Yan Lianke - Lenin's Kisses

One-Legged Monkey felt a bit at a loss, as if something that had been his responsibility had been taken over by someone else. As Huaihua walked past him, he hissed, “Huaihua, you’re like a ghost.” Huaihua stared at him in shock, then ground her teeth and retorted, “You think that, just because my grandmother is not here, that makes you the village official?” Then they parted. The performance of Birds Flying Toward the Phoenix was almost over. Next, there was an upbeat musical interlude, which brought everyone together. This was followed by the main event, which featured a singer named Cao’er who specialized in Balou tunes and had been invited to Liven specifically for this purpose. Cao’er was not her original name, but rather a stage name she had adopted as a teenager after performing the part of a character named Cao’er in Seven Head Turns . Cao’er the singer was now forty-seven years old, and after performing Seven Head Turns for the past thirty-three years she had become more famous in Balou than all of the previous county chiefs combined. But regardless of how famous she was, she still had to report to the county chief, and when Secretary Shi said that Chief Liu wanted her to perform at Liven in the Balou mountains, she had no choice but to agree.

The excitement of this year’s livening festival was thanks in large part to her.

The performance costumes were the same ones that were typically used for auspicious occasions, while the accompaniment was performed by Cao’er’s own personal troupe, which she had brought with her. When she arrived, the crowd immediately stopped applauding as everyone looked up, and even the peddlers hawking their goods gazed at the stage. At that moment, the children who had been waiting for this opportunity snatched some tea-eggs from the pot and grabbed several skewers of tofu slices and candied apple sticks. The peddler shouted at them,

“You’re stealing my candied apples!. . You’re stealing my candied apples!”

In the end, however, the peddler merely shouted at the children and didn’t dare try to chase them as they ran away laughing. Because the performance had already begun, no one really cared if something was stolen, and the peddler was afraid that if he left his stand to chase after the kids he might return to find everything else had been taken as well. Consequently, he couldn’t focus on the performance as he cautiously guarded his stand.

On stage, they were performing Seven Head Turns , also known as The Middle Shadows Path . 15The play featured a disabled woman named Cao’er, who was paraplegic, blind, deaf, and mute, and although she suffered unimaginable torment while alive, after her death she had the opportunity to become a wholer blessed with a beautiful singing voice. That is to say, she had the opportunity to go to heaven. It took seven days to traverse the flower- and grass-filled path from the mortal world to heaven, and as long as she followed her guide along this path for seven days without glancing back, she would be able to leave behind this sea of bitterness. But during those seven days, she discovered that she couldn’t bear to abandon her blind husband, her deaf-mute son, or her paraplegic daughter, and that she couldn’t bear to give up her family’s pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, cattle, and horses. She therefore glanced back at every step. When, on the seventh day, she finally reached the gates to heaven, she ended up going through the wrong door and missed her chance to be reincarnated, and as a result she returned to earth once again as a severely disabled woman.

Cao’er performed the role of this disabled woman named Cao’er, and a man who frequently performed with her played the part of the high monk who was leading Cao’er to heaven. One of them was in the mortal world, kneeling at the funeral altar and chanting Buddhist sutras, while the other was in the spectral world, singing as she advanced toward heaven. As they walked, they conversed and sang:

THE HIGH MONK SINGS:

The bodhisattvas and other spirits have mercy

And protect everyone who attempts to cross the sea of bitterness.

Cao’er has been disabled her entire life

So she should be able to escape this bitter world and enter paradise.

You walk along the flowery path.

As you continue forward you are not allowed to look back.

This was the first of the seven days

But seven days later you will cross the shady path.

CAO’ER SINGS:

The fragrance along the sunlit path assails the nostrils,

A blue aroma.

I comfortably walk forward

But my husband is weeping in front of the coffin.

What I smell are flowers and grass,

While what he smells is incense.

I’m heading to heaven to enjoy happiness,

How could I leave him, blind, to take care of our children?

(She looks back) — Oh, my husband!

THE HIGH MONK SINGS:

Cao’er, you can hear clearly while walking along the shady path.

Today is already the second day of the first week.

The flowers and grass are still as fragrant as before,

But you still can’t resist looking back.

CAO’ER SINGS:

The sun is rising on the second day of the first week.

The sun looks like gold and the moon like silver.

The left side of the road is lined with red peach blossoms,

The right is lined with new pear blossoms.

This is the red and white road to heaven,

But my deaf-mute son won’t have a mother to look after him.

As his mother, how can I proceed?

Seeing my motherless son,

I can’t help worrying who will interpret for him when he can’t hear,

And who will speak for him when he can’t talk?

When they are still young, who will make them clothes?

And when they grow up, who will serve as their matchmaker?

(Pauses, looks back) — My son!

THE HIGH MONK SINGS:

Today is your third day on this shadowy path.

Cao’er, you must be sure to listen carefully along the road,

The flowery and grassy path to heaven.

After seven days you will enter heaven.

In the meantime, if you are thirsty there are sweet pomegranates

And if you are hungry there is fried wheat grain.

For the past three days you have enjoyed yourself as if it were New Year’s.

But if you look back you will not able to cross heaven’s gates.

Remember this, remember this:

You hold your fate in your own hands.

CAO’ER SINGS:

Every day I spend on the shady path,

Is like the first day of the new year.

White clouds, blue skies, and a golden sun,

But my daughter struggles to walk with her crippled legs.

If she rips her clothes, who will mend them?

When it is time to eat, who will bring her chopsticks?

I cry out to my daughter:

You are weeping in front of your mother’s coffin.

(Looks back, says) — Oh, my dear daughter!

THE HIGH MONK SINGS URGENTLY:

Cao’er, Cao’er, you heard clearly,

Of the seven days, you have already used up three,

And the fourth is already more than half over.

When you turn back there is no shore and no brightness,

When you were alive you had no legs with which to walk,