Bi Feiyu - Three Sisters

Guo Jiaxing sat in his rattan chair in the living room; Qiaoqiao stood in the doorway of her bedroom. Neither spoke. The silence lay heavily in the room for a long time before Guo Jiaxing lit a Flying Horse cigarette and said, “You need to join a rural production brigade. Can’t you get that through your thick skull?”

“No!” she said as she leaned against the door frame, pouting. “Let’s say I do what you want. What if you lose your grip on power? Who’ll take care of me then? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on a farm.”

Yumi’s heart skipped a beat. The girl might seem dull-witted, but she was smart enough to worry about her long-term prospects. That was the last thing Guo expected to hear from his daughter.

What kind of talk was that! Guo pounded the table in anger, startling Yumi. Qiaoqiao is a foolish girl after all, Yumi thought. One doesn’t use words like “what if” and “lose power” when talking to an official. How could she not have known that? Yumi heard her husband push his chair away and tap his finger on the tabletop.

Once he got his anger under control, he said in a loud voice, “The red flag will never be taken down.” With the mention of the red flag, the situation turned so grim that Yumi grew fearful. She’d never heard her husband use that tone of voice before; he wasn’t merely angry, he was furious.

Silence returned to the living room for a long moment. Then Qiaoqiao slammed the double door of her bedroom— bang, bang. That was followed by her shouting from inside: “Now I see. After Mama died you got yourself a concubine and joined the ranks of the feudalists, capitalists, and revisionists. Now you want to send me to the countryside so you can please your concubine!”

Yumi heard every word and all she could think was This girl is outrageous. Now she’s dragged me into the middle of this.

Guo’s face was dark with anger. With his hands on his hips, he stormed outside, where he spotted Yuxiu, who was quietly observing him from the kitchen. He pointed at her through the window.

“I forbid you from backing her up anymore!” he ordered. “Who does she think she is, the mistress of a feudal household involved in class exploitation?”

Yuxiu tucked her head into her shoulders at the warning just as the skipper of the commune speedboat opened the front gate. When he saw the anger on Director Guo’s face, he stood there and waited.

Suddenly Qiaoqiao burst out of her room and ran toward the skipper. “Come. Take me to my grandmother’s house.”

He stayed put.

Guo Jiaxing turned to his daughter. “You haven’t taken your final exams,” he shouted, as if this had just dawned on him. His tone softened a bit. Qiaoqiao ignored him. She walked out the gate, dragging the skipper by the arm; he kept looking back nervously until Guo Jiaxing dismissed him with a weak wave of his hand.

With Qiaoqiao and the skipper gone, an air of calm settled over the yard, abrupt and unexpected. Guo stood there, smoking furiously. Yumi slipped quietly out the door and stood beside him. Obviously heavy-hearted, he sighed deeply. “I’ve always stressed the importance of ideology,” he said to her. “And now, you see, we’ve got a problem.”

Yumi answered his sigh with one of her own. “She’s just a child,” she said to comfort him.

“A child?” He was nearly shouting, still in the grip of anger. “At her age I’d already joined the new democratic revolution.”

As Yuxiu watched the scene through her window, she could tell that Yumi was ecstatic regardless of how she tried to pretend otherwise. She did a good job of covering it up. My sister is like water, always finding a way to flow downward. She manages to fit in perfectly without leaving the slightest gap, Yuxiu said to herself, admiring her sister for a talent that she herself did not possess.

Yumi looked at Guo and kept her eyes on him as they filled with glistening tears. Then she took his hand and laid it on her belly. “I hope we never make you angry like that,” she said.

Orientation is important at all times and allows for no mistakes—ever.

Take flattery, for instance. Ever since coming to Broken Bridge, Yuxiu had taken pains to wholeheartedly “serve the people” in the person of Guo Qiaoqiao. Now it looked as if she’d bet on the wrong number and had lost more than she’d gained—this was something that she felt with great intensity. Since Yumi was pregnant, her status in the family was assured, probably even enhanced. From now on, she’d be the one for Yuxiu to look to, it seemed. Even if Qiaoqiao grew increasingly imperious, she would not stay home forever, and Yuxiu berated herself for not thinking far enough ahead. Fawning on someone is hard work; just being shameless isn’t enough. Strategy and tactics are the essence of fawning. And tactics are tied up with orientation. Yuxiu had lost her way, but that wouldn’t last. Qiaoqiao’s departure left only one path open. Yuxiu had set herself adrift, and now she had to find her way back to the shore. It was time to get on Yumi’s good side.

But, as they say, last night’s food loses its taste, and the grass behind is no longer fresh. Yuxiu’s attempts fell flat with Yumi. Nothing illustrated that better than the act of serving rice. After Qiaoqiao left, Yumi refused to let Yuxiu wait on her, preferring to do everything herself. Most of the time she acted as if Yuxiu weren’t even there, which had the desired effect.

Yuxiu felt as if she’d been kicked out of a production brigade. The difference this time was that she did not blame her sister. There was no way around it—the fault lay with her. She’d stood with the wrong unit, had chosen the wrong orientation, and in the process had caused her sister considerable pain. She could not blame Yumi for being disappointed in her; it was totally deserved. It was now up to Yuxiu to behave differently, to talk less and do more. If she worked hard at reforming herself, she could show her sister that she was a new person. And once her sister saw that new person take shape, her anger would dissolve and she’d be in a forgiving mood. Then she’d let Yuxiu wait on her. Despite all that had happened, they were still sisters, and that gave Yuxiu all the confidence she needed.

Yuxiu was right to think that way, but she chose the wrong tactic. Yumi was giving Yuxiu the cold shoulder in hopes that she would reflect on her behavior and admit that she’d done wrong. What Yumi needed was an open admission of mistakes. It was all about attitude. And by attitude she meant that Yuxiu should stop thinking about saving face. As long as she adopted the proper attitude, Yumi, who was, after all, her older sister, had no interest in embarrassing her and would be happy to have her continue to live with them. But this was lost on Yuxiu, whose desire to turn over a new leaf was undermined by the frown that seemed permanently fixed on her face. Yumi saw that as a sign of resistance, even of outrage over the treatment of Guo Qiaoqiao. That sort of obstinacy was not what Yumi had hoped for. Well, she said to herself, all right, if that’s how you want it. Since you’re hell-bent on doing it your way, don’t blame me for making things hard for you.

Yumi wore an unusually stern expression. With Qiaoqiao now out of the house, she would bang her rice bowl and chopsticks down on the table, adding to the heavy atmosphere. Yuxiu was stymied. One day passed, then another and another, driving Yuxiu to the point of distraction. She spoke as little as possible, and her darkening mood increased the impression of defiance. Admitting mistakes is never easy, because you need first to determine what the person you’re dealing with is looking for. Only after you know that can your attitude be considered proper.