Chapter 18: Sleeping in a Beauty

Old Sun looked me up and down, dropped the thorn branch, and said, "Fine. You cadres must keep your word. If there's no cow within three days, I'm going to your township government. I'm bringing my whole family."

I arranged for the Secretary to have someone take the cow thief to the police station, and I wrote a note to Lao Li, asking him to help me withdraw two thousand yuan and bring it over.

Once everything was arranged, I said to Old Sun, "Old Sun, you must trust the government. Don't be impulsive."

Old Sun's wrinkled face broke into a smile. He grabbed my hand and said, "Cadre, come to my house for a drink."

I declined, saying, "Another day, I'll definitely come to your house for a good drink another day. But Old Sun, you must support my work."

"Definitely, definitely," Old Sun said, rubbing his hands. "Since you, the cadre, keep your word, we will absolutely support you."

In truth, I had a purpose in saying these things. Old Sun was a "nail house" (a holdout) for this family planning drive; he already had six daughters, and his wife was still hiding. Old Sun had vowed that if he didn't have a son, he would keep having children until he died.

I turned back and saw Hongyan, with Xiao Chun'er standing beside her. Both women were looking at me with admiration.

Xiao Chun'er's home consisted of two mud-brick rooms. The outer room was where her blind mother lived, and the inner room was Xiao Chun'er's boudoir. Next to it was a low, small shed that served as a kitchen and pigsty. When the Secretary heard I wanted to stay at Xiao Chun'er's, he said with a troubled look, "You're a cadre from the township; I should arrange for you to stay somewhere better."

Xiao Chun'er, standing to the side, puffed out her cheeks and shouted, "Uncle, the whole village is the same. What's wrong with my house?"

The Secretary defended himself, "I didn't say there was anything wrong with your house, but... does your house even have the space?"

"Yes, it does! I'll sleep with my mother, Secretary Liu can set up a bed in my mother's room, and my room can go to Secretary Chen," Xiao Chun'er said quickly. "Of course, Uncle, you have to charge the accommodation fee for two people."

The Secretary smiled and said, "I won't shortchange you. You little rascal, you only know how to calculate a few dollars."

Xiao Chun'er stuck out her tongue, made a face, and said, "I'm not asking for too much."

With things at this point, the Secretary couldn't say anything more and could only send us to Xiao Chun'er's house.

Xiao Chun'er's blind mother heard the noise and called out, "Shurong, the township cadres are here?"

The Secretary responded, "Sister-in-law, the cadres are staying at your place. We'll follow the old rules."

The blind mother said, "That's fine, I'm just afraid of wronging the cadres."

I said, "Auntie, sorry to bother you."

The blind mother's eyes rolled back to show a line of white, and she waved her hand, saying, "Cadre, you coming to stay at my house is Shurong taking care of an old blind woman like me. Don't be so formal."

After saying goodbye to Secretary Shurong, I went inside. In the outer room, there were two beds, one of which had been set up temporarily, separated by a floral cloth in the middle. The beds were covered with very clean quilts; although they were a bit old, they had a faint, fresh scent of straw ash.

Entering the inner room, there was a tiny window covered with newspaper. The paper had a few holes in it, and the mountain wind blew in, causing the kerosene lamp on the table to flicker uncertainly.

After washing my face and feet, I lay down in the quilt that carried the faint scent of a young woman and slowly drifted into a dream.

In the middle of the night, I was woken up by the urge to urinate. The oil lamp on the table was still lit. I pushed aside the cloth curtain and saw Hongyan and Xiao Chun'er with their heads together, sleeping very soundly.

Liu Hongyan was like a red lotus. In the hotel where we had once stayed, I had imagined her freshness in the room next door; in the crowded, messy car, I had felt the excitement when I half-embraced her. Even on the first night of her new marriage, as I sat alone in the quiet night, imagining her tenderness beneath the red quilt, I always felt that this woman was a siren I could not approach.

Last night, the mountain wind was biting, and we were alone in the wilderness, yet I remained proper. Even though her slightly closed eyes seemed to be hinting at something, I still couldn't rashly try to taste her beauty.

My aunt had explicitly warned me not to have any ideas about Hongyan. She said, "Liu Hongyan is very simple; I'm afraid you'll hurt her."

I didn't understand how I could hurt her, so I held onto my aunt's words with lingering resentment.

The blind mother coughed, "Is that the cadre? The chamber pot is by the back wall."

I didn't dare to speak. I pulled the door open and went out on tiptoe. I didn't look for any chamber pot; under the cold moonlight, I took out my "equipment" and wantonly drew circles on the ground.

When I returned to the room, Hongyan and Xiao Chun'er were both awake, looking at me under the lamplight, both with mischievous smiles on their faces. Hongyan pursed her lips, signaling for me to return to the room. I waved my hand and awkwardly went inside.

Leaning against the head of the bed, I took out a cigarette. Just as I lit it, I saw Hongyan draped in her clothes, sneaking in on tiptoe. I was about to speak, but she put a finger to her lips, and I immediately fell silent. ===== CHAPTER 19 =====