Raindrops pelted my face, cold and rank. Mixed with sweat and the hot, bloody stench that had followed me out of the house, they smeared across my eyes.
Dragging the weakened Xiujuan, I stumbled toward the village's burial ground, taking one uneven step after another. The lump of flesh I'd just pulled from her was still a little warm. It was so soft I hardly dared move, afraid I'd snap it in two.
Xiujuan was almost entirely draped over me, panting as if she might fall apart at any moment.
Behind us, shouts and barking mingled with wildly waving flashlight beams, like a noose closing in, growing nearer with every swing.
“Wang Liugen! Stop! You and your wife won't get away!”
“They turned east! After them! She just gave birth, she can't have gone far!”
Those few from the family planning office were like hungry wolves in the night, chasing us relentlessly.
My heart pounded as if it would burst through my chest. The thuds filled my ears, louder than the rain, more insistent than the wind.
Just before he died, my father had gripped my hand like a dry branch, squeezing until it hurt. His eyes were fixed on me. “Gen'er... leave a root... keep the family line alive... the Wang family... must have an heir...”
At last, my old man's breath left him, but his eyes stayed open, staring straight at me.
It took all my strength to close them. I nearly sewed them shut with a needle.
“The Wang family... must have an heir...”
My father's dying words whipped me like a lash, giving my legs another burst of strength. Dragging and hauling, all three of us stumbled into that crooked burial ground.
The tombstones leaned this way and that, black as a crowd of ghosts watching the show.
Where could we hide? Where?!
In a flash, I shoved Xiujuan behind a gravestone that stood half a man's height
Directly into reality
This book reflects the special experiences of special people in special historical periods and is well worth reading.