Yan Lianke - Lenin's Kisses

After finishing her noodles, the midwife got ready to leave. Before she left, however, she again felt inside Jumei, then cried out in astonishment: Heavens, there really is another baby in her belly!

Jumei proceeded to give birth to a fourth child.

This was Balou’s legendary surtwin birth. All four of the infants were girls. The eldest was called Tonghua, or “Tung-Oil Tree Blossom”; the second was called Huaihua, or “Pagoda Tree Blossom”; the third was called Yuhua, or “Elm Blossom”; and because there happened to be a moth flying around the room when the fourth was born, she was called Si’e, or “Fourth Moth,” and was nicknamed Mothlet.

3) Little nin. A girl whose growth is stunted. Because Jumei gave birth to quadruplets, each of them was born small, and therefore everyone called them little nins.

5) Wholer. A term of respect used in Liven to refer to healthy people. The term is used to designate those of us who are normal and are neither blind, deaf, mute, nor missing any limbs.

7) Cold dead. DIAL. This was originally used to refer to cold weather, but here it is used to suggest that someone’s heart is as cold and hard as that of a dead man.

There was a reason why Mao Zhi cursed the new county chief like this. The chief’s name was Liu Yingque, and he was once just an ordinary person like us. Prior to the dingji year, he had been a soc-school babe 1in the county seat,and it was from there that he ended up as a temporary worker in the township of Boshuzi. Every day he would sweep the courtyard of the town hall and fill the boilers in the canteen, for which work he was paid twenty-four and a half yuan a month.

During that era, people throughout the land were deeply engrossed in the dance of Revolution, though in remote Balou they were concerned primarily with trying to fill their bellies. The people of Balou eventually came to realize that they needed knowledge and enlightenment, just as the nation needed to develop a socialist education movement, promote soc-ed, 3and emphasize rationality and pedagogy. Personnel were needed to promote soc-ed, so Liu Yingque was summoned. Given that he was young and fit, and was regarded as the soc-school babe, he was sent to Liven a hundred li away to help promote soc-ed and lead the people.

In Liven, Liu asked the villagers if they had ever heard of Wang, Zhang, Jiang, and Yao.

The villagers stared at him blankly.

Liu explained that Wang, Zhang, Jiang, and Yao were the infamous Gang of Four, and asked how it was possible that the villagers didn’t know about them.

The villagers continued staring at him blankly.

Liu then convened a meeting, during which he read from some official documents. He explained that the Gang of Four was comprised of Deputy Party Chair Wang Hongwen, the conspirator Zhang Chuqiao, Chairman Mao’s wife Jiang Qing, and the hooligan Yao Wenyuan. At this point, the villagers nodded and Liu, his work complete, prepared to return to the commune. As he was leaving, however, he happened to notice a wholer walking over from the other side of town. She appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen, and as she walked her braids waved back and forth like a pair of black crows perched on her shoulders.

You can just imagine what it must have been like to hold a meeting in Liven and gaze down from the stage at the crowd of blind, crippled, deaf, and mute people below. In this sea of disabled people, Liu’s eyes would have felt to himself like a pair of lanterns, his legs like flagpoles, and his ears like satellite dishes. Here, he would have felt like a commander in chief, even an emperor — but even so, he wouldn’t have wanted to stay too long; he would have been afraid that if he did his eyesight might begin to fade, his legs might grow weak, and his hearing might deteriorate.

This was the third lunar month. The vegetation was green, flowers were in bloom, and a refreshing fragrance hung in the air. In Liven there was a pair of century-old honey locust trees, whose canopies shrouded the entire village in shade. The village was located in a gorge at the base of a cliff, and consisted of a scattering of houses connected by a road. The region facing the ridge to the west was comparatively flat and populous; most of the inhabitants were blind, but when they went out they didn’t need their canes as long as they stayed close to home. The central region was hillier and less populated; most of the residents were cripples but, since their eyesight was good, if they needed to get around they could hobble along by leaning on their crutches and against a wall. In the easternmost region, meanwhile, the terrain became extraordinarily steep and the road was exceedingly poor. Most of the residents there were deaf-mutes, but since they had good eyes and strong legs they were not particularly concerned over the condition of the road.

Liven’s main street was two li long, and extended from the river to the mountain. The region to the west with the concentration of blind inhabitants was called the blind zone, the region to the east with a preponderance of deaf-mutes was called the deaf zone, and the region in the middle where cripples predominated was naturally called the cripple zone.

The wholer was walking over from the cripple zone, though she herself was not crippled and instead seemed to flutter along like a leaf blowing in the wind. Liu Yingque had set out from the commune early the previous morning, and after spending the night on the road had arrived in the village around noon. He had originally planned to convene a meeting under one of the honey locust trees, read his official documents, and then leave this world of the crippled and the blind and the deaf and dumb as soon as possible — spending the night on the road and returning to the commune the next day. Upon seeing this young wholer appear before him, however, he resolved instead to stay in Liven another night. He stood in the middle of the road, his white shirt tucked into his pants, waiting for the woman to approach so that he could examine her delicate figure, flushed cheeks, florid shirt, and embroidered shoes. Back in town, those shoes were as ubiquitous as the zongzi bamboo leaf wrappings that always end up scattered everywhere after the annual Duanwu Festival, but here in Liven she was the only person who wore them, her shoes resembling a couple of blossoms in the middle of a winter landscape. Liu stood in the middle of the road as though trying to block her path, and asked, Hey, what’s your name? Why didn’t you come to the meeting today?

She blushed and looked around, as if trying to escape, explaining, My mother is sick, and I needed to get her some medicine.

He introduced himself as Cadre Liu from the commune, and asked if she knew who Wang, Zhang, Jiang, and Yao were. When she didn’t respond, he proceeded to educate her, explaining that an event had taken place in China that was so momentous that it was celebrated throughout the land as a second Revolution. He asked her how it was possible that she didn’t know who Wang Hongwen and Zhang Chuqiao were, or even that Jiang Qing was Chairman Mao’s wife. Afterward, he still didn’t leave, but stayed in Liven another night. He was determined to teach this girl and her isolated village many things about the outside world — about the commune, the provincial capital, and indeed the entire nation.

It wasn’t until many days later — after he had gotten to know the girl well — that Liu finally returned to the commune.

And at the end of that year Jumei miraculously gave birth to four daughters.