The river is like blood

Author: Haiyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The River Like Blood is Haiyan's ninth full-length novel. "The river mourns, family and national responsibility wash away love and hate; the setting sun is like blood, the young and talented drinks up the twists and turns of the road." The title is derived from these two lines of poetry. This new work by Haiyan continues his signature "Haiyan characteristics," such as highly readable story structures and interwoven fates of characters, while also introducing many new twists. This novel is both reminiscent of Haiyan's past works and distinctly different from them. Its strong suspense, intense emotions, and the bizarre realities of contemporary urban life will captivate readers. The novel follows the protagonist, Lu Baoliang, in his quest to find his sister, who ran away due to a love affair. It depicts the dramatic ups and downs of a family's fate over several decades. Young Lu Baoliang had a happy childhood. His father was the (team leader) of the criminal investigation team at the Public Security Bureau, and both his mother and sister, Baozhen, deeply loved him. However, everything changed due to his sister's love affair. His sister fell in love with Quan Hu, the son of his father's sworn brother, Quan Li. This seemingly well-matched match was strongly opposed by his father, and the couple eventually chose to run away. On the 55th birthday of Quan Li, his sister and Quan Hu returned to their hometown with their newborn son. On the same day, Quan Li and his subordinates were arrested by the Public Security Bureau for suspected illegal fundraising and criminal gang activities. Quan Li was sentenced to death, while Quan Hu and Baozhen were released without charges and disappeared. In his search for his sister, Lu Baoliang encountered various emotional dilemmas and life dangers, experiencing several setbacks before finally finding her. However, by then, his sister had passed away due to an incurable illness, and Baoliang had no choice but to return to their hometown with his sister's son, Leilei.
Lu Baoliang fell in love with a girl for the first time in the grand hall of the Jining Public Security Academy. He couldn’t remember what holiday it was, but the Public Security Academy had invited the city’s acrobatic troupe to perform. Baoliang sat on a small stool at the side of the stage, able to see the entire performance clearly. This was his first time watching live acrobatics, and the most memorable part of the show was a young woman in black. She was not only beautiful but also incredibly skilled, effortlessly flipping and moving. Wherever her fingers pointed, sparks would burst forth, and with her lips slightly parted, she could spray flames. She left Baoliang both exhilarated and deeply moved. That day, Baoliang couldn’t sleep for the first time because of a woman. The fire-spitting girl always smiled sweetly, her expression always lingering in his mind. Although he couldn’t clearly describe her appearance or even remember her age, she became the perfect woman in his heart. Before this, Baoliang’s concept of women was limited to his mother and sister. At that time, Baoliang was nine years old.
When his mother was young, she must have been a standard beauty. She was not only beautiful but also a woman with great charm. Baoliang’s sister was seven years older than him, and at nine, she was exactly eighteen, the traditional age considered the most beautiful for women in Chinese aesthetics. She was as beautiful as her mother but had a stronger, less gentle personality, clearly inherited from her father. In Baoliang’s eyes, his mother and father were completely opposites. His mother was small but healthy, while his father was strong but often ill. His mother was talkative but patient in everything, while his father was silent but had no patience. His mother always expected his sister to be lenient toward him, but privately, they were very close. His father outwardly cared for his daughter but secretly placed all his hopes on his son. Baoliang might not fully understand his parents’ thoughts, but he admired his father, relied on his mother, and was closest to his sister, who was seven years older than him and still played with him. His sister resembled his mother in appearance but shared his father’s personality. Baoliang, on the other hand, felt like he had been picked up from the street—neither looking like his father nor resembling his mother in temperament. His dependence on his mother was just a passive habit, while his admiration and imitation of his father were entirely conscious. He even, like his father, knelt and sworn brotherhood with his close friends Liu Cunliang and Li Chen at the age of ten, calling himself one of the "Three Heroes of Jining." He told Li Chen and Liu Cunliang that his father had also played the ( Peach Garden Oath) when he was ten, and like him, had ranked third in the oath. Among the three who made the oath in his father’s youth, the eldest left without graduating from middle school and settled abroad with his parents, never to be heard from again. The second grew up to start a business and remains as close to his father as brothers, with them calling each other "second brother" and "third brother" and their families maintaining a close bond. Since Baoliang could remember, he often accompanied his father to visit his second uncle’s house. The second uncle’s name was Quan, and his son, Quan Hu, also called Baoliang’s father "Uncle San." The neighbors of both families had long thought of them as relatives. The second uncle and Quan Hu often visited Baoliang’s house, and whenever Quan Hu came, he would take Baoliang and his sister out to play, while the second uncle would drink and talk with Baoliang’s father in the house. At that time, the second uncle often asked Baoliang’s father for help, as he was the (team leader) of the criminal investigation team at the Public Security Bureau, with many connections and privileges. He had helped the second uncle navigate many difficult situations over the years.
Once, the second uncle’s adopted son, Quan Sangun, got into a fight with a classmate and was arrested by the police station. It was Baoliang’s father who got him out. A year later, Quan Sangun fought with a gangster on the street, was arrested again by the Public Security Bureau, and was even expelled from school. The second uncle once again turned to Baoliang’s father, asking him to bail out this unreliable adopted son. Baoliang’s father worked tirelessly, and the second uncle also paid money to the victims’ families, changing the case from one that could have led to labor reeducation to a 15-day detention and a fine of 2,000 yuan. Quan Sangun was released from the bureau again. On the way to pick up Quan Sangun, Baoliang’s father was involved in a car accident. Quan Sangun’s head was slightly scratched, but his father became crippled. That year, Baoliang was eleven, and the father he had always admired as a hero and idol had become crippled. The crippled father aged rapidly, and Baoliang finally realized that a person’s two legs are their pillars; once one is missing, the whole person becomes unsteady. After becoming disabled, his father was like a wind-dried ox, quickly becoming thin, weak, and plagued by various illnesses. Today, he was diagnosed with high blood sugar; tomorrow, high blood pressure; the day after, his heart rate was also problematic, as if everyone was abandoning him when he fell. His job also changed. A cripple staying in the criminal investigation team, a place full of action and conflict, seemed a bit out of place. It’s not clear whether it was because his father had once been a part-time instructor at the Public Security Academy, but he was transferred there. However, the courses he had previously taught—free-style boxing and wrestling—were obviously no longer suitable for him. So, the school gave him a nominal title of vice principal and a leisurely position as an administrative officer. Compared to his previous role in the criminal investigation team, it was said to be a promotion by half a rank.