Pow!

Father. ‘This is my accusation against Lao Lan,’ he said. ‘Sign it and we can bring him down together. We can't let that tyrannical landlord's offspring ride roughshod over us.’

    Instead of taking the paper, Father looked at Mother; she gazed down at her plate and carried on removing fish bones. ‘Yao Qi,’ said Father, a few moments later, ‘after what I've been through this time, and how disheartened it's made me, all I want now is to live a decent life. Get someone else to sign. Not me, I won't do it.’

    ‘I know that Lao Lan hooked your place up with electricity,’ smirked Lao Yao, ‘and I know he sent Huang Bao with a parcel of smelly fish and rotten shrimp. But you're Luo Tong—I don't believe he can buy you with so little.’

    ‘Yao Qi,’ Mother said as she placed a piece of fish into my sister's bowl, ‘stop trying to drag Luo Tong into your hell. He teamed up with you against Lao Lan that other time, and how did that turn out? You stayed in the background with your bad advice and left him to hang from a tree like a dead cat. You want to knock Lao Lan down so you can take over as village head, isn't it?’

    ‘I'm not doing this for myself, good Sister-in-law, I'm doing it for everyone. For that man, giving you electricity and a little seafood is nothing—one hair from nine cowhides, as they say. It's not even his money, it's the people's. Over the past few years he's secretly sold village property to an unscrupulous couple who promised to build a tech park and plant a grove of American red firs, but when no one was looking, they sold the two hundred acres to the Datun Ceramic Factory. Go see for yourself—the area's been levelled down three feet for the foundation. That was fertile farmland. How much do you think he made in that deal?’

    ‘So he sold off two hundred acres of fallow land. He could sell off the whole village, for all we care! Anyone who thinks he's up to it can go after the man. All I know is, it won't be Luo Tong.’

    ‘Is that right, Luo Tong, you're going to pull your neck in like a turtle?’ Yao Qi shook the petition. ‘Even his brother-in-law Su Zhou has signed.’

    ‘Anyone can sign, for all I care, but not us,’ Mother said with curt finality.

    ‘You disappoint me, Luo Tong.’

    ‘Don't play dumb, Yao Qi,’ Mother said. ‘Do you really believe you'd be a better village head than Lao Lan? You're fooling yourself if you think we don't know all about you. Lao Lan's corrupt, but how do we know you won't be worse? No matter what you say, he's a dutiful son, not like some people who live in big houses and stick their mothers in a grass hut.’

    ‘What do you mean “some people”, Yang Yuzhen? Watch what you say!’

    ‘I'm just a village woman, and I can say what I want, so don't give me that “watch what you say” garbage!’ Mother had regained her stride. ‘I'm talking about you, you turtle spawn,’ she said, now completely abandoning any semblance of politeness. ‘How could anyone who treats his mother as badly as you be a friend to strangers? If you know what's good for you, you'll pick up that bottle and leave. If you don't, I've got plenty more to say that you won't like to hear.’

    Yao Qi tucked his letter away and walked out, followed by a shout of ‘Take that bottle with you!’ from Mother.

    ‘That's for Luo Tong, good Sister-in-law, whether or not he signs.’

    ‘We've got our own liquor.’

    ‘I know, and you'll get everything you want if you go along with Lao Lan,’ Yao Qi said. ‘But if you're smart, you'll take a longer view. “Good times don't last for ever and flowers only bloom for so long.” A corrupt man like Lao Lan is doomed to self-destruct.’

    ‘We're not going along with anyone,’ Mother replied. ‘We're the people, no matter who the official. Knock him down if you think you can. It's none of our business.’

    Father picked up the bottle, walked out and handed it to Yao Qi: ‘I appreciate the gesture but it's better you take it with you.’

    ‘Is that all I am in your eyes, Luo Tong?’ asked Yao Qi, bristling. ‘Keep it or I'll smash it right here in front of you.’

    ‘Don't be like that. I'll keep it then.’ Father saw Yao Qi out to the gate, bottle in hand. ‘Listen to me, Old Yao, and don't kick up a row. You live a good life, what else do you want?’

    ‘Luo Tong, go enjoy the good life with your wife, but I'm going to do what I must. I'll knock Lao Lan down or my name isn't Yao Qi!