Big Breasts & Wipe Hips: A Novel

truth, who wouldn’t like to buy some land? How about your dad, for instance? And you yourself.’ ‘Don’t ask me,’ Jincai said. ‘I can’t answer that question. Is the pit deep enough?’ The man said it was. Without another word, Jincai jumped into it. Only his head showed above the ground. ‘Lion,’ he said, ‘I want to shout something.’ ‘Go ahead,’ Lion said. ‘We’ve been friends since we were bare-assed naked kids, so you deserve special treatment. Go ahead, shout whatever you want.’ Jincai thought for a moment, then raised his good arm and shouted at the top of his lungs, ‘Long live the Communist Party! Long live the Communist Party! Long long live the Communist Party!’ Just three shouts. ‘That’s it?’ Little Lion said. ‘That’s it.’ ‘Come on,’ Lion said, ‘let’s hear some more. That’s some voice you’ve got.’ ‘No,’ Jincai said, ‘that’s it. Three times is enough.’ Little Lion nudged Jincai’s mother. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Now you, aunty’ Jincai’s mother fell to her knees and banged her head on the ground, but Little Lion merely took the shovel out of the other man’s hands and used it to push her into the sandy pit. The other men pushed Jincai’s wife and kids in. The kids were bawling. So was their mother. ‘Stop that!’ Jincai demanded. ‘Shut your mouths and spare me the shame.’ His wife and kids stopped crying. Then one of the men pointed to me and said, ‘What about this one, Chief? Toss her down there too?’ Before Little Lion could answer, Jincai shouted, ‘Little Lion, you said this pit was for my family. I don’t want any outsiders down here.’ ‘Don’t worry, Jincai,’ Little Lion said, ‘I understand you perfectly. For this old woman, we’ll —’ He turned to the others. ‘Men, I know you’re tired, but dig another pit to bury this one.’
    “The men split into two groups, one to dig a pit for me, the other to fill in the pit with Jincai’s family. Jincai’s daughter began to cry. ‘Mommy, the sand’s getting in my eyes.’ So Jincai’s wife wrapped her wide sleeves around the girl’s head. Jincai’s son struggled to climb out of the pit, but was knocked back down by one of the shovels. The boy began to bawl. Jincai’s mother, on the other hand, sat down, and was quickly buried in sand. She was gasping for air. ‘Communist Party, ah, the Communist Party!’ she grumbled. ‘We women are dying by your hand!’ ‘So you finally got it, now that you’re about to die!’ Little Lion said. ‘Jincai, all you have to do is shout “Down with the Communist Party” three times, and ITI spare a member of your family. That way there’ll be someone to tend your grave in the future.’ Jincai’s mother and wife both pleaded with him, ‘Go ahead, Jincai, do it, and hurry!’ His face nearly covered with sand, Jincai glared fiercely. ‘No, I won’t do it!’ ‘Okay, you’ve got backbone,’ Little Lion said admiringly as he took the shovel from one of his men, scooped up sand, and flung it into the pit. Jincai’s mother wasn’t moving. The sand covered his wife up to her neck; it had already buried his daughter and all but the head of his son, who reached up with his hands to keep struggling to get out. Black blood was seeping out of his wife’s nose and ears, while the words ‘Agony, oh, such agony’ poured out of the black hole that was her mouth. Little Lion paused in his work and said to Jincai, ‘Well, what do you say now?’ Panting like an ox, Jincai, whose head had swelled up like a basket, said, ‘No problem, Little Lion.’ ‘Because we were childhood friends,’ Little Lion said, ‘I’ll give you one more chance. All you have to do is shout “Long live the Nationalist Party,” and I’ll dig you out.’ With wide, staring eyes, Jincai stammered, ‘Long live the Communist Party…’ Infuriated, Little Lion recommenced flinging sand into the pit. Jincai’s wife and kids were quickly buried, but there was still some movement just below the surface, which showed they weren’t all dead yet. All of a sudden, we were shocked to see Jincai’s swollen head stick up in a terrifying manner. He could no longer speak, and blood was seeping from his nose and his eyes. The veins on his forehead were as big as silkworms. So Little Lion started jumping up and down to pack down the sand. Then he squatted down in front of Jincai’s head. ‘Well, what do you say now?’ he asked; Jincai could no