“Who is it?” a voice asked.
“Tell us and we’ll punish the bastard,” another echoed.
The policeman shushed the crowds and the principal continued. “Well, our party will never wrong an innocent person. So we’ll make a move when everything becomes crystal clear. Right now, we’re letting the students go home. But no one is allowed to be absent from now until this case is solved.”
Sun Lanfen was in the crowd, glad that she had come. The poor children needed support in these circumstances. After comforting her two boys and sending them home, she had waited for Shi Ding, Wang Lixin and Dong Ermei. Shi Ding and Wang Lixin walked out, looking dispirited.
Sun Lanfen rushed over. “Is everything okay?” Then she realised one person was missing. “Where is Ermei?” The boys lowered their heads. “Excuse me!” She raised her voice. “It wasn’t Ermei, was it? Heaven forbid!” People began to look. “No, no, Aunt Sun. It’s not like that!” Shi Ding tried to stop her. “Then like what? What happened to her?”
When she learned that Ermei had been detained because of her attitude problem, Sun Lanfen went in to see the principal. She used her new status as chairman of the neighbourhood revolutionary committee to bail Dong Ermei out. Hiding behind Sun Lanfen, Ermei emerged with swollen red eyes, looking miserable. At the sight of Shi Ding and Wang Lixin, she began to weep again. “They’re going to keep me in every afternoon until the case is solved. Why am I so unlucky?” she lamented through her tears.
“Why did you laugh? Don’t you know how serious this is?” Sun Lanfen wiped her tears with a handkerchief even as she rebuked her.
“But his bottom was wet.” Ermei pointed at Wang Lixin and her sobs turned to laughter again. “And his trousers, ha, believe me Aunt Sun, they were like waterfalls. Ha, ha, ha … Sorry Wang Lixin, ha, ha …” Sun Lanfen quickly put her hand over the girl’s mouth and cursed through gritted teeth. “You want to die, do you?”
Totally humiliated, Wang Lixin walked home ahead of the others.
Shi Ding secretly enjoyed his feeling of victory. For some time, he had been stung by the increasing closeness of Dong Ermei and Wang Lixin. It had been different before when, no matter how Wang Lixin swaggered in front of Ermei, once homework fell due or a test approached, the big boy could only envy her tight union with Shi Ding. But since the beginning of this semester, half the academic lessons had been replaced by newspaper readings, recitals of Chairman Mao’s quotations, propaganda design and revolutionary performances. The school had even cancelled the mid-semester examinations. As a result, Wang Lixin always had the edge because of his physique and his aura of leadership, buoyed by his father’s new role as chairman of the Beijing Turbine Factory revolutionary committee.
The mildew-like pimples on Shi Ding’s face did not help either. But from today, everything was going to change. Wang Lixin had not only lost face, his masculinity had been damaged. After all, a few transient spots on the face were nothing compared to a huge wet patch on someone’s bottom.
At the gate of No. 10, Sun Lanfen’s attention was caught by a crouching shadow outside the gate. “Who is that?”
“It’s me, Aunt Sun, Xu Yongcai.” The boy stood up. “I’m waiting for Mum and Dad. I don’t have a key.” He was in grade three at West Bridge and was known as a poor student who was regularly punished by his high-achieving parents, like being locked outside for half the night or given no dinner.
“But I told them to give you a key.” Sun Lanfen sounded angry. She gestured at Shi Ding and Ermei for them to go home, then went over to the boy.
Just before Ermei went to her home, Shi Ding whispered, “Trust me! I’ll find the son of a bitch and get you out of detention.” Immediately he felt awkward. It sounded too much like a vow. Worried that he himself might be Ermei’s new laughing stock, he wheeled and sprinted across the yard, leapt up the stairs and landed on the veranda of his home.
It was twilight, a quiet time in the compound when most families were preparing dinner. Night was settling while daylight still hung on high up in the sky. Shi Ding always liked to take in this tranquil scene before entering his house. As he looked up, the eaves and trees at the corners of the courtyard formed a frame, silhouetted against the dark blue sky, the still tableau animated by warm house lights.
He also loved to peer through the kitchen window before opening the front door. His father would be busy cooking and his mother, if she was at home, would be sitting at the dining table talking. As soon as Shi Ding opened the door, their attention would turn to him and his stories. Shi Ding liked to recount what had happened at school and among his friends, and had earned the nickname “the story king”. He could give a lively rendering of even ordinary events.
Now, as usual, Shi Ding saw his mother in the kitchen giving a speech to her sole listener. She had changed into full battle array – her performing uniform. She was leaving again.
Shi Ding had seen her perform with Wang Tong in one of the district public meetings. His mother and Wang Tong, who wore army green uniforms, caps with red stars at the front and military leather belts strapped around their waists, had jumped up on the platform. With bamboo clappers they created a great variety of synchronised sounds and rhythms before reciting:
Destroy the old and establish the new,
Be in the vanguard of class struggle.
Fight with villains and taste the happiness,
Together follow Chairman Mao’s revolutionary goal!
In their heavy make-up, they had looked young and spirited. With his broad shoulders and rugged face, Wang Tong was a perfect match for Shi Ding’s mother.
Now, as Shi Ding entered his home, his parents came into the living room and asked about the incident at school. He told the story and ended with the part he most enjoyed. “One teacher fainted, many cried and eight students wet their pants. And guess what? Wang Lixin, can you believe it? He was one of the eight.” He described the moment when Wang Lixin was taken out of the classroom. “He must have held his wee for a long time so it kept pissing down. The floor was flooded. Silly Ermei laughed non-stop so the policeman got annoyed. He walked over and stared at her like this …” Shi Ding imitated the policeman, holding one shoulder up, neck stretched forward and lips curled into a sneer. “Then he grabbed her by the collar, picking her up like an eagle catching a chick.” He made a sudden grabbing gesture. “Gosh, Ermei’s face was white as paper.” He shook his head and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Shi Wangcai and Lin Guiru followed him. “So what happened to her?”
Shi Ding drank the water down in one gulp and put the glass down before he answered them. “She’s been put in afternoon detention until they find out who wrote the reactionary slogan. It’s all Wang Lixin’s fault!”
“It’s nobody’s fault but Ermei’s, that stupid girl!” Lin Guiru said.
Shi Ding was annoyed. “It’s Wang Lixin who’s stupid. It doesn’t matter who the hell his father is!”
“Hey! Don’t speak to your mother like that!” Shi Wangcai said.
Shi Ding stayed silent but went to his room in a fit of pique. He had just closed the door behind him when he realised something was not right. He opened the door, popped his head out and scanned the side wall of the living room. “Dad, where is the Long March wall-hanging?”
The wall-hanging was the Shi family’s treasure. Inspired by the musical The East Is Red, which recounted China’s history in the twentieth century, Shi Wangcai had spent weeks creating his masterpiece, a double bed-sized patchwork quilt.