Puppet Manchukuo (Upper and Lower)

Author: Chi Zijian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Like Xiao Hong, the Northeastern female writer Chi Zijian is deeply attached to the people of the black soil land, its scars and suffering. The new long《Manchukuo》 describes the lives of the lower-class Northeasterners during the Manchukuo period, the joys and sorrows of ordinary people in a special historical era, and the customs and traditions of the black soil land, which has been praised by critics as a new exploration in contemporary Chinese long creation.
Liu Mazi's wife was naturally promiscuous. When Liu Mazi was in his prime, she secretly had affairs with other men. One day, she was caught by Liu Mazi, who had unexpectedly returned. She was hung from a pillar and beaten severely. For half a month, she lost control of her bladder and bowels, trembling at every sound, even the rustling of leaves in the wind terrified her, making her suspect it was the sound of a whip. Her heart ached with each blow. She hated Liu Mazi. He could bring women home and sleep with them openly, yet forbade her from any such behavior. It was truly "the officials may burn the state, but the people may not light a lamp." She had long harbored resentment toward him.
They had only one daughter named Liu Qing, who was usually quiet and reserved, always resenting her parents' behavior and often crying alone. Liu Mazi was bedridden for a year, and after his sworn brothers abandoned him, the responsibility of caring for him fell to Liu Qing. Seeing that the Japanese, too, had abandoned him like discarded trash, Liu Mazi's wife grew even colder toward him. Liu Mazi's legs did not need to be amputated, but due to poor care, he developed bedsores. His legs first swelled and oozed pus, then pieces of flesh fell off one by one, and he had to have them amputated. Liu Mazi constantly complained and lamented, but his wife, annoyed by his noise, often bound his hands together when her daughter was not around, stuffed two smelly socks into his mouth, and then happily rummaged through the house, moving furniture to other places, causing Liu Mazi to faint several times from anger.
Later, Liu Qing discovered that her mother had been abusing her father while she was away and reported it to her aunt in Wangyun Township. Liu Mazi's sister was a modest farmer. The family had long heard of her brother's behavior and had rarely visited him in recent years. When they heard he was bedridden, they only felt it was karma and did not want to intervene. Liu Qing knelt before her aunt and uncle, saying that she, too, disliked her father's past behavior, but she couldn’t stand watching her mother torture him. After all, they were blood siblings, and Liu Mazi’s sister eventually felt pity and hired a carriage to travel for most of the day to bring him back.
Liu Qing’s mother knew her daughter was going to Wangyun Township to seek help and thus tortured Liu Mazi even more at home. She first laid two bundles of dry grass in the center of the room, then spread a clean mattress, and called her lover Wu Sanbao from the town. Wu Sanbao ran a dried fruit store and was a lecherous man who had designs on women from all families. He had long been coveting Liu Mazi’s wife but had dared not act rashly out of fear of Liu Mazi’s authority. That time, he heard Liu Mazi would be away for half a month and seduced Liu Mazi’s wife.
However, Liu Mazi returned earlier than expected and caught them in the act. He not only broke Wu Sanbao’s two front teeth but also cut off one of his thumbs. Meanwhile, Liu Mazi’s wife was tied up with ropes and whipped severely with a whip. Liu Mazi beat her while shouting, "Beat out the shit and urine of this slut!" Sure enough, she lost control of her bowels and bladder and took half a month to recover. This time, she and Wu Sanbao did it in front of Liu Mazi, infuriating him so much that his mouth twisted and his eyes seemed to burst. They writhed naked on the warm dry grass, moaning in pleasure, while Liu Mazi screamed in a high-pitched voice, eventually losing his voice.
After Wu Sanbao finished, he walked up to Liu Mazi, spat in his face, and then struck him several times with his missing thumb. He grinned, pointing at his two golden teeth and saying, "They’re gold, you know? If you hadn’t beaten out my white teeth, how could I have gotten such beautiful golden ones? They’re stronger than white teeth—they can even crush your bones!" Liu Mazi struggled to breathe, gasping for air. Wu Sanbao said, "Shout! Cry! How come you’ve become a soft vegetable?" Liu Mazi’s face twitched for a long time before he suddenly screamed, "Even if I become a ghost, I will come back to catch you!"
Wu Sanbao said, "You can talk, can’t you? I’ll make sure you can’t speak from now on." He pinched Liu Mazi’s bruised lips and said, "Don’t worry, I won’t cut your tongue—too obvious. I don’t want your wife to get a bad reputation. I’ll make you suffer, understand? My grandfather was an old herbalist who developed a medicine that could make mute people speak and turn normal people mute. They say it’s miraculous. When my father died, he asked me to give it to a kind-hearted mute so he could speak and do good for our Wu family. But I don’t want our Wu family’s ancestral tomb to be disgraced. I want you to taste this mute medicine and see if it really works."
Wu Sanbao kept his word and that night took the mute medicine with Liu Mazi’s wife and forced him to drink it. Liu Mazi struggled, tears streaming down his face. From that night on, he could never speak again. When Liu Qing returned from Wangyun Township, she saw her father not only dying but also mute and realized what her mother had done. She packed her belongings neatly onto the carriage and, as she left her mother, said only one sentence: "I have nothing to do with you anymore."