Returning home, Red Apricot found White Peony sitting in her room. The rain had stopped and the air was inundated with moisture. A huge rainbow hung in the west. White Peony fixed her eyes on the rainbow from the window.
Red Apricot thought her sister was too absorbed to realize she was back, but White Peony suddenly said, "I knew there would be a rainbow. It's sunny in the east and rainy in the west. There'll certainly be a rainbow."
"Wang Tu is a dead man for sure now," Red Apricot said.
White Peony asked, "You wanted to stop it. Could you?"
Red Apricot uttered no sound.
White Peony turned back and looked at her calmly. "Good will be rewarded with good; evil will be rewarded with evil. One reaps what one sows."
"Wang Tu is not evil."
"He isn't, but Wu Xianggui is. He was the head of the family. Wang Tu will bear the responsibility for Wu Xiang gui's wrongdoing."
"That's not right," Red Apricot objected. "One should answer for what they did themselves."
"Tell that to Deng Erpin."
White Peony was worse than before. She had recently been indifferent, but now she was aggressive in her apathy and her eyes were full of hatred. She wanted to provoke Red Apricot into a life-or-death fight. She wanted a fight, but she didn't knew for whom she fought.
Red Apricot was scared by White Peony's sadness and hatred. White Peony usually hid her sadness. She had originally hidden her hatred very well, but now it was awakened by Red Apricot. If she made any false step, White Peony would vent her hatred on her, because she had no one else to vent her hatred on.
Wu Xianggui's room was more boisterous. Peony was crying and quarrelling with Wu Xianggui because both Zhang Wafang and her mother Wu Xianggui had asked her to turn to Deng Erpin, and she was unwilling to. She didn't believe Deng Erpin would give her father extra help for her sake, as Deng Erpin thought nothing of his own father. She hoped to do something for her father, but there was nothing she could do. At that time, her mother and Zhang Wafang gave her this lousy idea. It was impossible not to be annoyed. Wu Xianggui was more hateful than Zhang Wafang. She even mentioned what shouldn't have been mentioned: "If you hadn't gone off with Zhang Wafang, you would be Deng Erpin's wife. Won't he listen to you for the sake of this?"
Peony was angry and she too mentioned what shouldn't have been mentioned: "It's your fault! If you hadn't done so many bad things and ordered servants to fire on the Liberation Army, my father wouldn't be accused of such a grave crime! Now you've ruined both your nephew and your husband!"
Like mother, like daughter. Wu Xianggui was firm in her speech and Peony showed no mercy. These words were so vicious that Wu Xianggui shivered. They were vicious because they were absolutely true. Wu Xianggui had no way to refute them. She opened her mouth in vain and failed to defend herself.
Peony could not stop crying. The blow to her mother brought her no comfort. Her father was walking step by step into the tomb Wu Xianggui had dug for him, and she could do nothing about it.
Red Apricot said, "There's no use in crying."
Peony shouted, "What can I do except crying? Tell me."
"If I were you, I would turn to Deng Erpin."
"Deng Erpin again! Don't mention that shameless bastard!" Peony shouted. But then she realized that Red Apricot's eyes were full of firm resolve--an unswervingly loyal resolve. This made Peony believe that Red Apricot would definitely turn to Deng Erpin if their roles were reversed, and that she would offer her body without hesitation if it could bring Wang Tu back.
Peony stopped crying. Her wet eyes gradually dried while she looked at Red Apricot's face. Finally, she decided to turn to Deng Erpin. She ran to him and got to see him within minutes. "Where is my father?" she demanded.
"You can't see him," Deng Erpin said. "We're taking him to the county right now."
"I didn't come to see him. I came to beg you to treat him kindly. Give him lenient treatment, OK?"
"We should follow our principles and do our jobs within the scope of our principles."
"I'm begging you, please."
"It's no use begging me."
"Then what should I do?"
"No one can save your father."
Peony was silent. She took some time to bolster her courage, then said, "If you had come back earlier, I would have been your wife. Did you know that?" Deng Erpin expressed his ignorance and looked at Peony in surprise, doubting whether what she said was true. She added, "After Yipin's death, father-in-law asked me to wait for you."
Deng Erpin smiled, showing that he believed her. He said, "You're good now. You married a poor peasant."
"I can give it to you," she said, like a child offering something to a playmate in order to please him. But Deng Erpin was stupid and didn't understand what she was offering him. Peony looked outside and closed the door. She then began to take off her clothes while explaining, "I'm not a promiscuous woman and I don't like you, but I can give it to you. I'll do it for my father. Please treat him kindly. Even if he has to die, let him die comfortably." She made it clear that she was forced to sacrifice herself for her father. Now Deng Erpin knew what she proposed to give him no matter how stupid he was. He stopped her immediately and growled, "What are you doing? Do you want to get me into trouble?"
Peony was embarrassed. She didn't know whether to continue taking her clothes off or put them back on. Deng Erpin ordered her to get dressed immediately, but she was indecisive. Deng Erpin had to help her get dressed before opening the door.
"Go back. No one can save your father," he said.
In the cool breeze coming from outside, Peony's mind became clear. She strongly believed that she was right. This was never going to work. She turned back and ran home like a gust of wind. When she got home, she bawled angrily at the family waiting for her, "Who do you think I am? Deng Erpin thought nothing of me. You ordered me to ask for an insult. Why don't you go? Go! Go and find Deng Erpin! When my father was in his heyday, you all flattered him. How about now? He's in trouble, and you just turn your backs on him! Aren't you capable? Why did you order me to invite humiliation?" She hurled questions at them like a judge: "Where's White Peony? Where is that shameless bitch? She seduced my father and married him to live a happy life. Now my father's in trouble and her happy life is over! Did she become a turtle hiding in her shell?"
"And you!" She pointed at her mother's nose. "You did so many evil things and my father bears the consequences for you, but you act like nothing happened! If you have any conscience, you should give yourself up and let him come back. You should answer for what you did. Go!" She was in the most furious rage of her life.
Wu Xianggui was heartbroken, realizing that she really had committed a sin and even her daughter didn't understand her. Peony was her own flesh and blood. Peony should feel the pain when she hurts, instead of poking her in the wound with a stick. For a moment, she had truly wanted to exchange herself for Wang Tu, but she didn't put that urge into practice. She beat a retreat just when a decision should have been made. She was scared and cowardly. But now someone was forcing her to do something, and it was her daughter, her own flesh and blood.
Her daughter was going crazy and it drove her crazy. She had no choice but to smash things and throw curses in the sinking ship of the Wangs. She cursed White Peony, Red Apricot and Peony with the most unpleasant and vicious words she had ever heard over the decades. She cursed without pause, giving no chance for Peony and the others to curse. Now she was the only authority in the family, so she seized every chance and right to curse.
Red Apricot left the noisy room and went to see Deng Erpin. She didn't walk as hastily as Peony. She walked unhurriedly and calmly. It could be seen that she didn't expect a result; instead she valued the process.
Deng Erpin said, "I knew you would come to me one after another." He seemed angry. He was angry with Peony and now with Red Apricot because they were doing as he predicted.
Red Apricot said, "It would be strange if I didn't come."
"It's no wonder that Peony came because Wang Tu is her father. But what are you doing here? What's Wang Tu to you?"
"He's my brother-in-law."
"Then your sister should come, not you."
"My sister is unwilling to."
"Your sister is smart." Deng Erpin seemed to become complacent because he had seen through something. He nodded and concluded, "Your sister is smarter than you."
Red Apricot pleaded, "We came to beg you to treat him kindly and not to make him suffer, not to ask you to let him go."
Deng Erpin was suddenly provoked to anger. He banged the table, bouncing the mugs high, and said, "Look at you. You've fallen so low that you plead for mercy for a landlord, and ask us to treat him kindly and not make him suffer. It's disgusting to hear this." He made an expression of disgust.
"Your father was also a landlord."
"My father and I are in different camps!" he shouted. "I'm a revolutionary soldier, a land reform cadre!"
"You have a heart whoever you are, right?"
Deng Erpin then became soft, trying to speak in a grave and sincere tone: "You know everyone has a heart, but you don't know what's inside mine."
"I can give it to you if you grant my request."
Looking at her, Deng Erpin's face showed a trace of indistinct sadness. But he became more serious. He had to be serious now. He said, "If you came for this, you'd better leave right now."
Hearing that a public trial would be held, Wu Xianggui was like an old cat that pricks its ears up warily, frightened by surrounding sounds. In order not to stick her chin out, she kept her body still. Everyone went to the public trial except her. The trial was not long. Huang Gouwa from upriver and Li Changfu from the lower reaches were big bully landlords, and they walked in the front under escort. Although Wang Tu was a bully, he was not such a big bully, so he walked behind them. Zhu Daxiu was evil but he was not a landlord, so he walked behind all of them. However, no matter where they were in the line, they were all headed to the same place: the spacious river beach.
White Peony and Red Apricot attended the public trial. White Peony wore an expression of indifference but she listened more carefully than anyone else. Peony was present. She kept crying without scruple, which made her conspicuous. She didn't stand with White Peony and Red Apricot.
It was not until they arrived at the river beach that White Peony discovered they had forgotten the most important thing. She saw the families of Huang Gouwa and Li Changfu carrying coffins, and realized that they had not prepared a coffin for Wang Tu.
She asked Red Apricot, "What shall we do?"
Red Apricot asked in turn, "You always have an idea, don't you?"
"Should we bury his body?"
"It depends on your conscience."
"Peony is here too."
"She isn't you."
A volley of shots rang out. It rang out so fast that Wang Tu had fallen down dead before they reached an agreement on the coffin. The issue they had been discussing suddenly stared them in the face. The families of Huang Gouwa, Li Changfu and Zhu Daxiu went forward crying and shouting, but none of the Wangs went forward. Peony cried and shouted, but she didn't go forward. It seemed she was afraid of the dead. She was looking for Zhang Wafang, as he was not by her side at that point. In fact, Zhang Wafang had been taken away by his relatives with discerning eyes. They knew the situation and asked him to leave Peony. They also forbade him from burying Wang Tu's body. They told him that many people would bury Wang Tu's body, but they were wrong. Wang Tu was the only one left out. White Peony still couldn't make a decision. She was afraid of being implicated because she was planning a brand new future which belonged to both her and Red Apricot. At length, she stopped Red Apricot before making a decision and asked her to wait, hoping that Peony would go forward to claim the body, or that maybe Wu Xianggui would suddenly rush forward. It would be best if Wu Xianggui had a coffin too. If that happened, White Peony would not have to do anything.
While they were waiting, someone did run forward, but it was neither Peony nor Wu Xianggui. It was a villager from Flower River. He had been a tenant of the Wangs. However, he didn't go to collect the body. He didn't want to let such an opportunity slip, and rushed to cut off Wang Tu's genitals. He had heard that what one eats can strengthen the corresponding body part. Besides, Wang Tu's genitals were widely known along Flower River and famous for their great capacity. This was why he decided to stew and eat Wang Tu's genitals to strengthen himself.
Realizing things were in a bad state, Peony and White Peony ran up too late. The man had finished his job. He held the trophy before his eyes and gloried in it. He even showed it off to Peony. Grieving her father, she rushed at him and beat him. The man thought she wanted to grab his trophy, so he protected it furiously and gave her a hard shove. Peony fell down in a puddle of Zhu Daxiu's blood and screamed like a slaughtered pig. The man ran off with his trophy, leaving Wang Tu bleeding alone.
White Peony looked for familiar faces among the onlookers. She made requests to these familiar faces, begging them to go to the Wangs and bring a coffin. No one was willing to. All of them put on an expression that meant they were afraid of contracting plague. Hearing White Peony's request, they all walked away immediately. White Peony shouted at Peony, "Find Zhang Wafang. Ask him to carry your father home on his back!" Peony somehow became clear-headed in the realization that her father was lying there and no one cared. The other corpses had been put in coffins and carried away by their families. Paper ashes and the smell of incense floated in the air. If you listened carefully, you could hear Taoist priests chanting. This meant that Huang Gouwa, Li Changfu and Zhu Daxiu rested in peace.
Peony raised her voice and shouted for Zhang Wafang. There were only a few onlookers left and they were the people who wanted to see Wang Tu's private part. Peony tried to look for Zhang Wafang among the people, but he was not there. She raised her voice even louder. She didn't shout but broke out into cursing. She threatened that if Zhang Wafang didn't appear, she would turn her back on him. However, it seemed Zhang Wafang was not afraid of losing her for he didn't appear. Incensed, Peony had no choice but to roar, "I will carry my father on my back! I will carry my father home myself!" White Peony and Red Apricot helped the body up onto her back, but she was weak all over. She couldn't walk steadily, let alone carry the weight of her father. She trembled all over and didn't know whether it was out of anger or fear. Moreover, she was not strong enough.
It seemed White Peony was the only one who could do it. Peony looked at White Peony with imploring eyes. It was the first time that she decided not to scorn White Peony, as she needed her at that moment. Red Apricot looked to White Peony too. Red Apricot's eyes were saying, "If you have any conscience, you should do this."
White Peony carried Wang Tu on her back. Although she was the stronger one among them, she was weak compared with Wang Tu. She made all-out efforts but she could only bear his weight with great difficulty. She could barely take a step, but she was able to stand in place bearing Wang Tu's weight. However, she couldn't just stand there; she had to walk. Peony and Red Apricot held the body up, and White Peony gritted her teeth and began to walk. She stopped to rest several times along the way. Peony and Red Apricot would take Wang Tu down from her back and lay him on the ground, and then White Peony would sit aside and pant. During one of these rests, they saw Jasmine with her daughter Plum. They stood quietly nearby with no expression, like a big tree and a small tree.
Wu Xianggui began to wail upon seeing Wang Tu. She had been cursing for several days. Her husky voice added some desolation and pathos to her crying. As she was crying, others didn't have to, but she just cried and did nothing else. She didn't mention how to arrange Wang Tu's funeral. She just cried endlessly like she had cursed endlessly before.
