Red Sorghum

talk to you.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he replied respectfully.
    Uncle Arhat, together with the dozen or so hired hands, laid the elder and younger masters in their coffins and buried them in the sorghum field. They worked feverishly, in silence. By the time they’d buried the dead, the sun was in the western sky, and crows were circling above the gravesite, their wings painted purple by rays of sunlight. Uncle Arhat said to the men, ‘Go back and wait for me. Don’t say anything. Watch my eyes for a signal.’
    He went to the western compound to receive instructions from Grandma, who was sitting cross-legged on the blanket she’d taken from the donkey’s back. Great-Granddad was feeding straw to the animal.
    ‘Everything has been taken care of, young mistress,’ Uncle Arhat said. ‘These are Elder Master’s keys.’
    ‘Keep them for now,’ she said. ‘Tell me, is there someplace in the village where you can buy stuffed buns?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Buy two basketfuls, and give them to the men. Tell them to come here when they’re done. And bring me twenty buns.’
    Uncle Arhat brought the twenty buns wrapped in fresh lotus leaves. Grandma took them and said, ‘Now go back to the eastern compound and have the men eat as quickly as possible.’
    Uncle Arhat murmured his acknowledgement as he backed away.
    Grandma then placed the twenty buns in front of Great-Granddad and said, ‘You can eat these on the road.’
    ‘Little Nine,’ he protested, ‘you’re my very own daughter!’
    ‘Go on,’ she demanded, ‘I’ve heard enough!’
    ‘But I’m your dad!’ he rebuked her angrily.
    ‘You’re no father of mine, and I forbid you ever to enter my door again!’
    ‘I
am
your father!’
    ‘Magistrate Cao is my father. Weren’t you listening?’
    ‘Not so fast. You can’t just throw one father away because you found yourself a new one. Don’t think having you was easy on your mother and me!’
    Grandma flung the buns in his face. They hit like exploding grenades.
    Great-Granddad cursed and ranted as he led the donkey out the gate: ‘You misbegotten ingrate! What makes you think you can turn your back on your own family? I’m going to report you to the county authorities for being disloyal and unfilial! I’ll tell them you’re in league with bandits. I’ll tell them you schemed to have your husband killed. . . .’
    As Great-Granddad’s shouts and curses grew more distant and fainter, Uncle Arhat led the hired hands into the compound.
    Grandma touched up her hair and smoothed out her clothes, then announced in a stately manner: ‘Men, you have worked hard! I’m young, and have no experience in managing affairs, so I’ll need to rely on everyone’s help to get by. Uncle Arhat, you have served the family loyally for over a decade,and from now on you’ll be in charge of all distillery affairs. Now that the elder and younger master have left us, we need to clean the table and start a new banquet. We will have the backing of my foster-dad at the county level, and will do nothing to offend our greenwood friends. If we treat the villagers and our customers fairly and courteously, there’s no reason why we can’t stay in business. I want you to burn everything the elder and younger masters used. Anything that can’t be burned will be buried. Tonight you’ll need to get plenty of rest. Well, what do you think, Uncle Arhat?’
    ‘We will carry out the young mistress’s orders,’ he responded.
    ‘If any of you wants to leave, I won’t stand in your way. Anyone who finds it difficult to work for a woman should look for employment elsewhere.’
    The men exchanged glances. ‘We’ll do our best for the young mistress,’ they said.
    ‘Then that’s all for now.’
    The men retired to the bunkhouse in the eastern compound, buzzing about all that had happened. ‘Turn in,’ Uncle Arhat said to them. ‘Get some sleep. We have to be up early tomorrow.’
    In the middle of the night, when Uncle Arhat got up to feed the mules, he heard Grandma sobbing in the western compound.
    Bright and early the next morning, he went out to look around. The gate to the western compound was closed, and there was no sound from inside. He stood on a stool and looked over the gate. Grandma was seated on the ground next to the wall, with only the comforter beneath her; she was fast asleep.
    Over the next three days, the Shan family compound was turned upside down. Uncle Arhat and the hired hands, their bodies sprayed