Chapter 3: Enemies Encountered Face to Face Are Bound to Flare with Resentment

At the top of the levee, Liu Weidong! I’m going back to organize the educated youth to evacuate the villagers. Don’t worry about Dad.

As she spoke, Lou Yanru shouted to Liu Weidong and ran back toward the village.

Liu Weidong stared after his wife, momentarily dumbfounded.

“Stop gawking. What a fine wife you’ve got. Be good to Yanru from now on, and that’ll be better than anything.”

“Someone from the city married you, a poor nobody like you, and you still dare fool around and drink yourself stupid out there? When the water goes down, get your ass home.”

Wang Jianguo kicked Liu Weidong in the backside and headed down from the levee as well.

The dirt for the dam repair came not only in sacks and burlap bags, but even willow baskets. The villagers from the second brigade used everything they could lay hands on.

When the breach was finally plugged, everyone collapsed into the mud and water.

“Get up and come back to the village with me. Hitch up the cart and help move the villagers.”

Liu Weidong had barely had a chance to catch his breath before Wang Jianguo called him over again.

“Uncle Jianguo, when I came down from the mountain I saw that our village’s fields were hit hard. I’m afraid this year’s harvest is going to be ruined.”

Wang Jianguo sighed. “It’s practically like the disaster years all over again. With one calamity after another, there isn’t even time to replant.”

Liu Weidong’s eyes darted.

“Uncle Jianguo, why didn’t you think of planting castor beans? They grow fast, aren’t picky about the soil, and this is the perfect time to sow them.”

“Castor beans? What are those, something to eat? Quit spouting nonsense.”

Wang Jianguo clearly didn’t take Liu Weidong’s words seriously.

Liu Weidong could only sigh inwardly.

Ignorance was terrifying. When working with a leader like Wang Jianguo, someone so poorly educated, you had to let him taste the sweetness first.

After hitching up the horse cart in the livestock shed, they had just reached the village road when they saw several educated youths pushing two old women in a wheelbarrow.

Liu Weidong hurriedly helped the old women onto the cart.

“Where’s Yanru? Didn’t she go with you to move the villagers?”

Not seeing Lou Yanru, Liu Weidong quickly asked one of the female educated youths.

“Lou Yanru said a great disaster is always followed by disease, so she’s brewing Chinese medicine at the school. She even dropped a ginseng root into the big pot.”

Liu Weidong was startled.

People always said wealth should not be flaunted, but his foolish wife was so eager to emulate Lei Feng that she could not just give away the family’s treasure, could she?

He cracked the whip.

The cart clattered off toward Qingshan Primary School.

The schoolyard was blazing with lights. A huge iron pot had been set up in the middle of the yard, and many villagers had gathered around it.

Among the crowd, the red armbands stood out especially.

They were the village’s Poverty-Declaration Team, an organization born from the campaigns of earlier years. They led the villagers in “remembering hardship to cherish sweetness” and danced the “loyalty dance,” and by now they had come to stand openly against the village secretary, Wang Jianguo.

At their head was the team leader, Li Baotian, who was now standing with hands on hips and trying to snatch the medicine basket from Lou Yanru’s arms.

“The mountain belongs to the collective, and everything that grows on it belongs to the collective too. Stealing ginseng privately is the same as digging at the foundations of socialism. Today, whether you want to hand it over or not, you’re handing it over.”

Lou Yanru clutched the medicine basket and glared back.

“These herbs were brought back by my man after risking his life. You say confiscate them and they’re gone? What era do you think this is, that you still dare to carry on with smashing, grabbing, and looting?”

“Team Leader Li, that one ginseng root has already gone into the pot. There are only some worthless herbs left in this basket. Please show some mercy—”

Liu Weidong’s father, Liu Laonian, spread his arms to shield his daughter-in-law, his face full of alarm.

“Just as expected—birds of a feather flock together. Lou Yanru, that little wretch from the ‘Five Black Categories,’ married into your family, and now even you, a poor lower-middle peasant, have been tainted by the bourgeois poison. Arrest these two bad elements—”

With a wave of his hand, Li Baotian sent two Poverty-Declaration Team members rolling up their sleeves and moving in to seize Lou Yanru and Liu Laonian.

Crack.

A sharp lash sliced through the air and nearly struck the two young men.

“Whoa there. This brute only behaves when he’s beaten. Let’s see which bastard dares lay a hand on my wife and my father.”

“Weidong!”

Lou Yanru dragged Liu Laonian over to the cart, her face flushed with anger.

“Li Baotian wants to steal our ginseng.”

“Don’t be afraid. With me here, he won’t snatch a damned thing.”

Liu Weidong pulled Lou Yanru and his father behind him.

“Liu Weidong, you’ve got a lot of nerve, hitting Poverty-Declaration Team members?”

“Yeah, I hit him. So what? That bastard had it coming.”

Liu Weidong pointed the whip straight at Li Baotian.

In his previous life, Liu Weidong had hated Li Baotian most of all.

That man had originally been just a village loafer and good-for-nothing. After becoming team leader, he spent his days criticizing this one and fighting that one, all in the hope of seizing power.

At first, many villagers had merely dragged their feet and muddled through to keep the peace. But after a while they finally woke up to the fact that shouting slogans and singing model operas did not earn work points. At year’s end, grain and money were allotted according to work points.

When the educated youths went to the countryside, Li Baotian set his sights on Lou Yanru. He hovered around her constantly, always looking for a chance to take advantage.

But Lou Yanru paid no attention to this village official at all; instead, she married the penniless Liu Weidong.

Humiliated and enraged, Li Baotian made life miserable for the Liu family again and again. Under another man’s roof, Liu Laonian and his son could only swallow their anger in silence.

But things were different now.

After the Third Plenum at the end of the year, the Poverty-Declaration Team would become history. What was there left to fear in Li Baotian?

“This is outrageous! Outrageous! The Liu family is openly opposing the dictatorship of the proletariat. Arrest them all!”

Li Baotian flailed his arms and led the charge.

Liu Weidong sent him sprawling with a kick.

His long whip cracked and snapped, and the Poverty-Declaration Team members did not dare come close.

“Weidong, what are you doing? A whip is for class enemies. How can you swing it at revolutionary comrades?”

With a furious shout, Wang Jianguo rushed into the yard.

“Secretary Wang, you saw it yourself. Liu Weidong actually dared to beat a village cadre. He must be dealt with severely.”

Li Baotian wiped the mud from his face, livid with rage.

“Enough. We can’t even get enough to eat and you’re still fighting among yourselves. Director Li, didn’t I tell you to organize the evacuation? So many old people and children, and you still haven’t moved them all? If something goes wrong, can you take responsibility?”

Wang Jianguo looked at Li Baotian with obvious disgust.

“But—but Lou Yanru secretly hid a wild mountain ginseng and refused to turn it over. This is a matter of political line—”

Seeing that the secretary would not go along with him, Li Baotian hurriedly shifted the issue back to the ginseng.

Wang Jianguo frowned.

“What’s this about ginseng again?”

Liu Weidong handed the whip to Lou Yanru and stepped forward two paces.

“Uncle Jianguo, this afternoon I went up the mountain and found two ginseng roots. Yanru already used one to brew medicine for everyone, and the other was for treating my father’s illness. But Li Baotian insists the ginseng belongs to the public and is forcing us to hand it over. Where is the sense in that?”

“Exactly. I’ve never in my life heard of wild mountain goods having to be turned over to the government. That’s just bullying people.”

Several villagers in the yard began muttering under their breath.

“What are you all babbling about? Still not hungry enough, I see. Do you know how much grain wild ginseng can be exchanged for? I’m thinking of the interests of the broad masses of the people. The benefits can’t be monopolized by the Liu family—”

Humiliated and furious, Li Baotian began to elevate the matter into some grand political issue.

And sure enough, some people fell for it. Very soon, discordant voices joined in the clamoring.

“Weidong, what Director Li says isn’t wrong either. Our village is on the verge of not having enough to eat. Can you really bear to eat dry rice while everyone else can’t even drink a bowl of porridge?”

“It’s just one ginseng root. Hand it over and let Director Li exchange it for grain for our brigade. Wouldn’t that be better?”

“That’s right, Weidong. A person can’t be too selfish...”

Possession breeds guilt.

Liu Weidong understood all too well his present situation. He looked at Li Baotian and gave a cold snort.

“Li Baotian, you’re pretty good at stirring up the masses. You want to use the grain shortage to turn everyone against me? Then if I can come up with grain, does that mean the ginseng doesn’t have to be turned in?”

Li Baotian spat on the ground.

“Your own family can’t even put food on the table and you’re still bragging. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. If you dare secretly sell the ginseng, I’ll nail you for speculation and profiteering and send you away.”

Liu Weidong grinned.

“If I can bring back a cartload of grain within three days, you’ll kowtow and apologize to my father and my wife. If I can’t bring the grain back, then forget turning in the ginseng—you can arrest whoever you want. Li Baotian, do you dare make this bet with me?”

“Bet? Fine!”

Li Baotian laughed coldly.

After the torrential rains and flooding, the entire county had been struck by disaster. Grain could only be bought in the city, and even then, in large quantities, no one would sell to you no matter how much money or grain coupons you had.

“If you really manage to bring the grain back, let alone kneeling to apologize—I can even call you father. But let’s be clear: if you can’t produce the grain then you’ll be deceiving the organization, and your whole family will be locked up and criticized!”

At those words, Liu Laonian began to tremble. He tugged at Liu Weidong’s arm and pleaded with Li Baotian.

“Director Li, don’t argue with a child. Weidong, let’s just hand over the ginseng. We’re ordinary folk—we can’t beat the officials...”

“So now you want to back down? Too late! Liu Weidong, weren’t you so capable? Then let me see how you’re going to bring back a cartload of grain. This time, I’m betting against you for real...”