyes. when she strained to sit up and find something to cover hernakedness, the pool of blood she lay in made that impossible. the intermittent rumble ofexplosions from the edge of the village came on the air, punctuated by a mysterious yetsomehow familiar clamor, like the magnified noise made by a horde of tiny crawling critters,or the gnashing of countless teeth … i’ve heard that sound before, but what is it? she thoughtand she thought. then a flash of recognition quickly transformed itself into a bright light thatbrought into focus the plague of locusts she’d witnessed a decade or more earlier. the redswarms had blocked out the sun; it was a raging flood of insects that stripped every tree bare,even the bark of willows. the sickening gnawing sound ate its way into the marrow of herbones. the locusts have returned! she thought to her horror, as she sank into the mire ofdespair. “heavenly master, just let me die, i can’t take it anymore … god in heaven, blessedvirgin! send down your grace and bounty to save my soul…” she prayed hopefully even inthe throes of despair, sending prayers both to china’s supreme deity and to the paramount godof the west. when she had finished, her mental anguish and physical agonies had lessened abit, and she thought back to that late spring day when she and the redheaded, blue-eyed pastormalory had lain in the grass, and he had told her that china’s heavenly master and the west’sgod were one and the same, like the two sides of your hand, or just as the lianhua and hehuaare both lotus flowers. or, she thought bashfully, like a cock and a dick are the same thing. hestood amid the locust trees, as spring was giving way to summer, that thing of his standing upproudly … the surrounding trees in full bloom with white flowers, and red flowers, andyellow flowers, a rainbow of colors dancing in the air, their rich fragrance thoroughlyintoxicating her. she felt herself rise in the air, like a cloud, like a feather. with gratitudefilling her breast, she gazed at the somber and sacred, friendly and kindly smile on pastormalory’s face, and her eyes filled with tears.
when she closed her eyes, the tears spilled into the creases all the way to her ears. the doorwas pushed open, and her mother-in-law said meekly, “laidi’s mother, what’s wrong? youmust hold out, child. our donkey’s had a lively little mule. now, if you have this baby, theshangguan family can be content at last. you might be able to hide the truth from yourparents, but not from a doctor. since it doesn’t matter whether a midwife is male or female,i’ve asked third master fan to come over…”
the rare note of tenderness moved her. opening her eyes, she looked up into the goldenaura of the older woman’s face and nodded weakly. her mother-in-law turned and summonedfan three. “you can come in now.”
he entered with a long face, trying hard to look dignified. but he averted his eyes, as ifhe’d seen something so terrifying it drained the blood from his cheeks. “elder sister-in-law,”
he said softly as he backed to the door, his gaze resting fearfully on the body of shangguanlu, “raise your merciful hand and spare me. threaten to kill me if you want, but i cannot dowhat you ask.” he turned and ran out the door, only to bump into shangguan shouxi, whowas craning his neck to see what was going on inside. with disgust, shangguan lu noted herhusband’s gaunt, pointy face, looking more like a rat than ever, as her mother-in-law ran outon the heels of fan three.
“fan three, you fucking dog!”
when her husband stuck his head in the door a second time, she mustered the strength toraise an arm to signal him and say icily — she couldn’t be sure if the words actually emergedfrom her mouth: “come over here, you son of a bitch!” by this time, she’d forgotten herhatred and enmity toward her husband. why take it out on him? he may be a son of a bitch,but it’s my mother-in-law who’s the bitch, an old bitch …“are you talking to me?” shangguan shouxi asked from where he stood beside the kang,looking out the window in embarrassment. “what do you want?” she gazed upsympathetically at this man with whom she’d lived for twenty-one years, and felt pangs ofremorse. a sea of locust blossoms rippled in the wind … in a voice as thin as a single hair,she said:
“this child … it’s not yours …”
in tears, shangguan shouxi said, “mother of my children … don’t die on me … i’ll go getaunty sun …”
“no …” she looked into her husband’s eyes and implored him, “go beg pastor malory tocome …”
out in the yard, shangguan lü, sensing a pain worse than having her skin flayed, took anoilpaper bundle from her pocket and peeled it back to reveal a shiny silver dollar; she clutchedit tightly as the corners of her mouth curled in a grimace and her eyes glowed red. the sunshone down on her gray head; black smoke drifted over in the hot air. she heard a louddisturbance to the north, near the flood dragon river; bullets whistled through the air. “fanthree,” she sobbed, “can you just stand by and watch someone die? ‘there is nothing morepoisonous than a hornet’s sting and nothing more ruthless than a physician’s heart.’ they say‘money can make the devil turn a millstone.’ well, this silver dollar has rested against myskin for twenty years, but it’s yours in return for my daughter-in-law’s life.”
she laid the silver dollar in fan three’s hand, but he flung it to the ground, as if it were apiece of hot metal. a film of sweat covered his oily face, and his cheeks twitched so violentlythey distorted his features. slinging his bag over his shoulder, he shouted, “elder sister-in-law, please let me go … i’ll get down on my knees and bang my head against the ground foryou …”
he had nearly reached the gate when shangguan fulu, stripped to the waist, came bargingthrough. he was wearing only one shoe, and his bare, scrawny chest was smeared withsomething green, like axle grease, like a gaping, festering wound. “where have you been, youwalking corpse?” shangguan lü cursed angrily.
“elder brother, what’s going on out there?” fan three asked anxiously. ignoring both thecurse and the question, shangguan fulu stood there with an idiotic smile on his face, a stringof duh- duh- duhs streaming from his mouth, like chickens pecking the bottom of anearthenware dish.
shangguan lü grabbed her husband by the chin and shook him hard, wrenched his mouthup one minute and down the next, stretching it horizontally and then vertically. a dribble ofsaliva emerged from one corner. he coughed, then spat up, and finally settled down. “what’sgoing on out there” he looked at his wife with deep sorrow.
as his mouth twisted, he sobbed. “the japanese horse soldiers have reached the river …”
the dull thuds of approaching horse hooves froze them in their tracks. a flock of magpieswith white tail feathers flew overhead, their cries settling over the compound. then thestained glass in the church steeple shattered noiselessly, splintered glass glinting in thesunlight. but immediately after the glass began flying, the crisp sound of an explosionengulfed the steeple, sending dull sound waves like the rumble of iron wheels spreading in alldirections. a powerful wave of heat toppled fan three and shangguan fulu like harvestedwheat. it sent shangguan lü reeling backward into the wall. a black earthenware chimneywith ornamental carvings rolled off the roof and landed on the brick path in front of her,where, with a loud crash, it crumbled into pieces.
shangguan shouxi ran out of the house. “mother,” he sobbed, “she’s dying, she’s going todie. go get aunty sun …”
she glared at her son. “if it’s your time to die, then you die. if it isn’t, you don’t. nothingcan change that.”
listening but not quite grasping her meaning, the three men looked at her with tears in theireyes. “fan three,” she said, “do you have any more of that secret potion that speeds thedelivery process? if you do, give a bottle to my daughter-in-law. if not, then to hell with it,and with you.” without waiting for his answer, she tottered in the direction of the gate, headhigh, chest thrown out, not looking at any of them.
