Mo Yan - Frog

Nothing stirred on the other side of the gate for a long moment. Then a young rooster crowed. My mother-in-law’s voice was next: Wan Xin, you black-hearted, inhumane monster… a bad death awaits you… after you die, you’ll have to climb a mountain of knives and boil in hot oil, your skin will be peeled, your eyes will be gouged out, and you’ll burn from head to toe.

With a snicker, Gugu turned to the deputy militia chief. Go ahead, she said.

He had his men drag a long, thick cable up to the gate of the neighbour to the east and wrap it around an old scholar tree. With his hand on his cane, Xiao Shangchun bounded out of the crowd and jabbered at the top of his lungs: That’s our family’s tree! He tried to hit my aunt with his cane, but lost his balance in the attempt. So, this is your tree, Gugu said coldly. My apologies, but you seem to have chosen you neighbour poorly.

You’re all local bandits… a bunch of Guomindang operatives…

The Guomindang curses us as ‘Commie bandits’, Gugu said with a cruel smile. Calling us local bandits shows you’re not in the same league as the Guomindang.

I’m going to sue you people… my son works in the State Council.

Go ahead and sue, all the way to the top if you can manage.

Xiao Shangchun threw down his cane and wrapped his arms around the scholar tree. You can’t pull my tree down, he said tearfully. Yuan Sai said that this tree carries the lifeblood of my family; if it flourishes, so does my family…

Gugu laughed. I wonder if Yuan Sai calculated when he’d be arrested.

You’ll have to kill me first, Xiao bawled.

Xiao Shangchun, Gugu said sternly, what’s happened to the ferocity you displayed when you were beating and making life miserable for people during the Cultural Revolution? Look at you, crying and snivelling like an old woman.

You can’t fool me, I know you’re exploiting your public office for personal gain… plotting revenge against me… it’s your niece with the illegal pregnancy, so how can you pull down my tree…

Not just your tree, Gugu said. When it’s down, we’re going to pull down your gate arch, and then your house. Crying out here won’t do you any good. You should go see Wang Jinshan. Gugu took the bullhorn from Little Lion and directed it at the crowd. All you neighbours of Wang Jinshan, listen carefully. In accordance with special regulations issued by the commune family-planning committee, since Wang Jinshan is shielding his daughter, who is maintaining an illegal pregnancy in defiance of the government, and insulting authorised workers, we will now pull down the houses of his neighbours on all sides. You can go to Wang Jinshan to recoup your losses. If you do not want your houses to be destroyed, now is the time to persuade him to have his daughter come out.

My father-in-law’s neighbours erupted in a chorus of shouts.

Carry out the order, Gugu said to the deputy militia chief.

The caterpillar tractor roared into action, making the ground beneath our feet tremble.

The steel beast began to move, slowly picking up the slack in the cable, which sang out as it tautened. The leaves on the tree started to flutter.

Xiao Shangchun ran as fast as his limping leg would take him up to my father-in-law’s gate, where he pounded like a madman. Wang Jinshan, you and your fucking ancestors are the scourge of your neighbours. You will not die well!

In his anxiety, his garbled speech inexplicably turned clear.

The only sounds on the other side of the gate were the heartbreaking howls of my mother-in-law.

Gugu raised her arm for the sake of the deputy militia chief and then made a chopping motion.

Step on it! the man shouted to the driver.

The roar of the tractor thudded against eardrums, the cable stretched taut enough to cut into the bark of the tree, from which sap oozed. Inch by inch the tractor moved ahead, sending blue smoke spurting into the sky from the vertical exhaust pipe up front. The driver, who was wearing blue canvas overalls, a white towel around his neck and a duckbill cap, kept looking back, biting his lip under a black moustache. He had the look of a model worker. The tree creaked as it began to list, such a sad sound. The cable had bitten deeply into the trunk, white wood showing as chunks of the bark broke off.

Get your arse out here, Wang Jinshan! Xiao Shangchun was pounding on the gate with his fists, hitting it with his knees, and butting it with his head. Now even my mother-in-law’s sobs had stopped.

The tree leaned, farther and farther, its canopy of leaves fluttering to the ground.

Xiao Shangchun staggered over to the tree. My tree… my family’s bloodline tree…

Roots were moving just below the surface.

Xiao Shangchun struggled back to my father-in-law’s gate. Wang Jinshan, you son of a bitch, we’ve been neighbours, good ones, for decades, almost becoming relatives, and now you want to destroy us.

The roots were now exposed, like light yellow pythons, moaning as they felt the air. Some snapped in two, others grew longer and longer, all those underground pythons… The leafy umbrella swept the ground like a gigantic broom, willowy branches splintered as they bent down and raised eddies of dirt. The bystanders sniffed the air, which carried the smells of fresh soil and tree sap.

Wang Jinshan, I’ll split my head open at your door, damn you! Xiao banged his head against the gate. We heard nothing, not because his head produced no sound, but because it was swallowed up by the roar of the tractor.

The tree was dragged a dozen metres away from Xiao Shangchun’s house, leaving a gaping hole with torn roots where it had once stood. Children were already digging to find young cicadas.

My aunt announced through the battery-operated bullhorn, Next we will pull down Xiao Shangchun’s gate arch.

People carried Xiao over to the side, where they pinched the spot beneath his nose and massaged his chest.

Neighbours of Wang Jinshan, take notice — Gugu spoke calmly — go to your homes to gather up your valuables. After we pull down Xiao Shangchun’s house, we’re coming for yours. I know this seems unreasonable, but lesser reason must give way to greater reason. And what is that? Family planning, controlling our population growth. I’m not afraid to be the villain, someone has to be. I know you all want me to die and go straight to Hell. Well, we Communists don’t believe in such places, and materialists have nothing to fear. And I wouldn’t be afraid even if there were such a place. Who would go to Hell if not me? Remove the cable from the tree and affix it to Xiao Shangchun’s gate arch!

All my father-in-law’s neighbours rushed in and began kicking and pounding on his gate. They threw bricks and tiles into his yard. Someone even brought over some dry corn stalks to stand up under the eaves. Wang Jinshan, he yelled, if you don’t come out, we’ll set your house on fire!

Finally the gate opened. Standing there was neither my father-in-law nor my mother-in-law; it was my wife. Her hair was a mess, she was covered in mud and dirt, and she had on only one shoe — the left. She’d obviously just crawled out of the cellar.

Gugu, she said as she walked up to my aunt, isn’t it enough that I go with you?

I always knew that my nephew’s wife had a profound understanding of right and wrong, Gugu said with a smile.

I have to give you credit, Renmei said. If you were a man, you could command an army.

Just like you, Gugu said. When you broke the marriage contract with the Xiao family back then, I knew you were an exceptional woman.

Renmei, I said, this has been hard on you.

Let me see your hand, Xiaopao, she said.

I reached out my hand, not knowing what she wanted with it.

She grabbed it and took a bite out of my wrist.