Part 18 (1/2)
The couple turned to face the side wall, on which hung a portrait of the late Chairman and a pair of large banners carrying the emblem of a crossed sickle and hammer.
Ming Chen began chanting: ”The first bow ...”
The couple bowed to the banners and the portrait, keeping the tips of their middle fingers on the seams of their trousers.
”The second bow ...”
They bowed again, lower than the previous time, almost eighty degrees.
”The third bow ...”
Done with the homage, the couple turned to face the audience again. For a few seconds the echoes of the director's chanting kept ringing in the room and the corridor. People remained quiet and seemed muted by the sheer volume of Ming Chen's voice. Then the director announced, ”Now I declare Lin Kong and Manna Wu are man and wife. Let us congratulate them.”
People applauded again; some boys whistled.
When the audience quieted down, the couple were asked to sing a song. Manna was good at singing, but Lin knew few songs, so they sang ”Our Troops March Toward the Sun,” which was so outdated that some of the young officers had never heard it. Their singing was unpleasant to the ear. The bridegroom's voice was too low and soft, while the bride's was rasping thanks to the cold she had. A few nurses couldn't help smirking; one said, ”This gives me a toothache.”
The moment they finished singing, a young officer raised his fist, shouting, ”Eat a bobbing apple!”
”Yes, let them eat a bobbing apple together,” several voices cried out. What they demanded was an apple strung by a thread in the air, so that the couple couldn't avoid kissing each other while eating it.
Director Chen held up his hands and calmed them down. He said, ”We're revolutionary officers and soldiers, and the army isn't your home village, so the bobbing-apple stuff is not appropriate here. Now, enjoy yourselves.”
As people were standing up and moving around, Ming Chen clapped his hands for the attention of the children. He cried, ”Small friends-boys and girls-you can eat as many goodies as you want, but don't take any home. Understood?”
”Yes sir,” a little girl shouted back.
Laughter followed. At once the room was filled with noise again. A baby burst out crying in a back corner. A young officer set off a firecracker; the explosion made a few girls scream; immediately he was prohibited from doing that again. The two doors at the back were opened to let out the smell of gunpowder.
One by one the leaders walked up to the bride and groom to clink gla.s.ses and give their congratulations. When Commissar Ran Su approached them, he seemed very moved. Unlike others, he didn't hold a gla.s.s of wine. He looked like an old man now-though he was merely fifty-one-with spa.r.s.e hair and a gray mustache. Furrows spread on his forehead and at the corners of his eyes, whose lower lids hung down a little. He grasped Lin's and Manna's arms and drew them aside, saying in a somber voice, ”You two must cherish this opportunity in your lives. Love and take care of each other. Don't forget that yours is a bitter love.” He paused and said ”bitter love” again, as though to himself.
His words touched the bride. After Ran Su left, she was unable to restrain herself anymore and broke out sobbing. Lin took her gla.s.s away. With his arm around her waist he steered her to a corner and tried to calm her down, but she was inconsolable, her mouth trembling and her face bathed in tears. She bit her lip, sniffling, her eyes s.h.i.+ning at the happy crowd moving about under a 300-watt bulb.
”Don't be so upset, dear,” Lin said.
She was still biting her lip, tears trickling down her chin and falling on the front of her jacket.
”Come, sweetheart,” he said again, ”this is our wedding. Try to put on a happy face.”
She raised her face, which looked so contorted that for a moment he didn't know what to say. He touched her forehead; it was wet and hot.
He asked, ”Is this too much for you?”
She nodded.
”Would you like to go home?”
She nodded again. He turned and saw Nurse Hsu sitting nearby with a few little girls and cracking hazelnuts for them with a pair of pliers. He asked her to take his bride home, since he couldn't extricate himself. Then he found Manna's fur hat and overcoat and brought them out to the corridor. There he helped her on with them, saying he would join her at home soon.
When he returned to the crowd, the room was full of noisy music. The tables were all pushed against the walls, and young nurses and officers were dancing together. After being banned for almost two decades, ballroom dancing had just come back into fas.h.i.+on. The young men and women were wheeling and swaying pa.s.sionately as though they knew no fatigue. The older officers and doctors stood by, watching the dancers and chatting. Suddenly a nurse slipped and fell on the floor, having stepped on a pear core. Her fall brought on waves of laughter.
Haiyan and her husband Honggan came up to Lin and congratulated him. They were a middle-aged couple now. Honggan wore civilian clothes and gla.s.ses, which made him resemble a ranking official; Haiyan was moonfaced and a little stout, wearing a saffron neckerchief. She beckoned to their son. ”Come here, Taotao, and meet Uncle Kong.”
”No, I don't want to,” whined the eight-year-old boy. He skipped away with a wooden carbine in his arms and disappeared among his pals. His parents and Lin all laughed.
”You and Manna should never have a boy,” Haiyan said to the bridegroom. ”It's much easier to raise a girl. By the way, where is the bride?”
”She didn't feel well and went back home. She has a cold.”
Honggan patted Lin on the shoulder and said, ”My friend, I'm very happy to be here. Listen, from now on if you need any help, just let me know.” His left hand was twirling an empty gla.s.s.
Lin looked at his flat face, trying to make sense of his words. He was amazed to see that Honggan had turned into a happy, healthy man and had shed all traces of his peasant stock. His face was quite smooth; only two small pinkish boils on his forehead reminded Lin that the face used to be carbuncular.
”Don't be polite, Lin,” Haiyan said. ”He has power and pull now. His company owns twelve trucks.”
”Oh, thanks,” he managed to reply. In his heart he still couldn't embrace them as friends.
”If you need to bring home coal or firewood,” Honggan said, ”just give me a call.”
”Thanks.”
Silence set in. The summer before last Honggan had been demobilized and had become the vice-chairman of a lumberyard in Muji. Like her husband, Haiyan had also made progress in life; after one and a half years of training in Changchun City, she had become an obstetrician. They had moved to downtown Muji so that their son could go to a better school. Though Haiyan and Manna had made up long ago, Manna still wouldn't trust her with any secret. Now Lin hoped the couple would leave him alone.
But Honggan was in a talkative mood. He said in a low voice, ”Lin, have you heard anything about Geng Yang?”
Lin was perplexed by the question and shook his head, wondering why he mentioned that name at this wedding. Thank heaven, his bride wasn't around.
”Well, I don't mean to annoy you,” Honggan went on, ”but I heard he got rich, filthy rich. You know, a bad dog is always lucky.”
Lin didn't say a word, his cheeks coloring.
Seeing the bridegroom's flushed face, Haiyan pinched her husband's neck and asked angrily, ”Why the h.e.l.l did you mention that thug here, moron?” She then gripped his ear and tweaked it.
”Ouch! Let go.”
”Apologize to Lin,” she ordered.
”All right, all right, Lin, I'm sorry.”
Lin said with a bland smile, ”Let him go, Haiyan. He meant no harm.”
”He's stupid, such a killjoy.” She released his ear. ”As if he hadn't done enough damage and hadn't hurt Manna at all.” She turned to her husband and asked, ”Why did you try to spoil this wedding?”
Honggan realized his blunder. ”Sorry, Lin, I didn't mean to do anything nasty. There was an article on Geng Yang in Role Models Role Models a month ago. I just want to say it's unfair that son of a b.i.t.c.h is doing so well.” a month ago. I just want to say it's unfair that son of a b.i.t.c.h is doing so well.”