Chapter Thirty-Four: Spring

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Liu Weidong was saying this right in front of Wang Jianguo. If he had been speaking on his own, it would have been even more unbearable.

Wang Jianguo glared at him. “Weidong, stop talking nonsense. Show some respect.”

Only after rebuking Liu Weidong did Wang Jianguo turn his attention to Li Baotian, who was lying on the kang.

“Director Li, ever since you fell ill, your wife has been asking everywhere when Weidong would be back. He returned today, so I brought him straight here. What exactly did you want to see him about?”

Li Baotian opened his eyes and glanced at Wang Jianguo, then closed them again.

Wang Jianguo was no fool. He immediately rose to his feet.

“Oh, look at me, I nearly forgot something. The technician from the agricultural research station is leaving, and I ought to give him something to take along. You two can talk. I’ll go take care of it.”

With that, Wang Jianguo got up and walked away.

The moment Wang Jianguo had left the courtyard, Li Baotian, who had been groaning on the kang, sprang up and dropped to his knees.

“Weidong, my dear nephew, you have to save me. This time your uncle admits defeat.”

Liu Weidong laughed. “What sort of act are you putting on now? Did the commune leaders find out that you raped a female educated youth?”

Li Baotian wiped his nose and tears.

“Nephew, ever since Li Hong became a regular employee, she’s turned into a completely different person. She goes to the educated-youth office every day to block my way. Would I have pretended to be sick and stopped going to work otherwise?”

“Li Hong is making trouble for you. What good would it do to tell me? I’m not close to her. Do you expect me to persuade her to stop blocking your way? Have you two lost your minds?”

“She just wants me to return the photographs and negatives. She’s a young woman, and she never feels at ease with those things in someone else’s hands.”

Liu Weidong burst out laughing. “You’ve certainly made a fine little scheme for yourself, Li Baotian. Forget it. I’m keeping the photographs to admire whenever I please. If I’m in a bad mood, I’ll hand them over to the authorities. Keep pretending to be sick—I’d like to see how long you can keep it up.”

Whistling, Liu Weidong walked off and headed for the brigade office.

When Wang Jianguo saw him enter, he blinked. “What was Li Baotian after? It looked to me like he wanted a private word with you.”

Liu Weidong snorted. “Who knows what kind of filth he’s hiding? He seemed to be deliberately avoiding something. Has anything happened at the commune these past few days?”

Wang Jianguo thought for a moment, then slapped his forehead.

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“How could I have forgotten? The county educated-youth office has come down to investigate. Apparently all the educated youths are supposed to return to the cities this year. Li Baotian is the deputy director of that office. He’s probably lined his pockets quite a bit over the years and is afraid someone will cause trouble for him. But what does any of this have to do with you? Did you really inflict those injuries on him?”

Liu Weidong smiled but did not explain. “That alone wouldn’t be enough to make Li Baotian pretend to be sick and stop coming to work. You’d better be careful these next few days, especially with the accounts. Don’t let anything go wrong.”

Just then, someone shouted from outside. Wang Jianguo and Liu Weidong hurried to their feet and went out to meet him. The man doing the shouting was highly respected in Second Brigade: Uncle Guan, the old mountain guide.

The bone divining sticks and red cord Lou Yanru had used the last time she went ginseng hunting had been given to her by Old Guan.

Several baskets of medicinal herbs had been placed outside the village committee office. Seeing that Liu Weidong was there, several female commune members began chattering about their trek into the mountains.

Liu Weidong inspected the baskets one by one. With a mountain guide like Old Guan leading them, the commune members had indeed gathered some fairly valuable medicinal herbs.

“With Uncle Guan showing the way, everyone avoided quite a few wrong turns, didn’t they? I suggest we take all the herbs to Uncle Guan’s house and send them together to the Chinese medicine station later. I also happen to have a few things to ask him.”

He followed the commune members as they carried the herbs to Old Guan’s home. After they had left, Liu Weidong brought over a stool and helped the old man sort through the herbs scattered across the ground.

“Uncle Guan, I asked someone at the Chinese medicine station. They said there’s a considerable demand for northern medicinal herbs, especially ginseng and astragalus. Do you think they could be cultivated artificially?”

Old Guan hesitated. “Years ago, I only heard of people growing astragalus and schisandra. I’ve never heard of anyone cultivating ginseng. It takes too few years to be worth much, and who can afford to wait through all the years it takes to mature? If all you did was tend a ginseng field, you’d starve to death. Besides, the mountains belong to the collective. You have to obtain approval from the forestry department even to plant trees. Otherwise, when they mature, you still won’t be allowed to cut them down.”

Liu Weidong nodded. “What you say makes sense. It looks as though cultivation will have to wait until the policies allow it. Still, I wanted to give you advance notice. If it ever becomes possible, I’ll be counting on your help.”

Old Guan thumped his chest. “You don’t need to say another word. I may not be much use at ordinary farm work anymore, but when it comes to tending medicinal herbs, roaming the mountains, or hunting, there isn’t a soul in the surrounding villages who would dare look down on me.”

Early the next morning, Liu Weidong rode a horse-drawn cart to the commune with the technician from the agricultural research station.

Wang Jianguo had prepared quite a bit of dried tree fungus, hazelnut mushrooms, and the like for Technician Wang, along with two live geese.

“Your villagers are incredibly warmhearted, Weidong,” Technician Wang said. “The soil is excellent too. I have a feeling the castor beans will yield a bumper harvest this year.”

Liu Weidong nodded. “It’s the commune members’ first time planting castor beans. We owe the results to you. If things go well this year, we may be able to expand cultivation across a large area next year.”

As soon as the cart reached the commune entrance, Liu Weidong saw Li Hong coming out. He had intended to avoid her, but she had already spotted him.

“Liu Weidong…”

At Li Hong’s cry, Sun Wang hurriedly pulled on the reins.

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Liu Weidong gave Technician Wang an awkward smile. “I’ve run into someone I know. Let Sun Wang take you to the bus station first. We’ll keep in touch by phone once you’re back in the city.”

With that, Liu Weidong climbed down from the cart.

Only after the cart had gone some distance did Li Hong push her bicycle toward a quieter place.

“You wanted to see me about something?”

The moment Liu Weidong saw her, he remembered what had happened that night.

Even though Lou Yanru had said that Li Hong’s circumstances were pitiable, Liu Weidong still did not want to grow too close to her. After all, her reputation in Forward Commune was not very good.

“Why are you standing so far away? Do you think I’m dirty?”

Li Hong gave him a resentful look.

“What are you talking about? How could I think that? Why did you go to the commune? Is there finally some news about the educated youths returning to the cities?”

“Don’t ask. I married one of the commune members, remember? My household registration isn’t in the collective household, so I still have to get through Li Baotian before I can complete the paperwork. I never expected him to keep pretending to be sick and refuse to come to work. I’m practically frantic. Lou Yanru is really lucky to have a good man like you. I heard she went to the city to study again. Did she go back to No. 2 Middle School?”

“She didn’t go back to No. 2 Middle School. Yanru is studying at No. 1 Middle School. And don’t worry. You’re not the only educated youth who needs the office to process paperwork. Li Baotian doesn’t have the nerve to delay everyone’s return to the cities just by pretending to be sick.”

The two of them stood beneath a huge poplar tree. Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell across Li Hong’s face. She raised a hand, seemingly without thinking, to shade her eyes. The two full curves beneath her floral blouse were nearly straining the fabric to bursting, and Liu Weidong quickly looked away.

“Forget it. I know my reputation is bad. You’re afraid standing beside me will affect you, aren’t you? You should hurry back to the city. If I really do manage to return, I’ll come see you and Lou Yanru.”

With a sigh, Li Hong mounted her bicycle and rode toward the school.

Watching her lonely back recede, Liu Weidong felt an ache in his heart.

No woman was born wanton. If Li Hong had not been raped by a commune leader back then, perhaps she would have been living an entirely different life.