The Stinking Old Ninth (A Tale Of The Coal Capital)

Chapter Three

Chapter Three – FallInto A Snare

**Luo ru xian jing**

One Saturdayevening, White Swan took me to one corner of the school campus. Westood under a big Poplar tree. She seemed to be laden with anxiety.She didn’t say even one word on the way.

“Why are you in low spirits?” I asked.

“I think I’m pregnant,” She said.

I was startledand asked her in a hurry, “How do you know that?”

“My menstruation always came regularly. It would appear once amonth. But this time, it has not appeared on time, ever since youdid it with me. I’m afraid that I’m pregnant.”

“Do you have any other signs?”

“Yes, I sometimes feel like vomiting. That’s a typical sign ofpregnancy.”

“Oh, if you are pregnant, that’ll be the end of us! But I’llbe responsible for it. I’ll be with you forever, no matter whereyou go,” I said bravely.

“I don’t want to blame you. It’s not your fault. You are agood man. At the moment, what we have to do is to think of a way toevade the calamity.”

“What should we do?”

“Tomorrow I’ll go back home to see my mother. Do you rememberthat I told you that she is a gynaecologist?”

“Yes, I do. I think she can help you.”

“Firstly, I want her to give me a medical check to make surethat I am pregnant. If I am, I’m certain she’ll give me an abortionsecretly.”

“That’s too good to be true!”

Thenext morning, White Swanasked the political supervisor for a week’s leave. She said thather mother was sick. The political supervisor consoled her and gaveher one week’s leave without even asking her how she learned thather mother was sick. White Swan never thought it would be so easyfor her to obtain a week’s leave. She happily went backhome.

One morning, afew days later, I got a letter from her. The letter was given to meby Hot Pepper. She was the letter collector of our class. Our classhad an independent letterbox. All the letters to the students ofour class were put into the letterboxes by a postman. Hot Pepperkept the key to the letterbox. Every day it was she that picked upthe letters for the students and then distributed them to theletter receivers.

That morningshe handed me the letter that I had been expecting for days. Iimmediately tore it open and began to read it. The letter said thatWhite Swan was, indeed, pregnant. Her mother was both angry and sadbut had given her an abortion secretly. The operation was verysuccessful. After reading it, I heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, forsafety, I put the letter into my safe -- the pocket of myunderwear. I had concentrated all of my attention on the letter andhad neglected a pair of shifty eyes—Hot Pepper had been fixing hereyes on me and my letter. Hot Pepper was Plump Doll’s minion.

Thatafternoon, a queer thing happened. Plump Doll organized animmediate basketball match with the champion team of themathematics department. Plump Doll had no interest in playingbasketball at all. However, that day, she was especially active inhelping to bring about the match.

I was the bestbasketball player in our school, so naturally I was the absolutetop-player in our class team. Our class team couldn’t play with anyother team without me. Plump Doll made a brief speech before thematch. She stressed a number of times that we must all go out toplay so that we could win the game. For the game, she said that allplayers were required to wear sports-vests and sports-shorts. So, Itook off my jacket and underwear and gave them to Plump Doll. Shevolunteered to carry all the clothes that I took off. All thestudents of our class came to cheer for us. I was so excited anddelighted that I forgot about the letter completely.

Then thenext afternoon, I wasrequested to see the political supervisor. When I went into hisoffice, I saw Plump Doll and Hot Pepper there. A few members of theCommunist Youth League of our class were there as well. They wereseated in a semi-circular formation, with the political supervisorin the middle. I took a few steps forward and felt like I was acriminal facing a group of judges. The atmosphere was very serious.I looked at the political supervisor nervously, waiting to bequestioned.

“Have you received a letter from White Swan?” the politicalsupervisor asked me straightforwardly, while the others fixed theireyes on me sternly.

I was startledand scared. I immediately realized this was a small denouncemeeting; they would force me to tell the truth and they woulddenounce me mercilessly if I refused to do so. This, no doubt, wasa trial to me. I secretly exhorted myself - I had to be staunch andby no means give in. I had to conceal the secret between White Swanand me. But I was a coward by nature. Though I made up my mind tostand up to the test, I replied, trembling:

“Y…es.”

“What does she say in the letter?”

“She… said that… her mother is sick and missesher.”

“You lie!” Plump Doll, Hot Pepper, and the few members of theCommunist Youth League shouted at me together furiously. Thedeafening and angry voices scared me. For a moment, I wasstupefied.

“She is pregnant, isn’t she?” Hot Pepper asked mecoldly.

“I…don’t know,” I stammered

“You know! You are head over heels in love with White Swan.How couldn’t you know?”

“I…really don’t know. She has not mentioned it in theletter.”

“You lie again! You can’t cover the fact that she is pregnant!We know she is pregnant!”

“How do you know that she is pregnant?” Suddenly I returned tonormal and asked in return.

“She is vomiting. That’s a sign of pregnancy.”

“You… can’t prove she is pregnant… only by vomiting,” I arguedtimidly.

“There is another symptom which could prove that she ispregnant.”

“What symptom?”

“The stain that looks like a butterfly on her forehead couldprove it. She didn’t have that stain before. It only recentlyappeared on her forehead. It is called butterfly stain. Itindicates that the woman who wears it is pregnant. I come from avillage. Women in our village all know that if a woman is pregnant,a butterfly stain appears on her forehead,” Plump Doll saidaffirmatively.

Recently astain like butterfly had appeared on White Swan’s forehead. Shedidn’t have it before. It had just turned up in the few days andhad become clearer and clearer. I had been wondering why a stainlike a butterfly was growing on her forehead and was worried thatit might spoil her beauty. Plump Doll’s remarks made me realizethat that was a symptom to show that she was pregnant! So, it washard to conceal that fact.

But I said,“You can’t say that a woman is pregnant only by the butterflystain. There are no scientific grounds for it.”

“If it has no scientific grounds, then what about this?” PlumpDoll said satirically and then handed a piece of paper tome.

I took it andhad a look at it. To my great astonishment, it was a copy of theletter that White Swan sent me! It immediately dawned on me that Ihad fallen into the trap that Plump Doll and Hot Pepper had laidout for me! I knew immediately that they had had suspicions aboutWhite Swan’s pregnancy. It was only a matter of waiting to gettheir hands on some proof and here I had presented them with oneeven if it was unintentionally. Hot Pepper, the class’ mailcollector must have had a hand in it since she had been the onlyone who would be aware of any incoming mail to me.

They must havebeen on the lookout and made a copy of the original letter whichthey must have stolen when I hadn’t been paying attention. Since Idid not even notice that it had been missing, they must also havereplaced it at some point. They had known everything! But the trickthey resorted to was too dirty!

“It’s unfair!” I protested.

“It’s fair!” they shouted at me, jumping to their furiously,as if they were a group of tigers that would tear me into pieces. Iwas scared and stupefied again.

“It’s not only fair but it is wise as well.” Hot Pepper saidtriumphantly. “This is a wise revolutionary measure! To people whodid dirty things, we can resort to any measure!”

“Is the measure we resort to fair?” they asked meferociously.

For a moment Ifound everything around me swimming and repliedabsent-mindedly.

“Y-yes. It might be,” my voice was so low that it could bebarely heard.

Those “tigers”seemed satisfied. They knew I was a coward by nature. Once scared Iwould give in.

“Soapy, we have known all the dirty things you have done! Thecopy of your letter is the best testimony. With it the schoolauthority, no doubt, could punish you! We don’t need you to confessanymore,” The political supervisor said patiently. “But we want tosave you. If you could answer our questions honestly you mightescape the school’s punishment. You must understand our sincerity.Could you promise to give us a good confession?”

“Y… yes,” I mumbled, thinking that what the politicalsupervisor said was true. They had the copy of White Swan’s letteras testimony. It was the most convincing demonstration. It showedeverything we did. That’s enough for punishing us. There would beno necessity for them to collect any other proof. They didn’t needme to confess at all. They might have even consider giving me achance! They might want to save me!

“Could you save White Swan if I tell you all the things I didwith White Swan?” I suddenly raised my voice, looking at themexpectantly.

“Yes, if you could confess honestly, you could save her aswell. Actually, we want to save her too.”

“In that case, I will answer all the questionshonestly.”

“Good! Have you had s****l intercourse with WhiteSwan?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Did you get White Swan pregnant?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Has White Swan gone home to have an abortion?”

“Yes, she has.”

“Good, you are honest. Please sign here.”

When theinterrogation finished, I was asked to sign. In the process ofquestioning, Plump Doll had been recording everything. She wrotedown every word of what I spoke. In this end, I had no choice butto admit to everything they wanted to know. They smiled at me andpraised me profusely praised me for my obedience.

At the time, Ihad felt relieved, as though letting go of a heavy burden. Thinkingthat I had not only saved myself but that I may also have savedWhite Swan, I couldn’t help but feel pleased with myself. But Ifinally found out how wrong and naïve my actions had been. Iunderestimated Plump Doll and her kind. They had laid out a trapfor me and my confession turned out to be the biggest regret in mylife.

That night,with a heavy heart, I went to bed. Not long after I had made myconfession, I began to consider why they had wanted it so urgently.Logically, they already had the copy of the letter White Swan sentme. That was enough to punish us and also the most convincingtestimony. But what did they need my testimony for? Were theyreally being kind? Did they really want to save us? But they didn’tseem to have such good intentions! I remained perplexed, despitemuch thought.

I tossed andturned in bed, unable to sleep. All of a sudden, I understood why.White Swan was a wise, smart and unyielding woman. She had aninflexible will. Plump Doll had stolen the letter she had sent meand made a copy. That was an action against the law. She would riseto protest. She would accuse them of cheating. She would put PlumpDoll and the like on the spot. They would be disgraced even thoughshe couldn’t escape the punishment. So, they needed my confessionto cover their dirty action. They would use my confession astestimony against White Swan.

That was theirscheme! They planned to shift the blame to me! It was I whobetrayed White Swan! She would hate me to the very marrow of herbones. I regretted deeply what I had done. I hated myself. I wasthe silliest man in the world! I had to explain myself to her,otherwise she would never forgive me. She would be back at schoolin the few days. It was too late for me to write. I was as restlessas an ant on a hot pan. I was anxiously expecting to see her. But Inever thought Plump Doll and her like were also expecting to seeher anxiously.

Two days later,at noon, I was reading in the classroom when White Swan came in.After a long journey, she looked a little tired. She walkeddirectly to her seat and sat down. Just at that moment, Plump Dolljumped to her feet and ran out. I wondered at her strange reaction.White Swan glanced right and left. Her seat was just beforemine.

When she foundthat no one had noticed her, she inserted a parcel into my hands.It was a parcel of chestnuts roasted in sands with brown sugar.That was the gift she brought for me. I hid it in my draw andquickly wrote a few words on a piece of paper inviting her to asecret talk with me.

I was eager totell her all the things that had happened to me. But before Ifinished writing the letter, Plump Doll showed up. She came toWhite Swan and told her that she had been requested to see thepolitical supervisor immediately. She stood up and went out withPlump Doll. My heart sank. I immediately realized why Plump Dollhad run out so quickly when White Swan showed up. She had run outto see the political supervisor to report! I knew that they hadhatched a plot. I could see clearly that they had deliberatelyprevented me from meeting White Swan. What were they going todo?

About one hourlater, Plump Doll was back.

“Comrades,” she said, as soon as she stepped on to theplatform. “Please put your books away. I have an importantannouncement to make.”

All thestudents raised their heads from their books, fixing their eyes onPlump Doll. The classroom became very quiet.

“We’ll have an urgent denounce meeting.” She paused for amoment while sweeping her eyes over the students.

Thestudents were stupefied at first and then they, like a group ofbuzzing bees, discussed the announcement with each other. They allasked one same question — whom should they denounce? Why?

“We’ll denounce White Swan! Why do we denounce her? That’sbecause she has violated the decree from the Education Commission!She has had s****l intercourse with Soapy and ispregnant…”

“Ah!” the students uttered a cry of surprise.

“Recently she went home. Why did she go home? To have anabortion. Her mother is a gynaecologist. She was able to secretlygive her an operation…”

“It’s inconceivable! It’s inconceivable!”

“She is too audacious!”

“She is audacious to the extreme!” the studentscommented.

“Comrades, silence! Please, silence!” Plump Doll shouted atthe top of her voice. The students calmed down. Then she continuedto speak,

“There is no concealing the truth. White Swan’s incidentexposed itself on its own…”

“You lie! You copied the letter White Swan sent to mesecretly!” I protested.

“Who can prove that?” Hot Pepper jumped to her feet, censoringme.

“If you couldn’t you are committing slander!”

I was renderedspeechless. Plump Doll shot a snooty look at me and went onspeaking,

“Our school authority attaches great importance to WhiteSwan’s incident. The principal took up the matter personally. WhenI took White Swan into the political supervisor’s office, he wasthere and talked with her patiently and sincerely. He persuaded herto confess. He wanted to save her and wished that she could confessher mistake. If she could, our principal might consider giving hera light punishment. However, she has refused to admit her mistakeresolutely. She does not know we have known all the things she haddone and that we have the most convincing evidence already at hand.Her attitude was extremely abominable. Our principal lost hispatience, but he still wants to save her. He instructed us todenounce her so that we could help her confess. If she does, theschool authority will still consider a light punishment. Comrades,we must be well prepared. I demand that everybody should vie witheach other to make a speech and denounce her mercilessly until shesurrenders. But denouncement is not our aim. Our aim is to make herconfess. We don’t want to lose a friend. She will be here soon…”Just at that moment, White Swan showed up with the politicalsupervisor and school principal.