Big Breasts & Wipe Hips: A Novel

and took aim at Ding Jingou’s head. He scrambled under his desk. Just then a fly buzzed in on the light streaming through the window. Ji Qiongzhi took careful aim.
Twang
, went the horsehair string. The fly dropped to the floor. “Anyone need more proof?” she asked. Not a peep from any of the students. She smiled sweetly, forming a dimple on her chin. “Now we can begin. Here are the lyrics to our song”:
    In the old society, this is how it was:
    A dark, I so dark dry well, deep down in the ground.
    Crushing the common folk, women at the bottom, at the very, very
    bottom.
    In the new society, this is how it is:
    A bright, I so bright sun shines down on the peasants.
    Women have been freed to stand up, at the very, very top.

    4
    My ability to memorize lyrics and my musical talent stood out among the students in Ji Qiongzhi’s music class. As I was singing “with women at the very very bottom,” Mother held up a towel-wrapped bottle filled with goat’s milk, stood outside the window, and called out repeatedly: “Jintong, come have your milk!”
    Her shouts and the smell of the milk diverted my attention, but when class was nearly over, I was the only one who finished the song without missing a beat. There were forty students in the class, and I was the only one Ji Qiongzhi commended. After asking my name, she had me stand up and sing “Women’s Liberation Anthem” from start to finish. Now that class was over, Mother handed me my milk through the window. When I hesitated taking it, she said, “Drink it, son. Mother’s proud to see how well you’re doing.”
    There was muted laughter in the room.
    “Take it, child. What’s there to be embarrassed about?” Mother said.
    Ji Qiongzhi walked up beside me. Leaning on her pointer as she looked out the window, she said in a friendly voice, “I see it’s you, aunty. I ask you please not to do anything to disrupt the class from now on.” Gazing into the classroom, Mother replied respectfully, “Teacher, he’s my only son, and, unfortunately, he hasn’t eaten real food since he was a baby. When he was small, he lived on my milk, and now he gets by with goat’s milk alone. This morning the goat didn’t give enough for a meal, and I want to make sure he has enough to get through the day.” Ji Qiongzhi smiled and said, “Take it. Don’t make your mother stand there holding it.” My face was burning as I took the bottle from her. Ji Qiongzhi said to Mother, “But he needs to eat real food. You don’t expect him to drag a milk goat along when he goes to high school and college, do you?” She was probably trying to picture a college student walking into a classroom with a goat on a tether. But then she laughed, a hearty laugh without a hint of ill will, and asked, “How old is he?” “Thirteen, born the year of the rabbit,” Mother answered. “He worries me too, but he can’t keep other food down. It gives him such a terrible bellyache that he breaks out in a sweat, and that scares me every time it happens.” “That’s enough, Mother,” I said unhappily. “Please don’t say any more. And I don’t want the milk.” I handed her the bottle through the window. Ji Qiongzhi flipped my ear with her finger. “Don’t be like that, student Shangguan. You can gradually overcome your problem, but for now drink your milk.” I turned and saw all those shining eyes and felt deeply ashamed. “Now listen to me,” Ji said. “You are not to laugh at other people’s weaknesses.” She walked out of the classroom.
    Facing the wall, I drank down the milk as fast as I could, and handed the bottle out through the window. “Mother,” I said, “please don’t come here anymore.”
    During the break between classes, Wu Yunyu and Ding Jingou were on their best behavior, sitting expressionless on their stools. The fat kid Fang Shuzhai took off his belt, stepped up onto his desk, and looped his belt over a rafter to play the hangman’s game. Then, in the high-pitched voice of a widow, he began to sob and voice her grief:
Dog Two, Dog Two, how could you do that? With your arms outstretched, you return to your maker, and leave your little woman to sleep alone night after night. A worm gnaws at my heart, so I must hang myself. I'll see you down in the Yellow Springs.
    He sobbed and he grieved until, there on his fat little piggy cheeks, two lines of tears appeared. His nose was running, the stuff dripping down into his mouth. “I can’t go on living!”