Ha Jin - Nanjing Requiem

We stuck to our former decision not to write Mitsuko, because we still had to keep our Japanese relations secret here. If people knew about Haowen’s Japanese wife and child, they might find out where he was and then condemn us as a traitor’s family. As long as the war was going on, we’d better not exchange letters with Mitsuko. On the other hand, I felt uneasy just ignoring her.

“Do you think you can accept Mitsuko as a member of our family?” I asked Liya.

“She’s Shin’s mother, so we may not have a choice.”

I liked her answer. Liya had her father’s head, acute and rational. “Plus Haowen loves her,” I said.

“I hope I can have a Chinese sister-in-law, though.” Her pointy chin jutted aside while her short nose twitched.

“You mean Haowen should have a second wife?” I had never liked the custom of polygamy, which was still practiced.

Liya smiled, displaying an eyetooth. “I don’t know. We’re in the middle of a war and anything can happen.” She drew the toweling coverlet up to Fanfan’s chin and then pulled the string to turn off the light.

“Sleep tight,” I said.

Outside the latticed window an owl was hooting. I thought about Liya’s words. What she’d said about a Chinese sister-in-law could be a possibility, but that should be up to Haowen and Mitsuko. According to what I knew about her, she was a good girl and a loving mother. If only I could get to know her. I would try to persuade her to come to live here after the war.

I SHARED my grandson’s new photograph with Minnie. She observed him carefully and told me, “He has your mouth.”

“Liya said the same.”

“If I were you, I’d go to Tokyo this summer.”

“I can’t get travel papers,” I said, without telling her that I couldn’t afford such a trip either. We used to have a few valuable paintings, but the Japanese soldiers had made off with them, and there was nothing else I could sell to raise the money.

“What are you going to do, then?” She put her elbow on the glass desktop and looked me in the face, her eyes clear and warm.

“I’ve no idea.” I sighed.

“Can’t you write to Mitsuko?”

“She doesn’t know Chinese, Haowen told me. If my husband were home, he could write to her in Japanese, but I don’t think it’s safe to get in touch with her at this time.”

“Why not? She’s your family, isn’t she?”

“You know how crazy people could get here if they knew we have Japanese relations. We have to be very cautious.”

“Oh, I see. Everything becomes complicated when it happens in China. But if you’re afraid of using your own address, you can use mine and let Mitsuko send her letters to my care. I’ll pass them on to you.”

“That’s a wonderful idea. It’s so kind of you, Minnie. When Yaoping’s back, we might need your help with the letters that way. Thank you in advance.”

“No problem. Anything I can do, just let me know.”

I dared not write to Mitsuko in Chinese, because she’d have to ask someone to translate such a letter and then our family’s connection with Japan would become known. After that conversation with Minnie, I felt even closer to her. I knew that Mrs. Dennison disapproved of her, but I’d do anything to help my friend.

TWO WEEKS LATER, Mrs. Dennison, having recuperated, offered to keep the books for Jinling. Minnie was pleased, because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t balance the accounts. Mrs. Dennison was far better at managing money than Minnie. Yet I grew somewhat apprehensive and wondered why the old woman was so eager to take over the treasury. This could be a step toward her taking full control of the college. As a matter of fact, she had always been the real power here, because the donations we got from the States came by and large through her hands. In addition, most of the deans and department heads of our college had been her students.

I offered to take Mrs. Dennison downtown, as ever since she’d gotten back she’d been saying that she would love such a trip. She welcomed my idea but preferred a walk to a rickshaw. We set out for the Confucius Temple in the former amusement district in the southern part of the city, each carrying a shoulder bag printed with JINLING WOMEN’S COLLEGE. She was wearing a long silk dress, her arms spattered with freckles. I was amazed that she was in summer clothes because it wasn’t that warm yet. I had on a vest and poplin slacks. The moment we stepped out the front gate, we came face-to-face with a crowd — more than one hundred women were kneeling there, all poor and underfed. Minnie was standing in front of them. They were crying out, “The Goddess of Mercy, help us! Help us, please!”

“Please get up,” Minnie shouted. “Get up, all of you.”

“Take pity on us, the Goddess of Mercy!”

“Give us some work to do!”

“Help us, please!”

“Get up, all of you get up!” Minnie shouted again.

None of them obeyed and all kept begging her, a few even kowtowing.

“Please get to your feet so we can talk,” she said loudly, “or I’ll go back to my office.”

At last some of them rose and a few stepped closer. “What’s this about?” Mrs. Dennison asked.

“I don’t have the foggiest idea,” I answered.

Minnie said to the women at the front of the crowd, “Why are you doing this?”

“Principal Vautrin, aren’t you gonna open a shoe factory?” asked a middle-aged woman wearing puttees.

“Who told you that? We can hardly continue with our current programs.”

“Please hire some of us, Principal,” a small woman begged. “We all have hungry kids to feed.”

“There’s no principal here,” Mrs. Dennison said. “We’re a college that has only a president.”

The women looked baffled, having no idea about the difference between a president and a principal. Minnie told them, “Mrs. Dennison is right. Don’t call me that again. Just call me Miss Hua, all right? We have no plan for any factory. What you heard is a rumor.”

Seeing that they were still unconvinced, Minnie added, “If a factory opens here in the near future, you all can call me a liar. We’re a college. We’re not supposed to run a factory. Understood?”

Some of the women turned, starting to move away. Several came over to say hello to Minnie, while Mrs. Dennison stood at a distance from them. She kept glancing their way with a frown, her face colored in blotches.

Mrs. Dennison and I continued on to Ninghai Road, which the locals called Christian Way for its superb quality. We were very proud of this road, which the city had built especially for our college in 1921, when Jinling was under construction. The private contractor for the campus buildings, Ah Hong, had distrusted the official team of engineers and workmen, afraid that the foundation they were to lay for this street might not be firm enough for his trucks, so he turned to Minnie. She read every word on road construction in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and gave detailed directives, from the type of gravel to the use of a steamroller instead of stone rollers pulled by men. As a result, this road, costing about ten times as much as the one originally planned, was still intact, whereas other roads built at around the same time had fallen apart within two or three years and had had to be repaved.

Mrs. Dennison and I headed south toward the Zhan Yuan Garden area, where the Confucius Temple stood. She seemed unhappy about the incident that had just taken place at Jinling’s front entrance, which showed that the Homecraft School might have given these women the wrong impression, since it produced soaps, candles, towels, and umbrellas. The old woman remained silent, which made me uncomfortable. I knew Minnie must have felt embarrassed by the poor women calling her the Goddess of Mercy. To Mrs. Dennison, that must have smacked of idolatry.