A Prophet - Chapter 7 (Part 2)

Chapter 2 - Grandfather's Unknown Wife and Child

In 1952, a new wave of campaigns to suppress "secret religious sects" unfolded vigorously across the nation.

Grandfather seemed to have a premature premonition of something. One day, after a branch meeting concluded, he kept me behind alone. He paced back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back, as though wanting to say something, stopping himself several times on the verge of speaking.

In all the long time I had spent following Grandfather, this was the first time I had ever witnessed him in such a state. After a long silence, he said to me, "Datou, if you get the chance, wash your hands of this and do something else."

At the time, I was so frightened that I dropped straight to my knees. "Grandfather, I have never harbored a divided heart! I will never betray you in this lifetime! Grandfather!" With the political winds blowing so fiercely during that period, I assumed Grandfather thought I was trying to quit the faction.

Grandfather said with a desolate air, "I am speaking the truth. You entered the trade late, and your hands are clean of human life. Once you go in, you can still come out. Stop practicing scams! Live a proper life! Live the life of an ordinary person!"

I timidly replied, "Grandfather, if the political winds are fierce, we can just scatter and lie low. Once the winds pass, we can start all over again."

Grandfather shook his head. "You do not understand. You do not understand."

After another long silence, Grandfather said, "Datou, there is a matter..." As he reached this point, Grandfather paused, his voice trembling slightly.

I listened in silence, my heart pounding with dread.

At the end of the War of Resistance against Japan in 1945, Grandfather had taken a trip to Shandong. He originally went in search of antiques, as he loved collecting, and word had reached him that a Qianlong-period dragon-carved jade bi was up for sale there. That year brought torrential rains, and since Grandfather suffered from severe rheumatism, by the second day in Shandong his legs were aching so badly he could barely lift them. Later, introduced by a local antique dealer, a female physician was brought in to administer acupuncture. The woman possessed an ancestral medical art; her father had been beaten to death in 1940 because he refused to treat a leader of the puppet army.

Grandfather recounted, "Some physicians will poke needles into you while practically stripping off your clothes and still fail to find the right acupoint, but that young woman—I was wearing a sleeveless undershirt at the time, yet she had me lie sideways on the kang bed, and every single needle hit its mark!"

Grandfather admitted that he had been stirred by romantic feelings and planted a seed. After the child was born later on, that woman stayed behind in Shandong to raise the child alone. Grandfather had appeared in Shandong under the identity of an antique merchant, and the local antique dealers regarded him as an expert eye in the circle, so Grandfather told the woman that he was a thoroughgoing antique dealer. From then on, Grandfather traveled to Shandong every half-year and persistently concealed his true identity.

Only then did I understand why Grandfather sometimes went on distant journeys without taking any foot soldiers along, and why no one ever knew where he was going. Whatever we were meant to know, Grandfather would tell us; what we were not meant to know, no one dared to ask.

Foot soldiers of the sect were not permitted to marry casually. If one wished to marry, the woman likewise had to be developed into a foot soldier. Otherwise, it was simply too dangerous. Human hearts were the hardest things to control; if a man's own wife discovered he was running scams, no one could guarantee what she might do.

Consequently, whenever anyone within the branch married, it required Grandfather's personal approval. After those women became foot soldiers, they generally played roles like "flying paper" mediums, spirit mediums, witches, Daoist nuns, and the like. Yet Grandfather himself, in the eyes of everyone else, had never once kept a woman.

This news struck like a bolt from the blue. If the branch leaders found out that Grandfather had kept such an ace up his sleeve, a full-scale rebellion would undoubtedly erupt. If anyone had proposed executing Grandfather right then and there, I doubted a single person would have opposed it.

Grandfather said, "It is not that I have failed my brothers; I simply wished to leave a branch of descendants for my family line. In the sixth year of the Republic, all my family members perished. Over these years of killing and bloodshed, I too longed for a peaceful life, but that chance is gone for me. You still have it, and you must grasp the days ahead properly."

Grandfather told me that after his death, if I were still alive and the political winds were not too severe, I should take the opportunity to visit her and the child. At this point, Grandfather smiled. "It is a boy. The family incense can be carried on."

Grandfather also entrusted me with a secret: outside the city at the Yuejialing mountain pass, he had buried a wooden chest between two large pagoda trees, and the inside was packed entirely with genuine treasures. Grandfather said that whatever needed to be disgorged he would disgorge, but he had to leave some money for his wife and child. Later on, when Grandfather's home was raided and searched, though a vast array of possessions were confiscated, no one ever discovered that chest of wealth. Grandfather always kept an ultimate backup plan.

This truly demonstrated Grandfather's economic acumen. Throughout the years of Nationalist rule, the monetary system had been utter chaos. From "Yuan Datou" silver dollars to "Sun Xiaotou" coins, from fiat currency to "gold yuan certificates," coupled with various copper coins, minted currency, and shopping vouchers circulating privately among the populace, there were well over a dozen types of currency. Yet Grandfather hoarded only "hard currency." He never trusted those paper bills that looked like mere white tissue, and even when fiat currency had just been issued and possessed relatively high purchasing power, he held firmly onto genuine gold and silver. Rather than letting go, he preferred to periodically exchange assets for more. Later, when hyperinflation struck, it proved just how brilliant Grandfather's decisions had been! Otherwise, what would have been left to his family now was merely a chest of worthless paper.

Over the years, Grandfather had accumulated quite a few gold bars, silver dollars, and silver ingots, alongside antique jade bi, pocket watches, and other items gifted by wealthy families when he performed feng shui consultations. Grandfather instructed me that when the opportunity arose, I should gradually deliver the contents of that chest to his wife and child. He repeatedly admonished me never to give it all to them at once, as doing so would invite catastrophe and might cost them their lives! If I myself were short on money, I was also free to make use of it.

I was so terrified that I dropped to my knees, weeping as I said, "Grandfather, I wouldn't dare!"

I timidly asked Grandfather, "Why do you trust me?"

Grandfather let out a chuckle and posed a counter-question: "Datou, why do you think I had you join the branch?"

I sat stunned for a long while before sudden enlightenment struck me! The person he recruited was not merely a foot soldier, but someone to whom he could entrust his final affairs. Every single piece of this was Grandfather's ultimate scam; he had been casting his net from the very top of the game, with all the branch leaders acting as the sinkers hanging from that web, and in the end, I had become the one who hauled the net in.

Grandfather had observed me in the teahouse for a long time. When he finished his tea and left, he repeatedly dropped money on the floor on purpose; I had picked it up, chased after him, and returned it—that was him testing my greed for wealth. After I entered the branch, when the second branch leader took me to visit brothels, Grandfather deliberately dispatched men to trail us—that was him testing my lust, because after all, he was about to entrust his wife and child to me, and he had to guard against every contingency. He intentionally debated various branch matters with me—that was him testing my craftiness. He took me to Sichuan to confront Qin Baichuan and those bandits—that was him testing my courage and loyalty.

Fortunately, I had passed the tests. I could not help marveling: having ruled over the branch for so many years with countless brothers serving under him, Grandfather had ultimately ended up with not a single person he could trust. Was it that others were incapable of earning his trust, or was it that he was incapable of trusting anyone?

I said, "Grandfather, run for it. You have many friends over in Hong Kong."

Grandfather let out a bitter laugh. "I will not run."

I was perplexed. "Why?"

Grandfather sighed, and after a long pause, said, "I will not run. In the future, you will understand."

Following that, he walked to the back courtyard ancestral hall housing the spirit tablets of the founders of the "River and Lake Sect." This time he did not let me follow him inside; he told me to wait outside the door, and slowly pulled the doors shut behind him.

I had no idea what Grandfather said to the founding ancestors. In any case, he remained inside for quite a long time before finally walking out. I vaguely noticed that the rims of Grandfather's eyes were red.

In the months that followed, over three hundred "secret religious sects" nationwide were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of sect leaders and core members were brought to justice. Because Grandfather had waded in too deep, wherever trouble broke out, it inevitably meant "pulling up the radish and bringing out the mud attached to its roots." He was finally exposed, and ultimately sentenced to death for a series of heinous crimes including murder, arson, bribery, fraud, and spreading fallacies to delude the public.

Before stepping onto the execution grounds, unlike others who were so terrified they soiled their trousers, Grandfather walked with profound serenity. To my eyes, it did not look like going to his death; it looked much more like a release. He finally no longer needed to defraud people, and finally no longer needed to rack his brains weighing survival against death.

The head branch leader and several branch leaders who had come over from the Western faction were likewise sentenced to death on account of murder charges on their hands. The remaining two hundred-odd members of the branch, large and small, received appropriate punishments according to the severity of their crimes. I was sentenced to five years.

I could never quite wrap my head around why Grandfather refused to run, and why he forbade any of the branch leaders and foot soldiers from running either—which was tantamount to herding the entire "River and Lake Sect" onto a path of absolute doom with his own hands. Grandfather had said I would understand in the future; just when would that future arrive?

That protracted prison term was as agonizingly dark as endless night. Inside prison, I frequently recalled the bygone years, thought of my deceased mother, thought of Grandfather, and thought of the dissolute, drunken dreams of the past.

Grandfather certainly could never have imagined the massive societal upheavals that would occur after his death; he could never have conceived of the burning fervor of the Great Leap Forward, let alone the frenzied zeal of the "Cultural Revolution" and the sheer force of destroying the "Four Olds." After all, he was merely a schemer, not a politician, and no one could have predicted the surging tides of the ensuing twenty years. That chest of valuables did not dare see the light of day until the 1980s.

Upon my release from prison, my very first priority was to go and check on Grandfather's widow and son. However, I had no money in my hands, not even enough for traveling expenses. I found odd jobs at the township's public-private joint-operated supply and marketing cooperative to earn money and save up for the journey.

At that time, the entire country was engaged in the mass smelting of steel. A tiny town had unexpectedly erected over a thousand steel-smelting furnaces, and zealous commune members dug up iron ore across the mountains and plains, desperate to throw even their household pots, bowls, ladles, and pans into the smelting furnaces to be melted down. I lived in constant terror that they might inadvertently unearth that chest of treasures at the mountain pass during their digging.

During noon hours when the blazing sun baked the earth, people huddled indoors to escape the heat. I slipped away alone and quietly made my way to Yuejialing in the back mountains. Looking out from afar, I discovered that those two former large pagoda trees were no longer there. A jolt of panic surged through my heart. I quickened my pace, reached that turning point in the mountain pass, and paced back and forth, mentally gauging the positions of those two trees based on feel. After confirming the approximate perimeter, I left. I knew full well that under the social conditions of that era, no matter how many treasures you possessed, you could spend none of them. No one dared to spend them, and no one dared to accept them; everything operated under a planned economy, not to mention the fact that these were stolen goods.

The following spring, I finally saved up enough traveling expenses and took a trip to Shandong, following the address Grandfather had left behind during his lifetime.

It took a great deal of effort to locate them. When we met, the woman froze in place. I saw that she was only a little over thirty years old, which meant she could only have been in her late teens when she first joined Grandfather, while Grandfather had been fifty when he died—meaning an age gap of over twenty years between them.

The woman looked me up and down. "You are?"

A whirlwind of emotions washed over me as scenes from Grandfather's life flashed through my mind. "I... I am Grandfather's disciple. I have come on his behalf to check on you."

"Grandfather?" the woman asked, perplexed.

I immediately realized I had nearly made a slip of the tongue and hurriedly corrected myself, "I mean your husband. He was my master, and we were both in the antique trade." I had promised Grandfather to keep his secret forever.

The woman stood as if frozen, staring blankly at me. After a long moment, tears welled up in her eyes. "Is... is he still around?"

I could no longer hold it back and broke down in tears as well. "Grandfather caught a chill back in 1952, then contracted a lung infection, and ultimately... he couldn't be saved..."

Tears streamed down the woman's face in a torrent.

I wiped away my tears and said, "Before Grandfather died, he was still constantly speaking of you. All these years, we peddlers have been undergoing government reform and never found the time to come and visit you. Please forgive this discourtesy, please forgive me."

Just as we were talking, a voice drifted over from outside the house: "Mother!"

For the very first time, I looked upon Grandfather's flesh and blood. Those angular facial features and that gaze were an exact replica of Grandfather.

The woman hurriedly wiped away her tears and said, "Child, come over here and greet your uncle."

I quickly interjected, "No, no, that won't do! I am Grandfather's disciple, so I belong to the same generation as young master!" With that, I fished a few pieces of candy out of my pocket and handed them to the child. The child happily popped them into his mouth, eating with great relish.

I could not help sighing with emotion. Ten years on the river's east bank, ten years on its west bank; who could have imagined that this poor child's father was once a towering, storm-summoning figure of the underworld, and who could have foreseen that a man who threw about a fortune daily like Grandfather would leave descendants living in such stark poverty.

I left them some money and returned, not daring to mention the matter of the treasure chest for fear of bringing down disasters.

I had originally intended to visit his wife and child once every year or two, but I never expected that this parting would stretch across three years. Starting in 1959, the country entered the Great Famine. During those Three Years of Natural Disasters, countless people starved to death. Just how extreme was the hunger back then? When corpses were being carried out past the township borders along a small half-foot-wide ridge ditch, gangs of grown men would hesitate and pace back and forth, lacking the strength to even step across. Once someone collapsed, they could never get back up again. On one occasion when I went to the outhouse, the moment I pulled up my trousers and stood straight, pitch-black darkness flooded my vision and I crashed headlong onto the ground. Coincidentally, a smashed and rusted iron wok lay right in the corner, and my forehead struck the rim head-on, spilling blood all over the floor. It wasn't that I didn't care about his wife and child; I genuinely could not even take care of myself.

By the end of 1961, the second and seventh branch leaders were released from prison. The following year, the economic situation began to turn for the better.

The second branch leader asked me, "Old Fifth, have there been any movements outside these past few years?"

I froze. "Movements? Being able to stay alive is blessing enough."

The second branch leader let out a bitter laugh. "Inside, I constantly thought of the old days, thought of Grandfather, and thought of the brothers. Old Fifth, what are your plans for the future?"

I let out a long sigh. "Plans? To be an upright person and repay our great leader Chairman Mao."

The second branch leader smiled. "Really?"

I replied, "Sugar tastes less sweet than honey, padded blankets feel less warm than a coat of skin; a father and mother's kindness is profound, but it cannot compare to Chairman Mao. Didn't you study that while you were inside?"

The second branch leader hurriedly said, "Studied it, studied it!" After a long silence, he suddenly said, "Old Fifth, didn't Grandfather leave behind any verbal testament before he died? I remember a few times after branch meetings when he kept you behind alone."

I said, "There was no verbal testament. He was merely worried about the brothers' futures."

The second branch leader remarked, "Given Grandfather's operational style, he would leave a backup plan for everything. Didn't he leave any parting words?"

"No." I shook my head silently.

The second branch leader finally could not hold it in any longer and said, "Old Fifth, have you ever thought about rebuilding our faction?"

I couldn't help drawing a sharp gasp of cold air. "What era is this, and you're still thinking about rebuilding a faction? It seems you didn't stay long enough inside."

The second branch leader stated, "If we don't do this, what else is there to do? We foot soldiers don't know how to do anything else. How are we supposed to make a living?"

I smiled. "The people of the entire country are building socialism; rich and poor alike live that way, so why can't we?"

The second branch leader said, "A man still needs a way to make money."

I cast a sidelong glance at him. "Cotton mills, steel mills, tractor factories—if all else fails, you can go down to the commune, farm the fields, work the threshing grounds, or pick up nightsoil. Any of those will do."

The second branch leader laughed again. "Truly, the wheel of fortune keeps turning. I never imagined that I, Second Master Zhao, would sink so low as to pick up nightsoil." After falling silent for a moment, he suddenly asked, "Haven't you found yourself a woman all these years?"

I smiled faintly, sighed, and said, "A penniless wretch who's served time in the big house—who would follow him?"

The second branch leader laughed as well. "Back in the day, the moment Old Master stepped into the Chunxiao House, the madam would lead a whole flock of girls trailing after me like ducklings. Ah, times have changed. It's over."

"Did Grandfather truly leave no final words, no path pointed out for the brothers?" the second branch leader asked abruptly once more.

"No," I replied. "Grandfather had no choice either. He only said that if the opportunity arose, everyone should wash their hands of this and do something else."

"Do something else?" The second branch leader snorted. "Grandfather was the one who led me onto this path. Now that he's dead, telling us to do something else—what is that supposed to mean?"

"Grandfather did it for everyone's own good."

The second branch leader shook his head. "We can't do anything else. We're too used to scamming; even if we die and take it to the grave, we won't change."

"The times have changed," I said. "You'd better start by doing some honest work first. Come with me to do odd jobs at the machinery plant."

The second branch leader nodded silently.

The second time I saw Grandfather's widow was in 1963. Time spares no one; the woman had aged considerably, and the boy had grown much taller. Another two years passed, and by 1965, when I saw her again, white threads had mixed into her temples, and her son had grown into a man and enlisted in the army. Returning home, I felt an incomparable sense of relief. That night, I burned some yellow joss paper at the spot where Grandfather had been executed; Grandfather's spirit in heaven could finally rest in peace. I began pondering how to pass that chest of belongings over to her.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. I opened it to find the second branch leader standing there. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes locked onto me with a fixed stare, a bizarre smirk curling the corners of his mouth.

"What is it?" I asked.

He continued to stare at me, looking utterly strange. Once he sat down in the room, he said, "Old Fifth, how has Second Master treated you all these years?"

"Excellently. Absolutely nothing to complain about."

He scratched his scalp and said, "Then why did you keep things from me?"

A jolt ran through my chest. "Keep what from you?"

"Heh heh," he chuckled, "Caoxian County in Shandong, Caojiazhuang village."

I was deeply shocked. "You trailed me?!"

He said, "Don't be rash, don't be rash. A foot soldier must know how to keep his composure. Tell me, how should we handle this?"

"What do you want?" I glared at him viciously.

He shook his head. "Grandfather really was a bastard—keeping brothers in the dark while he kept a whore for himself and even spawned a bastard seed!"

I said, "Second branch leader, watch your mouth! Grandfather treated you well!"

He scratched the back of his head. "Old Fifth, let's lay our cards on the table. Since Grandfather left descendants, he naturally left valuables behind. No wonder you've kept such a low profile all these years; turns out you had a ace up your sleeve."

I said coldly, "Grandfather's home was raided and ransacked before he died. You saw it as well as anyone—nothing was left behind."

He lowered his head, then raised it again, wearing a sullen expression. "Fine! Then I'll have no choice but to expose that mother and son! Let the whole world know they're the descendants of an underworld boss, descendants of a murderer, descendants of a swindler! Let's see how they manage to live!"

"You... Second branch leader, you were brought up by Grandfather's own hands! How can you—"

"Hmph hmph, if he acts unrighteously, don't blame me for being unfaithful!"

My brain raced at breakneck speed. After a brief silence, I said, "Fine, I'll tell you. Grandfather did leave a chest of items. But as you know, in this day and age, it cannot see the light of day!"

"Heh heh," the second branch leader chuckled, "that's more like it! Old Fifth, tell me where it is. We'll split it between us, and consider it my hush money."

I said, "Now is not the time. The moment anyone discovers it, we'll wind up back in the big house."

He said, "It doesn't matter. Give me my half first. Keeping it in my own hands gives me peace of mind."

I looked at him. I knew the second branch leader far too well; he played one game to your face and another behind your back. Even if I handed everything over to him, he wouldn't necessarily believe me, and furthermore, once he knew Grandfather's secret, he would sooner or later use it as leverage. The moment he spilled this secret, Grandfather's widow and child would no longer be able to show their faces in society. That mother and son had lived clinging to a dream all this time; if that dream shattered, everything would be over. For the very first time, the intent to kill rose within me.

"Very well, I'll take you there. After I give it to you, you must absolutely keep it a secret. After all, we were both brought up by Grandfather!"

"Don't worry!"

On a night whipped by fierce winds, I arranged to meet the second branch leader at Yuejialing in the back mountains. In the dead of night, I rode my "Big Iron Donkey" to the back mountains. The Big Iron Donkey was a homemade bicycle popular at the time, lacking any bell, chain guard, or hand brakes. To brake, one pressed the sole of their foot directly against the front tire, and when coming to a stop, since there was no kickstand, it was propped up into a tripod stance using a wooden stick shaped like a rolling pin.

By the time I arrived, the second branch leader was already there. Brandishing a shovel in his hand, he said to me, "What took you so long!"

I said, "If I left too early, I was afraid of being spotted."

I paced and measured the ground, confirmed the location, and said, "Grandfather said this is the spot. Start digging."

The two of us dug rapidly. The weather was freezing, but we still worked up a sweat. After long years, the topsoil was hard as rock; only after digging down twenty centimeters did the soil begin to turn soft. Deeper still by several dozen centimeters, we finally struck the wooden chest. When we dug it out and inspected it, it was a wooden box roughly a meter wide. The second branch leader had truly come prepared; pulling an iron crowbar out from behind his heavy coat, he jammed it into the lock clasp and pried hard, snapping the chest open.

In the moonlight, we saw that the top layer consisted of a row of exquisite jade artifacts—dragon-carved jade bi, open-ended jade bracelets, jade wine cups, and jade hairpins. Beneath that lay a layer of felt cloth; lifting the felt revealed neatly arranged bricks of solid gold.

The second branch leader swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his eyes turning completely green. "With these, our second half-lives won't have to worry about a thing. Old Fifth, oh Old Fifth, you really weren't playing fair."

He failed to notice that I had already quietly picked up the wooden stick used to prop up the bicycle, crept around behind him, and brought it down heavily. Bang! The second branch leader let out a muffled groan and collapsed. I followed up by smashing it down fiercely several more times, driving his head deep into the soil before finally stopping. Dropping the stick, I collapsed limply onto the ground while the howling wind made the massive trees groan aloud.

Gathering my wits, I tossed the second branch leader into the freshly dug pit, shoveled the dirt back in to bury him, and then scattered several shovelfulls of dry dirt and weeds over the top so that it looked completely undisturbed.