Becoming Madame Mao - Anchee Min [56]
She thinks that he has a way to cheer her up. So she listens.
My own living conditions in Beijing were quite miserable, in contrast to the beauty of the old capital. I stayed in a place called Three-Eyes Well. I was sharing a tiny room with seven people. At night we all packed into the large bed made of earth heated from underneath. There was scarcely room for any of us to turn. I had to warn people on each side of me when I needed to do so.
The girl doesn't care if the man in front of her is describing their future home. Her concern is to make the man remove the woman between them.
Yesterday I felt the warmth of the early northern spring, Mao says. His eyes brighten. The white plums bloom while the ice seals over the Pei Lake. It reminds me of the poem by a Tang poet, Tsen Tsan. Ten thousand peach trees blossoming overnight.
The girl can't understand the charm of the poem, but she senses his feeling from the lines.
The women squat on their heels eating breakfast. Lan Ping stares at her bowl. Her thoughts are on Mao. She watches the women marching and exercising until class time. The women come and sit in rows in front of her. She tries to be vivid and illustrative. The students pay no attention. They begin to discuss among themselves how to weave fancy-patterned baskets.
Listen, I am here to teach you math! I need some respect.
The students turn to her and begin to complain that her voice is too soft. Our hearing has been damaged by Chiang Kai-shek's air raids. You are from the city, you don't know war ... One woman suddenly calls the teacher a hypocrite.
This is rude, says Lan Ping.
Rude? The woman spits on the ground. Hypocrite!
The class echoes the woman.
Lan Ping throws the chalk and stops teaching.
The women cheer happily.
Suddenly comes the sound of gunshots.
It's Zi-zhen. The older woman makes a curling gesture with her finger, like pulling a trigger. It's her pistol. Do you know, Miss Lan Ping, that once Zi-zhen almost shot the Chairman?
When? the teacher asks, panicking.
It was when he came to visit her.
Why did she want to shoot him?
Because he was flirting with a lowlife. Zi-zhen always goes after the lowlifes. They make good targets for the crack shot.
I run as fast as I can back to my barracks. I close the door and pour cold water over my face. I know it was not Zi-zhen. Zi-zhen is in Russia. The women, her students, are there to take revenge for her and for themselves. They all would be affected if Mao divorces Zi-zhen. If Mao is allowed to abandon his wife, so are the others.
At night the Yenan Pagoda is a silent sentinel. At dawn there is a sudden explosion. From her window Lan Ping sees half of the sky turn red. A half-hour later, Little Dragon knocks on Lan Ping's door.
What's the matter? She puts on her coat.
The Chairman ...
What happened?
His cave has been hit.
Is he all right?
He is fine, but the Politburo has to relocate. We are leaving. He sent me to say good-bye.
Good-bye? Is there anything else?
Good-bye and that's it.
Where is he going?
I have no idea.
You must know.
I am sorry. I was told to prepare a month's food for the horses.
***
He is working on a map when the girl comes in. She enters with the night air, hair jelled with sweat and dust. Her eyes are as bright as ever.
He puts down his pencil, pushes away his maps and walks toward her. I didn't expect an iron tree to bloom.
I have nothing to say. You have turned me into a winter. A terrible, terrible winter. She begins to cry.
Shall we visit the spring, then? He grabs a chair for her.
Her body trembles in his nearness.
Sorry I can serve you no tea. He passes her a bowl of water. The bombs have sent all my mugs into the air.
She takes the water and drinks